Thursday, March 18, 2010

Costochondritis - Celiac Test Results...

The forest begins to thin, the long winter snow begins to melt, and the silky sun peaks out from behind the rugged mountain my feet are climbing. I'm in utter awe and shock as I stare at the warmth of the sun, mesmerized. I have Celiac Disease. I finally know where all my pain is coming from. I finally have my answer.

I tested positive. Wow. Ummm....yeah...wow. Today has been a roller coaster. I've been waiting for the results all week...and when they finally arrived, my heart was pounding. I knew that if the test was negative, I would be headed back to the drawing board. And, as we all know..the what the crap is going on and where to I go next, room...yeah-not so fun. I literally screamed out loud in excitement when I found out my test was positive. Like loud. I just can't believe it. I have Celiac. My costochondritis IS my celiac. I have costo because of Celiac!! WHAT?! I'm gunna get well?!? Breathe, Lucy. Breathe.

A million things have been running through my mind. I'll share more later. But I know that many of you rock stars have been waiting on these results with me- so I wanted to share. Hugs to all of you. I'm sure the wheels are turning in some of your heads. -) Cause yall- I ain't the only previously undiagnosed Celiac who has costo. Holla!

All the glory and praise to God for today. In every way, I'm so thankful to Him for taking me down this road. It's so humbling. My heart is celebrating in this exciting truth about my body...and warmly, I can feel the sun on my face and smell the sweet aroma of the approaching Spring.


23 comments:

  1. Omg dont tell me I have Celiac... because I keep eat gluten and thats very dangeros.

    BTW you test it at hospital or with Biocard TM Celiac Test ? wich cost around 50$ I think...

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  2. WOW WOW WOW LUCY!!!
    You have a diagnosis! You have a diagnosis!! I can hardly believe it. Welll...I guess my little guinea pig, it is time for me to go gluten free and make a test appointment!
    So they didn't see this in your endoscopy? I had one of those already. So tell us about the tests, tell us about the BEST gluten free foods, like your typical day. AND tell us how it feels to have your MYSTERY SOLVED!!
    I celebrate with you AND I pray God will heal the celiac! He did for my brother.
    Much love to you,
    Jenni

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  3. Its little strange, because Lucy you said before ( in preversly message on blog ) you are on glute-free diet, so theoretically you cant get pozitiv rezult on Celiac disease if you dont eat gluten.

    So you eat gluten or not when you take blood sample for Celiac disease ?


    Sorry for my english. :))

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  4. I'm so pumped for you!!!!!!!!!! So this is the answer I've been praying for? Great! See ya, gluten! We don't need you anymore. :) Love you!!!!!! Call me when you can...

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  5. PRAISE BE TO GOD!

    PRAISE BE TO GOD!

    PRAISE BE TO GOD!

    I am so happy for you, are you doing the hold the chest, put one arm up kind of in the air and dance gently in a circle dance?

    HUGE gentle hugs to you!

    Love, Mychelle

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  6. Hi! I think I've visited you before?? I saw your comment on another blog so I thought I'd stop by.

    I can totally understand finally getting 'THE DIAGNOSIS'. It is hard but it is also very validating. It helps so much to finally know WHAT has been making you SO sick for SO long! I TOTALLY get it!

    I hope and pray that you are able to start making your dietary changes and that this will help you to start feeling sooooo much better very soon.

    You will definitely be in my prayers! I will be back to visit soon. I'd love for you to come visit me.

    Have a wonderful weekend!

    Blessings,

    Teresa <><

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  7. I'm so happy for you! I've been following along here since October when I first got costo. Been checking in on ya ever since. :) In fact, you are the reason I decided to try going gluten free! Such an amazing difference since I've stopped eating it. I can't believe how many other symptoms of celiac have gone away that I thought were just normal because I've lived with them for so long.

    Anyways...I just wanted to share my happiness with you that you've found an answer! Praise God!

    Alyssa

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  8. Anonymous 1- Hi there! lol. I'm not saying you have celiac. =) Will post about my testing in next post, great question. Thx for commenting!

    Jenni- Thanks so much for celebrating with me!!!When I was writing the post, I totally thought- "I can't wait for Jenni to read this!!!" Those are such great questions- you know me...I'm going to post about them! lol...

