Empower your journey to a thriving, happy Celiac life with a positive mindset and healthy lifestyle.

I rewind my memories to tell you about my health journey, and so much comes to mind. I think about the pain of what I did or did not do right because of my health, but I now know every moment was worth it to be where I am.

In my early teens and twenties, I suffered from skin rashes, thyroid problems, migraines, and vitamin deficiencies, and gained some weight. I was on thyroid medication for a couple of years, then taken off, apparently because it was back to normal. One day, I started to have lower abdominal pain and had to go to the emergency room to find out I needed an appendectomy. All of this was going on while I was in Colombia studying Dentistry. I had no time to think or focus my mind on what my body was suffering, so I continued with life and moved back to the States.

In my early thirties, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl with a low birth weight and a congenital disability. I had taken all the care I needed during pregnancy and didn't understand what went wrong. The doctors only explained that they had found a small placenta to supply nutrients.

It was not easy, and I felt guilty about what had happened to my baby, but thanks to God, she is now ten years old and a happy girl. After a few years, I took a leap of faith and had my second child; this time, my doctor managed my pregnancy carefully and ensured I was getting the right vitamins, and a healthy baby boy was born.

A year after my son was born, my health made a big turnaround and declined slowly in the following years. I began to feel tired, low on energy, and irritable, and life started to look meaningless to me when I had a wonderful family. In the following months, the symptoms worsened; I lost most of my hair, had anger issues, and could not drive, which also affected my social life. I finally visited my doctor to see what was happening to me. She ordered some blood tests, only found that I was anemic, and prescribed an Iron supplement.

I went home and thought all my health issues were under control with Iron and continued with my regular diet, but I continued to feel unwell. I revisited my doctor, and she dismissed me and told me to find some hobbies; maybe motherhood was getting me hard.

I believed she was right and needed to find some hobbies, but more symptoms rolled in as I tried to find joy in new things. I woke up every morning with stiff joints, restless sleep, and back pain. I felt like I had slept on a park bench and continued with stomach pain, bloating, and brain fog. I again visited my doctor to discuss with her that I couldn't find my life to be happy with everything in my body and needed a solution. I felt the sorrow and sadness of being unable to be a good, energized mother.  

She referred me to a rheumatologist for the joint pain, who tested me for rheumatoid arthritis. The test returned negative; she only found that I was vitamin D deficient and prescribed vitamins. I continued with the joint pain to the point that I couldn't get out of bed, and enjoying life and family was hard.

I would always sit in the parks to watch my husband play with the kids because I couldn't run and was not motivated or had energy. I began to get startled at anything, feel nervous, scared, lonely, and exhausted, and anxiety overtook me. I followed up with my rheumatologist, and this time, she diagnosed me with fibromyalgia. She prescribed an antidepressant, Gabapentin, to help manage my symptoms and advised me to discontinue Pork, dairy, and red meat. I started taking Gabapentin and felt worse daily, so the Doctor changed my medication to Lyrica. I was not feeling better, and my quality of life was sad. My joints were so stiff that I didn't want to move. I decided to see a new family doctor, who was more compassionate and caring, and referred me to a gastroenterologist due to my unresolved Anemia after three years with an Iron supplement.

 

I then went to see the gastroenterologist, who thought there must be some internal bleeding for the unexplained Anemia. In the meantime, joint paint continues but has had some improvements, removing Pork, dairy, and red meat. The gastroenterologist ordered an endoscopy/colonoscopy with a capsule endoscopy.

In January 2021, I finally received the answer I needed after so many years of suffering. The Doctor diagnosed me with Celiac Disease, Erosive Gastritis, reflux, and Iron Deficiency Anemia. I got referred to a hematologist for Iron infusions for not absorbing nutrients, to follow a gluten-free diet for the rest of my life, and to eliminate acidic foods like tomatoes and coffee, which I was drinking three times a day to get through the day, and also an anti-acid prescription. The Doctor finished with I am sorry.

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I found it ironic that the day before my prep for the Endoscopy/Colonoscopy, I ate a loaf of brioche bread and never had gluten bread again. The body, in a way, speaks to us. I felt relieved to finally know the root cause of my health problems, but I was confused about my new gluten-free lifestyle journey.

 

A new chapter in my health life began. I finally knew what to do and started a gluten-free life, which I didn't know well. My first question was, where do I start? But I had no idea. I continue to cook regularly for my family, as I typically do, and I also cook differently for myself.

