Describe your life prior to diagnosis:
I was diagnosed with celiac disease five months ago, but my symptoms started a year ago, when I went through a stressful period while writing my doctoral thesis. Before then, my diet was fairly healthy and I was very social. I never had a problem with gluten.
How did you come to know (or suspect) that you have celiac disease?
My worst symptom was swelling and pain in my gut. I was waking up from the pain every single night. I also had constipation and occasional pain in my joints. Dermatitis herpetiformis started to appear on my scalp.
Then I kept a nutrition diary and noticed that the problem increased with foods such as pasta, biscuits, bulgur, etc.
How long did it take for you to get diagnosed since your first symptoms and what (if any) challenges did you face along the way?
It took me 5–6 months to get diagnosed. It was tough because everyone was saying that all my symptoms were just from stress, including the doctors. I knew I was stressed because I was writing my thesis, but something was different in my body and no one believed me.
Do you believe anything could have sped up your diagnosis?
Keeping a food diary sooner!
Describe your experience with living with celiac disease:
The hardest part is the risk of cross-contact. Gluten is present in many sectors such as food, cosmetics and health. Plus, there isn’t a wide variety of gluten-free products [in Turkey]. Eating gluten-free is very difficult and expensive, especially when it comes to eating out. The restaurants that I can go and eat without the risk of cross-contact are very few.
