The connection between celiac disease and depression. Beth’s story of depression, celiac disease, and finding hope in the midst of despair.
Treating my autoimmune disorder and Celiac disease at its roots has given me the space to create deep energetic healing in my life that I never thought was possible. It has brought me to a level of wellness I wasn’t always sure could be mine.
My name is Beth and I hope you find my story inspires you to greater healing.
I was diagnosed with Celiac disease when I was 16. Every time I ate my stomach would get upset. After the diagnosis, I was given pills and told to stop eating gluten. Naturally, I continued to eat gluten because who would be WILLING to give up waffles? I lived in an average town in Texas where nutrition wasn’t valued so had little motivation to believe that what I ate could have any sort of impact on my life. I justified that I could handle an upset stomach. Not knowing the ramifications of what was actually happening to my health.
There was a lot more than an upset stomach going on in my life. When I was a child I often felt sick and struggled with depression and anxiety. By the age of 8, I was experiencing full-blown panic and anxiety attacks. When I was in junior high and high school I was taking anti-depressants, self-mutilating and toying with the idea of ending my own life. I was hospitalized at 15 for severe depression and suicidal thoughts.
When I was 21, I was sexually assaulted and was hospitalized once again for more of the same. The continued trauma, self-hatred, and hospitalization, kept my mind and body feeling broken. Despite being in therapy all my life, I was constantly struggling with self-love and self-worth. I kept trying to have a self-care practice. I always desired to be off medication and to treat my depression, trauma, and anxiety naturally with exercise and diet but it felt too big. Being in my body felt awful. I used substances like alcohol and nicotine to assuage the pain. My life often felt unmanageable.
Throughout all of this, I desired to fight for my well-being but I didn’t always know where to start. The cloud that covered my life kept me rooted to the spot. But I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wanted to live and live well. What then was my next step toward happiness?
By the time I was 22, I moved to Colorado and that was where I started to get an education about different ways to take care of your body and soul. At the time a nutritionist explained to me the effects that gluten can have on your body and also on your mind.
After years of Celiac denial, I finally decided to give up gluten and see what would happen.
I felt better than I ever had in my life. I experienced a layer of clarity and happiness I never thought was possible for me. I could move and be present in my body in a way I had never imagined before. Deeper energetic healing was starting to occur.
When I was 25, I got Mono and I desperately needed an additional layer of healing. While giving up gluten felt amazing, I knew more could be done because I was still always getting sick. I started to consider hidden sources of gluten and cross-contamination. I decided to give up dairy and coffee since they were potential “cross-reactors” to gluten. I experienced an additional layer of healing in my body and mind but still knew more could be done. I now had proof that nutrition directly affected how I felt.
By 27, I was researching the relationship between mental health and Celiac and decided to follow a Paleo anti-inflammatory auto-immune diet and get off of medication for depression and anxiety.
Because your immune system and mental health are directly linked to your gut, I learned that Celiac is often considered a neurological disorder instead of solely a gastrointestinal disorder.
I started to dabble by taking out a few ingredients here and there such as grains, nightshades, legumes, corn and soy. I discovered that the medicine I was taking had ingredients like lactose, potato starch and corn in it. I was at a crossroads, I had to give up Western meds to be fully compliant with my Paleo healing program. By April of that year, I was off of medication. I am still medication free to this day.
My mental health is better than it has ever been. I have so much clarity and the ability to really explore self-love in a way that didn’t seem possible before.
It doesn’t mean everything is always rose petals. I can still struggle with mental health, have days when I don’t want to move my body and get pretty foggy. The difference is I now know I can have that peace and that there is nothing wrong with my spirit.
I now have the fuel to seek and experience what I want and deserve in this life.
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship,” Louisa May Alcott
