@beanie300 I know what you mean. I didn't believe it at first either. Gluten causes autoimmune issues and makes a person at greater risk for other autoimmune diseases and cancer of the GI tract. Ask your friend about her experience. Many of your symptoms could be related to gluten and wheat allergies. I had a lot of these myself. What convinced me is that I didn't eat any gluten or bread (kind of by accident), for a few days, then I ate some leftover bread from a restaurant and in 10 minutes, I felt like a load of bricks had been dropped on my head, I had asthma, and could hardly breathe, and a bad headache, and trouble staying awake. My husband would get scared and want to send me to the emergency room because I could not stay awake long enough to use my asthma inhaler at about 30 minutes. All of that within minutes of eating bread made from wheat. Then for a few days, the GI disturbances that followed. This is so easy for you to test and you can change your life right now if this is the problem.