My journey to gluten free health started by accident. My symptoms were more than annoying but less than life threatening: a chronic cough and throat clearing, very frequent heart palpitations (every hour) and esophageal spasms that made me feel like I’d swallowed a live snake.

I’d been on prilosec or protonix since July, and finally quit the acid reducer December 1, when it became clear that my symptoms were not going away, and so were probably not from acid reflux. By this time, I was coughing so frequently I couldn’t hold a decent conversation, and had a difficult time talking on the phone. My doc was stymied.

An allergy, perhaps?

I spent a fair amount of time researching my symptoms, and finally decided that I had the hallmarks of some sort of inflamatory reaction. Hmmmm….like an allergy. Gluten allergies and intolerance have been rising in the population, so there’s lot of info on gluten reaction. I decided to go fluten free. I quit eating wheat, rye, barley and spelt products, which meant most baked products and pasta.

And what happened? An amazing transformation. Within a week of going gluten free, my symptoms abated. Within two weeks of being gluten free, my symptoms were gone. Completely gone. No coughing, no weird throat feelings, so irratic heart beat.

So now I’m living a gluten free life. Just a regular gluten free/gluten intolerant life, I mean. I have an acquaintance whose child was so gluten allergic they had to have separate toasters and the kid couldn’t use the same butter knife. (My friend quickly took the whole family down the gluten free road, since she couldn’t deal with the torque of trying to essentially keep two separate kitchens.)

Cooking Gluten Free

I read lables and make substitutes. Tamari sauce instead of soy sauce. Rice or corn chex or oatmeal instead of my beloved Wheatena. I had been substituting high-fiber barley for rice, but now I’m back to brown rice as a meal option. The only real problem is bread. Worse, since I’m a bread baker, it meant figuring out new ways to bake gluten free bread and rolls. I’ve discovered that there are literally hundreds of gluten free receipes on-line, and I’ve added a shelf of odd flours to my pantry. I’ve successfully made gluten free corn bread, excellent gluten free buckwheat crepes, delicious gluten free rolls for Easter that seemed to combine the best of popovers with yeast rolls, and a nice nutty sandwhich loaf.

Best of all, I feel great, I’m not paying for prescription meds, and I’ve controlled my symptoms naturally. It takes a little extra time, but because I’m a good and frequent cook, it’s easy for me to use rice flour in my gravy or corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas when I make fajitas.

I recommend the gluten free experiment if you’re suffering from a chronic cough and throat clearing (and you’ve checked it out with your doc and don’t have any other obvious cause).  Especially if you’ve been told it’s a symtpom of acid reflux, but it’s not going away. It’s an easy experiment to make, because you can eat almost everything except baked goods and pasta. Give yourself a personal challenge and see what you feel like in a week.

Good luck and best wishes from Deborah at Maine Senior Guide