After being diagnosed with gluten intolerance a month and a half before starting college, I was having trouble adjusting. I could easily go on about how hard it is to live with such an unusual disease, the mystery of not knowing if it truly is Celiac or just an intolerance to gluten in general, and how being in college with it, especially with so little experience, is extremely difficult. Unfortunately, I have been forced to adapt and I have gone through several painful gluten exposures (Celiac attacks as I like to call them) and many trial-and-error experiences since being diagnosed.
I believe that the beginning of this story starts with the fact that I have gone through too many major changes in my life, so consequently, I decided to change my Major.
My first change was going gluten free. I fortunately lost nearly twenty five pounds and went from being overweight to normal weight. I am now too thin for the pants I bought when I was fifteen, and to be able to say that is the best feeling in the world because I struggled with my weight, along with the unbearable and painful symptoms of gluten intolerance/Celiac, for many years.
The second change was deciding to end my three-year long relationship with my last boyfriend. He was my first love and things went very well for quite some time, but people grow apart and we both changed and became very different people. I am not sad about that fact. I understand now that things would never have worked out if we had stayed together. We are not the same people that we were when we were fifteen (even though I still wear the same jeans). I hope that one day he finds someone that makes him as happy as he made me when we were in high school, because he deserves it.
My final change was moving over three hours away from my small town in the middle of Vermont to Merrimack College, a wonderful school just miles from Boston. Adjusting to this change has been hard and leaving my parents and my sister was definitely the hardest thing I have ever had to do.
I entered college as a Biology Major. In all honesty, I really did not think it through, which is very unusual for me. I knew I had to make a decision on what to major in, so I decided to go with a science (a field I have always loved) and do a Pre-Med track. It was probably about the second day of college that I decided I did not want to be a Biology Major. I saw that Health Science was a major that was offered and I started to look into it.
After dealing with undiagnosed gluten intolerance for many years and making the transition to a 100% gluten free diet, I knew the joy of finally feeling healthy, something I have arguably never felt, at least not to the degree that I do now. I want everyone to feel as healthy and as wonderful as I do now. Everyone deserves to feel this wonderful. I want to help anyone who deals with dietary problems like because it is just awful to go through and I would like to aid them in the transition to a healthier lifestyle if I can.
I decided to change my major to Health Science with a Nutrition concentration and I declared two minors in Biology and Sports Medicine. Although it is a mouthful and sounds complicated, I am very excited and very sure about what I am doing. I did a lot of research about it and I know it is exactly what I want to do. I told my mother and she said that it was a good idea... last week.
Today on Skype with my parents, I was grilled about my change of Major and what I wanted to do with my life. I was told that I cannot move back to Vermont with the job I will have and I will not make enough money if I live near a city, even though a city is one of the only places where I will be able to get a job. My parents told me that I need to think about the long-term.
Before this conversation, I never thought about much longer than the next five years. I thought that I would finish my degree at Merrimack, then go to UVM for my Master's degree and find a job in Burlington, Vermont. When my mother told me I need to stay near Boston, I was surprised. I love Vermont and I miss it. My mother told me that I really need to change my mind, because a job in my field in Vermont will only bring me to Burlington, and I will never find any other connections if I stay there.
After this heartbreaking news, I had to defend my decision to my father. He told me not to quickly decide on such a massive life change. I had been considering changing my major for a month before I told anyone. I then spent the next month asking nearly everyone what they thought. I asked my friends that are Health Science majors what they thought I should do. I went to the Career Center, spoke to peers, and did hours of research on jobs, salaries, graduate programs, and nearly everything that had to do with Health Science. I decided that I want to be a Registered Dietitian. Maybe I will work in a Nursing Home, possibly for a Hospital, but hopefully for the FDA because I want to change the requirements on allergen warnings in order to help people like me with gluten intolerance understand easily what is safe to eat. I put many hours of investigation into the decision and I am very confident in the change.
I defended this decision to my father in a lengthy explanation of almost half an hour. Moreover, I went on to explain why I chose a Biology minor (I will only have to take one extra class total to establish one, so it makes sense) which he supported, but explaining my Sports Medicine minor was much more difficult. I had to explain that because exercise is such a huge component of general health, it goes well with Nutrition and how I felt that having this as a minor would help me with competition for jobs. I had to defend all these decisions and make both parents understand that I am completely aware of the fact that there is risk involved the major I am choosing and with going for a job that does not have guaranteed employment.
I understand why they needed this explanation. I justified it with myself nearly hundreds of times in my mind before telling anyone, and another hundred times after that. I made the decision based on talking to nearly anyone who would listen. I asked everyone in the Health Science field what they thought of their classes, their professors, and their future. Everyone I tell about my change of Major encourages me, but my parents were the only ones who were hesitant to become as excited as I get just thinking about it.
The bottom line is, I know that they are concerned for me. I will be making a salary that is not above average. I will probably struggle financially. However, I will work extremely hard and I will be the best that I possibly can be.
I know the struggle of living with food intolerance and I know what it is like to try to find out how to do it without any help from those with experience. My parents did their best and were supportive, but being as inexperienced as I was, could not do much to help other than help cook my separate meals. My doctor gave me a sheet of paper saying what foods I could not eat, but nobody ever really tells me what I can. I want to help people understand what they can eat.
In conclusion, I want to get through these major transitions and help others get through transitions as well. Everyone has to grow up and leave their parents. Everyone gets their heart broken. Everyone has their medical conditions they have to deal with. I had to do all three at once, which in the end makes me a stronger person, but these last few months have been very difficult. I think that now that I have a plan, I will help people like me, and hopefully enjoy myself while doing so.
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