Last week I told you I was stepping down as D Magazine’s lead dining critic because of a treatable medical condition. I wrote the post, hit publish, and went on about my day. By mid-afternoon I was stunned by the number emails, texts, and comments on SideDish and Facebook. The reality of my action didn’t sink in until I started reading the correspondence. Thankfully almost all of the notes I received were positive. My real life experience with friends, colleagues, and acquaintances was somewhat different.
Making the decision to leave my post was a long process. The medical testing and waiting and retesting took almost a year. I flipped from a state of hypothyroidism to hyperthyroidism back to hypothyroidism in less than a year. I read countless websites and took online seminars to understand what was going on with my body. I received my final diagnosis only after demanding a certain test from a reluctant doctor.
The story–“My Job Nearly Killed Me”–goes online today. It isn’t pretty, but it’s honest. Much of the tale got chopped for length, but there is only one important dynamic that didn’t make the cut. After I decided to exclude gluten from my diet to fight an autoimmune disease, I encountered criticism and skepticism from many people I know quite well. I was once skeptical and critical of the gluten-free fad. Too many people have adopted gluten-free diets to lose weight. One of my closest friends barely listened to how excluding gluten from my diet changed many of my other maladies such as joint pain and psoriasis. He told me I just needed to have more sex and lay off the pizza. Several others rolled their eyes or avoided talking about the issue because they were bored with the subject.
Since I made the announcement, I’ve heard from over 20 people who are experiencing the same symptoms and have battled the IBS diagnosis for years. They too have done a poor job of taking care of themselves and allowing work and stress rule their time and body. It’s hard to stand up to yourself and admit defeat.
Our new lead dining critic is Eve Hill-Agnus. She is currently an English teacher and will be joining the D edit staff full time in July. Until then, she will contribute the monthly lead reviews. I will also contribute when appropriate. I’m sure you can find Eve’s picture somewhere on the web, but at this point I’m leaving the decision of anonymity up to her.
