My Diagnosis

Never in a million years would I have EVER imagined I would have to maintain a gluten free diet, let alone have Celiac Disease.

How Did You Know Something Was Wrong?

For the month of March during my senior year of high school, I decided to go vegan. I was taking an Advanced Placement Environmental Science class and it really opened my eyes to how horrible the farming industry is for the planet. So, I figured it would be a fun personal challenge to see how I would do! I turned out to actually love it. I felt like I was able to really explore culinarily and l ended up learning a lot about myself along the way.

Upon the 4th week of being vegan, I realized how much I missed a good NY bacon egg and cheese - yes, I’m serious. I drove to my local deli, picked up a bec and an iced tea, and was on my way to dive into my old antics. I even filmed myself biting into the sandwich so I could remember that satisfying feeling (you can only imagine how many times I watch it now).

Almost instantly I returned back into my regular diet- which was pretty much composed of gluten, dairy, vegetables and meats. However, around two weeks later I completely lost my appetite. Every time I would try and eat something, I was in incredible pain. It felt like I had been punched in the stomach 1000 times in the stomach after eating a full Thanksgiving dinner. Since any time eating was a lose-lose situation, I stopped eating proper meals and only stuck to the bare minimum.

I spent the entire month of April in pain: from both eating and not eating. I was miserable. I was disconnecting myself from my relationship and friendships because I didn’t have any motivation or energy to socialize or even leave my bed. I stopped going to parties, seeing people, participating in my usual school activities, etc. In fact, I even skipped school some days because I literally could not move.

What Tests Did You Get Done?

I decided to finally speak up to my mother about what was going on with me. Of course, she immediately panicked. I was booked with doctors appointments for a good three weeks. I had, what seemed like so much, blood taken and an ultrasound. Both came up with all negative results: they had no idea what was wrong with me. I thought to myself, am I going to be the new patient zero? At this point it was mid May and I was nervous that I would have to spend my prom, graduation, summer, and maybe even freshman year of college not knowing what was going on with me.

When Did You Get Diagnosed?

It wasn’t until a week and a half later when my doctor called my mom to tell her “we missed something.” On May 21st, 2019, I came home from hanging out with my friends when my mom asked me to '“sit down." That’s when you know something is wrong. She said the doctors finally got back to her and said I had Celiac Disease. What the **** is Celiac Disease? I thought to myself. I would say I took the news pretty well… until I realized I couldn’t have a local deli bacon egg and cheese again… So I cried. Yes, I cried from the thought of not eating a bec again. I ended up crying about some more foods/drinks (haha) later too.

The Adjustment Period

No one in my family has ever had Celiac Disease, so I had no idea what to expect or what to really do. All I knew was that I couldn’t eat gluten… whatever that was… I slowly began to realize how big of a deal this was. I was still eating gluten once in a while because I just didn’t know how to cut it all out of my diet. The first few months were super hard. I would say “oh it’s fine I’ll get the ice cream cone because I’m going to go to bed after this anyway so I can gluten myself and then fall asleep.” Which, by the way, is never a good idea. As it’s been a year since my diagnosis, I have gotten so much better about it all. Finding the GF Community on social media has super helpful. I have found so many incredible people who are suffering with the same thing as me. Everyone shares lifestyle tips, advice, foods, recipes, and even memes, that make things feel a better. If any of you are reading this, hey! and thank you. <3