To find out more you can check out their site at MyCeliacID.com – the test runs you $329 and you can purchase online.  It’s great if you do not have insurance and/or you do not want to pay a hefty fee for your doctor to suggest and start testing for Celiac Disease.  Also unlike other Celiac tests – this test will show up positive for Celiac even if you have been on the gluten free diet for some time (other tests will show negative for anyone following a gluten free diet).  I think this is a great discovery for people who may have Celiac Disease!

**Remember that just because you test positive for having the Celiac genetics – does not 100% guarantee that you actually suffer from Celiac Disease.

I really have no idea what I could have possibly of eaten…the only thing out of the ordinary was some decaf coffee I got from a 7-11 yesterday.  I used regular sugar and some coffee creamer (one that I know if gluten free) so I am at a loss of what else could of caused these annoying (and painful) blisters.

When I was younger and this would happen I would freak out and believe that I had cold sores or something horrible.  Thankfully today I understand that these painful, itchy blisters are caused by a gluten allergic reaction called Dermatitis Herpetiformis.  Dermatitis Herpetiformis or Duhring Disease is”…characterized by grouped excoriations; erythematous, urticarial plaques; and papules with vesicles.”  according to emedicine.medscape.com.  Most places that are affected are on the buttocks, elbows, knees, shoulders and back.  However mine always appear on my lips (rare, but I have heard of other Celiac sufferers having it appear here as well.)  Also according to “Understanding Dermatitis Herpetiformis or Duhring’s Disease” a treatment called “Dapsone” (an antibiotic) has been known to help people suffering from Dermatitis Herpetiformis.

Personally I have never tried Dapsone, usually mine will clear up on its own in about a week or so.  I have also tried holding a wet caffeinated tea bag between my lips (when they got really bad).  Tea contains Tannin, which has anti-inflammatory effect.  It worked pretty well for me…otherwise I’m pretty much just stuck with blistering lips that itch and burn for a week.  Keeping them moisturized with petroleum jelly seems to help too so I don’t feel they scrap together.

So here goes another week of swollen and blistering lips…fun fun.

Personally I wake up most days with semi-dark under eye circles along with my right under eye always looking a bit puffy compared to my left eye.  Normally I just put some under eye concealer on and they look alot better.  Or if it’s really bad I like to use a cold compress – like a cold washcloth and hold it on my eyes for 10 minutes for any puffy eyes.  However despite getting a good 8-9 hours every night of sleep, I’ve been waking up with darker than usual under eyes along with the right eye looking more puffy then what I’m used too.  So today I have finally had enough of this since even the concealer is starting not to work and I still feel tired after a good nights sleep.  Today I did some research on dark under eyes to puffy under eyes and I found out some interesting things, possibly related to Celiac Disease.

I started by looking at Wikihow.com on how to get rid of under eye circles.  It gives you some ideas on how to possibly cure bad under eye circles (even though sometimes it can unfortunately be hereditary in which case there’s not a whole lot you could do).  There advice consists of Cold Wash Cloth, frozen Q-tip rolled on your under eye, getting enough consistent sleep and so on.  However I was surprised to read that under the “Allergies” part that someone mentioned Celiac Disease and that “People with allergies also tend again to be deficient in B6, folic acid and B12 on occasion“.  Now of course this is more prevalent with those not diagnosed for their allergy.  But I wondered if you could be gluten free and still have problems absorbing these different vitamins?  Again I looked up to see if there was possibly any link with persons with Celiac Disease having issues absorbing B12.  First article I found suggested yes on Celiac.com.  The next on dizziness-and-balance.com suggests that a cause of B12 deficiency could be from “stomach and small bowel disorders“.   And yet on on another site (diagnose-me.com) states that “Another cause is the bowel failing to absorb vitamin B12 because it has been damaged by disease (e.g. Crohn’s disease) or shortened by surgery (usually to treat bowel disease).“  Which leads me to conclude that after someone having Celiac Disease so long it could have been damaged enough to cause problems with absorbing B12 (and possibly other vitamins).  You can read more about Vitamin B12 Deficiency on WebMD.com.

