I'm not sure where to start but i guess the beginning is a good place! As a little one i was brought up on an amazingly varied, healthy diet and it built a good foundation for me. I couldn't be more grateful towards my parents for giving me that. When i reached around the age of 14 i started to experience a few rough years, my very first symptom was having a sore throat all the time and feeling generally unwell. I used to complain to my mum about it and have days off school every 2 weeks because i didn't feel well but obviously as i was young i can imagine my mum probably felt a bit like i was just trying to pull a fast one because what 14 year old really loves going to school! (not me) I was frequently visiting my gp over the next year complaining about feeling unwell all the time and having the symptoms of tonsillitis and picking up just about every cold going around. I've always been a pale person with dark circles under my eyes but i had just seen that as the norm and got used to it even though i hated that about myself so in general i wasn't in my best condition.
After a good few months of my doctor telling me it was all in my head, that i was being bullied at school and basically accused me of lying and being a hypochondriac he started fobbing me off with antibiotics quite literally every month, which as you can imagine absolutely killed off my immune system!! I was eventually referred to a specialist at the ear nose and throat clinic at the hospital and had a camera put down my throat to investigate further.. i was tested for leukaemia, crohns, limes disease, goitre and just about everything else! They found nothing but decided to perform surgery on my neck to remove a gland to be tested, again this came back with nothing so their next step for me was to have my tonsils removed which was the most horrific 3 weeks of my life my body really didn't cope well with that.
After all of this pain and waiting i was still no better and my symptoms were worsening, i was beginning to lose weight and feel constantly fatigued, i felt depressed and unhappy, i was bloated all the time and just generally not at all well. After my brother started working in a gym i was put in contact with an amazing holistic doctor who had been through a similar thing to me and this is where my health started to turn around a bit and i began to get answers and recover! He worked closely with a doctor in America and run quite a few tests on me, one of which being in London down Harley St, these came back to show my doctor that all the villi in my stomach were completely destroyed and my body was not absorbing any nutrients, vitamins or calories my body and was in a bit of a bad state. I was put onto a candida detox diet which was possibly the hardest thing i've done cutting out all sugar, wheat, gluten, carbs, yeast, etc.. i was only young so luckily my mother was mainly in charge of my diet which helped out a lot.
After a few months i started to re introduce a few little things such as half a potato or half an apple, just to see what my body would react too and it turns out i was coeliac and every time i ingested wheat or gluten my body would start attacking itself and i would become ill, ever since i have managed to build my body back up with the help of my doctor and family. I still struggle with being coeliac and i'm sure i will for the rest of my life as will others find it hard but, i have come a long way and am glad to be out of the bad place i was in with my health a few years ago!
I do now have a few add ons such as reynauds and suffer pretty much all the symptoms when i do accidentally eat gluten but it's something i'm learning to live with and if i can help others in their journey of living with coeliac then that would make me very happy!
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