“Nothing is wrong with you that losing weight won’t fix”
I have Celiac disease, other autoimmune conditions, and food allergies. And my weight’s a constant battle because of them.
I have learned over the years that autoimmune diseases are like potato chips…you can’t have just one. (Even if all the doctors just think I am eating way too many chips!)
I want to share the story of my diagnosis, which I don’t believe would have happened if it hadn’t been for my kids. In a strange twist of fate I owe my kids a deep debt of gratitude for my current health and well-being.
When “Lose Weight” Wasn’t the Answer
For much of my life, I have struggled with health issues that seemed disconnected on the surface: Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis diagnosed at age four, gallbladder surgery as a teenager, five miscarriages in three years, chronic digestive problems, migraines, and unexplained weight gain.
At my heaviest, I weighed over 400 lbs.
Again and again, I was told that if I simply lost weight, my health problems would miraculously improve.
After I gave birth to my youngest in 2002, my health declined rapidly. I couldn’t lose any weight. My stomach issues spiraled. I went to a gastroenterologist and after testing he told me to take acid reflux medication and lose weight. I followed the doctor-prescribed 1400, 1600, and 1800-calorie diabetic rotation diet to lose weight and revisited the doctor six months later – 50 pounds heavier.
According to the doctor: I was not following the diet; I didn’t want to lose weight; I had no self-control. I left the appointment, in tears, feeling like a failure. I felt powerless to gain control over my health.
Today, I understand how deeply those words affected me.
When an expert tells you repeatedly that your symptoms are your fault, it’s easy to stop trusting yourself.
But my body was trying to tell a different story.
The Celiac & Food Allergy Clues Were There All Along
My youngest had their first severe allergic reaction at nine months. It was frightening, a total shock. While there was a history of ‘stomach issues’ in the family, no one ever considered food allergies as a possible cause. I suddenly became a member of the ‘allergy mom club,’ the club no one wants to join.
Like so many parents, I poured my energy into finding answers for my child, neglecting myself while searching for safe foods to nourish my baby. My stomach issues got worse. My hair was falling out. I started having migraines.
At the allergist’s office I was completely overwhelmed by my baby’s diagnosis: peanuts, all tree nuts, strawberries. I melted down when I received the results, wondering how I was going to keep my baby safe and continue coping with all my own health challenges.
The doctor heard me.
He encouraged me to have basic skin prick testing done and I soon learned that I too had food allergies.
Learning I was allergic to chocolate was a shock. How can you eat something your entire life, then boom, you’re allergic. I thought the tests were wrong. I diligently avoided it for three months and felt better, but I was hardly symptom-free. Thinking, “A little bit can’t hurt,” a nibble of chocolate gave me a sudden, fierce migraine and itchy hives all over my skin…a harsh reality check that made me swear off chocolate. Forever.
By 2009, my health and my relationship with all my “new” food allergies had improved. I had lost about 100 pounds by this point, though I still had occasional migraines, my hair was still seeking greener pastures, and stomach issues continued to plague me. I was still carrying too much weight, still sick, and so very tired of being sick and tired.
I Found More Answers While Looking for My Son’s
My mother mentioned she’d heard that a gluten-free diet helped kids on the autism spectrum and with ADD. My oldest child, who was 12 at the time, lives with both of these conditions.
I researched to learn as much as I could about gluten-free living, hoping it could help my son. The more I learned about being gluten-free, the more the dots started to connect on my own health struggles. I was reading a book about it and before I even finished I called my oldest sister to tell her I thought I’d found our answer. She’d also been struggling with massive health issues.
My gastroenterologist refused to test me for celiac disease because I was overweight. He told me, “there’s no point.”
I found a new GI specialist and proved him wrong.
The new GI specialist tested both my son and me for celiac disease and we both tested positive. My sister also tested positive.
We eliminated gluten from our diet and after several months started to recover. Honestly? It was crushing for me to have to swear off pasta and bread. But my stomach issues improved, my migraines stopped, and I began to lose weight.
It took me and my family six-months to finally feel better on a gluten-free diet.
What Advocating for My Kids Taught Me
For years, I believed my body was failing me—and I believed the people telling me that my weight was the reason. It took advocating relentlessly for my children for me to finally learn how to advocate for myself.
While I am deeply grateful to doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers, sometimes doctors make mistakes. I believe that as patients it’s our obligation to educate providers to connect dots differently when this happens. So, I followed up with the two doctors who had told me I was crazy for thinking I was sick.
Sharing my test results with them, I let them know how they had made me feel when they dismissed my concerns. I let them know that not every celiac patient is underweight and may carry more weight than they’d like – statistically, close to 40% of celiac patients are overweight to obese. Importantly, I wanted them to know how important it is to treat the whole person. I wanted them to understand the negative impact a harshly delivered diagnosis (or lack thereof) can have on a sick and struggling patient.
Living Fully. Loving Fiercely.
My children’s diagnoses gave me the clues I needed to understand my own health story, and ultimately led me to answers that changed my life and put me on a path to better health.
Today, two of my three children and I live strictly gluten-free. My youngest, now 23, successfully manages over 30 food allergies; we never know when one will go away or when a new one will surface. I have also had to adjust to a very recent alpha-gal syndrome diagnosis, making all mammalian meat and meat by-products off limits for me.
We live our lives fully and freely, though perhaps a bit differently at times than others.
Birthday celebrations still happen. Thanksgiving is still Thanksgiving, filled with delicious food. Holiday traditions like baking are honored, adding joy to festivities. We love travel, restaurant outings, and getting together with friends and family. It’s all within reach, safely, for us.
My children may never know just how profoundly they changed my life. I thought I was fighting to save them, loving them fiercely, but in so many ways, they saved me.
Chef Martha Morgan (aka Allergy Dragon) actively engages with Louisville’s food allergy, celiac, and autoimmune disease communities through in-person classes at Rainbow Blossom Wellness Center, Dare to Care Kitchen, and local libraries. Through her work she demystifies cooking and baking delicious things for restricted diets and makes kitchen creativity not only possible, but fun.
While Chef Martha lives in Louisville, Kentucky, she offers virtual group and private classes, ensuring everyone can access her allergy-friendly cooking guidance from anywhere.
To learn about or with Chef Martha, explore this link and see everything Allergy Dragon is doing to make life with food allergies, celiac, and autoimmune conditions deliciously easy and safe.
About the Author: Chef Martha Morgan (aka Allergy Dragon) is a specialty diet and allergy chef who shares tips, tricks and best recipes from over 30 years of professional cooking experience on social media and at the Allergy Dragon’s Lair.
Chef Martha provides support in the kitchen to everyone with food allergies, food intolerances, and specialty diets. Her expertise includes providing a full range of cooking guidance in the kitchen from technique, to finding safe products, to handling those new products, to creating (or re-creating as the case may be) recipes.
Connect with Allergy Dragon on Instagram (@allergy_dragon), Facebook (@allergydragon), and LinkedIn, and follow Allergy Dragon on YouTube.
Credits: Allergy Dragon