Mia Fevola diagnosed with coeliac disease after health struggles

WAG and influencer Mia Fevola has opened up about the “serious” diagnosis that left her unable to gain weight.

Mia Fevola has opened up about her shock health diagnosis after finally getting answers to why she was feeling unwell.

Fevola, 21, revealed she’s been diagnosed with coeliac disease, which explains why she’s had low iron levels, was tired and couldn’t gain weight.

“Yesterday I was diagnosed with coeliac disease, I actually thought I was coeliac a few years ago and went gluten free but eventually just died off it,’’ Fevola wrote on Instagram.

“I never realised the seriousness of coeliac disease, I always thought it was just a gluten free diet. I was actually really upset after finding out because not only is it a huge lifestyle change for me but the way my doctor was trying to express the seriousness freaked me out.”

Fevola, a make up artist and businesswoman, added: “So coeliac disease is an auto-immune disease where the lining of the intestines are damaged from eating gluten. It also doesn’t allow my body to absorb nutrients properly which explains why I feel so average.

Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Mia Fevola with Alex and Brendan Fevola.

“It’s also the reason why I can’t put on weight. My doctor explained that if my body isn’t absorbing nutrients like calcium, my bones will be brittle and by the time I’m 40 it can lead to osteoporosis and other serious health problems.

“The reason this is such a shock to me is because my whole teenage years I’ve been eating such an intense carb overloading diet, I would eat six pieces of bread a day, pasta, etc in an effort to gain weight, when in reality it was doing the opposite effect and causing nutrient deficiencies, so obviously it’s a huge lifestyle change and I feel as though every meal I eat contains gluten.”

Fevola, who is dating Western Bulldogs no.1 draft pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, said she had been inundated with messages after her dad Brendan spoke about her condition on his FOX FM breakfast radio show on Thursday.

She went and got her first blood test at the urging of her mum Alex and advised people to seek help if their body doesn’t feel right.

“I’m really grateful to my doctor, he saw my iron levels were low so he wanted to run a test for coeliac which I didn’t even know could be a reason for low iron,’’ she wrote.

Ugle-Hagan and Fevola started dating last year. Pic: Instagram

Mia Fevola at her 21st birthday party.

“Although it upset me, it could be a lot worse and I’m relieved all my other results were clear!

“This answers SO many questions for me, I have publicly shared my struggle with weight gain and privately struggled with genuinely feeling so low in energy, exhausted and overall affecting my moods, which I now know is from a lack of nutrients, despite trying to shard to fuel my body with good foods.

“Some of the tests to come freak me out but I’m so excited to finally start feeling amazing when I’m on top of this.”

She added: “If you take one thing from this, let it be LISTEN to your body, if you have a gut feeling about something please go get it checked, and if you struggle to put on weight (which many of you have messaged me about this before) this may be the case for you too. I didn’t have the typical symptoms (and some people gain weight from being coeliac too) so ask to get checked! I’m so happy I finally have answers.”