What to Expect When You Have Celiac Disease...

Gluten. Wheat. Flour. Bread.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit typing that made me anxious. The words. The crumbs. The smell. They make me scared because they can make me sick.

People are nice and I don't think people realize how often they are offered food.
Whether it's at a party, at lunch, or just in class; people offer each other food very often.

When someone offers me something and I don't know them well, I just say "I'm okay." or "No, Thank you." and if I get to know them well or they repeatedly offer then I will tell them
"Thanks, but I'm allergic to gluten."
I'm not embarrassed to say it.
I know what to expect when someone learns this about me for the first time.
I am completely prepared for what they will say.
If you're new to your celiac diagnosis you can expect one of the following when you tell someone.

1. "That Sucks"

The number one response I get. You would be surprised how many people respond with:
"That Sucks."
I don't know why someone would say that but it really happens.
Yes, it does suck.
But gluten, bread, flour, and wheat are just not food to me.
My mom is a vegetarian and often refers to meat as shoes. She doesn't see meat as food, just as she doesn't see shoes as food.
I used to get annoyed when she would tell me that gluten and wheat are my shoes, but now I can completely relate.
Just as you don't know what shoes taste like; I don't remember what gluten taste's like.
When I see a piece of bread it doesn't occur to me to eat it or that it's even food.

2. "What would happen if you ate gluten?"

I don't know if people ask me this because they want to test it or they think they might be allergic or they are just curious but this is also a very common question.
At first I never really knew how to answer it.
I don't want to break into an explanation about Celiac Disease and Autoimmune diseases; especially when I don't really know the person who is asking.
My go-to response to this question is "It's not like a peanut allergy... I get bloated... I'll get sick"
All true. Eating gluten would bring on a flare, it would make me bloated, and it is nothing like a peanut allergy.

Celiac disease is not an "allergy to gluten". It is an autoimmune disease which means that it causes my body to attack itself. My healthy cells go after other healthy cells.
It happens as a response to gluten entering my body.
Whereas if you have a peanut allergy your immune system triggers a response toward the peanut, treating it like it's a virus because it's a foreign invader to your body.

3. "Have you always been like that?"

I think it's a good question. 

I don't know if it would be my first question but it's definitely something I would want to know. 

My answer to this question is pretty simple.

No. I haven't always been like this. I usually explain that I stopped eating gluten in sixth grade but I had probably been "allergic" for a couple years before I found out.

I don't think I knew subconsciously but I sometimes think my body knew.

I LOVED gluten. I didn't know what "gluten" was but I LOVED bread and especially pasta. 

It made it especially hard for me to stop eating it. I didn't know to appreciate it. I had never heard of "Gluten-Free" I definitely had never heard of "Celiac Disease". 

4. "What would you eat, if you could eat gluten?"

This one makes me a little sad because I wish I would've known I was eating my last bowl of pasta when I was. Don't get me wrong I do eat pasta! Just gluten-free pasta and I can't tell the difference anymore. But my last bowl of pasta from a restaurant without being worried and scared having to ask "Who touched it?" or "Where was it cooked?" or "Was it near the gluten?" or "Did they change their gloves?" I don't remember my last bowl of care-free, gluten-filled pasta. I probably felt sick after.

As for the question it really depends on my mood. But I usually answer with "an Italian Sub"
I have no idea why. I never ate Italian subs when I ate normally.
I think it's just that I can't get a safe gluten-free one and it sounds good.
Because I can get a gluten-free pasta or a gluten-free salad or a gluten-free pizza and feel pretty safe about it. I've also tried to make one and it's just not the same. At least it doesn't look the same.

If I do eat out (which is scary) I take gluten enzymes. I don't know if they work, I think they do.
But the idea is that the enzymes go in and help you digest the gluten (if any) before it can get to your small intestine. I can't take them and eat a piece of bread but I can take them and be a little safer from cross-contamination.

5. "Will you always be like that?"

I think this question is derived from the fact that people can outgrow some allergies, peanut allergies for example. It's an optimistic way of thinking. But because it's not an allergy I cannot grow out of it.
I think if I could I honestly would be too scared to eat it anyway.

So my response is "No, I won't, but I don't really remember it anymore"

6. "Do you have Celiac Disease?"

I KNOW... WHAT?!
I have gotten this ONE time in the last FIVE years and I was STUNNED.
I was expecting questions 1-5 and was shocked when they asked this. But someone knew!
I could not believe it! I responded "YES!" Way overly excited, not like someone exposing their autoimmune disease to someone they barely know. But they had a sibling with celiac disease.
It was a big day.

In the end...
If someone tells you they are "allergic to gluten" you could blow their mind and ask if they have celiac. That made my day. Or you could relate, I mean you've read this blog so that's a start.

If you know someone who has celiac, see if they know about gluten enzymes.

If you have celiac, it's easiest to keep it simple. It was nice of them to offer.
Yes, it sucks. No, I'm used to it.
Gluten and I just don't get along, we haven't for years, and we never will.