    Anonymous 2- Your English is just fine. =) Thanks for your comment, I'll answer your great questions in my next post.

    Tenille- Hey there Bff- I LOVE YOU SISTER!!! =) lol. That's right, baby- so long gluten!! HAHA!

    Mychelle- You sweet soul - thank you with all my heart for celebrating with me!! That means SO MUCH to me! And you know I did a little jig!! haha! So true!

    Teresa- So great to meet you! Love your blog and learning about POTS on your blog- such great info! Hope everyone checks it out. It's always a gift to learn about what others are going through in this invisible illness community. I hate that you're suffering- but so thankful you are sharing your journey. Hugs to you!

    Alyssa- I have to say...other Depaks profanity on my other post where me, Jenni, and others were laughing so hard and didn't know what to say- I'm speechless. =) Which doesn't happen often. =) I'm BEYOND excited for you. And SO honored that I could help in any way. Wow, Wow, Wow. I'm headed over to your blog right now to comment and read through it. You ROCK for sharing your story. Thank you so much for letting me know how you are doing! I'm so happy for you!! I'll be sure to link to your blog in my blog roll and on my next post so that those who read this blog can check you out!

    Thank you to everyone for commenting and celebrating with me! I know there are many great questions I'll be posting answers to soon. Today I'm celebrating- tomorrow- back to work! lol.

    Hugs and Healing to all of you!
    Lucy

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  9. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)!!!!

    Cyber-Hugs to you!!!

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  10. I am doing a little dance of joy just for Lucy (think that big dance number from West Side story with lots of twirling and jumping). I'm so happy for you to finally have an answer, and not only an answer, but a treatable answer. This has to be kharma finally getting it's butt into gear. You have done such fantastic work on your blog, you have helped so many people and as I've said previously you are a pretty top chick. Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!! So excited for you.

    Big hugs your way :)

    Rusty

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  11. Dearest Rusty H.

    Thank you sOOOO much for celebrating with me! Very sweet! I LOOOOVE that you dig a blog jig for me- lol! Haha! I cannot believe I left a little jig and a super hero outfit out of my post. AHHH!!!

    And it must be said- you are the first blog I found when i started this journey where I just cried like a sappy crazy cry...cause I knew that you knew what it all felt like. And after reading your blog- I gave myself permission to be real- no matter if it was crazy goofy or a need to share the heavy and darker parts of this illness. Major props to you, who in my eyes, is not rusty at all. =)

    However, the name must stay. I will forever love the name. Many a giggles...oh wait...yup...still funny to me.

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  12. Don't lie Lucy I know very well my english sucks. =))

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  13. Haha! =)

    I'm working on that post with some answers and more info. It's a coming!

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  14. Lucy, I started to write you from home this morning, on my iPhone, as I have no Internet, and have not had it for a week. It's not easy to view websites from an iPhone. I've missed visiting your blog, but was ecstatic to see the news today. How funny that we are all celebrating your newly discovered disease. :)

    And I started to comment from my bed how pleased I was, but it somehow was deleted. Commenting from an iPhone is ten times harder than viewing websites from an iPhone.

    So, I'm in the office now and can type to my fingers delight. What I started to say was how happy I was as the tears of joy started to flow (and tears of exhaustion--the kind you have when you hope and worry and wait for days, months, years, and finally see a result or an answer). I believe God has said to you, "Enough" and reached down his hand. I believe he has said, "You have stood the test, remained faithful, and been used as I have intended." And is now He is blessing you.

    And I know he's used you in my life. No mistake about that. He used you in all the lives of anyone who's found you here (whether they know it or not). Yeah! I'm sending you a big e-hug!

    Just an update about me. I told you about my setback. Well, that caused me to do more intense research. And in that research, I read in a few places that those with candida overgrowth usually have an accompanying parasite with it. Yeah! Parasite! I love that word 100 times more than candida and costochondritis put together!

    So, I thought, 'maybe....' and went to Whole Foods. I purchased what was recommended to me. Tried it. Almost instantly (within a few hours) felt relief of symptoms the Candex was not relieving. Again, this is no placebo effect, because over the months I'd tried 100 different things that had no effect, and I readily & regretfully admitted it.

