Welcome to the world of gluten!

Gluten is a protein naturally found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye which have been consumed by humans for centuries. Wheat in particular, when ground in to flour contributes, to the global production of everyday foods such as bread, cakes, biscuits, pastry and pasta. Believed to have been first cultivated in the region known as the “Fertile Crescent“ around 9600 BCE, it is thought that wheat is now grown on more land area on the planet than any other crop.

In 2019 I was leading a normal life eating and drinking whatever I chose without a thought about allergies, intolerances or indeed my dietary requirements. This included alcohol consumption at weekends usually in the order of eight cans of lager on a Friday and Saturday night. It was one Saturday in the autumn that I started feeling unwell after a particularly heavy drinking session the Friday night before. I assumed this was just the usual hangover symptoms but they seemed to last all day and strangely exacerbated by eating. Dismissing it as a one off I abstained until the following weekend. The following Friday fewer drinks were consumed but the same result on Saturday. This time I noticed another symptom that I can only describe as a “fizzing” headache on the very crown of my noggin‘. Over the course of a number of weeks, in the interests of science, I tried different lagers, different stores, ales and even switched to wine. No matter the quantity, brand or type I experienced the same results. (although drinking red or white wine made me feel ill for different reasons). Eventually my scientific experiment was down to one solitary lager at night but the following morning still brought on symptoms of having drank 10. Other feelings I experienced during the week were lethargy and extreme tiredness. There was no doubt I needed to seek medical advice so promptly booked an appointment with my G.P. The appointment resulted in inevitable blood tests and while I awaited the results one mealtime turned out to be the proverbial smoking gun. Beer battered fish now seems an obvious food to avoid but having no clue what my ailment was I happily scoffed the lot. Within an hour I broke out into a cold sweat and writhed around the floor in absolute agony, my insides feeling like I had swallowed a handful of needles. Now whether this had anything to do with any gluten or wheat intolerance is a matter of debate but I will never eat beer battered anything again and have never since.

The results of my blood tests showed extremely low levels of vitamin D, which would explain the tiredness (I’m not sure what my levels were but I was put on an intense course of vitamin D supplement of 20,000 units per day). The surprise of the blood test was when the doctor told me “you also have Coeliac Disease” WHAT!! The rest of the conversation was a bit of a blur, my levels weren’t massively high but significant enough to produce and explain my symptoms.

So here I am in the world of gluten free living with awful tasting bread, high fat content alternative food and bugger all choice at motorway services. My wife has become the self appointed Gluten Police to keep me on the straight and narrow.

I appreciate I don’t suffer from this condition anywhere near as much as some poor souls who can’t even be in the immediate vicinity of wheat products without developing a rash or becoming ill or the long term sufferers who didn’t have the choice of alternative foods or information we have now. I hope to post more in the very near future and share my experiences of gluten free living hoping others will share theirs too.