New To Celiac

brwneyedgrl43 · May 20, 2004

hey everyone. im 14 years old and have just recently been told i tested positive for having the antibodies related to celiac. im going to get the throat thingy, and lately ive just been really depressed about the whole thing, no matter what i do. 1 weird thing is, ive never had any of the physical symptoms. the only thing is that im tired more than normal, and thats why my brother suggested me gettin my blood tested, to see if im anemic. i was a tiny bit iron-defficient, and i know that thats related to celiac. 2 other people in my family have celiac, my older brother and sister, so im very familiar with the diet and everything. i never really thought of it as a big deal until i realized that i could possibly have this disease, and that it could change the rest of my life. if anyone has any words of encouragement or advice i would love to hear from you! thanks.

byuiemily · May 20, 2004

Hi I understand what you must be feeling. My sister Becky was diagnosed before I was, although only by a couple months. When I heard that she had celiac, I felt bad for her, but as soon as you hear that you might have it, your whole outlook on it changes. My words of encouragement are a few things. First off, you are so very lucky to already understand the diet, since you have siblings that are around you that have celiac; you won't be on your own in your family. Just know that if you catch it at this time, before you start feeling a lot of the symptoms, you probably will never have to deal with them, which is a big blessing! It will be hard along the way, but feeling healthy will be well worth it. I wish you the best of luck!

celiac3270 · May 21, 2004

Hi...welcome to the board. I have had the symptoms of Celiac since first grade, but was only diagnosed 13 weeks ago. At first, for me, it seemed strange changing diet, and all the gluten-free foods didn't seem nearly as good as the normal stuff. You'll quickly become used to it...especially since you have others in your family with celiac disease. I guess there are only three things to mention:

- DON'T CHEAT -- As you already know, to heal your intestines you have to be 100% gluten-free. A nutritionist told me that any amount of gluten larger than your fingernail i n one day can screw up all your progress. It was difficult for me to watch others eat gluten foods that I couldn't have, but knowing how sick it would make me and how much better I felt without it made their food look less and less apetizing. It might be even harder for you than for me because you have NO symptoms. In a way, symptoms are positive cause they warn you if you eat something bad, so you know to stay away from it in the future. Plus, your desire to avoid symptoms outweighs your desire to cheat, so it helps in that respect, as well.

- WHEN IN DOUBT, DON'T -- Pretty straightforward. If you question something, don't eat it. Call the company later, but don't risk it.

- GOOD LUCK-- good luck with the endoscopy (throat thingy) and a quick healing of the intestines.

It may seem life-altering in the beginning (and it is), but it will get better over the weeks. Eventually it will seem so normal that you won't even really have to think when you reach for food to know that it's gluten-free or not. Good luck on the endoscopy.