You Should Stop Calling Gluten Intolerance A Disease

[ravenwoodglass]

Life is full of individual choices. I don't think what a individual chooses to label themselves, whether diseased or different, should be a subject for argument. No matter what the label all here know the serious repercussions of injesting gluten on our bodies. If one person is more comfortable thinking of themselves as diseased and another is more comfortable thinking of themselves as different then that is their personal choice and both IMHO should be respected.

[jerseyangel]

You know why this topic irks me? Because we are some darn sick people here with symptoms ranging from annoying to deadly. Non celiacs give so many of us a hard time, saying it's in our heads, it's not as bad as we think it is. Many people on here have been intentionally glutened by friends and family members who didn't take their disease seriously.

So when I come on here I don't appreciate being told that the disease I have that has made my life HELL for so many years is not really a disease. I have an autoimmune reaction to a food which destroys parts of my body. OF COURSE IT'S a DISEASE! I don't have gluten INTOLERANCE I have celiac DISEASE.

Ditto--to me, this is a disease. It's what the doctor wrote on my chart and it's something that I live with every day. It took years to figure out that I had this, and as I write this I'm in the middle of yet another uncomfortable bout of nausea and have been popping Immodium because I had the gaull to travel and gamble on <gasp> eating out at a well known restaurant that has a gluten-free menu. Again, yes, it's always a roll of the dice. But it gets very old--and it's forever.

This is not a normal way to live--and not all Celiacs get "complete reversal of symptoms" on The Gluten Free Diet. Celiac Disease puts us at greater risk for other autoimmune disease, and ups the liklihood of other food intolerances.

Just my two cents.