Ep 126 Dating While Celiac

Let’s start the blog with the show notes for this Episode –

Mia Kennedy is now a contributor to theceliacscene.com.  Mia is a university student who was diagnosed with celiac disease in here early teens.  Mia will be writing articles for theceliacscene.com talking about her experiences of being a teen, then young adult with celiac disease.  I couldn’t resist digging deeper into her article with a series of questions.  My daughter is a similar age to Mia, and is also in a relationship.  I asked her to read Mia’s article and she was happy to share her thoughts and perspective with me as well.  Here’s the link to Mia’s article for Ellen and The Celiac Scene.

https://theceliacscene.com/musings-mia-dating-celiac-disease/

Sue’s Websites and Social Media –

Podcast https://acanadianceliacpodcast.libsyn.com

Podcast Blog – https://www.acanadianceliacblog.com

Facebook – @acanadianceliacpodcast

Twitter – CeliacPodcastCA

Email – acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com

Baking Website – https://www.suesglutenfreebaking.com

Instagram – @suesgfbaking

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUVGfpD4eJwwSc_YjkGagza06yYe3ApzL

Email – sue@suesglutenfreebaking.com

Other Podcast – Gluten Free Weigh In – https://glutenfreeweighin.libsyn.com

My Thoughts –

Talking to Mia got me thinking about how I would have handled a diagnosis of celiac disease, had I been diagnosed years before my thirty-fifth birthday.

I knew there was something wrong in my late teens.  I regularly had stomach troubles, but after a mild back injury, that caused me to spend more time off my feet, I was never quite the same.  My symptoms weren’t consistent; they came and went.  My inquires with doctors reflected the on and off symptoms.  To me, that explained why I tested negative for everything the doctors thought might have been causing my pain and discomfort.  I learned to live with it.

Had I actually been diagnosed as a teenager, it’s hard to say how I would have dealt with becoming and staying gluten free.  Back then, gluten free was much harder to find, but I suppose, I’m more concerned with what my attitude would have been.  Thinking through day to day life, I can confidently say I wouldn’t have been as well-adjusted as either Mia or Deanna were as teenagers and are now young adults.

Thinking of the hypothetical lets me reflect on the impact the Canadian Celiac Association has had on my adult life.  As a resource for medical and lifestyle information, the CCA is my go-to.  I don’t think my attitude, confidence and clarity for and about the diet would come close to what it is today, without the CCA.  It’s impossible to know how my gluten free life would have worked out if I’d been diagnosed 25 or 30 years earlier.  What I can say is that both Mia and Deanna had the benefit of all the CCA had to offer, not only in resources, but in establishing knowledge about celiac disease with the medical community, as well as the community at large.  They were diagnosed in a world that was curious and somewhat accepting of the gluten free diet; they just had to take the lead for their personal health.  I’m proud of both of them, they are the kind of twenty-something celiacs I don’t know whether I ever could have been.