For over two years our youngest daughter would periodically have episodes of sudden, unexplained vomiting. These episodes would typically strike in the middle of the night and over the course of the next four hours at fifteen to thirty minute intervals she would be throwing up.
At first we thought she was falling victim to the myriad stomach bugs that her older sisters were importing from elementary school. When the episodes continued into the summer though we went looking for another cause.
After testing and examination we received a diagnosis of
Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome, a precursor to
Abdominal Migraines. So we started accumulating a list of food triggers, environmental triggers and stress triggers that could be the causes of her episodes. We also started heading off the vomiting with prescription anti-nausea medicine following her initial instance of vomiting.
This seemed to work pretty well for almost a year. Her episodes spread out and we could shorten the duration. But then things started to get worse again. The episodes started happening more frequently.
Back to the pediatrician we went. This time the testing was more in depth. After a battery of tests including an upper GI and blood work we had a new diagnosis. The blood test revealed an antibody that indicated positively that she had
Celiac Disease.
Good news, according to our pediatrician, because it is extremely treatable. No surgery. No medication. Instead, controlling Celiac Disease meant altering our daughter's diet to remove all Gluten from it.
Now comes the fun part.
Gluten is protein found in wheat. This means that any product containing wheat is off limits and any product possibly cross contaminated by wheat is off limits. A brief amount of research into the topic let us know just how much of a challenge we were in for.
We've started gathering as much information as possible. There are resources aplenty online, in our local bookstore and library and via our community of friends.
This isn't going to be simple. It's a life-changing event for us and our family. But, with some patience and determination we will be successful. We're going to document the resources and strategies we find helpful here as a repository of information. Hopefully, it can be helpful to others who find themselves together with us on this road.
Nat and Leigh Thompson
July, 2013
One of our new acquisitions for our Gluten Free lifestyle is a new T-Fal bread maker. The idea is that we can make bread more cost effectively than purchasing it. 
for the bread. We're hoping it will be as tasty as the UDI bread we've been buying at the store.