On May fourth 2023, I sat in the waiting room stressing about putting on that hospital gown. I was getting an upper scope to test me for Celiac disease. I have had multiple stomach aches per week for as long as I could remember, and every time I went to my primary care doctor’s office, they told me it was just stress.

 A few weeks before, my mom was tested for iron deficiency and Helicobacter pylori so she wanted to test me because I sat in the Southwoods doctors office and met the doctor for the first time. He talked me through what we would be doing moving forward. He told me I would get my blood drawn then we would wait and see. The next day, I went back and got my blood drawn, the normal level that I should be at is 15, I was at 250. My doctor wrote me up to get a scope next week. I was very nervous about the procedure, but when I got to the Southwoods Hospital, it had gotten worse. The nurse called me back and told me to change into the hospital gown. I got into the bed and they hooked me up to the IVs. Within 10 minutes they started rolling me through the halls and  into the operating room and they started the anesthesia. I woke up around 15 minutes later in bed. The doctor came in and told my parents that I  might have Celiac disease and they would re look at the photos they took and tell us as soon as possible. Within a week my mom got the call- the call that altered what I would be eating the rest of  my life. I had it, and now I’ve had it for two years and it’s not as bad as I thought. I’ve found great replacements for food and how to travel.

    So what is Celiac disease?  Is it the same as a peanut allergy? According to Mayo Clinic, Celiac disease is a serious, inherited autoimmune disorder where eating gluten, a protein in wheat, barley, and rye, triggers an immune response that damages the small intestine’s villi, leading to nutrient malabsorption. An autoimmune disease is when your body attacks itself when it feels threatened; that’s why people get sick.  If I eat anything with gluten products, I will get a terrible stomach ache and I will be out of school for one to three days because I feel so sick. may also lead to joint pain, brain fog, bloating, rashes, and more. You have to be careful around people with Celiac because if a food item that contains gluten touches their food it is no longer safe for them to eat. You also need to check make up and hygiene products.

Celiac is not a food allergy like peanuts or an intolerance like dairy.  If undiagnosed, or not following diet in the long term, it can lead to stomach cancer and also to other autoimmune diseases, or infertility.  Around three million people suffer from this disease in the US. That’s 1 out of 33 Americans. Before the true trigger for Celiac disease, the protein gluten, was discovered, many treatments and diets were tried, including strict rice, mussel and even banana diets. It wasn’t until World War II that first wheat and finally gluten began to come into focus as the culprit. There is no known cure to solve Celiac disease, yet but they are trying to reach a goal between 2027-2028.

I never want people to feel sorry for me; I want to educate people on food allergies. Celiac changes how people eat and how they travel.  Looking at some food puts me down remembering when I could stop and get McDonalds french fries on my way home from practices. But there are alternatives for food. There are gluten free noodles, gluten free bread, gluten free flour and a lot more. So when you think that I don’t eat these, I do. They are just a little different and altered to keep me healthy.  Restaurant chains are buying into gluten free and trying to help us in the US, and I hope that there will be a cure soon.

 As you can see gluten allergies can be wherever you look and to living with someone who you talk to everyday. We may be a little different dietary-wise,  but we still have a normal life and want to live a normal life.  We don’t want to be looked at, or treated  differently. We can’t grow out of it but we sure can get used to it!