Gluten Senstitivity: Media Darling

mtwadmin - Mon, January 24, 2011

Remember how last year all the packages in the store were telling us how “gluten free” they were?  Yeah, I thought it was annoying, too.

While the lemming-like media hive-mind might have overplayed the prevalence of things like celiac disease and gluten intolerance (the former of which affects less than 1% of the population), many people still seem to experience gluten-related digestive issues.  In severe cases, this can involve dangerous weight loss and anemia.  Other symptoms can include diarrhea, stomach discomfort, and fatigue.

Of course, if you can’t eat or digest food, you’ll lose weight and become anemic.  Then follows fatigue, stress, insomnia, depression, and a slew of other slippery-slope symptoms of general “unwellness.”  As is the case with so many other chronic diseases, it must take a great amount of awareness and determination to prevent yourself from a full-on downward spiral.  The victimizing language of the media and medical industry certainly doesn’t help.  If you believe you “suffer” from celiac disease, rather than “live with” it, or some other more positive description of the situation, it’s easy to get all woe-is-me and stop getting yourself out of bed in the morning.

I don’t know why it suddenly seems like so many people are intolerant to bread, which has been such a staple of the human diet that it’s been used as a metaphor for food itself (think of sayings like “breaking bread” or “(hu)man cannot survive on bread alone.”)  I guess it’s possible that these sensitivities were always there, but when people were worried about eating enough calories in a day not to starve to death, something like gas didn’t seem to be so much of a problem.  I also think it’s possible that humans have developed these sensitivities more recently due to innumerable, unknowable variables and circumstances.  I also think some of these cases could be psychosomatic, sparked by all the gluten sensitivity static on the airwaves and in the stores.  However, I have no doubt that this is a real problem that negatively affects people’s general wellbeing.

One thing I wish is that messages about diseases like celiac disease were positive and empowering beyond a gluten-free add campaign.  Advertising and journalism on the topic tends to have the same “shock and awe” vibe as the nightly news.  “Are you feeling tired?  Stomach upset?  DIARRHEA?  You could be suffering from a (cue evil music) gluten sensitivity.”  It’s as if it’s this evil think lurking around you, waiting to pounce if you eat a piece of bread.

I feel like a broken record sometimes talking about awareness, but knowing your body (and your mind and emotions, for that matter) makes such a huge difference not only in how you feel, but in how you are able to react to issues or difficulties when they do show up.  The problem with viewing a disease like this as the “enemy” is that it puts you on the defensive and elicits fear, two mindsets that shut us down.  When you’re huddling in fear, it’s hard to look around you, see your options, and formulate a plan of action. 

I’m curious to read what others make of the prevalence of gluten sensitivities and other neuveaux diseases.  Do you have experience with a “media darling” disease?  What’s your opinion?