Steve Breland

I was diagnosed with Celiac at the age of 30 after suffering with stomach pains and Dermatitis Herpetiformis for a few years of misdiagnosis. I have been eating gluten free for almost 25 years and my 22 year old daughter has had it her whole life as well. I was diagnosed with dermatitis herpetiformis soon after while I was learning my new difficult and strange diet. Only specialty stores carried gluten-free products at the time. Recently I have also become allergic to dairy which has been difficult but I’m working through it. I am 54 years old and am married with two adult children (22 & 19). My son thankfully does not have Celiac. One thing I’ve learned the hard way( many years ago) was that you definitely have to read labels and eating out can be very hard but doable these days. You have to ask questions and be very careful when it comes to your health. Early on I didn’t know anything about my condition and didn’t take it as serious as I needed to until I got really sick and had the worst case of dermatitis herpetiformis I ever had. My doctor told me I had two choices. Eat 100% gluten-free for the rest of my life and I would live a long life and die from something else or I can have intestinal lymphoma. That was the turning point for me as I am very strict and have just gotten used to reading every label and watching what I eat. Best thing I ever did was find a mentor who had Celiac and they helped me understand so much about the disease and that I could do it if I tried hard enough and she was right!