On to stage Two

Thanks for the tips on finding a new way to eat while my diet is so restricted.

The doctor is pretty much convinced that I have a food issue, so for a month I need to keep a food journal and keep my restrictions. He did give me back dairy, however, and told me to hold off on everything else.

So, keep the ideas coming! Any help you can send my way that doesn't involve plain meat with a side of plain veggies is much appreciated.

Thanks oodles!

More Change on the wind

Ah, Change.

I always wonder why things can't just be stable with my health, but as many of us with auto-immune disorders know, that's not always the case.

In a frustrating turn of events, I've started to feel pretty lousy again, and my doctor put me on a new fast to rule out another food-driven issue. I am now restricted to eating only

• fruits
• vegetables
• meat
• fish

No dairy, no grains, no potatoes or corn (because I eat them both almost daily).

Good news: I've already lost 5 pounds.
Bad news: I have no idea how to cook...

So....  THE POINT of this little story is to reach out to those of you who may be vegetarians or who eat a wide variety of vegetable dishes. I like vegetables, I really do. But...

• I need carbs. I can't really function well or keep my blood sugar as stable as I like without them.
• I need variety. There's only so many salads I can handle.
• I need to stay away from soy and dairy. 
• I need to do this for at least 2 weeks.
• I need ideas. How do you keep variety and interest in what you eat? How do you keep your nutrition balanced?

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.  If you have a favorite reference, cookbook, website, or recipe you can share, that would be awesome.

My first food expo

Yesterday, the CNMC's Celiac Disease Program hosted their first annual Gluten-free food expo. I was so excited to be able to go! I didn't eat lunch, so that I'd have plenty of room for all the snacking, and - even though it was a small gathering - there was plenty to sample and tons of goodies to take with us.

For $5, I bought a red cloth bag (reminiscent of the grocery ones) in support of the CDP. By the time I left, it was nearly full. It was $10 to get in the door, and then the feasting, coupon gifts, free samples, business cards, and buying was ON!

Bard's beer, Tamari, Pamela's, Rudi's, Delight Magazine, General Mills, Choice Batter, Udi's, Glutino, and so many others were there. My favorite were the little personal businesses. I bought cream puffs and soft pretzels. I wish I could have taken home some of everything! There were several small business people from Pennsylvania, and they all said that they ship items.

For a first year event, it was very successful, I think. I can't wait to see how they work out the kinks and make it even better next year. (I may save up and stay for the cocktail party next year....)

Were you able to make it to the expo? What did you think of it?

A well-fed Mikki is a happy Mikki

Just for kicks, I checked the label of my favorite granola bar again while I was at the grocery store. Lo and behold: no more wheat! I can eat my Nature Valley granola bars again!

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

(Of course you have to be willing to eat oats... and I am.)

I've had 2 of the 4 kinds already, and yum, yum, yum. I am happy.
-sigh-

It's so awesome when I get back one of my favorite foods.

Yet another reason to <3 Ben and Jerry's

What's for Dinner Wednesday has changed names again

and is now What Can I Eat that's Gluten Free?

This week, we are focusing on cold treats, and so I am featuring Ben & Jerry's. My birthday was Sunday, and I love ice cream cake, but I haven't been able to enjoy any for a while. Ben & Jerry's is my new hero. See, the Dairy Queen, Carvel, and Maggie Moo's cakes all have a cookie crumble or cake layer or both, but Ben & Jerry's allows you to have a gluten-free cake.


You have two options: all ice cream or you can bring in your own filling. You can bring in cookies or brownies, whichever you like, and then you place a special order. The Ben & Jerry's that I visited had a binder at the counter that listed all the gluten free ice creams. I chose Phish Food and Vanilla, chose my cake style, and handed over my brownies. The clerk wrote "GLUTEN FREE - USE CUSTOMER BROWNIES" in the special instructions. Even better: we got a discount for bringing in our own brownies.

I came back a day and a half later to pick it up, and it looked good and tasted good, too.

Check the Ben & Jerry's website for a location near you!

I think I'm in love with Bette Hagman

For those of you who don't know, Bette Hagman is one of THE people to buy a cookbook from if you have celiac disease. I have tried recipe after recipe from her book The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Food and I have loved them all.

