I Want To Raise Awareness!

[AKAmbrozaitis]

I feel like we, as Celiacs, are practically punished for having Celiac Disease by having no other choice but to give up so many foods and food products that we love in order to live a healthy life. Celiac Disease affects a large amount of people which, in turn, revokes customers from big name brand companies such as Hershey, Frito, Stouffers, and many others. So, if we can raise the awareness of Celiac Disease to not only guide more people to being properly diagnosed, but to bring it to the attention of these big companies as well, then perhaps we can show these companies that Gluten Free Lines could not only benefit us but, since everything is about money anymore, benefit them by regaining their Celiac customers and our money. The way the world works now, we have to use politics to reach the eyes of these companies so I do believe that I have quite a solid argument. So, the first step is to HELP SPREAD THE WORD ON CELIAC! WE NEED TO RAISE MORE AWARENESS! Did you know that 95% of Celiacs go undiagnosed or are misdiagnosed with other conditions? With this information, we as fellow Celiacs who were lucky enough to have been correctly diagnosed, should feel the need to spread awareness, for we know that giving up gluten makes every bit of a positive difference in our health and lives in general. I would have been so thankful if mine had of been caught earlier than it was, and if I, or my family, friends, or doctors had of been aware of and schooled on Celiac, chances are, it would have been caught sooner than age 20. I've had issues since I was very young with all sorts of symptoms such as all the stomach issues, headaches, and fatigue and not once was Celiac mentioned. Instead, due to inconclusive testing for other health problems, I was just shrugged off and made to believe that maybe it was just who I was and that I'd never lead a normal life without said problems. After having some major issues everytime I ate pizza(which at this particular time, I was eating it almost daily (tsk tsk)) and noticing my symptoms flared up when I'd have anything with bread especially, I did some research and found out about Celiac Disease. Everything I'd been feeling since I was a child was all there and it all made so much sense so, after talking with my friends and family to get their opinion, I made an appointment to be tested. When I told the the doctor that I thought I could very well have Celiac Disease and gave her my reasonings, she, no joke, scoffed in my face claiming that she'd tested tons of patients and very few came back positive and continued to scoff while telling me that my symptoms sounded way more like Crohn's Disease. Despite her failed attempts to make me feel stupid, when really, her obviously lack of knowledge regarding Celiac, and to talk me out of getting blood work for it, I insisted that I wanted to be tested. I made it clear that I was sick of being, well, sick and that I desperately wanted to know what was wrong with me. I knew that so many of my problems would finally be given an explanation if the tests came back positive so I was quite convinced that I did, in fact, have Celiac Disease. She allowed me to be tested but out of her own arrogance also had me tested for Crohn's, although, with my gut feeling and a fixed budget, I strictly made the appointment to be tested for Celiac. My blood results came back positive and the when the nurse called, she read the results to me saying, "Dr. W said that YOU WERE CORRECT and your blood tests came back positive." I desperately wanted to say "HA! I knew it! In your face!" to that arrogant woman who tried to belittle me and make me feel stupid. She, obviously, made herself look like a total, well, for lack of a better and more fitting word, ass. Forgive my being crude. Anyways, where I'm going with this is, is that if all my doctors were so ignorant to Celiac Disease then how many other doctors out there are as well? How many doctors are seeing patients daily and diagnosing them with other gastro-intestinal issues such as IBS (which I was, about two months prior to being diagnosed with Celiac, diagnosed with)or other false diagnostics due to lack of awareness? Spreading awareness will make the Celiac Nation strive. We shouldn't have to suffer and give up so many things when these big companies have PLENTY of money to create Gluten Free lines. So I say, we spread awareness and demand for a gluten free revolution! If we take little steps together such as posting and sharing links on Facebook to websites like this one and Open Original Shared Link or telling our friends and family to help us spread the word, we can make a movement and help undiagnosed Celiacs find their solution like we've found ours and help get a move on big name companies to support The National Celiac Foundation! We need all the help we can get! This has got to be a group effort! I can't do it alone so that's why I'm here asking all you fellow Celiacs to join me in making Celiac Disease a widely known disease! If anyone has any ideas of how we can spread the word, please, do enlighten! Your input and help would be greatly appreciated and potentially revolutionary to the gluten free world!