How i navigated an expected celiacs disease diagnosis in grad school

By Serina DeSalvio

I truly believed that everyone’s stomachs hurt after they ate. I thought digestion was painful, and that taking a little rest on the couch after almost every meal was just part of the human experience.

Or maybe I was just getting old? That one definitely crossed my mind, laying on the couch, hoping the bloating feeling would go down before I needed to go into work.

On May 12 th , 2023, I was diagnosed with celiac disease.

Celiac is a weird dietary restriction to have- it’s a gluten intolerance, essentially, but what separates it from a regular food intolerance is that the more you eat gluten, over time, it destroys the lining of your stomach/small intestine. So any amount of gluten in your food can cause you pain, but it also can cause permanent damage to your GI tract.

At first, I was in disbelief- I thought there was no way I could have gone my whole life without knowing this! So when I got the recommendation from the doctor to cut gluten from my diet, I did it because I thought maybe I could prove them wrong. I thought, “Sure, I’ll cut gluten out of my diet, and watch! I’ll feel exactly the same, and they’ll have to test me for something else!”.

Turns out- this doctor was very, VERY correct. I cut gluten out and suddenly… my stomach stopped hurting. I didn’t feel bloated after every meal, my clothes all felt like they fit me right all the time, and it occurred to me- wow, THIS is how everyone feels after they eat! So… normal!

I was shocked when I first received the diagnosis- annoyingly, my husband was unsurprised, since he had been urging me to get tested for food intolerances for months with my constant stomach pain. I didn’t know how much it would affect my day-to-day, and that made me incredibly nervous to start having to tell other people, too.

Luckily, my coworkers were pretty understanding. Outside of occasionally teasing me, and accidentally picking restaurants for outings that I can’t eat at anymore, they are very tolerant and even sensitive, which is nice!

It’s also been an interesting way to expand my network of support- I finally posted about my diagnosis several months later and the number of people who reached out to me with recipes, stories, and personal experience with celiac disease was incredible.

I didn’t know if the people closest to me- my friends, my family- would think it was weird that I suddenly had this new diagnosis I needed to be aware of. But luckily, everyone was really sweet about it- my sisters and my mom even got tested for celiac disease once I got my diagnosis (turns out, my mom has it too and never knew!).