Endoscopy

I have to admit – I don’t know if I actually have celiac disease. That should probably be made clear before I get too far into this blog all about Gluten Free Food. A few years ago, I was food allergy tested and told I was allergic to wheat, rye & barley – or gluten. At the time, I didn’t even know it was a disease. The doctor just recommended a diet that excluded gluten. It took me awhile to figure it out, but after almost a year, I went gluten free. I never had the biopsy. Until last week.

When I started school at Stanford last year, I looked into the specialty clinics here and found a Celiac Sprue Clinic run by Dr. Gary Gray & Dr. Gail Pyle. What with my great Cardinal Insurance thru school, it only cost me a $10 co-pay to see a specialist. I gave Dr. Pyle my whole medical history – told her about how my health had slowly declined, how my brother had juvenile diabetes, my mother had thyroid problems… etc. And she asked if I had a biopsy. Nope. At the time I should have had one, I didn’t know anything about it. I was living in Europe trying to figure out this whole gluten-free thing, and doing a very bad job of it. It wasn’t until I was back home in the states, that I realized I should have had a biopsy. And by that time, I had already been gluten-free for a number of months, and well on my way to healing my intestines and my body. I would like to mention, that I was feeling great by this time, except for the few times when I got a hold of some wheat accidentally and felt like I had the flu for a day while my immune system took care of everything.

I had been truly gluten free for over 2 years when I went to see Dr. Pyle. I had the blood tests done to test for antibodies and for the genes. No antibodies (no gluten in my diet), but I did have one of the genes. But these were still not conclusive results for celiac disease. Dr. Pyle wanted me to go on her “gluten challenge,” which consisted of eating the equivalent of 3 pieces of bread every day for at least 6 weeks. I honestly thought she was crazy. There was no way I was going to risk being ill for 6 weeks while I was getting my masters at Stanford, but at the same time I wanted to actually know if I had it. I decided to put it off – I said “next summer.” So, this past summer, I started eating wheat again. It wasn’t as bad as I expected. I never had the horrible stomach cramps like I expected. Was I run down? Maybe. Did my health change? A bit. I am always really conscious of how I am feeling and what is going on in my body. I know I slept a lot more this summer than I usually do. I know there were days when I was more tired than I should have been. But do I actually have celiac disease? I have no idea.

I do know that wheat will never be a big part of my diet. I know that it’s not good for me and that it doesn’t make me feel great. The last 2 years of being gluten-free taught me a lot about healthy eating and what is truly good food. Wheat, breads, pastas; they are all just filler to me. I’d rather eat a lot of other things. (Well except for beer. There is nothing like beer, and I will truly miss it if I have celiac disease.) So even if the results of my endoscopy and my blood test come back negative – I will still cut gluten out of my diet.

But for anyone who is curious what it is like to get an endoscopy – it’s not that bad. Far easier than I expected. They wheeled me into the procedure room, started my IV, and sprayed some numbing stuff on the back of my throat. It smelled like bananas, but tasted like bad whiskey. That was probably the most unpleasant part of it. Then once the antithesia kicked in, Dr. Gray put a tube in my mouth and I swallowed the scope. They say you’re not supposed to remember the procedure, but I did. It felt funny, this little scope poking around in my stomach. It made me think I had a little animal running around in there. I really wanted to see the tv screen while he was taking the samples, but I was facing the wrong direction. It can’t have lasted more than 15 minutes. As the drugs started to wear off though, the scope down my throat started to choke a bit and I wanted to get it out. And then he was done – and I feel asleep for a few minutes, and was out in the recovery area. Really an easy procedure. So don’t be worried if you have to go in for one.

I’m still eating wheat for a couple more days. I go in for another blood test tomorrow to check for the antibodies (IgA). I’m glad to be going to a clinic, which specializes in Celiac Disease so I can figure this all out. Either way the results come back, I think I’ll be happy. If positive, then I know what I have, and I have a clear line of action to take – no gluten whatsoever. I’m accustomed to eating and living gluten free, so I can easily go back to it. If it’s negative, it means my health is not at risk, and I don’t have to worry about food contamination or accidentally eating gluten. And I can drink beer…