Living with celiac disease: When a single crumb can hurt you

When Ana Amezcua's family moved from Mexico to Canada in 2019, she never anticipated what would soon unfold with her daughter René, who was just five years old.

"We noticed that within a week she started being always sick, like with a lot of fever, she couldn't stand up out of the bed, she lost a lot of weight," said Amezcua, who lives in Moncton.

"We were going to the ER, but apparently she had nothing."

That was when she remembered a TV show she had watched that talked about celiac disease and then everything started to make sense. Since moving to Canada, the family's diet included more wheat products, which would trigger someone who has celiac.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition that primarily affects the small intestine when the person ingests gluten, which is found in wheat, barley and rye.

Symptoms differ from person to person, according to the Celiac Disease Foundation. Some common symptoms include abdominal pain, cognitive impairment, migraines, fatigue, skin rash, joint pain and vomiting.

According to the foundation, celiac can also lead to long-term health conditions, such as heart disease, liver failure, small bowel cancers and neurological symptoms.

Amezcua began advocating for her daughter to get tested for celiac, and when she got the positive result, everything changed.

Eating at home was safe. Amezcua, who is a certified chef, adapted her cooking to René's needs. 

But when she was anywhere else, there was always the fear that, even if a food appeared to be free of gluten, it could still be cross-contaminated, which could still cause extreme sickness. 

She said restaurants will often say they are celiac safe, but her daughter could still get sick if her food shares a countertop or frying pan with an item that contains gluten.

Aislynn Slupsky, also a Moncton resident, has experienced similar challenges since her daughter, Kalina, was diagnosed at the age of four. 

She said her family had to get entirely new pots, pans, a toaster and even dedicated cutlery to ensure Kalina didn't get sick.

And when Kalina started school last year, that came with its own set of challenges.