Could a lifetime of poor gut health contribute to developing Coeliac Disease? After an unexpected diagnosis of Coeliac Disease, it was certainly a mystery as to why it had spontaneously developed out of nowhere. You see, Coeliac Disease was only discovered after I developed some violent, crazy gastro symptoms that couldn’t be explained or treated.
After returning from a holiday in Bali, I was hospitalized on a couple of occasions for dehydration. I had developed severe diarrhea of up to 30 times a day. Yes, 30 times! So bad in fact, they had to block off a toilet just for me in the emergency department.
I had been unlucky enough to pick up a parasite (Dientamoeba Fragilis Trophozoites) on this trip. One that’s passed through fecal/oral transmission. Yep! You get it from consuming fecal matter.
I won’t ever know exactly how I got it, but looking back now, I blame the morning buffet. This type of parasite doesn’t live long in the environment. Now, it’s certainly not a nice thought to know you’ve eaten someone else’s poo!
new life. new direction
This event would go on to change my life’s trajectory and ignite my curiosity in exploring gut health and epigenetics. You see, the chances of me developing Coeliac Disease were just 5% based on my tissue type through genetic testing.
In my case, developing Coeliac Disease was most likely the result of a combination of environmental factors. It’s likely these then produced a profound effect on my gut health causing autoimmunity to gluten.
I also received a diagnosis of Microscopic Colitis. This is a rare form of inflammatory bowel disease. Later I learned that there could be a connection between the two.
Poor diet, poor gut health?
Before the severe symptoms started, I hadn’t experienced any major symptoms at all. But a lifetime of poor diet had possibly caught up with me, with the parasite being the final straw that broke my gut. A surprise? No. A wake-up call? Yes!
It was always in the back of my mind that my lifestyle choices were probably going to catch up with me at some point. At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure if my poor diet was to blame. My gut instinct on the other hand (excuse the pun), told me they were probably connected. We don’t get a ‘gut feeling’ for nothing right?
My knowledge of the disease was VERY limited. I knew my uncle and two cousins had also been diagnosed many years ago but that was all I knew.
That evening, gluten and dairy were banished from my diet for good and little did I know it, it was the best thing that could have happened. At the time though, I had no idea how complex this autoimmune disease would be.
I was clueless about gut health
That moment marked the beginning of a journey as corny as that sounds. A journey that would take me into an unknown world of connecting what I was eating to how I felt physically. I started to examine how the foods I ate directly affected my gut health and subsequent mental clarity.
My lack of awareness about gut health seemed commonplace in society today. Many individuals like myself, just navigating mindlessly through life pretty unaware of the impact the gut can have on health. However, once I started learning about gut health, I couldn’t ‘unlearn’ it and had to know more so I could get better, and fast.
Could coeliac disease and poor gut health be connected?
I stumbled across many articles while trying to find information on how to fix my broken gut. In the International Journal of Celiac Disease, it was suggested that autoimmune disease is on the increase. Could Coeliac Disease and gut health be directly related? Had my gut reached the point of no return? Unfortunately, you can’t reverse Coeliac Disease once it’s triggered, well not yet anyway.
So, it got me wondering. Just how much focus is being placed on preventing people from becoming ill in the first place. Are health systems just treating people when it’s unfortunately too late? After this diagnosis, I certainly had more questions than answers.
I tried hard but never succeeded
A large majority of us feel like losers if we fail at trying to be healthy. My attempts to obtain optimal health over the years had always seen good intentions but I could never stay on track.
“It all began with my love of carbonated caffeinated drinks. As soon as I was old enough, I was buying them.
When energy drinks first hit the market, I progressed to these immediately. I’ve since discovered, my energy drink of choice isn’t considered ‘safe’ for people with Coeliac Disease.
As a university student, I loved to party and socialize. Who didn’t? There was nothing like a cold, sugary energy drink to get me through long lectures, endless assignments and, part-time work.
My diet was fuelled with carbohydrates, sugar and processed foods. I knew what I was doing was harmful. But the pull towards these substances seemed far greater than my will power but I couldn’t understand why.
Now, I’m not saying I don’t indulge in the odd treat from time to time, but I understand what balance means now. I still think of sugar but keep my limits to a minimum where possible otherwise my love affair with it starts again!
healing my gut took strength
“It took strength, but it was more like being scared straight from one of those 60 days In prison docuseries that scares the crap out of you!
I went from a 16 night holiday in Bali sipping on Bintang Beer and eating waffles at the breakfast buffet, to housebound with chronic fatigue and fluorescent green diarrhea. It looked like I’d eaten a highlighter marker and that’s no exaggeration! It certainly scared the crap out of me big time (or should I say down me), literally!
This journey has certainly taken a whole heap of knowledge and determination, and it hasn’t been easy changing habits of a lifetime. But when you go from feeling okay one minute, to dealing with a chronic illness combo the next, you quickly gain perspective on just how easy your freedom can be taken away from you. I’m also not the type of person to give up, so I was willing to try anything to get my freedom back.
There was so much information to take in
It took a massive slap in the gut wall for me to start to think about what I consume and how I interact within the environment. But one of the biggest problems I faced, was absorbing the information fast enough before I got ‘hangry’ again.
So, for anyone out there who spontaneously develops Coeliac Disease through an environmental trigger like I did, it can be pretty bloody daunting.
While trying to work out how to heal my gut and scratch around like a chicken for my next meal, I also had to avoid gluten like the plague. I had developed an incredible sensitivity to gluten that even a trace made me violently ill.
I won the prize for being the sickest
Yay! Nah. Not the kinda prize I wanted to be winning of course. My General Practitioner told me I was the worst case he’d ever seen. This wasn’t very comforting considering he looks over 60! I learned very quickly, and a couple of times the hard way, that gluten can be lurking in a whole heap of things other than food.
Read more about where Gluten could be hiding HERE.
Combine unrelenting diarrhea, severe brain fog, and rapid weight loss of 9kgs over 5 weeks, sh*t got real pretty quickly! My gut would also not shut up. It constantly gurgled, made the weirdest of noises and I looked like I was 9 months pregnant, with triplets.
So the only thing I could do was started looking at how to heal my gut wall. It was certainly hard at first but I was prepared to put in the effort because there was no way I was going to remain that sick!
Luckily, I’ve always had a massive interest in research, so I just started at the beginning. But what I began to uncover, shocked me, to say the least.
The first thing I did, is what most people do of course…. check with good ole Dr Google! Some articles I stumbled across sited statistics such as 60% of people never fully heal their small intestine damage after 2 years. One article from 2014 stated recovery rates can differ due to age, demographics and, gender.
How do I use the information I find?
Now, of course, I have to delve a little deeper into the accuracy of these stats. I must admit though, I kinda feel strangely intrigued by this irreversible autoimmune disease and just how bizarre and complex it actually is.
It’s now become a sort of ‘obsession’ to investigate if Coeliac Disease is on the rise, it’s relationship to gut health, and how it impacts the brain. There also has to be other people out there like me who are asking the same questions…I hope.
There’s got to be a logical reason as to why this autoimmune disease gets triggered and if it’s related at all to poor gut health. And, why are some people unable to fully heal their small bowel? Wouldn’t it be awesome if it could be prevented in the first place?
Stay tuned as I investigate how gut health may contribute to disease in the body, but also in the brain. My interest in this area is driven by the fact that I also have ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
I’ll dive deeper into that too and how new research is emerging on a possible connection between the two. Whether it is or not, I guess we will have to just wait and see.
Dedicated to Alex for helping me find my purpose.
