All too often I hear about people blaming Celiac for anything bad that happens. While it is a convenient scapegoat, I find it really hard to believe that celiac is the culprit for ALL of your ailments, life woes, and bad days. I am not denying Celiac has a way of ruining things, trust me because I've been there many times over the past 30 years. But it seems to be trendy to blame celiac for all problems all the time. I have a hard time believing that is the only thing wrong and I am getting tired of people playing the blame game on gluten all the time. Stomachache or headache? Must be gluten. Fight with your wife or bad day at work? Damn, Celiac.
I encourage you all to look at your symptoms and then stop and think before you blame Celiac. There could be something else going on in your life that you aren't paying attention to while you are busy blaming Celiac!
I want you all to stop and actually think about other things that are going on in your life that could be responsible for some of your symptoms. I am sure a lot of people will disagree with this post, but I am having a really hard time believing that Celiac is the root of all evil in this world. For the newbies, you are probably looking for answers but Celiac isn't always the answer. I have been living with Celiac Disease for almost 33 years and if that was the answer to everything wrong with me every time I am sick, then I believe I would actually be way sicker. For example, I have a bad mold allergy. I had crazy symptoms but I knew that it was NOT my Celiac Disease making me feel so ill. If I hadn't paid attention to my symptoms and my body and just accepted it was Celiac, I would have continued living in a mold-infested apartment and never got the diagnosis of toxic black mold!
I encourage you all to look at your symptoms and then stop and think before you blame Celiac. There could be something else going on in your life that you aren't paying attention to while you are busy blaming Celiac!
Tired
Did you get enough sleep last night?
Was it uninterrupted sleep?
What time did you go to bed?
Are you a new parent?
Have you gotten your thyroid or iron levels checked lately?
When was the last time you exercised?
Do you take vitamins?
Did you get enough sleep last night?
Was it uninterrupted sleep?
What time did you go to bed?
Are you a new parent?
Have you gotten your thyroid or iron levels checked lately?
When was the last time you exercised?
Do you take vitamins?
Gaining Weight
What are you eating?
How many calories and grams of fat does that gluten-free cookie/brownie/muffin have?
When was the last time you had a piece of fruit instead of a fistful of gluten-free chips?
How many gluten-free chips did you actually eat?
How many calories and grams of fat does that gluten-free cookie/brownie/muffin have?
When was the last time you had a piece of fruit instead of a fistful of gluten-free chips?
How many gluten-free chips did you actually eat?
Headache
How much booze did you drink last night?
Did you have too much or too little caffeine today?
Did you spend too much time in front of the computer monitor?
When was the last time you had an eye exam?
How much booze did you drink last night?
Did you have too much or too little caffeine today?
Did you spend too much time in front of the computer monitor?
When was the last time you had an eye exam?
Vertigo/Dizziness
Do you have BPPV? (I had this and constantly felt like I was on a rollercoaster!)
Have you had a migraine headache recently?
Have you been drinking alcohol?
Have you had an ear infection lately?
Have you had a migraine headache recently?
Have you been drinking alcohol?
Have you had an ear infection lately?
Bloated
Did you eat too much today?
Are you PMSing?
Did you have dairy today?
Do you have a problem digesting FODMAPs?
Are you constipated?
Are you PMSing?
Did you have dairy today?
Do you have a problem digesting FODMAPs?
Are you constipated?
Dog poop on the kitchen floor
Does my dog have celiac too? (no joke, I have seen this more than once on the internet)
I encourage you to leave comments about your symptoms and your non-Celiac diagnosis below. Haters need not respond!
I encourage you to leave comments about your symptoms and your non-Celiac diagnosis below. Haters need not respond!
Labels: celiac disease, symptoms
10 Comments:
Totally agree with you....we have been asking this same question of the celiac community, my son and I both have cd
Erin - I totally agree with you, but like you, I've been dx'ed celiac a long time, 19 years, and so I know what is celic and what is not. I think so many people have trouble figuring out the differences and don't want to deal with/admit their other issues...
Renee
I agree completely. My son has celiac and is confused when he hears people make excuses for how they feel by blaming it on Celiac Disease. He always asks that if they are eating correctly, than it must be either just excuses or something else health related going on. People with Celiac disease should lead incredibly happy positive healthy lives, no excuses!!!
"People with Celiac disease should lead incredibly happy positive healthy lives, no excuses!!!"
YES, YES, YES!
Also, your son sounds like a very smart boy.
I even had someone complain they were glutened at a 100% GF restaurant where we had a support group meeting! As if, really? So many other possibilities!
Thanks Erin for bringing this up!
Agree! I actually just wrote a blog post the other day about some mistakes I made when I first went gluten free- I overloaded on rice and soy as my gluten and dairy substitutes. For months! I was so sick and I thought it was gluten sneaking into my meals. Turns out it's just really hard for your body to digest a lot of rice, or soy- nevermind both. Ever since then, I pay extremely close attention to my body.
Great post! We all need to be aware of using celiac disease as an excuse or a scapegoat. Now that I'm more than a year in to my gluten-free diet, I'm finally starting to get a sense of what MIGHT be the symptoms of accidental gluten consumption, but I'm really unsure and am definitely not willing to "test it out" to be sure what a glutening feels like (and even if I did, it could vary from one time to another—who knows?). And as I mentioned to you in an email, there's a certain GF-friendly restaurant where I've felt ill every time I've eaten there, but who's to say whether that was coincidence or due to the fact that I always eat way too much starch and cheese there, not to mention often combining it with alcohol! Plus, I still have ongoing day-to-day symptoms and nobody knows whether they're due to celiac or something else entirely. There are too many variables to pinpoint celiac/gluten as the cause of anything, much less everything.
I just fell off my bike and banged up my knee and got bruises all over . . . damn celiac disease! :)
Love hearing from someone who's been doing this for so long. I'm fairly new at it so I do sometimes wonder what is and what isn't a reaction to CD. I have tons of other food allergies too, so it's difficult to decipher what caused what. You made me really think. Thanks for being so honest.
Thanks for this amazing post! I have been dealing with some other health issues lately, and I often feel like blaming gluten. There are so many other options that it is hard to tell, but yet, life goes on! Hope you have a great week!
Thank you for your honest and entertaining article. There is so much information/misinformation out there for newbies like myself, it's so confusing at times. We do need to be aware of what our body is telling us; agreed it is not always about Celiac.��
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