DAY 2

Alright, so to continue with my story...I began meeting with the schools nutritionist in the spring to work on a diet plan to make me feel better and get back to my normal weight. Of course our awesome sports nutritionist had been seriously ill and out a couple of months so my only option was to meet with the schools nutritionist who wasn't quite in tune with the diet of an athlete. She believed the iron supplements I was in dire need of were the primary cause of my stomach issues and mandated that I needed to stop taking them. When I told her I felt like I was always hungry even after meals she told me that was normal as I was burning a lot of calories doing what I do. After meals I felt hungry but my stomach would feel full up into my chest and when that happened I knew the stomach pains were on their way. I wasn't running well, constantly felt tired and sick and was hating every bit of it. WHEN WOULD THIS END?!? Finally, the next fall, our sports nutritionist was back and better than ever! I began the season with IT tendinitis in my knee and was trying to work my way back when I got fed up with the stomach issues. My coach suggested I meet with Michelle (our nutritionist) and I gladly followed through. When I began describing my symptoms she immediately began asking what all it was I was eating. When I told her she asked do you normally feel sick after eating a lot of pasta or carbs. In the past I was an absolute carb lover. Being part Italian pasta was a mainstay in my diet as well as numerous bagels, waffles, and of course my favorite Hawaiian sweet rolls :-). However upon thinking about it, I realized that after I had mono I couldn't make it through the day without some sort of stomach pain. After eating my sandwich and pretzels and whatever else, I would get a stomach ache. I wrote it off as normal but little did I know the real issue.

The diagnosis:
CELIAC DISEASE.

DAY 1

I've never really been the type to put my life down on paper so when I decided to finally create a blog I was completely unsure how to start. A couple of days ago I made the blog and was soo excited but I couldn't think of anything to say so instead of writing anything I just sat staring lifelessly into the background picture I thought was awesome. Finally now 3 days later I have decided to go for it. I guess I can start out by saying the reason I decided to start this blog in the first place. I currently run varsity cross country and track and field at North Carolina State University and absolutely love it but my journey from my freshman year to now (I am currently a junior) hasn't been the smoothest. I started my freshman year struggling to cope with the increase in mileage and day to day agonized over my weak ankles. I couldn't make it through a run without rolling at least one of my ankles even on flat level sidewalks! I was a distance runner that had to wear ankle braces to make it through runs and felt fatigued the whole time. I was always tired, gaining weight, and sick to my stomach 80% of the time. My 5 ft 0 inch frame reached 124 pounds and no matter how healthy I tried to be I couldn't lose the weight or prevent it from coming. My stomach issues continue to worsen and the fatigue and anemia I had acquired in high school was not getting any better despite all of the iron supplements I was prescribed. For the most part, all I wanted to do after runs and workouts was curl up in bed and go to sleep. Needless to say, I finished my 1st collegiate cross country dismally running somewhere in the upper 22 for 6k. When I got back in the spring things seemed to be looking up until the little pain in my foot took a turn for the worse and after running through the pain for almost a month I found I had a navicular (not sure how to spell that but its in your foot) stress fracture that had actually started heal. Nevertheless I red shirted my outdoor season and let it heal completely. I continued to be unable to get through a day without wanting to roll up into a ball due to stomach pain and was miserable. My first year as a collegiate runner was worse than it was my senior year in high school which wasn't my best year either. My senior year in high school I ended up with a mild case of mono and my ferritin levels in my blood had dropped all the way down to an 8 (should be AT LEAST 20, normally 50ish for distance runners). This marked the beginning of the endless stomach saga....

I think I am going to leave the story at that for now. I have practice at 7:45 and have some stuff to do prior so I will continue this later :-)

P.S. GOODD LUCKK TO ALL MY FELLOW TEAMMATES AT RALEIGH RELAYS TODAY! GOO WOLFFPACKK!!