To mark Coeliac Awareness Week, which runs until Sunday, May 18, Hannah Gray Chats to local sufferers about the impact it has had on their lives.

Nicole Pritchard, from March, was a healthy young girl until four years ago, when the diagnosis of three medical conditions changed her life forever.

Aged nine, she was found to have type one diabetes, and because other conditions can go along with this, was screened and found to have coeliac disease and an underactive thyroid.

Of these, she only had symptoms of the diabetes, but Nicole was told that a life-long gluten free diet was the only way she could control her coeliac disease, and prevent some of the nasty symptoms which can come with it, including malnutrition, osteoporosis, bowel cancer and infertility problems.

Suddenly she was facing four insulin injections a day, thryoxine tablets, and a complete change to her diet.

Despite the range of conditions from which she now suffers, Nicole, now 13, knows which is hardest to cope with – the coeliac disease.

"With diabetes all you've got to do is check your blood sugar, and do your insulin. The thyroxine is just a tablet every day, but being a coeliac changes everything," she said.

After Nicole's diagnosis, gone were her beloved fajitas, and also Danish pastries, one of her all-time favourite foods.

At first, gluten-free food was not widely available and could be quite complicated – the bread used to require refreshing in the microwave or the oven. It was also an alarmingly bright white, and constant questions from other youngsters at school put Nicole off eating it any more. Nicole's mum Karen (41) said it was a steep learning curve for the family.

"We head to learn a lot. They were brilliant at the hospital, the diabetic nurse and the dietician there. But a lot of it is basically reading every label. Every time we go to the shop we have to read every single ingredient label, because they might change the recipe," she said.

At home, the family have learned to make gluten-free alternatives for many dishes, and all eat the same meal in the evening.

But it does require a great deal of discipline and organisation as Nicole must be careful to avoid cross contamination – for example she has to have her own butter to avoid crumbs from a dirty knife getting in.

Eating out is also incredibly difficult, and requires research before the family visit to check there will be things which are genuinely gluten-free that Nicole can eat.

She is very keen that places offer better labelling, for example a small 'c' next to items on the menu to indicate they are suitable for coeliacs.

"As long as at the top of the menu it was labelled that a 'c' meant suitable for coeliacs, it would make so much difference, because I wouldn't have to ask," she said.

Nicole is a bright young girl, who is clearly well-informed about her illness and has adapted her life to deal with it. What she really wants now is for there to be more understanding and knowledge about coeliac disease, so that people realise how serious it is.

She said: "Every one in 100 people is a coeliac and not all people know about it so if people know about it they can think 'I do feel ill' and go and get tested'."

Related: Diagnosis changed Phil's life forever
For Phil Kendall, a retired civil servant and a sufferer of coeliac disease, finding a supermarket which stocked gluten-free food, just down the road from where he was staying in Skiathos, Greece, was the stuff of lasting memories in 2007.

Factfile: coeliac

• Coeliac disease is not a food allergy, it is an autoimmune disease caused by intolerance to gluten.


• Damage to the gut lining occurs when gluten is eaten.


• There is no cure or medication for the condition, the only treatment is life-long adherence to a strict gluten-free diet.


• Without a special diet, the disease can lead to other conditions, such as malnutrition, osteoporosis, bowel cancer and also can cause infertility problems.


• Because coeliac disease is recognised as an autoimmune disease, some patients are able to get certain basic foodstuffs on prescription from their GP.


• More online: www.coeliac.co.uk - 'Coeliac UK - The charity for people with coeliac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis'