Struggling to explain my Celiac disease

It's really frustrating when people don't understand! I am lucky to have a mom who is very careful about what I eat, she even transitioned the whole house gf to be the safest. However, my dad and step mom do not understand AT ALL. They know celiac is not exactly the same as having an allergy/allergic reaction, but it has terrible long term side effects and if I accidentally ingest gluten I get really sick. They however, fail to understand this and it makes me really angry. Something that my step mom said, and I quote is "what will happen if you eat it? Yeah, nothing." It infuriates me that they do not care about my health, mainly because they do not want to spend money on expensive gluten free food. They once served dinner to the rest of my family and I, and I asked if it was gluten free obviously because you can never be too careful. She told me it was, and acted offended and as if I was stupid for asking. Later, I ended up getting SUPER sick and I knew that I had been glutened.

Recently, I got really sick from accidental cross contamination and those I was around were just so insensitive like “maybe you shouldn’t have eaten that then.”

Yes… my in laws made chicken with soy sauce and I got pretty sick. They’re like “well we didn’t use flour..” but they don’t even bother to learn.

Honestly I’m no expert. When my family doubted me when I was first diagnosed I ate the food they doubt and let them see how miserable I was. 😬 I have learned to educate others and advocate for myself now

I tell people “you wouldn’t give someone peanut butter if they’re severely allergic to nuts, right? So why would it be ok for me to eat regular breads, pastas and cakes? It’s pretty much the same exact thing”. This response has stopped people from downplaying my Celiac and actually start questioning whether I can eat something or will it make me really sick

im sorry youre going through that 😭

Honestly i just tell people if they cant be supportive and understanding, i can remove myself from the relationship. i was told as a child by gastro to stop eating gluten & my mom completely ignored it. my dad brought me and my mom accused him of trying to brainwash me even though it runs on my dads side. im used to her downplaying my issues, and have been overweight with ibs symptoms for as long as i could remember. i finally moved out and started a family with a supportive husband and went strictly gf 2 years ago. i lost 65 pounds (not by cutting back cause i still ate all the things i love just substituted). my energy increased and ibs symptoms got significantly better but not perfect. and i also started recognizing how it was truly affecting me and realized the rashes werent normal. i also have fibromyalgia and my mom brushes it off as “im always in pain but i still keep going”. shes my mom so i havent cut her out specifically because we always had a good relationship aside from that. but for anyone else, block button. my mom is starting to come around cause i didnt let her know it got to me and i just stood my ground. greatest advice ive ever received is to advocate for myself even if others dont like it. side note: theres an OTC pill called gluten cutter thats great for eating at family events, restaurants etc. it helps with more than just gluten (dairy etc). i still eat gf when i take it but it 100% helps with contamination

Yes! my favorite suggestion was “have you tried TUMS?” (why didn’t I think of that?!??🤣) I’ve experienced a lot of that too unfortunately. I wish I had advice for you, but it seems that some people just don’t want to understand, no matter how you try to explain. (These are usually the same people who say “but the box said gluten free?!” but they used the same pasta strainer they used to drain the gluten-full spaghetti and can’t understand how that could be a problem)

I agree or they try to tell you how there stomach ache is similar to celiac disease, albeit the people who raised you and knew what it was first