Today she saved me from a world with no pie. Yes, that's right, pie. I love pie. I spent years finding and perfecting the perfect pie crust, and then -poof!- no more pie for me! So very very very sad was I.

But take a look at this.

Isn't it just gorgeous?!

This is my deep dish strawberry rhubarb pie with a gluten-free crust. The crust was easy to work with, flaky, crisp, soft, and practically perfect. It's just going to take a little tweaking, and I think it will be just as good, if not better than, my original, wheat-filled crust!

Buy the book. Buy it. Now.


Here's my strawberry rhubarb pie recipe for you:
4 cups rhubarb
3 cups strawberry
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup corn starch

Place in your favorite pie shell. Brush top with beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar, if desired.

Bake at 425 for 50 minutes. Put a cookie sheet on the rack below the pie to catch any drips. Loosely cover pie with foil part way through baking to keep crust from burning.

It's a Celiac Miracle!

Well, maybe miracle is too strong a word. Or maybe my food life has just been more sad than I'm willing to admit. Either way, today was a good day.

First, breakfast. I had Cocoa Pebbles. Yup. Apparently everybody and their sister (including Rachel Ray) knew this already, but I had heard that Post had changed the recipe for Pebbles and had added barley malt, thus rendering it inedible to me. That was only for the Fruity Pebbles, though.

Here's the great part: Jim bought Cocoa and Fruity Pebbles for breakfast, and I picked up the Fruity Pebbles box to longingly peruse the ingredient list, pining and wishing the barley malt would not be on the list. AND IT WAS NOT! This of course prompted me to rush right to the web and check for the possibility that Fruity Pebbles were again gluten free, which led to my discovery that Cocoa Pebbles were, which led to my investigation of polydextrose (labeled as "fiber source"), which led to the discovery that polydextrose really isn't a fiber, but just more of a sugar/lubricant/thingy, which led to me eating one of my favorite cereals of ALL TIME for breakfast!

Tomorrow: Fruity Pebbles

(That may not seem so great to some of you, but I stopped eating cereal several years ago. I thought that the high amount of cold milk in the morning was making my stomach hurt. Silly me. It's fanTAStic to be able to eat some of my favorite cereals again and not hurt a bit.)

--------------------------------------------------------------

And if that wasn't enough, we checked out a new restaurant for dinner: T-Rex. Think Rainforest Cafe meets dinosaurs. Pretty great.

When I asked if a gluten-free menu was available, the staff said they could do one better, and one of the chefs came out to talk to me and walk me through what I could eat. Fully half of the menu was available, and he said that there were also several things that he could alter for me if I really really wanted them.

He said he would be making my dinner, and once I had ordered, he would come talk to me if I accidentally ordered something I shouldn't have. This turned out to be a good thing as the server forgot to make a substitution and accidentally left the gluten-filled side on the order. Oops! The chef popped out right away to check with me what I wanted in its place.

Awesome.

And the food was good, too!

Ugh - here we go again!

Yesterday, I missed my celiac post. Guess why?

Nope. No alien invasion.

Nope. No sick kids.

Nope. No good TV.

YES! Because I am dumb. I got glutinized. (whee) Back when I first was diagnosed, I was afraid to eat ANYTHING I didn't make myself. Even then, sometimes, I wasn't too sure. As I've come along these 9 months, I've become braver and started eating out again. Turns out that a dish I thought I had verified as safe is really not safe.

Wednesday night, I ate one of my favorites from the local Chinese place. It was SO good that I had two servings. I got a full 8 hours sleep, but woke exhausted the next AM. Weird, but whatever, right? I took the rest of the Chinese with me for lunch. After dinner, I crashed. I completely missed the rest of Thursday night. I slept, and slept, and slept. I slept so hard that I missed Jim leaving, coming home, leaving again, coming home again, working on video editing, Annie running a remote control toy, Jimmy coming in and out of the room.... I was asleep, face down in a pillow. According to Jim, he's never seen anyone actually sleep face down before.

I woke up long enough to watch a movie with Jim, and then went to bed. I woke up today feeling logy and I couldn't concentrate and I had trouble following complicated thoughts (aka brain fog) and my face was red and itchy and my insides ache and I'm having an acne breakout.

Ugh.

...and I was so happy that I didn't have a breakout this month, too.

Ugh.

Oh, my -- It all makes so much sense now.

