Houston, I Think I Have a Disease Not a Problem

In February 2014, my dad was diagnosed with Celiac Disease.  Not knowing anything about this disease, I did a little research and quickly realized that I had a lot of the symptoms.  I noticed that you could get blood work done to determine if you possibly had Celiac Disease.  Since I work as the assistant principal at an elementary school, where germs are passed around as much as a basketball on the playground, it wasn't long after my research before I found myself in the doctor's office with a bug of some sort.  While there, I asked the PA (who I absolutely love) to run a Celiac blood screening.  It was obvious that she was humoring me when she agreed to run the tests and then decided that we needed to "make up" symptoms so that insurance would cover the screening.  Hmmmm...no need to make those up!  Bloated stomach, exhaustion, 5 pound weight gain some days from the morning to the evening, constipation...need I go on!  As I left, she said that she would call me with the results.  A few days later, my PA called me and started off by saying, "Well Kristin...You never cease to amaze me!  You tested positive for the screening, so I am going to refer you to a gastroenterologist for more in depth testing."  When I hung up, thoughts of the foods my dad was no longer allowed to eat starting flying through my mind!  How would I ever be able to live without McDonald's bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits, cheese, ranch, and bacon fries, and those delicious Southern banana sandwiches with mayonnaise on white, soft bread?  These terrified thoughts lead me to my first stupid decision...it was time to get gluten wasted!!!  For the next week, I ate everything I could find with gluten in it.  All of my favorite carb-filled foods found their way into my stomach...and my body began to react!  I had never been so tired in all of my life!  I barely made it through the work day, hurried home to take a nap, vegetated in front of the TV, and fell asleep early.  I also noticed that my pants weren't fitting the same at night as they did in the morning and my stomach looked like I was pregnant.  (Even a parent at school congratulated me on my baby!)  Thank goodness, after a week, I came to my senses and scaled back the gluten to a normal amount.  I began looking forward to my gastroenterologist appointment with mixed feelings about whether Celiac Disease was something I could handle...