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When I first visited the grocery store, I felt overwhelmed and bought the usual for my family, but I felt lost about my diet. Even though I was eating gluten-free food, I continued to feel sick in the coming weeks. After some research, I found that I was still ingesting gluten in my kitchen through utensils, cutting boards, and pots.

A new decision had to be made whether to continue cooking two meals with different sets of kitchenware or modify our kitchen to a gluten-free style, meaning all my family would need to eat gluten-free at home. My family was very supportive; we cleaned the kitchen together and changed the kitchenware.

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Here I was again, learning how to dive into the grocery store to make my family's favorite food, but gluten-free; at the same time, I would get myself off coffee for my erosive gastritis problem. This wasn't easy; I progressively changed my morning habits to replace coffee. I also found an app that helped me identify gluten-free foods besides fruits and vegetables at the store, which has been very useful.

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My family and I had fun searching for gluten-free food at the grocery store, and I was so busy trying out new recipes for us to enjoy. After a few weeks of my Iron infusions, I gradually felt the joint pain get better and felt more energetic. We were enjoying life so much, and this new way of eating brought our family together.

After three months, I began to have joint stiffness, lack of sleep, and some abdominal pain that came on and off, and I began to lose a lot of weight. I went to my three-month check visit with the gastroenterologist, and we discussed all this. After some testing, she found I had some gallstones in my gallbladder and recommended surgery. I was hesitant about it since other tests showed the gallbladder's function was good, but the gastroenterologist said taking my gallbladder out would solve the weight loss issue, too. I wasn't having severe pain, so after talking to the surgeon, I decided to keep it. I didn't want to go through more unnecessary pain. I felt so alive for the first time in so long; I thought surgery would slow me down again. I didn't want to deal with surgery at the moment.

 

 I was still not sleeping well and noticed that eating gluten-free was not solving all my problems. I felt bloated and had joint pain and anxiety sometimes as well. I saw the Doctor again to take me off the high-dose omeprazole high dose since I thought I had been taking it for some time now, and she was not happy about it and just lowered my amount. I wanted to approach my health more holistically in any way possible. One day, while searching for wellness, I came across the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and decided to take the health coach course. 

Many good things came with the decision; I became passionate about approaching a more holistic life and eating gluten-free, healthy food, knowing what good or harmful ingredients from packaged food I was consuming, and trying to buy as clean food as possible. I started to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. I was also trying to save my gallbladder, so I consulted a Functional medicine doctor. After some testing, he found low levels of hormones, vitamins, and many foods I was sensitive to. He started me on a protocol that lasted for a year, supporting my health with supplements, but at the same time, I was working on my health coaching course and applied many of the things I was learning.

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I also found that healing happens in the body, soul, and spirit; past traumas can impact us in many ways. I learned to treat my body, not as individual parts, and began a healing process through mindfulness.

 

My passion for holistic wellness continues as I experience good results myself. I was happy to see myself feel better and my family feel good. They were getting less sick and with more energy than usual. All these changes took time and effort. Getting kids to eat healthily in the society we live in is hard. Still, I have always tried to replace some unhealthy food with good ones, always being mindful that they need to be kids and having fun in the kitchen, experimenting with new ways to make our favorite food not only gluten-free but also healthy. I also found it hard at the beginning not to be able to eat much out, or I would feel sick, but I do my best these days when I eat out. I continued with the Iron infusion every six months. I am still not absorbing well yet; It takes a few years to heal the damage made in the intestines from ingesting gluten unintentionally for many years.

 

My health journey continued to go well until one day, unfortunately, after a year of gallbladder disease diagnosis, I started to feel unbearable pain all over my abdomen that I could not tolerate and had to go to the emergency room. My gallbladder was causing my pain; I waited with severe pain for a week until I finally saw my surgeon, who immediately took me to surgery to take it out. I had developed jaundice and very high liver enzymes. I tried all efforts to reverse my gallbladder disease, but the damage was already far too much.

 

It has been almost a year since gallbladder removal, and I feel great. I don't have many symptoms that are said to happen after gallbladder removal. I don't have acid reflux, stomach pain, or bloating unless I eat something I know I am sensitive to. I have no anxiety, I feel happy, my mind is clear, and my thoughts are positive. I practiced many self-care practices to help balance my body and nourished myself with good food choices and some food treats here and there, but always gluten-free.

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I continue to walk toward a vibrant, happy Celiac Life.

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If you get to this point in my story, I hope to support you on your health journey to empower you to be the better version of yourself through a healthy and full-of-joy lifestyle.