Where's your tummy gone?!?!

So, as you may recall, The Little Coeliac was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease very shortly after her second birthday. At that time, she was really poorly - was frequently being sick, had really bad skin and had a very bloated tummy.

We immediately stopped giving her gluten and her symptoms all disappeared, that is, all except for her swollen tummy. Each time we took her for check ups we would ask the consultant how much longer it would be before her tummy went down and they always assured us it would, it would just take time.

The last appointment we had was May this year and again, we were told that she was doing really well, she was growing perfectly etc etc but it could take another year for her tummy to go down completely. I was never bothered from an aesthetic perspective but I hoped it didn't make her feel uncomfortable - it's hard for a 2/3/4/5 year old to grasp the concept of being "bloated" and I guess she hasn't ever known any different so I have never been able to really gauge exactly how she felt.

Anyway.... we were at sports day last week and before we came home I thought I'd take some pictures of The Little Coeliac and her brother running around on the field, celebrating etc (as you do!) and when I looked at the photographs to check they were OK (my husband is obsessed about the fact that my photos are always blurry!!! :) ) TLC's tummy had disappeared!! I thought it must be my dodgy photography skills or some funny angle (that I needed to work out and apply to photos of myself!!!) but sure enough, when I looked at her in the flesh, her little swollen Coeliac tummy had suddenly gone!!

Obviously I started dancing around in delight, telling her how clever she was etc etc somewhat to her bemusement! We then started the whole, "How do you feel?", "Is your tummy more comfortable now?", "Do you feel different?", 20 questions before I realised that we weren't getting anywhere but that really didn't matter, so long as she was OK.

It did get me thinking though, this little person only ate gluten for around 18 months and it has taken 3 and a half years for all of her (outwardly visible) symptoms to disappear. Given that research suggests it takes around 13 years on average for a person to be diagnosed with Coeliac disease, I can only imagine how long it can take for some people to start to feel better. Here's hoping we can get that 13 years down.

And that is what this is all about - raising awareness and hopefully helping to reduce the suffering of all Coeliacs.

#Awareness