Jennifer Esposito is opening up about the year-long health battle that she says derailed her career, left her severely depressed and eventually landed her in a psychiatric ward before doctors diagnosed her with coeliac disease.<\/p>\n
During an appearance on Maria Menounos\u2019 Heal Squad podcast<\/a>, Esposito, 53, recalled being a young actress in New York City when unexplained physical and mental health problems became so debilitating that she was forced to put her life on hold.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a whole life beginning in the city, and I was a young actor and I had to stop everything,\u201d Esposito said.<\/p>\n The actress said she became \u201cdeeply depressed\u201d and began having \u201cthoughts of suicide\u201d as doctors struggled to determine what was wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cThey brought me to a psychologist, like they had me on every medication,\u201d she recalled. \u201cThey wanted to give me shock treatment at one point because I wasn\u2019t responding. I\u2019m very sensitive to medication. It was a really bad time. And my mother had people pray over me.\u201d<\/p>\n Esposito, who previously trashed her ex Bradley Cooper in her memoir<\/a>, said she eventually began to suspect that her physical and mental health symptoms could be connected to nutrition.<\/p>\n \u201cI realised that there was a major connection with what I was eating and my vitamins and then my body,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Her health began to \u201ccollapse\u201d while she was working on the ABC comedy Samantha Who?, which aired from 2007 to 2009, according to the actress.<\/p>\n Esposito recalled experiencing alarming physical symptoms, including losing her hair and fingernails.<\/p>\n \u201cI had hair falling out, nails falling off,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Then, she said, a tooth fell out while she was filming a scene.<\/p>\n \u201cA tooth fell out of my mouth, like literally in the middle of a scene,\u201d Esposito recalled. \u201cI was mortified but also had been so ill that I just \u2014 I went hysterical. Like, somebody has to help me.\u201d<\/p>\n Esposito said she was misdiagnosed several times, with doctors considering conditions including multiple sclerosis and irritable bowel syndrome. She said a therapist suggested stress was behind her symptoms.<\/p>\n \u201cTalk about gaslighting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t ever treat the actual underlying issue. We treat symptoms in this country, in America,\u201d Esposito continued. \u201cI went for years on that, and I tried everything myself. I went to holistic healers. I went to get my aura cleansed. I was vegan.\u201d<\/p>\n Desperate for answers, Esposito said she began attending a non-denominational church in an effort to \u201cfeel recharged.\u201d<\/p>\n MORE: Cooper\u2019s ex-wife pokes fun of his \u2018chemistry\u2019 with Lady Gaga<\/a><\/p>\n On one drive there, she recalled reaching a breaking point.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember saying to myself, because I was so depressed of being so sick all the time and fighting panic disorders \u2026 \u2018If you don\u2019t get a diagnosis, you have to accept the fact that you\u2019re crazy, and you\u2019ve created this, and you\u2019re going to let it go because I can\u2019t keep doing this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Moments later, she said, a large piece of wood flew from a truck in front of her and smashed through her windshield.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sitting with glass all over me,\u201d Esposito said. After managing to pull to the side of the road, she took the frightening accident as a sign to continue looking for answers.<\/p>\n Two days later, Esposito said, a doctor called with her diagnosis: coeliac disease.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure how you\u2019re alive,\u201d Esposito recalled the doctor telling her.<\/p>\n According to Esposito, her case was so severe that her liver was failing.<\/p>\n Coeliac disease is an auto-immune condition in which consuming gluten \u2014 a protein found in wheat, barley and rye \u2014 triggers an immune response that damages the small intestine. That damage can interfere with the body\u2019s ability to absorb nutrients and can cause symptoms extending well beyond the digestive system, including fatigue, anaemia, neurological problems and elevated liver enzymes. A strict, lifelong gluten-free diet is the primary treatment and can allow the intestine to heal, according to the Mayo Clinic<\/a>.<\/p>\n After receiving her diagnosis, Esposito immediately eliminated gluten from her diet, but said her body was in such poor condition that her recovery was gruelling.<\/p>\n She recalled being severely deficient in vitamin D and developing welts when exposed to sunlight. Her nervous system was also so overwhelmed, she said, that ordinary stimulation became difficult to tolerate.<\/p>\n \u201cThey had me on four Klonopin a day, and I was still a trembling mess,\u201d Esposito said. \u201cI was literally sleeping in my kitchen because it was the only place that didn\u2019t have a window, because the light \u2014 the stimulus from the light \u2014 would make me tremble and shake.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was horrendous,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n About two months after her diagnosis, Esposito began seeing a medical expert who she said wanted to study her because of the severity of her case.<\/p>\n She underwent regular blood and urine testing, but during one appointment, Esposito said she was in such distress that she pleaded with the doctor to keep her in the hospital.<\/p>\n \u201cDoctor, you got to keep me here because I\u2019m jumping out of my skin. I\u2019m going to jump out the window,\u201d she recalled saying.<\/p>\n Esposito said the remark was interpreted as a threat of self-harm.<\/p>\n Within half an hour, she said, she was taken to a psychiatric ward under the alias \u201cBetty Franklin.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will say it was seven of the most excruciating hours of my entire life because I was yet again pleading for my sanity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Esposito said her father was with her and recalled fearing that she would not get out if he left.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you leave me here, I\u2019m dying because I\u2019m going to fight these people,\u201d she recalled thinking.<\/p>\n The actress said the experience became even more frightening when a doctor asked her father for permission to restrain her if she got \u201cout of hand.\u201d<\/p>\n Esposito forced herself to remain calm. \u201cI thought, if I ever get out of here, I have to do something,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n After returning home, Esposito said she took an increasingly active role in understanding her condition and recovery.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you heal your gut, I promise you, not everything can go away,\u201d she said, adding that recovery \u201ctakes time.\u201d<\/p>\n Esposito, who said she now lives outside the United States, told Menounos that she no longer experiences panic attacks and has adopted a dramatically different pace of life.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is my life. I get to enjoy time,\u201d she said. \u201cI sit down and eat lunch. I sit down and talk to people. There\u2019s no phones on the tables.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a grace given for enjoyment in life,\u201d Esposito continued. \u201cI just think we\u2019ve lost the plot with that. And no wonder why we\u2019re all sick.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking back on the ordeal, Esposito said she ultimately views her diagnosis as something that changed the trajectory of her life.<\/p>\n \u201cCoeliac disease saved my life. One hundred per cent,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Esposito said she believes the years of stress and living in \u201cfight or flight\u201d would eventually have taken an even greater toll had her illness not forced her to change course.<\/p>\n \u201cI 100% would have been somewhere not good,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Now, she said, she is \u201cvery, very, very clear and grateful\u201d \u2014 including for the opportunity her experience has given her to help others.<\/p>\n