I am going to take a moment here to let you all know that it is Celiac Awareness Month in Canada and the US (possibility other countries as well…).

I personally believe that we need to raise a lot more awareness about celiac disease and the symptoms to look out for. Whilst there is a lot more awareness than there was when I was diagnosed in 2009 there is still a long way to go.

For me, I suffered for at least two years before being diagnosed. All the doctors wanted to do was offer me a quick fix; antibiotics for tonsillitis (which I got about 4 times a year), Buscopan for bloating and the list goes on. Not one doctor I went to suggested sending me off for some tests to work out if there was a deeper problem.

Finally, after my Mum suggested I go to a naturopath (which is saying something as my Mum didn’t used to ‘believe’ in natural medicine, vitamin/mineral supplements etc, thinking that exercise and a healthy diet was enough) I was diagnosed. My naturopath, after talking to me for about half an hour, was pretty much convinced I had celiac disease.

The problem with celiac disease is that because it has so many different symptoms it’s hard to diagnose – but I would like to see doctors going a bit deeper into patients problems instead of just sending them away with a script for antibiotics.

So even if all you do this month is get to understand celiac disease a bit more (a little gluten is not ok – it will eventually kill me alright!!) and what celiacs can and can’t eat I will be happy :)

Gluten free

What are your experiences with celiac disease?

Also check out this post on Gluten Dude’s blog (an awesome gluten free blog btw) for another persons experience with un-dignosed celiac disease.