Spanking Child With Wooden Spoon Not Child Abuse, Says State Court

[pnwmom]

360. I did until about ten years ago. The first time it happened

I had been scratching my arms and was horrified to see these long streaks of raised welts on them. Then I realized it happened every time I scratched. Then I realized I could draw any pattern I wanted on my skin -- it always happened.

Meanwhile, I was having other symptoms. Fibromyalgia, restless legs, irritable bowel syndrome, other GI symptoms -- and then things got worse and they were testing me for cancer. Turned out the GI symptoms were caused by a gluten sensitivity. So I had to stop eating gluten -- and then my hives and most of the other miscellaneous symptoms got better, too.

With your red hair, you probably come from an ethnic background with a higher risk of Celiac disease, and there are blood tests that can check for that. Unfortunately, not all forms of gluten sensitivity can be identified with a blood test, so a negative result on the Celiac panel doesn't eliminate the possibility of gluten sensitivity. With some people, the only diagnosis comes after an elimination diet and then a "challenge."