Who's In Their 20's?

[LRgirl]

Hi,

I'm 26 and from Maryland. It has been hard adjusting to my gluten intolerance as well as other allergies. You'll find this to be a very helpful and supportive board.

Traci

[Guest zipy]

Hi there! I'm 25 and was dxed about 1 month ago. I'm a grad. student at ASU and it's hard to be gluten-free. All the parties, socials, gatherings...free pizza by the Greek rush ....it's not much fun to be on the outside of all the "fun" and normal stuff. I was thinking about seeing if there is gluten-free student support group on campus, or maybe looking in to starting one? I mean, what do students stuck in the dorms eat when they buy a meal plan? Hang in there...I'm making all my own foods from scratch and it is a pain and does take a lot of time...but they taste good! I chewed my husband out the other day for eating my home-made gluten-free granola bars when we have a pantry full of the store bought ones...he said he liked mine better! Lol!

[happygirl]

It's nice to know that there are others out there that are young and living gluten free (or trying the best we can!). I've never met anyone with celiac disease so it makes me feel better to know that there are others like me

[VegasCeliacBuckeye]

I just turned 30 a few months ago (ok, 7 seven months ago).

I have been diagnosed since 1997.

The first couple of years were difficult, but they got easier.

You should always be reading about celiac disease and always be reading about food. I have plenty of cookbooks and food-educational sources at home. The more knowledge the better.

This site is great, better than any Doctor I have ever seen. Welcome!

[Ken Guzzardo]

Hey everyone, my name is Ken and I'm 24 years old. I was diagnosed in October, and had been getting sick for about 5 years previously. I'm new to all this posting stuff, but I wanted to hear from more people my age that have this disease. GFSTUDENT, if you allow your body some time to heal; there's a good chance that you will be able to tolerate more foods in the future. Eating a very restrictive diet for a limited time is a small price to pay if it buys you years of health in the future. As someone else posted (I forget who), dealing with eating out with friends is a difficult situation for me. My friends will laugh when I bring my cooler of food on the golf course, as they're all toating their coolers of beer, but oh well. A quick note to everyone.. I recently returned from Disney World, which was the first vacation I have taken since being on the diet, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. As long as you make all the reservations with advance notice and alert them to your restrictions, they were more than accomodating. Each head chef came over to talk to me, which made the trip a lot less stressful for me (and therefore my girlfriend). I'm living outside of Philly, so anyone in the area email me or post back... i haven't met anyone aside from 50 year olds with this, so it will be nice to talk to someone more my age.

[emeraldskies]

I'm 27 and was diagnosed with celiac disease slightly over a year ago, but I've had signs of it since infancy.

I'm in my twenties, too. I think people our age are more open to the idea of food causing illness, compared to my grandparents' generation. I think it's because there's more awareness now that not everything can be solved with a "suck it up, get over it, and move on" --type attitude. You know, the mentality that says, "if I don't see gushing blood, you're just fine." Has anyone else noticed this? In my experience, when I tell someone 30 years older than me what celiac disease is, I'm much more likely to get a skeptical reaction than if I tell someone my own age.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, I've had a similar reaction even though I had most of the same health issues (and more) as the middle aged people I'd encounter. I was also told, "You're young; you'll bounce back from anything" repeatedly pre-diagnosis. I still haven't bounced back.

[Lauren M]

I'm living outside of Philly, so anyone in the area email me or post back

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey Ken - I'm in grad school at Drexel!

Do you ever visit Mr. Ritts in Philly?

- Lauren

[Ken Guzzardo]

Hey Ken - I'm in grad school at Drexel!

Do you ever visit Mr. Ritts in Philly?

- Lauren

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey Lauren - I've been to Mr. Ritts a couple of times. Their jewish apple cake is ridiculously good. what are you going to school for? i graduated from jefferson last year.

ken

[Lauren M]

Ken,

I'm getting my masters in Publication Management. I have my bachelors in Rhetoric & Communications. For one of my grad classes last year, I "created" a magazine entirely about Celiac disease and the gluten-free diet

I think EVERYTHING at Mr. Ritts is ridiculously good! I'll have to try the apple cake next time. I got my birthday cake from them last year (my only request was that it had to have chocolate and it had to have peanut butter) and they came up with something that was to die for

It's cool to find out about others my age with celiac disease! And you're all so nice!

- Lauren

[frenchiemama]

I'm in my (late) 20's as well, but I have to say that I haven't had too much trouble with people regarding celiac disease overall. My husband's family have really been the only ones to have a strange reaction ("can't she just take some benadryl?").

[jkmunchkin]

Welcome! I'm 27 (will be 28 in just over a week). I just found out a couple months ago that I have celiacs, but have most likely had it for nearly 10 years. Atleast now I know why I was always sick.