I Have Celiac Disease

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Deep breath in…  I have celiac disease.  (Said super fast and almost unrecognizable.)  There.  I said it.  Out loud.  Well kind of out loud.  But I said it.  This admission has taken a while to be forthcoming with publicly.  A few people know and it has slowly been coming out, but for the most part I’ve kept this bit of information guarded.  Why the hesitation?  Well for starters I only just disclosed last summer that I had skin cancer.  Basal cell carcinoma.  The best form of skin cancer that you can get though.  Totally random and yet it happened.  To me.  Now I have something else going on medically?  In my mind it sounds crazy.  Almost hypochondriac like or totally hard to believe.  Because honestly?  At first I didn’t want to believe it.  I thought it was crazy.  I thought I was crazy.  I thought if I told anyone they would instantly think, “Oh what does Tara have now?”  Because I do have weird things happen to me medically.  Over the years I’ve been treated for lyme disease, osteoarthritis (Caused by an intra-articular pain pump following shoulder surgery.  Another story for a different day.), loose teeth, skin cancer, and kidney stones among a few other things.  Because honestly… Who really has all of that?  You’d think I’d eventually catch a break.  I have celiac disease?  No way.  Can’t be.  Not possible.  And yet I do have it.  I have celiac disease.

It started with some really bad acid reflux that just persisted.  I was to the point of eating handfuls of Tums a day.  Not normal I know but it had become my normal.  I haven’t felt “right” for years but I just always figured it was just me.  That maybe it was even in my head.  Was I a hypochondriac?  I certainly was starting to think so.  Sure all of those things that I’ve had can definitely be observed as being fact through tests, labs, etc.  But come on.  That many things?

Then a little over a month ago I had a horrible bout with the acid reflux and even developed these awful mouth sores.  Something had to give and it was time to actually see a doctor.  My internist ran a battery of tests.  He wanted to make sure I didn’t have hyperparathyroidism because my symptoms (with the kidney stone and loose teeth) all together pointed in that direction.  Fortunately my hormone levels came back normal and I was able to exhale a sigh of relief.  Everything I had going on was just a completely separate issue.  And then he wanted me to have an upper endoscopy done…  Just to be sure everything was okay.  To try and determine why I was having such bad acid reflux.

So I had the upper endoscopy two weeks ago today.  What was noted warranted a biopsy.  The biopsy came back as celiac disease.  Which means no more gluten for me.  No more bread.  No more cake.  No more flour tortillas.  No more Girl Scout cookies.  No more of all the things I love.  My diet just became very restrictive and very not dandy.  Kind of depressing.

Perhaps I’ve always had celiac disease.  Perhaps it’s the underlying reason for the majority of my other health issues.  Perhaps going gluten free will fix me.  Perhaps all those problems are tied to this whole thing.  Only time will tell.  And I’ve got a lot of time.  Time spent not eating bread.  Sigh.

So there you have it.  I have celiac disease.

Sad day.