Hi all! I hope you don’t mind my post. I’m sure a lot of you can relate to the feeling of needing to talk to someone who understands.
I’m 27F and currently 18 months postpartum with my second child. When my first was born in 2022, i had an emergency gallbladder removal 6 weeks after she was born, and since then my health has really declined. My first sign was uncontrolled b12 deficiency and anemia, and abnormal bowel movements. I’ve been receiving injections on and off since then but my doctor never really made a big deal out of it. He said my bowel issues were likely my body adjusting to my lack of gallbladder.
Since then I have been diagnosed with pretty bad ADHD and depression. Other symptoms I have developed since the birth of my first include: chronic fatigue, dizziness/tinnitus/vision problems, short term memory loss, brain fog, weakness in my hands and arms (I can’t open jars or flip caps like shampoo bottles or ketchup bottles, and can’t French braid my hair due to the weakness) , raynauds syndrome, random numbness and tingling in my extremities, random nausea, headaches, nearly fainting randomly, bloating, bruises all over my body, random swelling and pain in my joints, irritability/mood issues, unable to lose weight and my whole body gets swollen/moon face, sore skin (for example; if my husband pokes me in the ribs it HURTS), and many more little things. But these are the most debilitating. Most of these things were brushed off by my doctor for being postpartum and overweight. After my son was born 18 months ago, it’s only gotten worse and my ADHD meds have stopped working for me. I work from home and sometimes at my desk have to lay my head down on the desk to “rest” from literally just sitting there on my computer. I cannot lose the baby weight for the life of me, and my exhaustion is so debilitating that even standing in the kitchen to make dinner is draining for me, let alone working out.
Over the last 6 months I have developed gastrointestinal “flare ups” as well. My stomach gets painfully distended, I get nauseated, I get freezing cold, and intense pain that has me doubled over and sometimes causes me to need to rock back and forth or pace around my house.
My doctor yesterday after yet another flare said he would test me for celiacs and I am just stunned. It makes so much sense, but I’m also so afraid. I’m afraid that it’s not celiacs, because then what the heck is wrong with me? And I’m afraid that it IS celiacs because…an autoimmune disorder is scary. I don’t know what to do. Up until now I truly believed that I’m just weak and that my pregnancies ruined my bodies/sucked the life out of me. I’m afraid of the false hope that quitting gluten might heal my body…because what if it doesn’t?