To think she doesn't *really* have coeliac disease?

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Coeliac disease - I understand from other friends who have been diagnosed with this that it's tricky but OK to deal with being gluten-free forever. My MIL has been diagnosed with this a year or so ago. Out of the blue she just announced she cannot have gluten any longer, and has Coeliac disease.
Just a bit of history - my opinion is that she seeks attention in all situations. My husband and my wedding - she demanded my private list of 'to-do' items including such things as 'wax bikini line', and when I did not give it to her she threatened not to come to the wedding until I apologised. Now, she may have CD and we always get in lots of gluten-free foods when they visit. She always asks in restaurants for the GF options. (and bemoans how poor they are). But most times we see her she will eat something containing gluten, like a regular biscuit or a bit of batter off fish and chips my FIL is eating. Can you just have a minor allergy to gluten? But she does insist it's Coeliac disease.

Yes, you are right. My DH has gluten intolerance. The discomfort for him has been really bad at times but it doesn’t make him actually ill. He was diagnosed with it by a private doctor that we ended up paying for when he just couldn’t figure out why his stomach always hurt and the doctor just kept telling him he had IB related to stress. When he went to a new GP recently he told him he was allergic to gluten and the doc said you shouldn’t be telling people that there is a big difference between what you have and coeliac. He was really careful about it at first and in my opinion milked it a bit, which is what it sounds like the MIL is doing, but now he knows he can have a bit here and there or will just suffer if he really wants something with gluten.

My sister had CD in the 60s before it was well known and looked terrible -
swollen belly, and looked like a victim of famine. Mum was great and we all had proper dinners until she grew out of it because of the care. So avoid at all costs if you are really coeliac. So is she really coeliac?

Ur MIL sounds like a friend of mine.

She says that she is celiac, dairy intolerant & other dietary requirements. She is very vocal about her issues. We meet up about once a month and every time we do she is having a ‘F. It’ day, eating normal bread, cakes etc.
When we stay overnight somewhere we take items she can eat but yes she’s having a ‘f it’ day, eats all of our things and then takes her things home (none of which she paid for).
After waking up and realising her behaviour cannot be rewarded, we are no longer catering to her diet.

You can't grow out of coeliac disease. It's a lifelong condition.

I think it’s quite black and white as in you have coeliacs and can’t eat gluten or you’re intolerant and it causes gastro disturbances (amongst other effects). My husband is a diagnosed coeliac and he will not at all eat gluten, we are really careful with meal preps to avoid contamination (kids have a gluten diet) and make sure there’s not gluten containing food mixing with gluten free. I think if MIL can eat biscuits then she’s not a coeliac but may be gluten intolerant. If he does inadvertently eat gluten, it’s not long before he begins to suffer the effects of it and they’re not pleasant (gastric cramps and inflammation, bloating and wind, diarrhoea etc). It’s not something he is willing to risk over a biscuit!

I have CD. I hate it and wished I was never diagnosed as the cutting out of gluten has in some sense made me poorlier as I now “don’t eat enough” so get every illness going. It has given me extreme food anxiety to eat in public as I feel when I go anywhere, people are watching what I am putting in my mouth and thinking ohh she can’t be coeliac because she isn’t making a big ‘cross contamination’ stink. I prefer to keep quiet and manage it in my own way. As it is, I now rarely eat at other people home- I will sit and read a book whilst they all eat dinner, rarely eat out anywhere and have got really good at going a whole day fasting if I’m out with the kids for the day. Like others say, once I went gf I became more sensitive and even a bit of cholcolate off a mini roll (my weakness) will give me GI issues, fatigue and brain fog for 3 days… but every so often I weaken (or am starving) and snaffle something. I pay the price but I can feel all the eyes judging me- even my husband and 10 year old daughter.

I really wished I had not been pulled down the rabbit hole of this thread as it has reinforced that people are judgy. I wish people would just let people be and stop caring so much about what others do or don’t eat. I mean, does it really matter if she is coeliac or not? She is making her own choices and leave her be.

Hi eating gluten for you can lead to bowel cancer and neurological problems.
I know it's expensive to buy/ eat GF but it's your life that could be cut short by a horrendous disease... you must be concerned about that.
Don't you get ill eating non GF? My physical and mental health was awful before I was diagnosed with coeliacs.I've stuck to GF 25 years and have had massively better health since...A good diet is everything.

Coeliac is an autoimmune condition not an allergy, you can’t pick and chose what you eat without extremely unpleasant conditions. She may have an intolerance to gluten.

It is in families and the effects vary.

My cousin was thought to have cancer as he was so ill and lost so much weight before being diagnosed as coeliac.

(His mother has another autoimmune condition. )

These days he looks well again and avoids gluten but occasionally allows himself some. The results are bearable.

My friend -also coeliac- is extremely ill after even the smallest trace of gluten. He developed this disease suddenly in middle age. His family are not affected autoimmune disorders.

I had never even heard of this. Really interesting to read up on thank you x