I had always thought of making a food travel blog, but I never had the chance to start one. When I had originally wanted to start my blog I was living happily traveling and eating just about anything and everything. My friends always joked about how I would always order french toast when we would go out to brunch. I loved bookmarking pictures of food and restaurants I wanted to try on my Instagram and made lists of restaurants before I went on trips. I have always been indecisive, but when it comes to travelling, I turn into a hardcore planner. Planning out what I wanted to do and where I wanted to eat has always been exciting for me. I never once thought about going on a diet or changing how I ate for a second.
I Became Allergic to the Cold
I was a pretty healthy child growing up rarely getting sick and barely any allergies, but that changed my junior year of high school. Junior year was when my first health issue was sprung upon me. I am still not quite sure if this was related to my celiac or not as I was diagnosed two years after, but some online research that I did myself suggested it could be. As strange as it sounds, I became allergic to the cold. Living in California you wouldn’t think I would get reactions to the cold because it only gets to about 50 degrees at its lowest in Orange County, but when it was anything below 60 degrees, I would break out in hives. No matter if I was wearing pants or long sleeves, I would still develop these itchy hives under my clothes. I remember going to school on a Thursday when we had to wear skirts and I would have hives all over my legs and I couldn’t do anything to prevent them. Taking an antihistamine was my best bet, but I still would develop these hives.
I started going to the doctor to figure out what caused this allergic reaction suspecting it was allergies, even though I had not experienced bad allergies before this. I first went to a nurse practitioner and she told me that she was under the impression that I had cold urticaria. She then sent me to visit an allergist and have me tested for it. The way that they test for cold urticaria was by putting an ice cube on your skin to see if you develop the hives. When they did this test on me, my skin didn’t have the reaction you would normally have for the test to be conclusive so they told me I did not have cold urticaria. At this point I just decided I was going to have to live with the hives and hope it got better once it got warmer in the summer. I just thought to myself It could be worse and at least I don’t have diabetes like my brother or other autoimmune diseases that my mom has like lupus, sjogrens, and vitiligo.
When summer came around, my allergic reaction to the cold completely disappeared and has not come back since. I was very confused by how this could just magically go away, but cold urticaria can resolve on its own overtime so I concluded that I probably did in fact have cold urticaria.
Doctors Over Prescribed Me Antibiotics:
I did not seem to have any problems after my cold urticaria until senior year of highschool when I got sick with my first sinus infection. At the time, I was confused by how sinus infections were different from just a regular cold, but I definitely know the difference now. Since my first sinus infection, I had numerous more, too many to even count on both hands. I was plagued with a new sinus infection practically every month. As antibiotics appear to be the only medicine doctors know how to prescribe these days, I was put on just about every antibiotic they have. After I would explain one antibiotic was not working for me anymore, the doctors just assumed I became resistant to one so they would prescribe me a different one. Finally, I was put on a two week antibiotic that worked and I thought finally my sinus infections are gone for good… I was so wrong.
I soon was off to college finally feeling healthy again, but that feeling did not last long. After my first few weeks of college, a new sinus infection had taken over. I explained my plague of sinus infections and how I seem to be resistant to antibiotics now to each new doctor I visited; but of course, they still just prescribed me more antibiotics. Once again they did not work and I was back at the doctor the next week, which you can assume how that went. After my second round of antibiotics in my first month of college, the doctor told me, “You know, I think you need to see an ENT, I don’t think antibiotics is what you need.” If only she could have told me that before the two rounds of antibiotics that probably destroyed my insides…
Now onto the Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor I went, hoping for a solution this time. This doctor proceeded to stick metal rods up my nose to examine me. He told me, “It doesn’t look like anything is wrong inside your nose. I would just suggest using a sinus rinse everyday along with an antihistamine, mucinex, and nasal spray for allergies. You probably just have allergies. Do this everyday for at least a month and see if it helps.” As I had predicted, it did not help. This doctor then told me I should get a CAT scan to make sure there weren’t any tumors or cancer forming that were causing these problems. Once I had the CAT scan done, they told me there was “mild inflammation”, but otherwise everything looked ok.
At this point, I thought maybe the ENT was just bad I’ll just see a good one at home. I then found the best reviewed ENT back at home and made an appointment a month out since he was so booked already. I thought he must be good if he is that booked. When I visited this ENT he told me, “You know there is a lot of allergies out there in Colorado. I think the doctors just haven’t been putting you on long enough courses of antibiotics though so I’m going to give you a three week course to take along with nine days of steroids for inflammation.” STEROIDS?? MORE ANTIBIOTICS?? I was so frustrated at this point because I explained my history to each doctor, yet they still resorted to antibiotics. I had not given up hope yet though so I decided to give it a go. I was hopeful the longer course would work like it did before, but you can imagine how it went. After my three week long course I called my doctor to tell him it did not work. And what does he do? Prescribes me a ten day course, which of course was also unsuccessful.
