Learning to be Gluten Free

Trying to Diagnose

When Brandon and I came home from our honeymoon, I was having A LOT of stomach issues.  I've had stomach problems pretty much my whole life, but this was different.  I was experiencing extreme bloating, indigestion, nausea, cramping and severe stomach pain.

I was going to my doctor, but there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why I was having problems.  We ran test, after test, after test (I've become friends with the lab tech at my local Quest) and nothing was coming back to explain my issues.  I was sent to a GI specialist, and he was unable to pinpoint the problem either.  He sent me to the lab, again, to run Celiac and a few other tests, but didn't feel any real conviction that these tests would pinpoint the issue.  He also didn't want me to feel like I had no course of action to combat my bloating, so he gave me a diet called FODMAP (Fermentable Oligosaccharides Disaccharides Monosaccharides And Polyols).  The diet essentially eliminates high gas foods.  After looking at the lengthy, "eat this, don't eat this" chart, Brandon and I decided I should just keep a food diary to see if my problems were stemming from my diet. 

Keeping a Food Diary on Your Phone

At first, I felt overwhelmed by keeping a food diary.  I wanted to make sure I was properly keeping track, and was also able to notate how my stomach was feeling.  I stumbled across the Cara app and I cannot recommend it enough.  It's a food and symptom diary.  After logging 5 days, the app can begin to correlate specific foods to symptoms.  Through the apps' charting, I immediately began to see that my enormous intake of bread seemed to be the problem.  I LOVE bread, so I was not happy to see this, but I started cutting down on wheat products and began to feel better.  I decided to go completely gluten free for 2 weeks to see if it was, in fact, the problem.  Within 3 days of being gluten free, I felt like myself again, no cramping, bloating, stomach pain, etc.

Going Gluten Free 

Going gluten free is not easy, as there is gluten hiding everywhere.  Really.  I felt challenged by what I could eat, what might make me feel sick.  I also didn't want to be one of those people who is gluten free because it's "cool."  I wanted confirmation that I was gluten intolerant and asked my doctor to run a gluten sensitivity test on me.  Three days after I had the test run, the results came back that I'm  extremely sensitive to gluten and the doctor diagnosed me with Non-celiac gluten sensitivity or NCGS.  What a huge relief!  Finally, an answer to my stomach problems.

Note: Gluten Sensitivity tests are different than Celiac tests.  Celiac tests are looking for an autoimmune response, not gluten sensitivity.


The VeryWellFit.com Gluten-Free Food List: Learn Exactly What to Eat Gluten-Free page
has been super helpful when I'm not sure what types of food may or may not have gluten.

I'm still learning, and sticking to my gluten free cereals and snacks often, but Brandon and I are on this adventure together.  He's been incredibly supportive and making diet changes with me.  Life really does have it's curve balls, but they are all okay if you have the right support system.

Name Change - Part 2 (a mess)

My DMV Appointment

After we received our marriage license, I made an appointment with the California DMV to get the RealID.  Since I would have to go to the DMV to change my name anyway, I figured I would be super efficient by doing my name change and getting the RealID at the same time.

The appointment did not go well.

My marriage certificate was deemed "unacceptable" for the name change.

When my husband and I filled out the marriage license application, we did not choose "new names."  There was no indication during the marriage license application process that choosing a new name needed to be done right then and there.  Actually, we were very much under the impression my name change decision was an easy thing to do once I decided to so, whenever that may be.

We went to the registrar's office and filed for the license and the registrar's office did not say "Hey!  If you have any indication you might want to change your name, you better fill out sections 30 a-c or 31 a-c, otherwise it's a cluster."  Nope, none of that.

Back to the DMV office... the clerk completing the paperwork for my RealID would not accept my marriage license as evidence for my name change.  She said that since section 31, fields a-c, were not filled out with my desired name after marriage, they could not change my name.  My social security card with my new name meant nothing to them.  She sad that the SSA has different rules for name changes than the DMV, and that my SS card displaying my new name was not pertinent to my name change with the DMV.  To rectify my marriage certificate issue, the clerk suggested I contact my minister to get the certificate changed... 

Knowing that my minister wasn't where I needed to start, I called the DMV, after leaving, to get more information on why my marriage license was not acceptable.  Apparently, any marriage license issued in California after 2008 is required to provide the name after marriage based upon The Name Equality Act of 2007.  Rough.

The DMV associate on the phone tried to help and point me in the direction of how to change the marriage license.  Unluckily for me, the form she suggested allows changes for ANY fields other than 30 or 31, "new names, if any."

Fields 30 and/or 31 that must be filled in for the DMV and DHS

So this has left me with filing a petition with the Superior Court of Los Angeles for a name change.  Fun.

Petition for Change of Name

Filing the petition costs $435.

Along with filing for the name change with the court, you must also Publish the Order to Show Cause for Change of Name with a newspaper.  This costs between $250 and $400, depending upon the publication you choose.

You will be given a hearing date about 6 weeks out from your filing date.  Some courthouses you are required to attend your hearing.  Other courthouses will post the decision of the petition prior to the hearing date if no one contests the name change request.  You receive your court order and away you go.

Of course my courthouse requires me to attend.  Take time off work... I have a hearing date set for August 3rd.

My Takeaway

This whole process has been an absolute mess and a headache.  For someone who really wasn't sure about changing her name in the first place, this is the worst possible path the process could go down.  I have to keep reminding myself that I'm doing the name change for a bigger, greater reason.  This rather large bump in the road is just that, a bump.

Brandon, being the supportive husband he is, said, "when we send our Christmas card as 'The Tweeds,"' this will all be worth it."

If you have any questions about your marriage certificate or changing your name, I can certainly try to help as I'm pretty well versed in the whole process now.