The Anonymous Widower

Coeliac Journey Through Covid-19 – The Pain Of Coeliac Disease

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The Pain Of Coeliac Disease

Celiac disease has caused a lot of pain in my life.

My Unhealthy Childhood

I was a very unhealthy and sickly child and all that was done was to remove my tonsils.

I also don’t think that London’s filthy air of the 1950s helped.

Certainly, my parents’ retirement to Felixstowe in Suffolk and then studying at Liverpool University in the 1960s, seemed to improve my health.

But if I’d been diagnosed as coeliac, would I have been so unhealthy.

Bullying At School

I was very small at school, due to my inadequate non-coeliac diet and at both Primary and Grammar School, I was bullied.

The bullying only ended after, my left humerus was broken in an incident, when I was fourteen.

Would I have been so small, if it had been known to be coeliac and was eating accordingly?

The Early Death Of My Paternal Grandfather

Whether he was a coeliac, I not know, as he died in 1929 and I never met him! But he died at 51 of pneumonia and acute asthma. My father told me he was a very heavy drinker.

The Early Death Of My Father

My father died at 69 of a stroke and I am certain he was coeliac, as he was so like me at fifty.

My father after the problems his father had with drink, made certain, that my drinking habits were similar to his, which were a few units a week. Although we shared a habit of drinking lots of tea.

My Granddaughter Was Born With A Congenital Hernia Of The Diaphragm

My granddaughter; Imogen, who is not coeliac, was born with a congenital hernia of the diaphragm.

Imogen was operated on within a couple of days at the Royal London Hospital and recently celebrated her twenty-first birthday. She hopes to go to University in the Autumn.

By chance, in my volunteering at the William Harvey Centre, I met one of the nurses, who had looked after Imogen twenty years ago. She told me, that they had given her no chance of survival. Miracles do happen!

The Early Death Of My Son

Imogen’s father was my son George, who like our other two sons refused to get tested for coeliac disease, after I was diagnosed in 1997.

This is recommended by the NHS and this page on their web site says this.

First-degree relatives of people with coeliac disease should be tested.

George died of pancreatic cancer in 2010. I wrote about George’s death in The Death Of My Son George.

Would he still be alive, if he had been diagnosed as the coeliac, I believe he was and had followed a more healthy lifestyle?

My Stroke

Like my father I had a serious stroke.

Mine was in 2011, whilst I was on holiday in Hong Kong.

Doctors, say I made a remarkable recovery.

Could this be because I am coeliac and Addenbrooke’s prescribed three-monthly B12 injections, which I still have?

In the United States B12 injections are used for stroke recovery. But not in the UK!

My Cataracts

Ceoliacs can suffer from cataracts. I had mine removed in 2022.

My Gallstones

Ceoliacs can suffer from gallstones. I had mine removed in 2022.

No Female Born Into My Father’s Male Line Has Ever Successfully Had A Child Since 1800

Even my sister, who was born in 1950, never had a child.

Other Coeliacs

I used to monitor an on-line forum for coeliacs and I’ve heard so many strange tales and pain caused by coeliac disease.

Conclusion

My life would have been so different, if I had been tested for coeliac disease as a child.

 

May 8, 2023 - Posted by AnonW | Health | Coeliac, Coeliac Journey Through Covid-19, COVID-19, COVID-19 And Coeliac Disease, My Family