The other day I had a doctor gently imply that I did gluten free as a way for me to control some aspect of Bear’s life. I’ve always been very respectful of adults in positions of authority, especially highly educated ones. I am NOT a doctor and their opinion always has a certain heavy weight with it and I left the appointment confused and conflicted.
I felt that way because I don’t want to be gluten free. (Although now that I am gluten free I DO feel better.) It’s a huge hassle for me honestly. I am not perfect at it but I’ve gotten more creative and confident as I go along. To be told that it was more of a preference than medical necessity just… yeah, left me speechless. Not angry or defensive, just puzzled. I had to think about it- especially since in a recent post I admitted that I DO have control issues. I spent the afternoon thinking about the journey we’d been on.
*The specialist in Little Rock told me to keep Bear on a gluten free diet when we were referred to her after Bear had a positive result (which ended up being a test read wrong by the local lab- it was actually inconclusive- and YES I now know that a blood test can’t diagnose… etc. etc.). She knew he probably didn’t actually have celiac’s disease, but she said that without an invasive scope that we wouldn’t know for sure. She suggested we kept him on a fairly gluten free diet until we chose to get him checked.
*A gluten free diet is a common natural cure for kids with ADD or ADHD. It’s been shown to work wonders on kids and most children with William’s Syndrome are diagnosed with ADD or ADHD as well. It seemed wise to keep him off the gluten.
*The Geneticist in Little Rock at the hospital gave us a stack of paperwork- and one page it said that children with William’s Syndrome have a 1 in 3 chance of getting celiac’s disease… the same thing that we already have inconclusive, not negative, results for. I feel like living preventively of an auto-immune disorder is wise… and new research is showing that 1 in 4 people in the US are gluten intolerant.
So I got to the end of my thoughts and realized that I had a choice to make: Either agree with my doctor or listen to that twinge in my stomach and continue on my gluten free path, believing that it is the best choice for us.
and it occurred to me that I was acting still like a child. Taught to respect my elders, respect those in authority and I never transitioned from childhood to into the realization that I AM an authority in my child. I still have a lot of respect for others, and I want to humbly seek advice from learned sources, especially in health and medical areas but I’m beginning to really believe in myself for the first time and it’s an odd freedom that is like a cool breeze.
This post isn’t really about staying gluten free or not. It’s about believing in myself, trusting in my abilities and knowing that God has give me the resources to make good choices for my family. I am an adult now and I need to act like it too.