I was reading one of the gluten-free blogs I follow: Gluten Free Homemaker. Linda wrote a post called "How Gluten Affects Me Mentally," and I swear it gave me chills because it reminded me SO much of problems I have had. (and sometimes still have! maybe I'm still getting gluten, even though I don't think I am?!?)

The part that got me the most was this:

"When gluten is carried by the blood to the brain, it causes problems. Dr. Fasano explained that the gluten molecule is similar to endorphins which, along with other things, give us a sense of well-being. The gluten molecules will dock where endorphins are supposed to dock. In effect, the gluten blocks endorphins and the positive feelings they can give us."

Translation: Gluten leaking into your system can turn you into an angry, moody, unhappy beast! Whoa. No wonder I felt so out of control.

My Celiac Journey -- Part IV -- Changes

Just beginning the series? Here’s what you’ve missed.

Part I -- The Diet Contest

Part II -- “You look allergic.”

Part III -- It was Thursday.

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Thanks for being understanding about my taking a break last week. I hope you’re enjoying my story. This episode picks up where Part III left off: I had just received my diagnosis after a series of Thursday appointments with my doctor. In the face of the unknown, my husband was comforting and encouraging. I was scared.

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From fear to uncertainty.

Once the initial trauma of a confirmed diagnosis passed, I had to face the fact that I really had no idea what to do to deal with my new requirements in life.

Celiac disease (if you don’t know already) is an autoimmune disorder. People with celiac are gluten intolerant. If we ingest anything made with wheat, rye, barley, or one of its derivatives, our bodies react by attacking the gluten. This attack occurs in the digestive system - the small intestine to be exact. For more info, visit the National Institutes of Health’s Celiac Awareness page.

I had to start my very own awareness campaign, reading web pages, books (thanks to my mom-in-law!), recipes, a listserve, blogs… anything and everything I could get my hands on. I had never heard of Celiac, much less met anyone else with it. I had no one to turn to, no one who had been there. I forged my own way through information towards knowledge.

(Need info? Email me! I’ll send you whatever you need.)

From uncertainty to training

I tried to approach this new phase of my life much like I approached being an athlete when in high school. I set aside time every day to work on this problem. I adjusted what I ate immediately, focusing on pure, whole, simple foods. I made it a priority, and strove to become the best -- the best cook, baker, shopper, experimenter, and researcher.

One of the first things I did was purge and sort my pantry. I gave away much of what I could no longer eat. Jim voluntarily gave up much of his gluten-filled foods to help me through the transition. It helped so much to have it almost completely out of the house for a while. For my favorite items, I went to the websites and looked them up. They were sorted into keep and don’t keep piles.

The first time that I went to the grocery store, my shopping time more than doubled: from one hour to about two and a half. I armed myself with lists of acceptable, questionable, and forbidden ingredients and additives. I took my kids with me for moral support. I took my cell phone. I took a cart full of patience.

Produce section: EASY! Woohoo!

Gluten free shelves! Hooray!

Gluten free macandcheese?!? AWESOME! ($4.25 a serving?!? SO WORTH IT.)

Dressings, marinades, and sauces. Oh, crap. From that spot forward, until I got to meats and dairy at the end, I was in super-slow crawl mode.

Many items I could quickly decide yes or no. All of the rest of the items I called the 800 number on the packaging. I asked for verification of gluten or no gluten. The customer service people -- ALL OF THEM -- were super helpful and most of them took my email address and sent full gf product lists to me.

That last paragraph doesn’t really capture the drudgery of this first trip. So many of my absolute favorite items went back on the shelf. So, so many. By the third aisle, I was in tears. Often, this scene was played:

One of the kids would bring me an item.
I would read the label while they stood in front of me, their little eyes fixed on my face, waiting.
Sometimes the wheat or barley was clearly labeled, sometimes I double checked my lists.
Then once of them would ask, “Well?” so hopefully.
My throat would close up, I would shake my head.
“Put it back,” I would whisper. “Put it back.”

Read, sort, repeat

Read, sort, repeat

Read, sort, repeat

From training to toddling

It wasn’t long - a week, maybe two - before I felt more in control. I started cooking with more confidence, ruined fewer dishes, started finding a little variety in my meals.

