Enemy, Thy Name is Gluten

So I alluded to some health issues that popped up postpartum, and here is the post I promised.  I think I will break the story up into parts because it is so long. 

I have celiac disease.  (And pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, and hyperparathyroidism! Details on that to come.)

A lot of people don’t know about this disease, even though it is estimated that one percent of the population has it and FORTY percent of people carry the genes for it.  That is a huge number!  Even crazier that most people who have celiac disease have never been diagnosed and are suffering, all the while being misdiagnosed with IBS, Crohn’s, Multiple Sclerosis, depression and other mental disorders, and a host of other diseases with similar symptoms.  

How can this be?  Because celiac disease is a multi-system disorder affecting the entire body.  There are nearly 300 possible symptoms indicating celiac disease, and every person with celiac disease experiences it differently.

What is celiac disease? 

To put it simply, it is an autoimmune reaction to gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye.  Some celiacs cannot tolerate oats as well.  When a person with celiac disease consumes any of these foods, the immune system attacks and causes damage to the small intestine.  Over time the small intestine loses its ability to absorb nutrients and the affected person may begin to experience symptoms.  If you want to find out more technical details, celiac.org and celiac.com are great resources.

The great news is that we know what the trigger for celiac disease is, so we can (theoretically) remove the trigger from our diet and get better.  However, for some people that doesn’t seem to be enough and the damage never heals.  There are lots of complications that can arise, and as I mentioned above, I have a few of them.  Removing gluten from the diet isn’t easy because it is in EVERYTHING, from packaged food to personal care products and prescription medications.  Cross contamination is a huge danger, even kissing someone who just ate or drank something “glutenous” (my made-up term) can make a celiac sick.

I am still in disbelief that I have a disease, especially an autoimmune disease.  I have always been a healthy person, hardly ever got sick as a child, and I’m not allergic to anything.  It was quite a shock to discover that my own body is attacking itself because of a tiny little protein in food!  I have heard that the average time to get diagnosed is 6 years!  Wow!  I can’t imagine suffering the way I did for so long.  It took me about 4 months of googling to figure out that I might want to try going gluten-free.  Even after that it still took another 3 months to get a clear diagnosis.  7 months was way too long! And the doctors were no help! 

I want to be as detailed as I can with backstory, then the actual symptoms I experienced, getting diagnosed, and finally my journey to recovery.  Those posts will come in the following days, so stay tuned!