I am a Celiac

I can say that and begin to finally accept it, simply because, ya gotta admit, it sounds like something goofy that I would say when I'm just goofing around. Only it isn't goofy and I'm not goofing around.

Celiac disease isn't a diagnosis that is considered to be horrific, and it is usually controllable through extreme vigilance in anything and everything a person ingests. Here's the problem I see with it: so many people are being flippantly diagnosed that the disease (or syndrome, properly) has taken on an almost cavalier type of dismissal. I am guilty of being a naysayer. My mom was suddenly diagnosed this past spring and, while it did seem to make sense because of the painful esophagus problems she has had for years, it did NOT make sense to me to be tested as she kept insisting. My mom learned more about Celiac and went to support groups and went gluten free. Her doctors and new support buddies told her Celiac is genetic and that her kids should be tested as should their children. I scoffed. I read a little, considered it, but put it all off. I didn't have stomach problems after all, how could I possibly have Celiac? Mom told me, and I read, about people that have no outward symptoms yet Celiac was silently doing damage to the intestines and/or laying the groundwork for cancers to form. Still I didn't get tested, even after my own initial bloodwork showed I was ANA positive. (ANA testing is an initial marker, and somewhat debatable test, for autoimmune disease)

No stomach problems, I insisted!

Those pains I'd get that would leave me doubled over in pain and render me immobile?

"Oh, that's just gas," I'd say.

The awful and embarrassing flatulence (that's right, I'm using the correct word) and burping?

"That's just me being me trying to be both the woman and the man of the house," I'd say. Embarrassed.

The sores in my mouth? The cavities and messed up teeth?

"Not enough vitamins," "It was the asthma medicine that did it," I'd rationalize.

Vitamin D ridiculously low (it has been as low as 7, is now "up" to 17, normal is above 30) and severe anemia?

"Um, well..."

Aches and pains 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? 'Fever days' as I've called them with low fever for a day or as long as a week or 2? Inexplicable dizziness? Exhaustion that feels like hitting a a steel enforced concrete wall?

Okay, it was time to follow up and find out what was going on, even though I was still skeptical because I had a reason/excuse for every problem that had popped up. When I went in to get the results of the Celiac screen lab report, I'm not sure who was more surprised--my Dr. or me. Not only did I test positive for all antibodies, I scored out of the park on a couple..typical overachieving test-taker, I always was in school.

Stay tuned, more to come.