From: Debi

Hello all,

  I was SCD without knowing it, back in Oct, because that was what I would tolerate. Meat and vegis, I was following www.mercola.com diet. I thought I had celiac disease and thought that I should be able to have some rice bread and I started having a potato every once in a while. I did fine for a little while, then I had a lot of rice bread and rice in one week and starting relapsing, right before Christmas. I need help. The Gastro MD wants me to have a ton of testing including a gluten challenge (no way!). The ND recommends allergy testing ($700.00) I feel I react to even a warm bath! I just need to get better~.

                         This is my story,
I have aways been sick, in fact, my childhood is much like I have seen written on http://breakingtheviciouscycle.info about children who were moody, irritable and withdrawn. I had stomach pain that the doctors never did much about and I learned to live with.I remember my stomach cramping as I walked to school. As a teenager I was even more moody and very depressed. I was given antidepressants and told I had a depressive illness (later bi-polar) the medications never really controlled it. I dropped out of high school. I had episodes of losing weight without trying and of not being able to eat. Even though I didn't feel depressed, just tired and listless. I finally learned to accept that my stomach was 'sensitive' and that I needed tums or baking soda all the time (even though they didn't help a lot). I got worse while trying to lose weight on a low-fat high-carb diet, and went back on anti-depressants, which helped a little but I was still having stomach problems, either being so hungry I couldn't stand it (and overweight) or having a lack of appetite. My stomach was always bloated, I just thought I needed more situps or that the pain was from endometriosis (like the doctors said) but was worse instead of better during my pregnancy's.

 Later I learned that I could control the depression with B vitamins. I stopped the anti-depressants, and still was ok, but having even more intestinal problems. I went to several doctors including naturopathic doctors. No one really did much for me. I did a whole lot of crazy things in the name of healing and charged up thousands of dollars on credit cards, desperately trying to gain my health. Nothing helped for long. (Not one of the doctors,  naturopathic docs, mentioned diet).

Anyway in Sept. I had some bad meat at a chinese buffet. From that day on I slowly got worse, I was so nauseas I thought I was pregnant (not). I lost 22lbs in 2 months. One MD said it was stress and gave me anti-depressants (I never took them). My heart would race if I didn't eat every 15 minutes ( was having a rice protein shake at the time). I woke up at night vomiting with
diarrhea and racing heart. After that I would sleep for a few more hours. Mornings were the worst, I had times that I thought I would die.I have 3 young kids and I would keep 911 on speed dial so that if I felt I would pass out I could call quickly for help. Food did help, but sometimes made it
worse. I finally realized that I could not tolerate any grains and two good friends said 'sounds like celiac'. So I started the mercola diet of meat and vegis, and slowly got better. Thought raw vegis and fruits as he suggests made me worse. When I had hidden bits of gluten or later carrageen, I went nuts, even suicidal.

My insides felt like they were going to burst they feel like they are in a vibrating vice grip, I have to move and can not sit still. I was keeping a food journal and could trace every reaction I had to gluten or carrageen. I was very careful about what I ate. My reactions are mostly mental at first
(depressed) then physical (tummy) for the next several days. Reading about autistic children on http://www.scdiet.net list I can identify with some of them and how they must feel. This has been a very scary thought for me.

My body is like the pictures you see in the medical journals of 60 year old women (I am 33) sagging, wrinkled and no muscle tone. I feel like I'm 80.

Somehow I heard about the SCD and read her website, something clicked in me. It just made sense. I ordered the book and yogurt maker and started what I could a day before Christmas. (chicken soup for 5 days, as I reacted to the farmers cheese). My biggest mistake is wanting to add food back too fast. Even today I should not have had the meat, it was not on the 'schedule' for
a couple more weeks. I am sometimes so hungry or craving different food that it is so hard to resist, even legal food.

I can eat: chicken, cooked onions, carrots, all kinds of squash (seeded and peeled), ghee (not butter), sunflower seeds, pumpkins seeds (I know that I shouldn't until 3 months but I don't react and try to keep it to only when I am out and getting hungry). I tried beef tonight, so far so good, but I did overeat (it was so goooood!) and am feeling a little bloated. Sometimes I have to have a food a couple of times in a row in order to react. I reacted to the cows milk yogurt and then the goats milk yogurt, I am going to try the customprobiotics.com to see if it is the milk in the Yogurmet yogurt starter. I have been back on the strict diet for the last 4 days, and am finally feeling better. Right now I am taking acidophilus (SCD legal), and have had two days were I have had a BM on my own, without enemas. I consider
this a great sign of healing.

Thank you all, Debi Un'dx SCD 12-23-03 PS