Dear Friends,

When I tell people that I don't eat gluten, they always say "oh, you're one of those." NO, I am not one of those. I am actually highly allergic to gluten, and envy people who can decide whether or not they want a slice of pizza without getting sick. It's a disease called Celiac, not many people have heard of it. Celiac is a disease in which the small intestine is hypersensitive to gluten, leading to difficulty in digesting food.

I always had problems with my stomach when I was younger. I was in the hospital more than once with doctors thinking that it was my appendix. I almost got my appendix taken out on Christmas Eve, due to the severity of pain that I was having on my right side. All signs were pointing to my appendix, but not one scan or test that any doctor did on me showed anything wrong with my appendix. Finally after years of having on and off pain I was diagnosed with Celiac. The tests that they had to do to find out I had Celiac was brutal they wanted to be positive with the results, they gave me ten vials of blood work at once. I am not afraid of needles, but after losing that much blood I was very dizzy.

At first, I thought that having Celiac was the end of my life; all of these thoughts came rushing through me at once. How am I going to eat bread? How am I going to go out with my friends and eat? Can I still have pizza on Friday nights? (Friday nights were always pizza night at my house) How am I going to eat at school? How am I going to eat in public? I felt very overwhelmed, how am I going to change the way I have been eating for years?

Adjusting to eating differently was not only a challenge for me but my family and friends as well. We had to start shopping at stores we had never heard of. After awhile we learned they do have gluten free bread and pizza and pretty much anything you could think of comes gluten free, the only problem is the price of gluten free food is double what my family had been paying for my food before I was diagnosed, so it was a little bit of a struggle. I was happy about being able to keep my Friday night pizza night, but for a while I could not find gluten free pizza that was sold by the slice, I only found it sold in a personal pizza size, which got a little pricey. Finally, after searching for a long time I found a place that sold it by the slice.

Going out to eat, Ha! That's always fun. I always have to ask the waiter/ waitress for a gluten free menu and if they don't have one sometimes I have to make my friends and family go to a different place to eat. It can get embarrassing, and even if they do have a gluten free menu I still have to ask them a million questions about the dressing, sauces and if the food would be touching. I can always tell when I am out with my friends that sometimes they get frustrated with all of my questions and, it seems as if the server does too.

I can't even use the same utensil as someone who just used it with something that had gluten on it. I have to be very careful with sharing everything from a utensil to a toaster oven, It is a very challenging allergy to have because wheat is used in everything. I have learned to accept being the girl who always brings my own food to parties, while I watch everyone around me eat the foods that I used to love, I have learned to be accepting of what I have and who I am.

My friends and family always make jokes about me being Gluten Free. People ask me if potato bread is gluten free, because they hear potatoes and think gluten free, but no potato bread is still bread. People ask if salad is gluten free and french fries yes both of these are gluten free. People ask me the most ridiculous questions sometimes, and it gets concerning.

I'm currently looking into going away to school, and I have to worry about if they will have gluten free foods or not. I'm nervous that I will go away to school or on vacation and I won't have many options. Having a food allergy can actually cause anxiety at times, but you have to keep a positive outlook about it.

I would love to be able to eat a non-gluten free slice of pizza again, but I am lucky that what I have is not worse. There are people out there suffering from such horrible diseases, and I am lucky that having Celiac is the only disease that I have. I hope that one day people can realize that when you have a food allergy you are not trying to be annoying asking so many questions, you are just trying to feel good and be safe so that you can have a nice night out. If you have a food allergy it is not the end of the world, you will get through it.

Love,

Your local gluten free girl.