My diagnosis of Coeliac Disease was a massive shock! I had no idea what Coeliac Disease was, that it was being tested for or even that I had been struggling with a dietary problem for so long!
In January 2018 I was referred to Rheumatology for an assessment regarding issues I was having with my joints. During my assessment I was advised I would need to go through a number of tests including a blood test to check my Thyroid, for Rheumatoid Arthritis and my vitamin levels.
Roll forward to a couple of weeks and I was sat in my GP being told I have Coeliac Disease, low Vit D and told what the next steps were. What a learning curve this was going to be for myself and my family.
To say I was confused is an understatement. I’d always struggled with my weight, but I had never been underweight (only as a baby in the first few months) and didn’t have the generic symptoms my GP had mentioned. Had they got it wrong? Turns out massively that they definitely hadn’t!
In May 2018 I had my Endoscopic Biopsy (basically a camera sent down your throat to take a biopsy of your small intestine and gut), which required eating gluten containing food for a week to avoid a false negative. I originally thought, amazing I can eat everything I’ve been missing the last three months! Oh boy was I wrong… After half a day of eating gluten containing food I looked 5 months pregnant, was in serve pain and couldnt wait to go back to eating gluten free food!
It’s safe to say my biopsy came back confirming Coeliac Disease and since the biopsy was done I’ve been living a Gluten Free life. I will be completely honest, it was and still is a struggle. After spending so many years eating “normal” food, there were things I missed and things that I was shocked had gluten in (like gravy!).
What I learnt very quickly about Coeliac Disease, is that everyone reacts differently. You may very well have similar symptoms to someone else, but your body is so different to another. I was sure I didn’t have Coeliac Disease in the early days, now I am 100% positive. Whether its a swollen belly, rash, sickness, very frequent toilet visits (lets be real now), please if you suspect you have an intolerance or even Coeliac Disease go to your doctors! It is not living in pain or constant illness.
I would like to add to the end of this post that I am always open to questions or for a little chat, drop a comment on this post or drop me a message on Instagram! But please remember, I am not a medical profession! I can only answer from my own experience or what I’ve researched myself or been provided by my GP and Dietitian.
with love
The Unlucky Coeliac xo
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