It WAS long before I was willing to try any sort of processed food, junk food, multiple-ingredient food, or mixed beverages. I was a purist for a long, long time.

It was hard, but it tasted good.

I felt good.

I looked good.

My skin was good.

My hair was shiny.

The shadows under my eyes faded.

The swelling in my gut disappeared.

I cheated once: when Little Ceasar’s pizza opened nearby. It was NOT worth it. I haven’t cheated since. It doesn’t matter how good something tastes: if it’s going to rip apart your digestive system, it’s NOT worth it.

Once I was comfortable with maintaining my new lifestyle, it was time to change again: from toddling to running. It was time to start experimenting. Oh, yes. Time indeed.

Celiac Disease has gone to my head (and wallet)

Just beginning the series? Here’s what you’ve missed.

Part I -- The Diet Contest

Part II -- “You look allergic.”

Part III -- It was Thursday

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Thanks for the comments last week. I'm glad you’re enjoying my story. This week, I don't have the next episode ready: It's been a crazy week. Instead, I'm going to share with you a current snippet of my life with celiac sprue.

****************************************************

I went to the grocery store today, and like I always do, I looked for new gluten-free products in the freezer case. I didn't really expect to find any; I don't shop at a specialty store or anything, so I usually just make do with what I can find or simply do without.

Today, I found two - TWO - technically FOUR if you count variants - new products! Oh, happy happy happy day. I almost did a little dance right there in the freezer section. I mean I would have, but I kinda forgot how joyful I felt in the midst of the shock. Three of the four items WERE ON SALE! $2.99 for a box of gluten free Van's toaster waffles! Oh, happy day!

So........

I bought these.

$6.95. Not on sale. TOTALLY worth it. I haven't had doughnuts since last spring.

And these.

And these.

This, my friends, is what we call "stocking up". Did I mention they were on sale?

Happy day.

My Celiac Journey -- Part III -- It was Thursday

Just beginning the series? Here’s what you’ve missed.

Part I -- The Diet Contest

Part II -- “You look allergic.”

****************************************************

Thanks for the comments last week. I hope you’re enjoying my story. This episode picks up where Part II left off: Tests and more tests. What was wrong with me, anyway?

****************************************************

How is it possible for life to move too fast and too slow all at the same time? It was about a month from that first Thursday visit when I met Dr. Schultz before I knew for sure what was going on with my body. The time dragged endlessly before me, but now, remembering, I can’t recall having had the time to do a thing. Where did the time go?

I had returned for my follow-up appointment. The tests had come back negative, just like they always had. Dr. Schultz was sure I that I was experiencing problems from something in my diet, and based on our conversations he decided that it was wheat that was bothering me. However, he was not sure that the wheat problem was actually an allergy.

He decided to let me try eating wheat, to judge my reaction to it. It was quite awful - all the ickiness I had been experiencing returned after just a day and a half of eating wheat. So Dr. Schultz tested me for Celiac Disease: a simple blood test would check for the two antibodies produced by those with celiac disease. It would just take a little while to run the tests. I went to the lab. The technician drew more vials of blood. It was a Thursday.

One week later, I was standing near the phone, talking with my husband, debating how long it would be before the test results came back. I had spent the week researching Celiac Disease and its effects, and I was stressed. I didn’t WANT to have an incurable auto-immune disease. (Who does, right?) At the same time, I couldn’t deny that I had many of the symptoms.

I think I was hoping for a simple allergy. We have some weird dietary allergies in my family - what was one more? I could picture us all, sitting around the table, trying to one-up each other’s allergies. Yeah.

The phone rang.

We tensed.

It was the doctor. The tests for both antibodies were positive. VERY positive. I hadn’t eaten wheat for weeks, except for two days when I added it back it to see if it would affect how I felt. Two days, and the results were super high.

I don’t know what I said on the phone. I remember the sunshine in the windows. I remember the look on Jim’s face. I remember hanging up the phone and saying, “Well! … I guess … Aw, crap.” And then I cried. I don’t remember him moving, but suddenly Jim was there and hugging me. It was going to be Ok. It was. We could do it. We could do it together. We could.

There are very few moments that are frozen in my memory. This added one more to my list.

It was Thursday.

My Celiac Journey -- Part II -- “You look allergic.”

Just beginning the series? Here’s what you’ve missed.

