Diabetic and celiac success

wheelbreaksthebutterflies
wheelbreaksthebutterflies Posts: 32
in Food and Nutrition
Not sure where else to post this.

So, I stopped using MyFitnessPal a while ago because I was going through a tough time. I was extremely sick for a while, getting severe stomach aches, nausea, and intestinal problems whenever I ate. For a few days, I could not figure out what was wrong with me.

I was diagnosed in mid July with celiac disease. I have type one diabetes already (NOT the kind commonly associated with obesity), so I was very high risk for developing celiac. Blood tests in the past have shown that I was not celiac, and I figured I was off the hook. Doctors have said that if you are diabetic AND celiac, it will show in the first ten years of either one. I have been diabetic for eleven and a half years. I figured I was good at this point.

I'm pretty depressed that I am allergic to literally all of my favorite foods, but I am happy that I am down 11 pounds since going gluten free (the information on MyFitnessPal was off -- my home scale takes additional pounds off, and I forgot that when I updated my weight the last time). This is even without exercise -- just eliminating gluten has provided me with these results!

Now, I am NOT suggesting everyone go eliminating gluten from your diet, because you will not have any real benefits unless you have an intolerance. But eliminating gluten from my diet has me looking better, feeling better (no more allergic reactions!), and I use less insulin as a diabetic -- a hormone that makes it difficult to lose weight. In fact, I use an insulin pump (Medtronic Minimed 723, which holds 300 units of insulin at a time), and my mom and I are looking into a different pump that holds less (the OmniPod), because I'm using so little insulin now. You are supposed to change the infusion sets for an insulin pump about every three days, but because my pump holds so much insulin and I'm using so little, I can go for five before I need to change the site because it's almost out of insulin.

And here are some pictures for reference. I only have one after picture, unfortunately, since I'm so new to celiac, but I still think there's a pretty good contrast in just that one picture.

Before:
tumblr_ml7voioI9K1r7l229o1_500.jpg

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283342_4037033323702_1440444683_n.jpg

After:

970014_10200453429877783_306950793_n.jpg

Replies

  • JDHINAZ
    JDHINAZ Posts: 641 Member
    Thank goodness you have that figured out. And congrats for sticking with your diet. You look fantastic. Just smashing!!
  • wheelbreaksthebutterflies
    wheelbreaksthebutterflies Posts: 32
    Why, thank you. :) I pretty much have to stick with the diet, unfortunately -- no cheating, because not only will I feel bad about it in my head, but also everywhere else.

    Apparently, I've actually had celiac symptoms for two years now (started showing up about two weeks after the last time I had my blood drawn), but they were only noticeable in recent months. A very bizarre symptom of celiac is joint pain, which I've been experiencing for two years. My mom and I thought it was early onset arthritis -- definitely not.

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