I Need To Stop...tell Me I Have To!

[S-J-L]

Hi,

I was diagnosed with celiac disease about 1.5 months ago. I have been finding it hard, but sticking with it....until now... Its exam time at university, and im stressed. I have been buying food at the canteen that i know has gluten in it... mainly gravy. I cant stop because its convienient, and unlike others with celiacs, i dont get stomach upsets so its like there is no punishment for doing it! I know its wrong, i dont even know what i expect people to say to this.

[RiceGuy]

Well, I think you already feel ashamed, or you wouldn't have posted. That said, shame on you! Maybe it would help to think of it like a savings account - if you blow it now, there won't be anything left for when you need it. If it took twenty servings of gravy to cause cancer, how many would you have? Suppose it took two hundred?

Another way to view it might be in terms of your university studies. Do you allow your grades to slip, just because you'd still get your degree?

Perhaps keep in mind that if you continue to eat gluten, you will begin to get those dreaded symptoms, DH, and who knows what else. Remember that DH is a one-way street, in that once you start breaking out, there is no prospect of being completely rid of it for good.

I'm not sure what else I can say. You already know the deal.

What symptoms did you have that moved you to get diagnosed?

[munkee41182]

I was diagnosed in College too. It was really hard. I went in for my yearly physical, my doctor knew about my grandmother having Celiac....but forgot to write down that my cousin and aunt had it as well. She asked how I was feeling and told her I was getting more frequent heart burn and I was getting more constipation. After she realized how many people in my family had it, she had my blood drawn for a test....low and behold Celiac. I'll admit it, it sucked getting diagnosed 6 months before your 21st b-day...and the 4 food groups in college are pizza, pasta, beer and grease! My professors use to get PO'd whenI brought food into the classroom, they always told me to eat in the cafe or buy something in the cafe, but they never wiped down the tables and there wasn't anything gluten-free in the cafe. So on 20 degree days, I'm eating my gluten-free muffin outside so I wouldn't get kicked out of class.

Well with that said, I stuck to the diet for about a year and a half....and then I slowly started to cheat and finally went off the gluten-free diet completely. Now I feel worse than before. Although I have no heart burn, no stomach pains, the constipation is still there, and now I get more depressed and get really spacey after eating gluten. I started reading more into celiac and found more things that can happen if I continued on the gluten path. It kind of hit home and realized that I want kids, I don't want cancer, diabetes, etc as cancer already runs in my family as well as diabetes and I want kids!

So like you, I would eat pasta, bread etc with no stomach problems....but never realized when I got down in the dumps, it was after eating gluten. I'm now waiting to go see a new GI doc (as I have moved away from my old doc) and I'm trying to stay on Gluten because I know she'll want to take blood and i don't want to mess with the results. I know it's hard to stay gluten-free being on campus, but fight the urges. Find some snacks to keep with you for when you're hungry. You're still learning a lot about this disease and what foods are safe and tastey at the same time. I know a lot of people eat Lara Bars (I personally haven't tried them yet so I can't vouch for them). Pick up some pasta, cook up the batch and use that to eat. It's quick and easy and if you get the right kind, it jsut tastes like a real sticky pasta - I personally love Tinkyada. You'll find things that will be quick and easy for you to make. Just don't eat the gravy!!!

Good luck with finals and going gluten-free!

[ShayFL]

Jami - you have already been diagnosed. Why are you getting another Dx????? Why not just eat gluten-free like you know you have to based on your Celiac blood tests before? This confuses me......

[munkee41182]

I'm not going to get DX'd again. I guess I'm going to a new doc just incase anything happens or for some reason I get worse so at least I have someone close by....I dont know

[curlyfries]

I'm trying to stay on Gluten because I know she'll want to take blood and i don't want to mess with the results.

If you already have a dx, she's not going to test you again.

S_J_L

RiceGuy gave an excellent analogy......if you knew it took 20 servings of gravy to cause cancer, how many WOULD you have? Or maybe you could think of it as Russian Roulette. This serving didn't cause cancer, but will the next one?

[home-based-mom]

Hi,

I was diagnosed with celiac disease about 1.5 months ago. I have been finding it hard, but sticking with it....until now... Its exam time at university, and im stressed. I have been buying food at the canteen that i know has gluten in it... mainly gravy. I cant stop because its convienient, and unlike others with celiacs, i dont get stomach upsets so its like there is no punishment for doing it! I know its wrong, i dont even know what i expect people to say to this.

