I have always been fit and healthy, it just runs in my blood because my dad before me was also very fit. The day came though where my whole diet and life would change drastically. Celiac disease is when your body is allergic to gluten, meaning you can’t eat it. Gluten is in all sorts of wheat’s, oat’s, barley’s, and rye. It all began with a simple stomach ache, so my mom decided that it would be best to get a check-up. As time progressed the stomach pains were getting worse that was when I knew something was wrong.

Celiac disease affects millions of people, but it was hard to swallow that I was one of those millions. I just did not understand why me of all people, it really me frustrated me. Shortly after I got the results from the blood test the doctor insisted I get a biopsy done because there was a slight chance I may not have the disease. This news enlightened me because it gave me a glimmer of hope, maybe I wouldn’t have to stick to the gluten free diet. Afterwards the results came back positive on the biopsy, I knew I could no longer eat gluten I had to change. The shift from eating pizzas, burgers, even traditional Indian foods, was a challenge, but if I wanted to stay fit and healthy I had to stop. I stuck to the gluten free diet for about 2-3 months. After that period of time my doctor called me in saying my gluten had went down, so I made the unwise decision to start eating gluten again. By definition, celiac disease does not seem that bad, but I could not cope with the fact that I couldn’t have a simple slice of cheese pizza. It just did not sit right with me, but as I said before I want to live a healthy life.

Present day I try not to consume gluten, but it’s a struggle considering it’s in a vast amount of different foods. It’s been a little over a year since I’ve been gluten free, but it feels like it’s been so much longer. I still remember  the first day I felt sick. It was just a regular day smooth sailing through classes, but after school I felt really sick, and I was expierencing some really bad stomach pains. I thought it was just a regular stomach ache, but it turned out to be so much more than that. Fast forward to the doctors, as I am awaiting for the results I had no clue I was about to be hit with such shocking news.

The doctor comes in and shuts the door then he says “Gurvir, we have your results from the blood test”. I sat there awaiting nothing special from the test results. “Gurvir, you have been diagnosed with celiac disease”. I sat there staring at him expecting him to say more, but the words never came. I finally asked “What is that?”. After the doctor gave a quick explanation what it is I remained seated wondering how this could have happen. It may seem as though I’m explaining this disease as a world ending disease, but at the time to me it was. I was really upset about it, now that I reflect upon the situation it got me thinking that compared to other people I got lucky. There’s people out there with cancer, diabetes, there’s so many diseases out there, but I was upset because I couldn’t eat a pizza? It really made me appreciate how lucky I am that I don’t have one of those diseases. Although celiac disease has affected me and my parents greatly I still appreciate the fact that I’m healthy, and that I don’t have any other mortal diseases.