I just have to share with you a story about my 17 year old son Chris. I still call Christopher his given name but he prefers Chris. Any way, he had a motorcycle accident in January, going over the handlebars and flipping over landing on his neck. Ouch! He was sore for a few days but then he healed and seemed to move on. Jump forward four weeks later and he is experiencing sever back pain. Off we go to get X-Rays no fractures. Yeah.
So a long time friend and client is a Chiropractor in Redlands. I took Chris to Dr. Phillips at Redlands First Chiropractic and he begins treatment. Now jump forward with me 4 and a half months. He is still under treatment with Dr. Phillips. I walk into his room early one morning and I say to Chris “you’re losing weight” and his response “I know”. I told Chris that I would be joining him on his Dr. visit that day.
So off we go to Dr. Phillips office. As we patiently wait for our turn in walks Dr. Phillips who is startled to see me and says “am I in trouble” and my answer is “maybe”. I go on to explain that Chris has been under treatment for 4 and a half months and if anything his back pain is worse. In addition I inform the Dr. that my son tells me this morning that his stomach has been jacked up for a couple of years off and on never bothering to tell his parents there was an issue.
Dr. Phillips ponders this for a moment and then says “before we do any expensive and invasive treatment lets take Chris off gluten”. “Huh” I say. He then explains that he himself has “Celiac Disease” which is an inherited, autoimmune disease in which the lining of the small intestine is damaged from eating gluten and other proteins found in wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats. Dr. Phillips then suggests that we remove all gluten from Chris’s diet for a couple of weeks.
So off he and his mother go to Trader Joe’s to stock up on some things that he can eat that are gluten free. That was a Monday morning a month ago. By Thursday of that week he was pain free and his stomach was fine. What a relief for his mother and I. But, in the coming weeks would find out that Chris is hyper-sensitive to gluten. In fact, if there is any gluten in the food or bread touches the meat and it is removed Chris has a flare up. That is why we are trying to get Chris scheduled for a very invasive test to determine if he in fact has the disease and not just a gluten intolerance.
The reason this is important is that people with Celiac need to remove more than just gluten or their colon will be slowly eaten away. Celiac patients who don’t follow a more restricted diet have a shorter life span. Now we don’t want that. So what is the test. The only real way to know if he has it is to go into the colon and take a tissue sample. The problem is not the test (they put you out for it) it’s that you have to load up on gluten for a few days and intentially make yourself sick. Yuk. Any way I wanted to share our experience as some of you might have the same autoimmune or inflammatory issues.
Now go out and make a great day!