Gluten Free Geek Ahoy!

For years, I’ve been getting sick.  For a while, it was a little sick, and a lot of my symptoms were attributed to other things.  The ulcer, yeah, that was a true one… but some other things just didn’t add up.  Nor did the broadness of my symptoms, which mostly started when I moved back into the Cincinnati area in 2004.  And then it happened.

At the end of 2013, scant months after moving back to the Midwest from New England following a year-long stint there, my whole body absolutely revolted.  Miserable cramps and bloating, muscle fatigue and an odd sensation I refer to as “jelly joints” (ever felt like your joints are tingly and not strong enough to hold you together? that’s jelly joints), foggy headedness, lethargy, headaches, and stomach pain.  I missed more work at a new job than I would’ve cared to, and so finally, I went to my doctor.

All signs pointed to the usually undiagnosed celiac disease.  I was told to start an exclusionary diet, since I was always very leery of needles anywhere near my person and wasn’t keen on a colonoscopy.  This was a week before my birthday, a little more than a week before Thanksgiving.  A little more than two months before the tri-state region’s “convention season” kicked off.

As a member of a very Southern household where comfort food, usually deep fried, breaded, and/or smothered in gravy, is the overall norm, I suddenly found myself facing two holidays with my family and no real way to say “so hey can we exclude gluten from this year’s festivities.”

It was awful.  The holidays I once enjoyed were now full of me draped over couches and chairs in pain because “a little gluten won’t hurt.”  In January, the case was pretty clear: I was completely intolerant of gluten.  Due to the misfortune of a doctor who only understood the basics (hence an exclusion diet prior to any blood work or the like), a blood test was inconclusive, but the shoe already fit.  All of my symptoms lifted with gluten excluded, so it was heavily recommended I keep wearing it.

While my friends have all been largely supportive, it’s been hard with a family that sees very little in the way of problems from food allergies or restrictions.  Of the few we do have, they tend to ignore it.  My mother, who gets itchy welts when she eats tomatoes (I get hives and the roof of my mouth aches for days!), still eats them because the reaction “just isn’t that bad.”  My father, who also has some gut problems when eating bread, ignores it because “it’s too hard to manage.”  Family members still insist “a little bit won’t hurt you” at family functions.

After all, I was always a foodie growing up.  I am particularly fond of gourmet grilled cheese- yum!  Give me pasta with delicious creamy sauces, or a pizza with that perfectly crispy thin crust, and I will be your friend for life.  Slow baked homemade macaroni and cheese?  I’m there!  So why now, in my 30s, would I cut out the things I loved so dearly as a child?  According to them, a serious illness is not the right reason.  Thanks for all your loving support, guys.

Then came my hobbies into the mix.  Being a geek and attending geek functions like conventions and gatherings and faires, or even going to the movies to see a new and much-anticipated film?  Well!  That just made it ten times harder.

My ultimate goal with this blog is to help other geeks suffering with celiac disease, gluten allergies, or non-celiac gluten intolerance navigate the tricky world of conventions and other events without fear.  There’ll be experiences of my own, anecdotes, and reviews of establishments I visit whenever and wherever I travel.

And you know, despite being a geek-themed blog, I hope I help other travelers a little bit as well.

Happy eating!