Drew Janssen

The clue train arrived at the Janssen's house in August 2007. The really stupid thing is that I lived in denial about my own health for 10 years, and it took my daughter's serious illness to wake us all up.


In 1998, I had been proven highly reactive to wheat in all forms. Eliminating wheat from my diet reduced my nasty symptoms but didn't make them go away. I was so happy to have *some* health that I didn't take the research any further. Wheat was my enemy, so I would avoid wheat in all forms. No bread, no cookies, no cakes, no pies, no pasta, nothing with flour in it (like gravy), no breaded fried food, and - weirdly enough - no licorice or Twizzlers™.


For 10 years, I tried to avoid wheat in all forms. I got good at it. My kids knew Daddy can't have wheat. My wife was sensitive in her cooking, using more rice and finding work-arounds so I could still have good food without wheat. I ate rye, barley and oats without concern. My intestinal symptoms weren't entirely better, but they were improved and that was great. My mental fogs and hours of incapacitation were reduced and I attributed any such things to "accidental wheat" in something I ate.


When people suggested I might have celiac disease, I politely explained that this was a wheat-only thing and not CD. I had NO empirical evidence, NO tests, in fact NOTHING to support my claim that I did not have celiac disease or gluten intolerance. It was a simple thing in my mind: I did not want to have celiac disease, so I did not even consider the possibility.


My denial not only failed to protect me from CD -- nothing actually will, since it's genetic -- but it also endangered my oldest daughter. Had we known I was celiac, we would have had the entire family tested and Sarah's CD would have shown up. Instead, we have a pediatrician to thank for adding standard celiac disease tests to a battery ordered when Sarah complained of intestinal issues.


To make a long story run into another blog entry, Sarah got sick, then real sick, then initially diagnosed, then went through both denial AND the denial of denial, after which we finally entered into the "valley of the shadow of celiac disease. We did it first with great fear, but ultimately emerged into hope and much better health.


In the past 11 months we have learned more about CD and gluten intolerance than we ever thought possible, have tackled this massive lifestyle change, have been hit with "accidents" repeatedly, and have finally gotten comfortable with living gluten-free as a family. Along the way, we discovered that I also have CD, and that our two youngest children have an unusual form of gluten intolerance that almost has to be seen to be believed. More on that later.


Thanks for reading.