
May is for Celiac Awareness.
In the UK Celiac is spelled Coeliac, same in Australia and New Zealand. In the UK they have Celiac Awareness week, rather then the full month they do in the US. Its in May, so for me, May is for Celiac.
Celiac Awareness is not really needed on a blog like mine, because to me, Celiac Awareness is about reaching those who are NOT here on this blog. Those mums endlessly walking their screaming (undiagnosed children), those dads who scratch their elbows with a knife because their (undiagnosed) DH is itching so bad. The women who have been trying for years to become pregnant. Those who struggle daily with stomach issues and put it down to IBS or stress (yeah… could be undiagnosed celiac).
Of course, not all people with stress tummy or an itch or whathave you have undiagnosed Celiac disease. But the numbers speak for themselves, in Europe something like 1 in 100 (slightly less or more in some countries) have Celiac, in The US numbers used to be 1 in 133, thats now thought to be incorrect and latest figures show similar to European figures. And how many are diagnosed? Hardly any. Estimates say that somewhere around 97% of Celiacs in the US today could be undiagnosed. In Europe they talk about numbers around 80% (varies from country to country).
So that pretty much means most of us know at least 1 undiagnosed Celiac. Maybe they have classic and visible symptoms, or maybe they are walking around with nothing other then slight anaemia or feeling a bit depressed. Thats the thing with Celiac. You can have diarrhoea or be constipated, you can gain weight or loose weight, you can have aching bones or depression. There are 300 symptoms to date associated with Celiac disease, and a sufferer can suffer only one symptom, or 50!
The people who need to know all this are not Celiacs, the people that need to know all this are people who may never have heard of Celiac!
Then the other part of Celiac awareness, the one that explains to the world that Celiac is an autoimmune disease, not a fad. Not an allergy. The one that explains what gluten actually is. A protein, found in wheat, rye and barley and all products thereof. The one that talks about cross contamination, and explains that one breadcrumb is enough to hurt someone with Celiac disease. The one that explains that although we may not suffer anaphylaxis, there is long term damage to our systems every time we are exposed to gluten, and a Celiac who keeps being exposed to gluten can suffer other life threatening diseases such as cancer.
Eating just a little bit of gluten, is not an option. Some may not react to ‘just a little’, but the long term damage on the inside still occurs.
I am asking you all a favour today. Help us spread this awareness. Help us – the Celiac community – to spread this awareness as far as we can. Please share this post, or one of the many other Celiac awareness articles out there. If you see it on twitter or Facebook, like it, tweet it, share it. Help take the awareness further.
I also have a challenge for the bloggers out there, the non gluten free bloggers. Please, if you can find the time, write a post about Celiac for Celiac Awareness Month. YOU can reach exactly the person who needs to read it. I already gave this challenge to my small expat bloggers Europe group, and two lovely ladies accepted the challenge. I will be sharing their posts next week, along with yours if you accept 🙂
MAY! Is for celiac Awareness. May is when my own little Celiac was born. How oddly appropriate 🙂
Linda
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