Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. Stringent avoidance of it is the only treatment for Celiac disease.

On the surface, this seems sad but not too difficult. I mean, no more pizza. No more giant burritos larger than your head. No more bowls of pasta that should probably feed three people! Okay, that sucks, but I can do that. Now I’m gluten free, right?

Well…no. Not exactly. Have you ever wondered why things that seem to obviously not contain wheat have a little gluten free label? Have you ever scoffed at a salad dressing? “Of course it’s gluten free, it’s a salad dressing!”

So, here’s the thing: gluten is everywhere. It’s sneaky. Not only are a lot of things cross-contaminated when they’re produced on shared lines, gluten is used as a filler and thickener. We call this “hidden gluten.”

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Welcome to a very busy awareness month for me! May is not only home to Celiac Awareness, but also to Ehlers Danlos. If that wasn’t enough, May 15 is World HG Day. Yeah, it’s a lot.

I’ll be posting more about Celiac and Ehlers Danlos throughout the month, along with a special post about my struggle with hyperemesis gravidarum that will be going up on May 15. But don’t worry, this post isn’t all about my plans. I want to get you all acquainted with these illnesses by sharing a few fast facts!

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Hi everyone and welcome back to Chronic Coffee Chat! I hope you’re sitting down with your favorite beverage, ready to read this week’s Chat. If you’re not, just know that there’s still time to brew a coffee or something. This post isn’t going anywhere.

Today we’re featuring Kat of Chronically Composed, who lives all the way across the pond from me! One of the coolest things about Chronic Coffee Chat has been connecting with other bloggers from around the globe. Even though we may not have geography or even illnesses in common with all the bloggers, we all share a common experience through our chronic illnesses. Anyway, enough introspection. Let’s meet Kat!

I’m Kat, I live in North East Scotland, with my husband, 2 Bengal girls (Fergie & Jessie) and our 2 dogs Bubba and Hamish. My hobbies would include photography (even though I’m a complete beginner!) and capturing candid shots, but also starting to capture landscape/scenery too. I enjoy crafting, and have picked up knitting needles for the very first time and taught myself to knit! But most of my time is spent with our fur babies, as we are training both our dogs to be Gun Dogs/Working Dogs. Hamish is only 6 months old, so we are starting at the beginning with him! Find me at my blog, twitter, and Instagram.

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Okay y’all, I get it. My blog is titled “A Southern Celiac.” Being a Celiac kind of seems like a defining characteristic for me, right?

It is. I have to check everything that I eat for gluten and cross-contamination, and I have to supplement my diet since gluten-free foods often aren’t fortified. I worry about my b12, my iron, and I get my blood checked regularly to make sure everything is normal and under control.

One thing that I find surprising is how many people assume I’m healthy. You know, other than the celiac. “Oh, I could never (insert something I’ve done) here. I have COMPLICATED health issues.”

Celiac is pretty easy to keep under control compared to a lot of autoimmune diseases. I get that. Unfortunately, it’s pretty common to get other autoimmune issues once you have one. I have two “extras”– psoriasis and myasthenia gravis.

Other than that, I have a genetic collagen disorder called classical Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. It affects all of my collagen and causes anything from my skin tearing open randomly (yikes) to joint dislocations (also yikes.) This disorder causes some other issues, like dysautonomia, a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system that means I have to eat lots of salt and I pass out a lot.

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Hi everyone and welcome back to Chronic Coffee Chat. If you celebrate Easter, you know that today is Good Friday, so happy Good Friday to you! (If you don’t celebrate Good Friday, you probably know that today is a bank holiday.) I know that lots of you are probably spending time with family and friends, so thank you to those of you joining us today! Today we have a very special guest. Not only is Sarah Frison chronically ill, she’s actually a health coach. That means she’s dedicated to helping people like you and me live our best lives with chronic illnesses. How inspiring! Let’s let her introduce herself.

Hi Brittany (and everyone reading this!), thank you so much for having me. Such fun reading everyone’s stories. I’m Sarah, I’m a health coach and I trained as a pastry chef way back before becoming ill. I had to drop out after my health took a turn for the worse, though. I think if you made it to your front door home from school but can’t remember how you go there, it’s time to call it quits 😉 . At first, I was hopeful I would be able to return to graduate, I had just 3 months to go, such a shame. I never improved like the early doctors I saw hoped for. In the end, I was diagnosed with gastroparesis and dysautonomia. I get IV saline every week and that has made a huge difference for my health. You can find me at sarahfrison.com and I’m @sarahfrisonhc everywhere on social media.

 

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Tonight, I’m relaxing. It’s been a busy week and an even busier weekend. We’ve had family photos, we had dinner parties, and I took a dance class for mom’s night out. I’ve run errands to just about everywhere. I’ve ordered a birthday cake for my daughter’s first birthday, which is coming up way faster than anyone told me it would. I’ve got sunburnt, and ate good gluten free food. I’ve written more things on my 30 Before 30 list.

Although life is going pretty amazing right now, I still have a chronic illness. More than one. Several. That means that occasionally— okay, frequently— I have to slow down and listen to my body.

Whether you have a chronic illness or not, it’s  important to understand your body’s cues.

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