Finally, answers.......

by Laura

My name is Laura Bunyard and I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 2000. I was born in 1960 to parents, who it was later determined, had food allergies. I had the usual chickenpox and mumps, but other than that, I wasn't sick much.

In high school I got sick and it went into my throat and my first doctor put me on decongestants. My second doctor put me on 1600mg of Erythromycin every day to kill the infection.

I started having reactions to wood smoke and my abdomen would distend at the end of my work day, but I couldn't do that in the morning. Perfume bothered me.

Then I got pregnant and gave birth, at eight months, to a 6.2lb baby girl who slept all night through, the first night.

Shortly after she was born I started with lots of diarrhea. I couldn't pin it down because it wasn't constant.

I had had horrible body order since puberty and used deodorants and odor eaters constantly. I was developing asthma to go with the nasal and sinus allergy manifestations. I started breaking out in the sun and getting a "mask" around my eyes that wasn't reacting to a certain situation. My upper body strength had left when I gave birth and sometimes it came back, and sometimes it didn't. My hands coudln't hold anything, my brain came and went when it felt like it, I took naps, my hands and feet were always cold and my joints in my hands and feet ached and sometimes my ribs did too, I was dizzy and through it all had mostly diarrhea.

In 1994 I talked to someone who suggested I try for SSDI. I went to see my doctor who said I needed an exam, so I scheduled one. I told him what I was dealing with and he said he wasn't sure, but he thought I had Lupus. So, he took blood and I found out just before Thanksgiving that I did have both Systemic and Discoid Lupus. I was referred to a specialist and he confirmed the diagnosis and commented on my "mask", which only happens in Lupus.

I followed all the guidelines for lessening Lupus and for three years stayed home, until my last blood test showed my sed rate was finally down.

I went back to work after seven years. I worked at a restaurant that made pizza and, me loving pizza, started to eat a lot. I gained weight and had more diarrhea. The odors got worse. My allergies did, too.

In 2000 my husband told me he was tired of seeing me suffer, so he offered to pay half the price of an office visit to see another doctor. I told the new doctor my symptoms and he said he wasn't sure, but he thought I had Celiac Disease.

He told me to avoid wheat, rye, barley and oats and I would be ok. I switched to potatoes and corn and three days later, no diarrhea! My complexion, which had been spotty, started to clear up. My body odor quit. I started to lose weight.

I found out later your face is a good place to look because that is where intestinal problems will show up. The body odor indicated I was allergic to wheat and my body was excreting the toxins in my perspiration.

The weight loss? I am type O blood. Wheat is among many items which are metabolic inhibitors, which means they cause the pancreas to secrete less insulin and the carbs, which are usually converted to glucose, are instead converted to fat cells which locate themselves strategically.

The cold hands and feet were caused by Raynaud's Phenomenon, which in my case was aggravated by food allergies.

The distended abdomen was caused by my kidneys, which had been being bombarded for years with my asymptomatic Lupus, to go along with my damaged intestines from Celiac disease. The joint pain was a joint deal with wheat, my lupus and Celiac disease.

I found out this year (2009) that in addition to wheat, rye and barley I have added spelt, dried beans, chili peppers and soy. They all bother my Celiac disease. I am allergic to cow's milk.

All my food allergies cause me a runny nose or draining sinuses, bags under my eyes, red ears or cheeks, body odor, asthma, fluid in my right ear and fatigue.

I am a Hunter GenoType, which was discovered by Dr Peter J D'Adamo. The books by Dr Doris Rapp, paediatric allergist, (retired) clued me in on why I looked and felt the way I did; Dr Peter H R Green about Celiac Disease, and about how it affects the body, the other auto-immune diseases it clusters with: and by Dr D'Adamo who steered me towards the foods my blood type, and later GenoType, should stay away from.

My body is getting increasingly snitty about what I put on it, in it or around it. I am allergic to chemicals, petroleum products, perfume, smoke, dust, mold and mildew and many other things I can't think of at the moment. I have the reactive immune system of the Hunter. I hope this information helps someone else.