Gluten Allergy - Yes I have it!

I had heard this word when I was in US, but never bothered to know more about it. It is one of those things that do not interest you much. Little did I know that this word would change my life drastically. Gluten allergy, yes I have it. The count was 385 as on Sep 29, 2012. The count for a non gluten allergy whereas lies between 0-10.

How did it happen? Even I don't know. I had these on going stomach problems but not so huge that I could not handle. I could not eat out much as I was prone to food-poisoning. I had amoebiasis at the age of 10 I guess (my sister would remember it right). I have always loved eating fruits. I had disciplined habits concerning my food. I'm not a junk food eater, so why did it happen? I still wonder. For now, let me put it to some bad karma of my past life.

How did I figure it? I was having some stomach problems again and it varied to extremes. One night I woke up crying with a severe stomach ache. To rush me into emergency, Anu took me to the closest  hospital (a government one). After a day of being admitted, I had a bad experience with the doctor on round. So decided to leave the hospital in a rush without getting doctor's closure. Next day got an appointment with the Gastroenterologist. He started with endoscopy, colonoscopy and then some blood tests. This took around 2-3 weeks. And when I went to collect the last of my reports (TTGA result) it came positive. I knew something bad had happened. I still waited to show the report to the doctor. Once I showed it to him, he glance at it and said you will have to quit Wheat for the entire remaining life. You can now never have it. At that time I found his words like a sword piercing my stomach. My whole world came shattering in front of me.

The Aftermath; For some this may be meaningless  as they would have had bigger problems in life. But, for me that day was a dooms day. I was trying to hold back my tears all through the way from the hospital back to office. I controlled myself while talking to my folks, to Anu. I went to the washroom and cried my heart out. I had a trip coming to Europe to meet Dhruv after a 6 month separation. I decided to enjoy it to the fullest and once am back start my gluten free life. I had the best pizza in this world in Naples :)

After coming back, the struggle started to learn to eat non wheat roti, as that is what comprises my staple diet (roti). So i started trying Jowar, Bajra, Soya, Rice flours. It was a major battle for me. I was crying all over my roti as I could not make one. it just refused to roll and kept breaking. After struggling for a month, I just happened to find "Zero G" Gluten free atta. I was on top of the world. After days of suffering, I could now eat proper roti. And so I officially became gluten free. After following this regime for 6 months and before moving to US, I decided to have a tTG-IgA (gluten allergy/coeliac disease) test again. This time my count was 25.

The second phase of struggle came when I landed up in US. So now I have gluten allergy and to add on I am a pure vegetarian. I do not have eggs (in any form) or chicken or meat or fish or any other living item. Also, there was no "Zero G" Gluten free atta here. And so my struggle began again. I tried all pure forms of Jowar atta, but alas it was a failure. Meanwhile I also ordered atta ("Zero G") from India. Can you imagine? :D. Slowly I visited various websites where they taught how to make Gluten free atta. So now I have achieved this feat - Jowar+Xanthum+CornStarch= my roti. I'm used to this roti now, though wheat roti's smell and taste still lingers on (as I still make wheat roti's for Dhruv).

Meanwhile, I've also learned to make egg less gluten free chocolate cake :-). Maybe one day I'll eat a bit of wheat roti once am in the range 0-10 on my gluten allergy.

Amen!!