Part I - The Weight Loss Competition

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Thanks for the kudos last week. I hope you’re enjoying my story. This episode picks up where Part I left off: Was I being a hypochondriac or was something actually wrong with me?

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I couldn’t stop thinking about how, 2 years earlier, I had done some research and realized that I was showing symptoms of Bi-Polar Disorder. I had taken my fears to a psychiatrist, and he agreed with me. He started me on Lithium, which I hated, hated, hated. But it seemed to help. It was bad enough learning to cope with that. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to find out something else was wrong with me.

I lived in denial for as long as I could, making excuses for myself. Eventually, I could stand it no longer. That night I bit the bullet: I pulled up to my laptop and typed in WebMD.com. I started searching by symptoms:

1. Fatigue - slept about 9-10 hours a night and still needed an afternoon nap. Check.
2. Achy joints - even on warm days now, and can't write for very long anymore either. Check.
3. Strange, triangular flush/rash on my cheeks - and it's spreading now, too. Check.
4. Tenderness in my skin. Check.
5. Easily bruised. Check.
6. Blood sugar irregularities. Check.

WebMD came back with a variety of results: Rheumatoid arthritis, Cronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lupus. Wait. Lupus?! I pulled up the symptom checksheet for lupus. It wasn't a perfect fit, but it was really really close. I was terrified, but I just couldn’t bring myself to face another diagnosis like that. I kept talking myself out of going to see a doctor.

Then I got the Headache.

It wouldn't go away. It didn't matter what I took, it got worse and worse and worse. My co-workers and students questioned my health, I shrugged it off. One night I got a glass of wine to try to relax, not knowing that the tannins in red wine can actually cause headaches.

The pain in my head exploded exponentially, and I ended up in the urgent care, thrashing in the worst agony I had ever felt. I missed 2 days of work before it faded back to a steady ache. I had that headache for 2 weeks before I dragged myself to a doctor.

I needed a new doctor, so I searched for an office that had an endocrinologist on staff, just in case I did have Lupus (God forbid). I made the appointment, left a little early from work, and went to see Dr. Shultz.

Dr. Shultz looked like he should be a jolly old grandpa, sitting on a front porch somewhere, drinking lemonade and telling stories. His eyes were twinkly, and he had a very friendly smile, and I knew, just looking at him that he was really, really, really smart.

He took one look at me, cocked his head to the side, and said, "I think this is a visit that I need to sit down for." He sat, crossed his legs, and waited. “What’s wrong with you?” was all he asked, and then he let me talk.

I poured it out to him: everything EXCEPT my trip to WebMD. Would he say lupus? I didn't know. All I knew was that I didn’t want to say that word. I had always wondered in the back of my head what the psychiatrist would have said if I hadn’t gone in biased towards a diagnosis. I didn’t want to influence this doctor, too.

When I stopped, Dr. Shultz just made a grunting noise, as if in agreement with what I had said, then he did a quick examination. He touched the hot patches on my cheeks, looked at my cold, cold hands, felt my neck, checked my reflexes and the joints in my wrists and fingers. And then came the questions:

1. Did my hands, feet, or face fall asleep? .....yes
2. Hmm. Did the cold make my hands hurt? .....yes
3. Hmm. How long had I had that acne? (And here I began to wonder where he was headed) ...since my pregnancy - my son was born 9 years ago
4. MmHmm. Did I get gassy a lot? Belching? Passing gas? .....I guess so.
5. More than I used to? ......yeah, but I'm starting to get older. (Here he gave me a fairly dirty look over the top of his glasses. I grinned sheepishly.)
6. MmHmm. Diarrhea? (Now I was really confused) .....I guess so, sometimes.
7. What's your favorite food? (I stared at him blankly.)

He sat down again, licked his lips, and smiled. He didn’t seem to care that I hadn’t answered that last one. He just looked at me over the top of his glasses again, and said:

"You look allergic."

Those three words changed my life forever. He took me off of all wheat, corn, and dairy products, as well as all artificial flavors and preservatives. It would clean out my system, he said. You’ll lose some weight this week, he said, and that’s ok. Just be sure to keep eating balanced meals.

In addition, he told me that I have Renaud's phenomenon - that was the cold hands and feet.

Finally, (just in case) he was having me tested for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and he ordered a broad blood test which would look for other, similar issues. Then he sent me home and told me to come back in two weeks.

