Unfortunately I do have other food allergies besides dealing with Celiac Disease, which I was diagnosed with about a year and a half ago. I was not born with any other food allergies. However, I somehow, someway developed peanut, tree nut and coconut allergies when I was 28. Out of no where, I just wasn't able to eat these foods. I found out the hard way.

I was on a trip to see my friend at her lake house in Pennsylvania. The drive was beautiful-- very scenic with not much around. I decided to stop at a grocery store -which were few and far between- to grab a few things. There was a small table that was doing some taste testing of cheeses on some small crackers, and I grabbed one while passing by. I checked out and left the store. About 20 minutes back into the drive, I found it very hard to swallow and my tongue started to swell. Long story short, I had to call 911 to take me to the nearest hospital which was about 20 minutes away. We deduced that the cracker must have been the culprit and contained some sort of nut product.

In the next few weeks that followed I had another ER visit due to something else I ate and many allergist appointments and tests. I had all of the skin tests done and many blood tests. I had to be put on many "elimination diets" and lost quite a bit of weight. Still, things weren't perfect and I had a few other instances of food contamination. Even when you try to do everything right, hidden ingredients get in the way. It's been a long road, but I finally figured out what I can and can't have and luckily have not had any reactions to foods in many many months. I live by the rule: if I don't know exactly what's in it, I don't eat it. It's just not worth it. People always ask me, "So, what happens to you if you eat something containing a nut product?" Anaphylaxis-- but my symptoms are respiratory. I don't get hives or anything. My tongue swells, my throat simply starts to close, and I cough uncontrollably. It's very scary not being able to breathe. It's a very serious situation, and I always try to educate people wherever I go, including my second grade students.

I carry liquid Benadryl, my inhaler and my Epi-pen with me wherever I go. I even let my friends know where I keep these things in case they need to use them.

As you may already know, I became a vegan at the age of 15... over 21 years ago! I haven't had dairy in over 20 years, so I'm taking a wild guess in saying I most likely can't digest it. Besides me though, my son Andrew has a slew of other intolerances!

My son was 3 when I came to the conclusion that he was suffering from Autism. When I invested the majority of my time researching this disorder and connecting with other parents of children with autism, I learned that diet may be a huge contributing factor to behaviors and healing in regards to this disorder. When I learned of the gluten-free/casein-free diet (gf/cf) I was reluctant at first, but knew I had to give it a try.

The diet definitely wasnt' easy... toddlers are difficult enough, but then you factor in OCD behaviors and obsessions, throw in some food restrictions, it's definitely work. The progress I saw in such a short period of time though- astounding. No, I'm not going to say everyone who tries the diet experiences the same result, but I would definitely encourage anyone in my boat to give it a try.

It didn't take long to realize I was missing something... Andrew would have a wonderful week, then something would 'set him off'. After researching and consulting with other GF/CF mommies, I came to the conclusion that soy might be the culprit.

Soy?? We had soy in almost every meal. It was that year, I believe I was 30, that I decided I could no longer be a vegan. I needed to lead by example. I needed to find foods that made my son function at peek capability. I decided to add eggs and fish into our diet and see how this affected us.

Andrew likes eggs, sometimes. He'll eat them scrambled with spinach in them, he'll eat them hard-boiled at times, but I never really felt like he was consuming enough protein for a boy of his size. Reluctantly, I made the decision to include poultry into the list of allowable items for my son.

It's kind of amusing to me- I allow my son to eat turkey and chicken but I do not. I make him home made chicken soup regularly. He DEVOURS it!! If that's not motivation, I don't know what is. At first, I felt like I was being a hypocrite (seeing I haven't eaten meat since the 1990's), but the progression I have seen in my son over the years has convinced me to stick with what I'm doing!

I think a lot of people with gluten intolerance or celiac have other food allergies. One possibility is that your gluten allergy could be wreaking havoc on either your gut lining or messing up the balance of your gut microbiota. Leaky gut could develop and then you open yourself up to a bevy of other food related allergies.

The allergy test results I get back from the doctor's office seem to change over time suggesting very possibly the ever changing condition of my digestive system. What I have noticed simply as a cause/effect relationship is that I have issues with gluten (obviously), dairy, sometimes peanuts and cashews, sometimes lemons and limes, MSG, and chili powder. And they all give me quite different symptoms after eating.

My doctor suggested healing any leaky gut issues by taking 1,000mg of L-Glutamine once or twice daily, which seemed to work well. Another strategy mentioned by a nutritionist also seems to be helping, and that's a rotation diet, especially if you think you are still battling with leaky gut. The rotation diet says that you should rotate foods so that you only eat them every four days, which apparently lessens the opportunity for your body to develop an allergy towards that food.

Even though I have had to cut out lots of good foods from my diet, I know it could be so much worse seeing how far I've come. Plus, this entire ordeal has made me a much healthier eater!

Growing up, I was able to eat anything and everything. Anything that my mom could cook up, I would eat. Exotic fruits and strange sea snails? They all went in my stomach. Then when i went to college, things started to change one by one.

The first food to leave my diet was milk, ice cream, anything that contained lactose. After all those years of hating it when my mom forced me to drink a full glass of a milk, I finally realized how much I loved milk. I guess you never know how much you love something until it is gone. I also never realized how much our society uses milk.

In college, I lived with a roommate for 4 years. He was allergic to apples, strawberries, peaches, and a slew of other fruits. I always made fun of him. I had never met anyone who couldn't eat fruits. Four years later, I became allergic to all the fruits that he was allergic to. That was karma for me! I always tell him that his condition was contagious and that he spread it to me. I really don't know the source of the allergy, but learned that many times, people are allergic to the pesticides farmers use to keep bugs from eating their plants. So fruits were the next thing to go. I actually had an experience similar to my first gluten experience (I posted it in the appropriate forum section as a reply). My mom brought jackfruit from Canada down to Seattle where I was going to school. I ate it and passed out for about half an hour. Afterward, my stomach hurt all day. I was sad, but had to accept it. No longer would I be able to experience the chocolate strawberry fantasy I had always dreamed of.

Finally, after college, I became gluten intolerant.