Feeling Alone

[Tessa]

Well, here is my first post on this forum.

I have been gluten free for three months. It was so easy at first, but now I am having the hardest time. I feel so frusterated and alone. No one seems to understand how I feel. All my friends get to eat whatever they want,whenever they want. I am so jealous.

Sometimes it feels like I have no control over my emotions.

Will this end up going away? How long will it last?

Tessa

[HSM]

Well, here is my first post on this forum.

I have been gluten free for three months. It was so easy at first, but now I am having the hardest time. I feel so frusterated and alone. No one seems to understand how I feel. All my friends get to eat whatever they want,whenever they want. I am so jealous.

Sometimes it feels like I have no control over my emotions.

Will this end up going away? How long will it last?

Tessa

I have been gluten free for over a year and after a few months I started to feel the same way. My friends are quite accommodating when it comes to eating together, but there are definitely times when the frustration kicks in.

Things will get easier over time, you will get used to it and even learn to embrace it.

Also, it helps that the awareness level among the general public is increasing everyday!!!

[starrytrekchic]

It may help to remember that although your friends don't have celiac, they have all sorts of other problems themselves, whether it's medical, family, relationship oriented--just about anything! It should help to think about how much better you feel off of gluten, how relieved you may be to be diagnosed, how good it is that you don't have to be on medication and that you have an illness that can be treated with diet, that you got knowledge about the disease before complications like cancer set in--basically, that of all the illnesses or life problems you could have, celiac may be a right pain, but it could be much, much worse!

That said, it's perfectly okay to feel frustrated and all too easy to feel isolated--it's frequently a socially-isolating condition. It's something you have to deal with on a day to day basis, and some people simply won't understand. I'd suggest finding people to surround yourself with that are supportive--ones that go out of their way to find places you can eat too, who won't ever question your illness or try to get you to eat something you shouldn't. The more supportive the people around you are, the easier it'll be for you to deal with it.

Be sure you're treating yourself whenever possible. Maybe cook something gluten free and invite your friends over? That way you can enjoy the food too--like cookies or pizza (I don't know what your specific diet restrictions are outside of gluten.) Or if you're going over to a friend's, be the one who bakes and brings something over. The easiest way to deal with them getting to eat whatever--is if you're the one with the great food they want to eat!

And be sure you know what you can and can't eat when you're out on the town. Plenty of candies, ice cream, etc., are gluten free. You may need to concentrate on what you can eat, rather than what you can't.

Outside of that--maybe a celiac support group near by? Do research to find out what restaurants you can and can't eat at ahead of time--that way you can always have a suggestion ready? Whether or not your frustration with it goes away--or at least becomes manageable--is going to depend on you and how you approach things. There's definitely a learning curve on how to deal with people who aren't celiac.

[Mike7]

I was undoubtedly embarrassed whenever I went out with my friends at a restaurant or around a table with food. The thing I had to realize was that it wasn't MY choice to not eat the food with gluten, it was my body's choice. My body rejects gluten like Dwight Howard blocks jump shots.

A classmate I knew would always say that he was allergic to wheat whenever we ate lunch so when I had to go gluten-free, I decided to do the same. Don't feel alone, because I felt the same way. Think of it as a good thing, going gluten-free can lead to eating organic and healthier foods. You can be a Celiac AND the leanest looking of anyone you know! Of course, that is if you want to be fit .

[mushroom]

A poster on this forum has in her signature block something like "Be kind to everyone, because everyone is fighting a big battle."

Most battles are not visible and are known only to the battler. Something along the line of "we all have our crosses to bear" Ours just happens to be the gluten and (fill in the other foods here) cross. Our job is to find a way to carry the cross easily, so it doesn't drag along behind us and weight us down.