My Chronic Sinus Infections Started Causing Me Anxiety
Now I was really giving up hope. It had been a year and a half with no solution. I really thought I would have to suffer with this the rest of my life. It really took a lot out of me having an ongoing chronic sinus infection and I felt like it was starting to define me. It was hard to even go out and have fun because I knew the next day I would wake up feeling worse than before. I was beginning to get brain fog and anxiety and always felt tired, which made it even harder to focus during school. I would be sitting in my classes and begin to feel dizzy and nauseous, which sometimes led to panic attacks. Some nights I would even have trouble sleeping because of my anxiety and panic attacks.
My Mom Got Me To Try Her Integrative Doctor
I really believed I had tried everything. My mom understood my struggle because she has dealt with her own chronic autoimmune diseases like lupus, sjogrens, and vitiligo everyday. She suggested I visit her integrative doctor who helped her discover her underlying autoimmune problems. I told her, “Mom, I have visited enough doctors. I really don’t think she is going to figure out what’s wrong with me. She will probably just prescribe me antibiotics like the other doctors did.” My mom explained that her doctor does extensive blood work, allergy tests, food sensitivities and tries more natural approaches before she decides to prescribes antibiotics. I was still skeptical about going to yet another doctor, especially a more holistic doctor, but I decided to fill out the elaborate thirty pages of paperwork and wait three months for my appointment.
My mom told me that her doctor was probably going to tell me I would have to change my diet and go on the paleo diet like she had to for her autoimmune diseases. I went to this new doctor, but first got in to see her assistant who had me get my bloodwork, food sensitivities, and allergies tested. She also did a nasal swab to test for bacterial or fungal infections. These tests took a little while to get back, but by my next appointment a month later, they were able to tell me my results.
How My Chronic Sinus Infections Led To Celiac Disease
Turns out, I had a colonization with the staph species in my nose. In other words, my sinus infections were not going away most likely due to bacteria that kept colonizing after antibiotic use.
Now I had believed I had found out what was wrong with me. A silver nasal spray was all I needed to get rid of my sinus infections once and for all. I finally met with the main doctor to hear the rest of my results. I remember walking into her office thinking I wouldn’t change my diet even if she told me to. She sat me down and started going over my results, which basically showed that I was relatively healthy with barely any allergies, and a few food sensitivities. I thought to myself wow no allergies! What were those other doctors thinking diagnosing me with without even testing them?? She then asked me if I eat gluten. At that point I began to worry. I told her yes and she responded, “Well you probably shouldn’t eat it anymore.” Hearing those words made my heart stop for a second. How could I not eat gluten anymore? Bread was practically all I ate. Toast for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, a side of bread with dinner. I thought this had to be a faulty test. The doctor told me my gluten antibodies were high and because of my family’s history with autoimmune diseases, I would need to get an endoscopy done to test for celiac, and if the test came back negative, I just had a gluten sensitivity. Either way, she told me I should never eat gluten again.
I was still in disbelief that my chronic sinus problems had led me to possibly being diagnosed with celiac. I had not experienced reactions like most celiacs (the throwing up, rashes, stomach aches), which is why I believed I had a gluten sensitivity and not celiac.
My Endoscopy To Test for Celiac
I had no other choice, but to get the endoscopy done so I did just that. A week later, I was told by the lady at the front desk of the endoscopy center that there was little to no damage in my stomach and that I did not have celiac. Boy was I relieved. I can cheat every once and a while and eat gluten! I thought.
I Was Misdiagnosed
About a week or two later, my integrative doctors office gave me a call and told me the results from the endoscopy and pathology, which looks at a piece of your intestine under a microscope to determine if you have celiac, lined up with marsh 1 celiac. In other words, the endoscopy office misdiagnosed me.
This did not really come as a surprise to me as I was used to being misdiagnosed over the past 2 years. I almost expected it. It was all starting to make sense now. The cold urticaria rash, which someone had once told me looked like a celiac rash; but why the chronic sinus infections? I was told sinus problems can be a result of a gluten allergy. Most likely, mine were caused by the inflammation from the undiagnosed celiac.
Adapting To The Gluten Free Diet
Now that I have been diagnosed with celiac, it has been a process adapting to a whole new lifestyle especially while being away at college. I started my gluten free diet when I came back to college after the summer. Moving into a new apartment and being around my four other roommates that eat gluten all day long has been especially hard for me. Trying to move in, the stress of what to eat and what not to eat, and having to read every food label made my anxiety and insomnia skyrocket. I never used to have anxiety until I began college and had all the reoccurring sinus infections, but it began to be a daily occurrence. Since the month of my diagnosis, my anxiety has begin to subside as I have adjusted to my gluten free lifestyle better.
Celiac Inspired Me To Make A Gluten Free Travel and Food Blog
The main reason I started my blog after all of this is because after becoming gluten free, I wished there was an easier way to determine if restaurants had gluten free options. I wanted to create a place for people to find gluten free restaurants, recipes, and snacks easier. I love eating out when I travel and I never want to give that up. I have always been passionate about photography especially when it comes to food so I decided to put those two passions together and create this travel food blog!