Celiac is not convenient - but untreated celiac is fatal.

A kid may be able to play in the street just fine over and over without negative consequence, but eventually he will get hit by a car.

If you are in college, you are an adult. A young adult, but an adult. Take something with you to eat. Buy something better than gravy.

You say you can't stop. Why not? Who is holding a gun to your head? Probably no one. You *can* stop, but you are choosing not to. Make better choices. It may seem like it doesn't matter right now, but 30 years from now if you keep making the same choices, you will regret every one of them because you will see just how much each one contributed to how sick you have become.

Listen to "a word to the wise from the voice of experience."

[kbtoyssni]

I got very sick with celiac while in grad school. I ended up dropping out because I couldn't get out of bed and the brain fog was so bad I couldn't think. I'm an engineer, using my brain is what I do and the eight months of not being diagnosed took that away from me. I had to put my life on hold while I figured out what was wrong with me. If you keep eating gluten, you will get to the point where you also have to put your life on hold. You don't want to get to that point. Life is too short to waste. For me the decision is "do I want to have a healthy, happy life in which I can do anything or do I want to eat that gravy?" No gluten-food is yummy enough to be worth trading my life for.

[kbtoyssni]

Wanted to add that gluten is addictive to celiacs so the first few weeks of being gluten-free can be tough. But hang in there, it is worth it.

[ShayFL]

I was going to mention the "addictive" quality of gluten/gliadin. Do you know of any recovered alcoholics? They are to be admired for their courage and strength. It is not only necessary to treat your disease with a gluten-free diet, but it is also brave. Feel good about yourself. Empower yourself. Realize just what kind of person you really are deep inside. Visualize yourself as STRONG and focus on that. If you focus on being weak, you will stay weak. Sometimes things like Celiac help you find out what you are truly made of. It can be a good thing if you allow yourself to see it that way.

[S-J-L]

Im also studying engineering, in my 3rd year.

When i eat gluten my main symptoms are feeling spaced out, tired , no energy, constipation. The thing that worries me most is my weight, in 5'8 and only 103 pounds, ive never weighed more than this. Im almost 21, and since i was 16 ive had problems with fast heart rate, and irregular heart beat. The doctors dont really know why, but i have to wear a heart monitor for a day soon.

I dont even know much about celiacs, how is it fatal?

[katebuggie28]

I guess I am a little different in the respect that when I found out I had celiac disease I had NO desire to ever eat gluten again. I have no cravings, no thoughts...nothing. I wanted to get better, feel better, and live. People eat pizza and other things around me, and I can only think about what they are doing to their own body. It's actually gross to think I once ate all of that garbage. Cafeteria gravy? yuck. You're killing yourself, but you already know that. You need try and eat leftovers or something for lunch if you dont have a lot of time to cook. Take a potato to school and pop it in the microwave (on a paper towel) for 5-7 minutes and you can enjoy a "baked" potato sans the cancerous gravy.

[Ursa Major]

Im also studying engineering, in my 3rd year.

When i eat gluten my main symptoms are feeling spaced out, tired , no energy, constipation. The thing that worries me most is my weight, in 5'8 and only 103 pounds, ive never weighed more than this. Im almost 21, and since i was 16 ive had problems with fast heart rate, and irregular heart beat. The doctors dont really know why, but i have to wear a heart monitor for a day soon.

I dont even know much about celiacs, how is it fatal?

Celiac disease isn't immediately fatal, but it is in the long run. It is possible to die from starvation because of malabsorption. Those are the people who get skinnier and skinnier and look like they are anorexic when they are not.

But in the end EVERY person with undiagnosed celiac disease who continues to eat gluten will develop cancer somewhere in the digestive tract. Most often it will be lymphoma, bowel cancer, but also stomach cancer, cancer of the esophagus or liver cancer. If you keep eating gluten you will die on average twenty years before your time.

And that is after you have likely developed other autoimmune diseases and have been quite ill for a while.

Anyway, have you been tested for celiac disease? It sure sounds like you should get tested, because all your symptoms could be caused by celiac disease. The irregular heartbeat could be caused by anemia, low magnesium or low potassium (or a combination), which could be caused by malabsorption of essential nutrients due to damage to the villi.

