Coeliac disease is a permanent condition where an intolerance to gluten causes the body to produce antibodies which attack the lining of the small bowel, making it impossible for the body to absorb vitamins, minerals and other nutrients from food.
More common symptoms of the disorder are things such as fatigue, anaemia, weight loss and digestive and bowel issues, but some sufferers can also experience things such as rashes, easy bruising of the skin, vitamin deficiencies, or in Mrs Eades' case, mouth ulcers.
"I was suffering from depression at the time, and as soon as it was diagnosed the depression was gone."
Her husband Russell Eades said it was like "flicking a switch", and there was an immediate change in his wife's eyes.
Mrs Eades said after two to three weeks on the gluten-free diet she felt better.
"Within four months I felt like a different person."
Her diagnosis came after a series of blood tests and a bowel biopsy, which she is urging others to get if they are experiencing some of the same symptoms.
Coeliac Awareness Week runs this week and brings with it news that nearly 65,000 New Zealanders could have the disorder, and 80 per cent won't know they have it.
Mrs Eades said that meant about 4500 Wanganui residents could be suffering from coeliac disease.
She said it was also important for people to stay on gluten until they were tested, because the test would not come back positive if they had already cut it out. "I actually think it's awareness for the doctors too. If they've got a patient repeatedly showing up and saying they just can't get through the day."
After being diagnosed in 2000 and learning the disease was hereditary, she had her children tested too, and found her 8-year-old daughter Nina also had it.
Once Nina's diet changed, her schoolteacher came to Mrs Eades commenting on how different she was in class.
The family of five consists of two vegan, one meat-eater, one self-prescribed flexitarian, and two coeliac disease sufferers, so dinnertime is a little complicated.
"Meal times in our house are a balancing act," she said.
"We have a vegetarian meal and we have a meat eater's meal every night."
All of the meals, however, are gluten free. Mr and Mrs Eades once went out for dinner and had a $60 meal, but she had a reaction to gluten in the food.
Finding gluten-free food in the supermarket can often be a challenge too, especially with the rise in popularity of gluten-free diets.
"There's nothing left on the shelf because everyone's bought it," Mrs Eades said.
She warned that gluten-free was not for everyone, and people should only really cut out gluten if they had to.
