AT one point during her battle with coeliac disease, Wodonga woman Kerrie Winnett’s weight plummeted to a mere 35 kilograms.
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For more than 25 years she had experienced excessive weight loss and tiredness that was wrongly diagnosed until 2001.
It has taken the past 10 years for her to reach a normal weight and learn to manage the debilitating illness.
“I had no energy, I was flat out getting through a day,” Mrs Winnett, 51, said.
“I lost a lot of weight really quickly, people thought I was anorexic because I was so skinny.”
Mrs Winnett was incorrectly diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome and another doctor told her it was “all in her head”.
“My mother had passed away the year before from bowel cancer, we were nursing her, so that was stressful,” she said.
“I went to the doctor and he said it was in my head and virtually told me to go away.”
But a new doctor suspected something more serious.
“She thought it was bowel cancer so she sent me for blood tests but it came back with coeliac,” Mrs Winnett said.
A biopsy confirmed the diagnosis.
The condition affects the small intestine and causes a total intolerance to gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, oats and rye.
Mrs Winnett now follows a strict gluten-free diet, the only treatment for the disease, and is as healthy as she has ever been.
“If I don’t follow the diet I’m sick and lose weight,” she said.
“I’ve got a lot more energy now, and I’m very proud of my little roll, when you get down to that skinny you get so excited to have some weight on.”
But Mrs Winnett said restaurants often struggled to accommodate her condition.
“It is getting better, they are becoming more educated, but some of them think it’s a yuppie thing,” she said.
“A lot of restaurants can’t guarantee a gluten-free meal.”
As part of Coeliac Awareness Week, which runs from Tuesday, Mrs Winnett is urging anyone with coeliac symptoms to seek help.