support

This page is for celiac support. I have just recently joined a support group. My first meeting with them is coming up soon and we're having a Mexican potluck. I've noticed Mexican food has a lot of gluten-free food. Anyway, it's been very hard and I've had to lean on non-celies, especially my mom. Sure, she supports me and sympathizes for me but she doesn't know what it's like. That's why this page is devoted to supporting celiacs, or close relatives or friends of celiacs. It can be hard on them too. They have to sit by and watch the celiac go through pain. It can be hard. If anyone ever needs me, email me by clicking here.

In some research, I recently found that we have a right to be irritable and not being able to concentrate. It is common for celiacs or celiacs before being diagnosed to be this way. That doesn't mean go out, be irritable, drop all your work and blame it on celiac disease. It just means that there's a reason we're this way. I lately have been very irritabl and I'm talking plain old grouchy, especially to my friends and family. And I get annoyed at the slightest thing. And it's hard to concentrate at school. If you are like me and have been overly or extra irritable lately, even if you don't want to admit it, you should sit down with the people whom you've snapped at and explain to them that you have celiac disease (if you haven't already) and that it makes you grouchy and irritable and makes it so you can't concentrate. I'm sure they would understand.

It is very common for celiac disease and celiacs can support one another and help them through tough times. It helps if you find another celiac. I recently discovered someone in my NEIGHBORHOOD has celiac disease and I didn'r even know it. I haven't gotten in contact with the girl yet but my mom has talked to her mom and I've found that there are ther ways of your body telling you you ate something with wheat. I get stomach aches whereas this girl gets headaches. No offense to her, but she seems to have it easier than me. See, she can cheat (and her mom confessed she does) and she gets a headache. She has no problem keeping weight on and occasionally cheats. Her mom knows she cheats if she comes home with a headache. For me, the pain is so excrutiating that I can't cheat and if I miss a hidden ingredient, I definitely pay for it. I especially have a problem keeping weight on. I've dropped quite a few pounds in a short amount of time recently because I haven't been eating. It's so hard to find something I sometimes go to bed hungry. My mom tries to get me to eat but sometimes, I don't want what she offers and it seems like our pantry is empty. It really isn't but it seems like there's nothing I can have in there or nothing I can have is appealing.

Do you live with a "non-celie" like I do? Then you know that sometimes you feel surrounded by wheat. At school, all my friends are always eating things I can't have and they don't know what I can eat and sometimes they even offer me some! My family still eats wheat, although they tiptoed on eggshells when I was first diagnosed, now they eat whatever they want. But I can't ask them to give up wheat just because i can't have it. It's just hard. My mom is the best about it. She tries to be discrete about it, even though I can tell more when she's eating something if she tries to be discrete. She doesn't eat a ton of bread, which was hard for me to give up, eating a lot of bread in just one day. Anyway, you can't get mad at them. It's not their fault that you can't eat wheat. One big rule in celiac disease is never ask someone else to give up wheat just so you can be happy. That's very selfish and even though it seems like it would help you, it won't and will just make the person you asked bitter-mad at you. Even though the GF diet is one of the healthiest (I learned they are starting to put autistic kids on it because it helps them) you can't ask the whole world to change on your behalf. You just have to learn to deal, unfortunately.