    But my neck stiffness went away within hours (after two straight months of neck stiffness) and my abdominal pain went away. It's Paragone--what I started taking.

    And since Candex and Paragone:

    costochondritis rib pain - gone
    pelvic pain - gone
    burning sensation - gone
    abdominal pain - gone
    back pain - gone
    neck stiffness and pain - gone
    bloating and weight gain - gone

    I am not promoting these specific products, necessarily. They just happen to be the ones I tried. But I do thank God for the relief. I still have tightness in my abdomen, but not pain. I am still taking both, and finishing the regiment. But I await complete healing and wholeness.

    I can't wait to see how this news brings you wholeness, too.

    The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and give you peace!

    -Angela

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  15. ANGELA!!!

    Okay, first- YAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!! I just squealed when I saw that your pain was gone, gone, gone!!! I mean, WOW. I'm SO SO SO excited for you!! Angela, WOW! Girl, you have been such a proactive rock star with your health- so amazing. Please oh please keep me posted- this is so exciting!!!! Praise God you are getting relief! Thank you so much for the update. Today I was totally wondering how you were doing!

    Thank you so much for celebrating with me, that means so much to me! Thank you for saying that God reached down and said "Enough." I loved that- gave me chills. Very sweet of you. And thank you for your generous words and e-hug! Made my night. =)

    Hugs,
    Lucy

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  16. Okay now you've made me cry. We are both hopeless :)

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  17. Hi.
    I happened upon your site while searching the web. It sounds as though you are an inspiration to many people and I'm glad you got your diagnosis. I'm thinking of having my daughter tested for Celiac. She has been ill for almost 4 years and was diagnosed with costo last November, though we are not convinced (pain and lump are lower than sternum)...We do not have health insurance and have more than exhausted our $$ supply in our quest to find the real problem. Do you know if the home test is reliable, or do you recommend having a doc do it? What kind of testing did you undergo? Thank you.

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  18. Hi there,

    Sorry to hear of your daughters pain. =( I'm sure that's really hard to watch as a mom.

    As far as the home gene test, I can vouch for that. The My Celiac ID gene test is accurate but expensive.

    If money were not an option, I would say do the gene testing, since it's not invasive and super easy. And if you had insurance, I'd say go through a doctor b.c it would be cheaper. So I'm at a loss as to say what I would do if I were you.

    However, you may save money by just doing the gene testing and not having to go through a series of doctors for the testing. If you are in the US, my celiac id is running a sale...80 off if you put "WINTERSPECIAL" in the discount offer space. It expires April 30th, 2010. That makes the test $249 (including taxes). Wish I could be of more help. Hope you are able to find out what's going on with your girl. Good for you for digging, digging, digging. I know it's exhausting, but it will pay off.

    All the best to you, let me know if I can help in any way.
    Lucy

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  19. Lucy, congratulations on finally getting some answers! I also want to thank you for shedding some light on my own health issues ... I have been suffering digestive symptoms -- random pains and near-constant low-level nausea -- for quite a while. I have also been feeling tightness in my chest and ribcage, to the point that I recently had to replace all my underwire bras with soft-cups (the underwires were torturous). In just the past week, it dawned on me that celiac might be at the root of my digestive problems, and now reading your post has helped me connect the dots even more.

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  20. Thanks so much for the congrats! I feel very blessed. I'm SO excited for you, that you have connected the dots to Celiac! So awesome!!! Congrats and keep us posted, thank so much for sharing that with me! That means so much to me!
    Lucy

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  21. I have had severe posterior rib cage pain since last July, I had a Cat-Scan and endoscopy which showed NO Stomach or Pancreatic Cancer. I have family history of stomach Cancer. This ruleout was last Nov. My Rib Cage pain has become more and more severe. After any food. And I have always eaten a lot of bread and other gluten products. What a relief to find on this site and other Celiac sites, that costocondritis is caused by gluten. I was looking in the mirror tonight and noticed one side of my body is higher than the other, not just in the hips which is long term, but big changes in my rib cage. Was just diagnosed with gluten intolerence last week and I am excited to finally know what is causing my pain of 7 to 9 on a scale of 10 after eating anything. I have lost 25 lbs since July. Mainly from avoiding food.

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