[S-J-L]

Yea, i was diagnosed. Both my blood tests and biopsies were positive. I feel like my body is giving up at times, especially with my weight and heart. I estimate that i would have had it since i was 8, cos thats when the constipation started. Throughout high school so many people thought i was anorexic but i eat alot!

[ShayFL]

You know, we really cant convince you. You are an adult. You have access to the Internet. You can learn about all of the horrible things that will happen to you if you keep eating gluten. But like a smoker who knows about lung cancer, you just dont seem to care. The first step you need to take is to learn how to love and care about yourself. Some counseling could help you here. Your disease isnt "all in your head", but your opinion of yourself is. This can be corrected. We are all worthy. I hope you find some help......

[S-J-L]

I do care, alot, its just hard at the moment.

[Lizz7711]

I do care, alot, its just hard at the moment.

Your post says to tell you you have to stop eating gluten. Ok, YOU HAVE TO STOP EATING GLUTEN!!!

Would you pour milk into your car's gas tank? No? Then why are you willing to pour poison into your own gas tank? You will sputter and sputter until you just don't run anymore.

My mom died 3 years ago at the age of 72 of adenocarcinoma of unknown origin...i've since found out that i'm celiac and that she is the one with the celiac gene, so she had it her whole life and didnt' know it. And it killed her. And it was a terrible, very painful cancer. bEfore that, she got severe spinal osteoporosis at age 60, later on she had 9 months of severe diarrhea and weighed 86 pounds. Just over a year later, when she had finally gained some weight back and was feeling better, she got the cancer diagnosis...8 months later she died. Did anyone test her for celiac? NO, of course not. But that's not the point. The point is that you are BLESSED to be young and to KNOW you have this disease, and you do not need any drugs or surgery to heal it, and you can avoid years of future pain and disease simply by avoiding the poison.

I know it's not easy, but you can do it. Hang in there and try to find some fellow students who are celiacs as a support. If you have to eat out, do thai or korean or japanese food, there are good choices out there, you don't have to eat the stuff that is killing your cells

I wish you all the best, don't get discouraged. Knowledge is power, so learn about this disease, be your own health advocate, and take it one step at a time. Good luck.

[pele]

But in the end EVERY person with undiagnosed celiac disease who continues to eat gluten will develop cancer somewhere in the digestive tract. Most often it will be lymphoma, bowel cancer, but also stomach cancer, cancer of the esophagus or liver cancer. If you keep eating gluten you will die on average twenty years before your time.

Apparently malignant melanoma, a form of skin cancer, is far more prevelant in celiacs than in the rest of the population. My mother, whom we believe to have been an undiagnosed celiac, was diagnosed with melanoma at age 28. She died.

[LuvMoosic4life]

I know what you are going through. I wasnt officially diagnosed, but figured out gluten was making me sick. I am in college and decided to try going gluten-free on my own. I felt amazing. but then finals came and I got stressed/depressed. I decided to go back on gluten so that mabey I could get tested for an official diagnosis. The gluten actually made me more stressed out and depressed, so I got in that state of mind "oh well, I already feel like crap" so I just kept eating the pre-made gluten stuff I always ate. I decided to stop after I almost went to the hospital- I went out one night and just didnt give a crap, drank beer, ate pizza, chips.... I ended up going home with a pounding migrane followed by incontrollable puking from 12 am till 10 the next morning! I didnt drink too much ( I did have more than I should, but not that much!) I was laying in bed shaking uncontrollably and swore I was going to die, I just wanted to rip my stomach out. Since then I have been much more strict with not eating gluten. I even gave up drinking. being that sick is scary, I would not want to die from gluten! you may not feel it now, but you will regret it later if you keep eating it.

[KProc]

You say you don't see any effects from eating gluten....well, my dear, being 5'8" and 103 pounds is most likely because you are not absorbing much of the food you eat. Being that underweight is not good for you. Even though you are eating, you're essentially starving yourself. So all the reasons that it's bad to be anorexic, those still apply here.

If your not absorbing food, you're not getting nutrients. Forget cancer and all that, you'll probably end up with osteoporosis by the time you're 25.

And even if you think you feel totally fine, you probably aren't. You've probably just gotten used to feeling crummy. Your insides are rotting and you just haven't really noticed yet.

A lot of posts sound mean, including this one...but I think that's what you needed, otherwise you wouldn't have phrased your post the way you have. You need a good kick in the butt right now huh?

You need a good support system to remind you why you need to be gluten-free 100% of the time.

And I'm sure everyone around here is willing to help.