Hi- it has been a minute, I’m sorry I have been absent from posting for a while. Most of 2025 I spent on my health journey. I got some intense DBT counseling in the Spring (more on that in a separate post) and it was super helpful to learn some of those mindfulness skills. Over the Summer I took two small weekend trips to Charleston and New Orleans for my 40th birthday with friends and in July I took a big trip to the Grand Canyon with my daughter and one of my best friends from college and her family. All of these trips were therapeutic in their own ways, so I am thankful for the opportunity to take those trips . In the fall I started to finally see some specialists and figure out some physical health issues that had been bothering me for a while.

One of the main issues that had been bothering me, not to get too TMI, was a chronic case of diarrhea that I could not shake and the fatigue I was suffering related to that. I made an appointment to see a gut doctor (gastroenterologist) and she was amazing. She ran blood tests and did an endoscopy and determined I have Celiac Disease. The solution to that disease is to follow a gluten free diet. I was scared and worried- to cut out all bread, could I do it? I have a hard time being on restrictive diets but she said I will eventually develop Lymphoma if I don’t change my eating habits. That was enough motivation to at least get me to try it.

I gave it a go, the gluten free diet, starting in the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I figured if it wasn’t working out or if the diet was too hard to stick to I would just cheat over Christmas. Within a week I was feeling so much better- I was shocked! My diarrhea issues improved significantly and my fatigue lifted, I slept better, and felt better overall…calmer, more peaceful, less anxious. Wow I was surprised! And feeling better made sticking to the diet so much easier.

And then it got me thinking how many years have I felt overwhelmed, depressed, fatigued, and anxious- was my problem all this time that I was just allergic to gluten and eating a heavy carb and bread diet? I don’t know?

What I do know is that Celiac disease is an auto-immune disorder where gluten that is ingested from bread products activates your body to attack your intestines. But also, it has a correlation with mental health, because since being gluten free my depression symptoms, that I felt like I could never shake before, have been lifted. I feel better and more even but not elevated like I do when I feel good in a hypo-manic state. I have finally exited the bell curve of the ups and downs of bipolar disorder from manic to depressed and feel, for lack of a better word… normal.

There is no official research that I have found correlating mental health issues with Celiac Disease, but as someone who has experienced the change to my mood and mental and physical state cutting out gluten, I can not imagine that there is not a correlation somehow.

Now I am not saying this means I believe all of a sudden that I am not bipolar and therefore I am going to stop taking my meds or seeing my psychiatrist, no that is not the case. I am very well aware that I still need to closely monitor and manage my mental health and listen to my doctors, regardless of feeling better.

But what I am saying is wow, I am so thankful to finally see and feel how the other half lives (the non-depressed half). Calm and peaceful body and mind, it makes a huge difference! So if there is anything to take from this my message is- listen to your body and make an appointment with a specialist. For years my general doctor wrote off my gut issues as having to do with taking too many laxatives in my 20’s and that somehow ruined my gut- WRONG! I am so thankful that I was my own advocate and took the initiative to seek out a specialist.

Here’s to being our own best health advocates and to feeling better, even if that means an additional chronic illness has been added to my list of things to deal with on my ongoing, lifelong health journey.