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As I suspected, your LFL angle was more touching than mine - a nice tribute to your husband, Mary.

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Bill, I loved your piece. Could definitely use some free Xanax! Thank you for your kind words. My husband was a special guy. He took excellent care of me. Just want to honor that.

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I've recently discovered that I shouldn't eat gluten, and suffer when I do, because of an autoimmune thyroid disorder (Hashimoto's). I'll be checking out all of those books! This essay is lovely, as is your family's way of honoring your husband - he sounds like a brilliant and beautiful partner. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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Lisa Renee, thank you for your kind words. So very sorry about your diagnosis. It’s a tough thing, and gluten intolerance is so often seen as a dietary choice or nod for attention. Fortunately, the market has changed, and there are some excellent options available now. Sadly, gluten is a sneaky additive to so many foods. You have to read labels carefully.

I won’t say that my husband was a saint. But he took incredibly good care of me. We wanted to honor him the best way we could think of.

Best of luck to you in your journey. It can be done. ❤️

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Oh, and happy Thanksgiving!

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IBS can get frustrating both for the doctor and the patient. For the doctor because it is a diagnosis of exclusion. All other diseases need to be ruled out to rule in IBS. It's frustrating for the patient because of the many hospital visits with no real remedy to the problem, like in your case. I'm glad you found some balance with your diet just to keep it at bay.

Kudos to the library initiative. To read is to learn and to learn is to grow.

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Thank you, Sanuj. Looking back, I can understand that my doctors were doing their job, which is looking for pathology. I remember thinking that I would almost rather

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(sorry, must have hit send before I finished my response) almost rather have received a diagnosis of, say, an inflamed gallbladder or a stomach ulcer or kidney stones. It never occurred to me that the doctors I saw were struggling to find something concrete, that could be treated with something other than dietary changes. Thank you for sharing this insight.

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