My life as a gluten free girl!

Coeliac disease is a genetic problem that some people have with food containing Gluten. Gluten is a type of protein found in wheat, rye and barley. When you have coeliac disease and eat food that contains gluten in it, the gluten will trigger an immune response that is not normal. This will damage your small intestine where a malabsorption of nutrients occurs.

During my childhood I was always diagnosed with anemia. Taking iron and supplements never did the job and my iron level was always 1 out of 13.5 grams. When I turned 6 years old I started to faint on yearly basis without being able to diagnose the reason behind it. My parents used to take me to doctors where I have to do MRI’s , Scans, blood tests, heart tests… and no doctor was able to diagnose the reason behind me fainting and the low iron levels in my blood.

I had to live with it and move forward, always having the fear of fainting in public especially if my parents are not next to me. I had social anxiety, fear of being with new people, depression, headaches and other psychological symptoms due to my fear of fainting in public.

At the age of 18 the level of fainting started to increase, and so did my anemic level. Here I had to do further tests in order to diagnose my case, no doctor was able to diagnose my case, and none thought that this case would be related to gluten intolerance or coeliac disease.  During this period we had a relative that was diagnosed with wheat allergy, so I thought why not going to a gastronomist and check if I have the same problem. The doctor asked me have an endoscopy by entering a thin tube inside my small intestine. Eh Voila I was diagnosed with coeliac disease.

It was hard at first, nobody was aware of this disease, and none would take it seriously. I was not able to find products that does not contain gluten. Gluten is found in chocolate bars, bread, sauce dips, medicine tablets, ketchup, soft drinks, cakes, chips…. I had to read all labels of food, and was not able to eat in restaurants since gluten is found in nearly anything, and it is a hidden ingredients that cannot be discovered directly. When I stopped eating gluten completely my iron levels started to elevate, and I no longer faint. I started gaining weight and became healthy. The solution was so easy stop gluten and be alive again.

Now I celebrate my 12 years of being 100% gluten free, I have found it easier to make a lot of my own meals since I feel a lot better knowing the ingredients of my meal.  I rarely feel the urge or frustration of eating gluten, in fact I feel guilty if I do.