Those were the longest two weeks of my life. All I could hear, over and over was the word "lupus". He had said it. He had really said it.

On the bright side, I won the weight-loss contest for the first time in forever: that first week I dropped 10 pounds.

My Celiac Journey - Part I: The weight loss competition

This begins a series of weekly posts chronicling my journey through my diagnosis with celiac disease. I began my blog with the intention of doing a celiac entry each Thursday (the day of my diagnosis), but I wasn't ready. I didn't know enough about what was happening to me.

The first several weeks will be a look back to the first months of 2008. Eventually I will catch up to the present. Perhaps then I will return to a weekly journal of my current life with Celiac Disease. Until then, I hope you enjoy reading my story.

(I know I say in the catchline that "predictability's for chumps", but I guess I can make ONE exception, right?)

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Part I: The Weight Loss Competition

I teach high school, not the most active of trades, and in January 2008, the beginning of second semester, my friends and I formed a weight loss group. $5 to get in, $1 a week from each losing competitor. Whoever saw the most improvement in their BMI would win the kitty. We decided pounds off was not just unhealthy, but unfair, as we were all coming from different starting points.

We locked the door to the bookroom, took our "before" pictures, and broke out the measuring tape. We brought in a communal scale for our weekly weigh-ins. We set BMI and weight loss goals. We swapped exercise stories and favorite workout class info and changed to healthier eating habits.

I found a great website called TOPS: Taking off Pounds Sensibly, joined up, and started following it as closely as possible. I was working out and eating right and drinking lots of water. And I got GREAT results, at first. I started to feel better and trim down, but then...

Something strange started happening to me.

I started feeling really sluggish, for starters. It got harder and harder to make it to the gym because I was so sleepy, just bone tired. I've always been able to sleep at the drop of a hat, but I lost the need for the hat. I would often come home from work and crash on the couch for a nap. Eventually, I'd have to drag myself to the kitchen to make dinner, and then I'd go back to the couch. I usually was able to stay up past the kids' bedtime of 8:30, but often I'd fall asleep while watching TV with Jim. I'd sleep for 8-9 hours before getting up the next day and starting all over again. This pattern became more and more normal for me.

I was SO tired. The tired-ness started affecting my work habits, my dress, my attention span, everything.

Imagine you're a teen-ager for a minute. You go to English class, and your teacher is pushing papers around, shuffling through different stacks. Then she picks up an attendance sheet and proceeds to take attendance for the last 3 days. This is then followed by the question, "Alright, what did we do in here yesterday?" and once in a while this one, "I didn't give you homework, did I? No? Good."

We made it work, somehow. My students still had about a 98% pass rate on their state tests that year, and most of them passed the class, too. I had no trouble teaching or grading, but my memory of what was happening day to day was shot.

I lost everything: keys, glasses, papers, homework, my purse, my phone... you name it. Most of those things were found later. Most.

After a while, I started noticing changes in my digestive system, too. I started getting really gassy, especially if I ate fast food, but for the most part I was eating well, so I didn't know what was up with that.

To make matters worse, even though I was still going to the gym once or twice a week, and only eating about 1,000-1,300 calories a day, I wasn't losing weight. I was gaining.

I blamed it on stress. I blamed it on my busy schedule: I had the school newspaper to revive, a college level class to teach, a regular level class - I was the anime club sponsor and the lead teacher for the 11th grade English as well. I blamed it on getting old, I was 30 after all. I blamed the weather. I blamed my lack of a work-out buddy. I blamed my lack of sleep.

It didn't matter what I blamed it on. The longer we dieted together, the less I could keep up. My friends were all losing weight, slimming down. They were looking better and getting bouncier. I was getting slower. My initial weight losses reversed. My measurements were going up. All my health problems were getting worse instead of better. And then, I started developing new problems.

I was scared.

My friends were confused. I was eating so well! Lots of whole grains, nice balanced meals, fruits and vegetables, too. I was working out. It was so strange. “Was I cheating at home?” they wondered. No. No, I was not.

I told myself it was nothing. It was just me being a hypochondriac again. But a little voice inside me pointed to the last time I thought I was being a hypochondriac.

I ended up with a bipolar disorder diagnosis.

See you next week for Part II: “You look allergic”