Celiac?

[Eeyores Butterfly]

For about six months I have been having some significant stomach issues. My doc suggested food allergies or IBS. I had the food allergy testing done yesterda and it came up as negative except for a slight positive reaction to lobster which I was told is probably a manifestation of my dust mite allergy. As I never eat lobster, that is not the culprit.

A friend of mine told me that my symptoms sound very much like Celiac and when I looked it up, I felt like it was written about me. I'm wondering if anybody here has any experience with Celiac and would be okay sharing their symptoms and how they were diagnosed and how they treat it. Thank you for any help.

 

[pudge the fish]

I don’t have celiac but I do have an allergy to wheat and gluten- I also have IBS but it is stressed induced.
They thought I may have had celiac but my symptoms were not as severe as a celiac- what my family calls politely "Mom's potty problems" - in other words I was living in a bathroom after eating.

they put me on an eliminations type diet- not as strict as some but took me off dairy for 2 weeks to see if I cleared up- things were still pretty bad so they took me off wheat, gluten and dairy- well things got a lot better! But still not great so they took me off corn and things really cleared up. I added dairy and found some is ok but I can’t eat a bowl of ice cream or drink a big glass of milk . I can use lactaid milk or soy milk is ok unless it has added sugar
I can handle yogurt and parmesan cheese too.

Corn seems to bother me if it is whole corn or a dish that has a LOT of corn involved- I can eat a few tortilla chips and be ok. I can’t eat a big piece of cornbread but grits don’t bother me.

To rule out celiac they did an intestine biopsy – was really no problem. But the thing to remember was I had to eat wheat & gluten for weeks before the test. it came back ok so I didn't have celiac.

One misconception was that people who have celiac are very thin- not always true. I have friends with celiac and some are pooh sized, like me. we just don't eat wheat or gluten products- (like tomato soup has wheat gluten- I don't eat gravy, bread etc.)

I also am a type 2 diabetic and was a carb-o- holic so I was making my tummy issues worse by eating all that wheat.

Hope this helps!

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Thanks! I saw the nurse practitioner today and she did the blood test. She also did a test to check my liver/kidneys and gave me a smooth muscle relaxer that I should take before eating.

 

[mechurchlady]

300 pound celiac here. I can eat cornbread, muffins, ice cream and cookies so for me it was the soda pop that put on the weight.

I will not do the testing as I would have to face a week or more of excruciating pain as my system breaks down, my thyroid goes on strike, pancreas goes on strike, brain is fried, skin gets all scaly, protein stains abound, and I am a total wreck. The stomach tests are like asking a person who is sun sensitive to stay out in the sun for an hour a day for two weeks. I eat gluten without knowing it and get sick like the time I was guzzling diet maple syrup that had barley in it. Big time sickness there.

I sit in the sun for an hour and my nose is bright painful red. I eat wheat and I get sick. I sit on the railroad tracks and get runned over by a train. I aint a genius but can figure some things out.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

The blood test came back negative. She scheduled an abdominal ultra sound for April (when I'll be there on spring break) and referred me to a GI. I a mwaiting to hear back from the GI.

 

[mackay_j]

This is realy a reply back to pudge the fish- Having celiac is nothing to do with how bad your symptoms are. If you think you may have celica you should go to your doctor, even if your symptoms are mild. I have celiac I tested positive with some of the highest levels of antibodies my doc. had ever seen! I have none of the usual symptoms, no stomach problems at all!! but not knowing I had celiac has resulted in me having problems with my lymph nodes, I have been told if I do not stick to my gluten free diet I have a very high chance of lymphoma cancer . Anyone who thinks they may have celiac should be tested for it, and should not just diagnose themselves and stop eating gluten, because if you do that your doctor may never know to monitor other aspects of your health which are related to celiac, but not to digetive system, includding - lymph system (I will now have 2yrly biopsys for life), pancratic system, splean, kindney/uninary tract problems (I have had this for 15 years and as a result have had 3 operations, doc now think this may have been conected to celiac and it finaly may get betterish now I have stopped gluten,) and others. Infact the stomach side of things although one of the most anoying/painful aspects for most, is probably the least of your worries. Trust me I now know!!