Now I’m just observing this connection to B12 Deficiency and Celiac Disease- I’m not saying that you will have a B12 Deficiency if you have Celiac Disease, but possibly something to look into if you have any symptoms of B12 Deficiency or you suspect you aren’t absorbing vitamins like you should.

So What’s in them?

The first bottle is called “Total Body Purifier“  to clean and stimulate your digestive system with special herbs.  The second bottle is called “Colon Clear Formula” which cleans your colon and remove toxins.  So I read the ingredients and besides a bunch of herbs there wasn’t any clear indicators for wheat…plus at the bottom in bold said Contains: Soy (normally where wheat or gluten would be listed).

What I did.

Monday morning I took one of each pill with a full glass of water and a meal (Chocolate Chex).  I didn’t really notice any difference after the first 30 minutes, but then all of a sudden my stomach cramped and I couldn’t even sit myself up I was in so much pain.  Then I felt like a could throw it back up like something was burning in my throat and my mouth was filling with saliva (like when your about to throw up-gross I know).  After laying down for 4 hours in terrible pain it worked but I still had pain for another hour.  I ended up eating some eggs and drinking water- which helped and my stomach felt somewhat better.

I again took them with dinner because I read online that some people feel sick for the first few days when they start to take them and that the body has to adjust to it.  Again 30 minutes later I started to feel awful, only this time it was 10 times worse, it hurt to breathe, I could not sit up my stomach was cramping, felt like I had a fever and I felt so dizzy like I could pass out.  I described to my husband that it felt like I had just eaten a loaf of bread that had wheat in it.  I spent hours in the bathroom and laying down in bed feeling so horrible.  About 7 hours later I ate some crackers and water which seemed to help but my stomach was extremely bloated and it felt like someone has punched me in the stomach over and over again.  Least to say I did not take them the next morning.

Barley Grass?

This brings me to the Barley Grass part of my post.  I looked at the bottles and read them thoroughly (I will admit I did somewhat “skim read” ingredients in the store) and I found it listed Barley Grass Powder as an ingredient.  And I though “huh, Barley isn’t gluten free…so what is Barley Grass Powder and why isn’t it listed as gluten??”.  I Googled “barley grass power (leaf) does it contain gluten”.  And most everything pointed to Barley Grass being Gluten Free.  Finally I looked up “does barley grass contain gluten” which gave me some conflicting answers.

On natural-nutrition-for-health.com they have an article about how Barley Grass in in fact Gluten Free because Barley Grass power is harvested before the grain stalk has started to develop- therefore making it gluten free.  However Celiac.com has a forum where someone asked the same question and people seemed to say that it is not gluten free because there was such a risk for contamination.  Also on neurotalk.psychcentral.com and on their forum someone with the user name aklap (the last answer) gave alot of great links of how Barley Grass is in fact not gluten free.

Conclusion.

Overall I have concluded that Barley Grass is not gluten free, even though colon cleanse companies claim otherwise.  Also on a side note- the same goes for wheat grass in what research I found.  Now of course there were those (very few) who said they were Celiac and they felt fine after eating barley grass.  But I would seriously beware of the stuff.  I found it to not be a pleasant experience and a lesson to not skim long labels

Even now I do find it somewhat challenging to find beauty products that do not contain wheat.  Especially when it comes to any lip color.  Since most come without packaging some do not list their ingredients, and even some that are wheat free I still have reactions with.  Just last night I used Love my lips SPF 20 Chapstick and today my lips feel like wax, they will just not stay hydrated no matter how much Vaseline I put on.  Vaseline has actually become one the only chapstick I can find that will not leave me with an allergic reaction where my lips become either a. bumps that last a week, b. feel like wax, or c. become so dry they crack.  The other chapstick I have found that does not irritate my lips is Carmex, the cherry kind. I have tried the regular and strawberry ones but they also make my lips feel like wax and hurt to move them.  Also the cherry has SPF 15 and it doesn’t seem to bother me, sun screen is a whole other issue…leave that for another time.

-Jessika