Jump to content
This site uses cookies. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. More Info... ×
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.




  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):



    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):


  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Just Got Back From The Doctor


brandyburl

Recommended Posts

brandyburl Apprentice

Well I had my appt with my PCP. I told him I had a big list of symptoms but my most prominent ones are muscle pain, forgetfulness/memory loss, hypoglycemia, and lightheadedness upon standing. I then told him that 3 days ago I decided to avoid gluten and as many processed foods as possible. He said it did sound like a food intolerance. But he said he doubts if it's gluten because I'm getting kind of old and would have had past problems with it. I'm 33. I do realize that is contradictory to a lot of people who are diagnosed with Celiac late in life. He doesn't think my symptoms of hypoglycemia are my blood sugar. Last time I had an episode my bs was 66, not that low from what I understand. He thinks it's related to a food intolerance, but we just don't know which one. Then I mentioned my ulcer. I asked him if ulcers can be cured. He said yes, and then I asked if we were just covering up the symptoms of mine and not curing it. He said probably. To give him credit he was not the dr who "diagnosed" my ulcer in the first place. She left the practice and he took over my care. 

 

So here's the plan: I have a consult with the surgeon on Thursday afternoon. My dr thinks we need to do a scope (not sure if that's the same thing as endoscopy) and probably a CT scan to look at my stomach. He and the surgeon think the problems I'm having is related to my gastric bypass surgery. I asked him if he thought I should continue avoiding gluten and he said right now if it makes me feel better to go ahead at least till we figure out what's going on with my stomach.

 

So there you go. I feel good that he didn't just look at me like I was crazy. Perhaps the scope will give more answers. 


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



mamamonkey Rookie

Um, I just was diagnosed this year and I'm 34. So, 33 is not too old. :)

 

I didn't have any problems until after my pregnancy. So it may be that you just had a trigger in the past few years. Endoscopy is where they go down the esophagus and look at the stomach and duodenum (first part of small intestine). The biopsies they take from the SI will show if you have any damage. They will also be able to look at the ulcer if there is one in your stomach. My reflux and stomach pain resolved and I was able to go off Nexium when I went gluten-free. I am back on a PPI now after my scope b/c I did have esophagitis and active reflux during the scope. But I don't have the painful symptoms any longer.

 

Good luck with your appt on Thursday.  It might not be a bad idea to ask and see a GI doc as well. They can coordinate with your surgeon. Surgeons don't always know the best ways to fix problems that aren't necessarily surgical, kwim?

Mom-of-Two Contributor

I was diagnosed at 33, I believe mine was triggered by an open abdominal surgery in which I spent 8 days hosipitalized with sepsis after a burst appendix. I've also had 2 pregnancies, I feel that all contributed.

I would see a GI and get further testing, no question!

Tiredsean Explorer

Don't worry about the endoscopy either I had one and was out if it with the drugs they gave me it went by fast

nvsmom Community Regular

Good luck with the scope. Try to ensure they take at least 6 samples for a biposy, 8 or more is better. Hopefully that won't miss patchy damage.

 

I read somewhere that the average time to diagnosis for a celiac is 8 years.... Most people i've heard about seem to  fall into one of two groups: 1. Symptoms come on fast and hard and they are diagnosed in months to a couple of years, or 2. Symptoms build and build over time until we figure it out for ourselves in adulthood.   I was in the second group and discovered my diagnosis in my late 30's too....

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):



  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      130,116
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    Shirley Seabrook
    Newest Member
    Shirley Seabrook
    Joined

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):


  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.3k
    • Total Posts
      1m

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):





  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):



  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • Zuma888
      Hello, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis about 3 years ago. At that time I quit gluten and it really helped my symptoms. I hadn't known that I should've tested for celiac before doing so.  Up till recently, gluten would cause my symptoms to flare up, although I never noticed anything with cross contamination, so I wasn't strict about that. But recently, I noticed I could get away with more gluten, and so I decided to do a gluten challenge to see if I had celiac and if I had to be strict. Note that my thyroid antibodies had been decreasing steadily up to this point. My anti-TPO had reached 50 IU/ml from 250 IU/ml (reference range 0-5.6) when I had first been diagnosed. After just a week of the gluten challenge, I measured my thyroid antibodies and they were at 799 IU/ml! I felt fine, but a few days after I started to feel the symptoms. Extreme brain fog, insomnia, diarheaa, fatigue, sleepiness yet cannot sleep, stomachache after eating gluten, nausea, swollen throat (probably due to my thyroid), burping, and gas. I cannot function properly. I'm also worried that I'm killing my thyroid. Should I just quit the challenge? It's been almost two weeks, but the first week I wasn't tracking well, so that's why I didn't want to count it. I can't eat gluten anyway because of my thyroid, but I wanted the diagnosis to know if I should be strict about cross contamination or not.  
    • Zuma888
      You really saved me as I was on day 4 of 3 g per day for 6 weeks. Thank you very much!
    • trents
      Two weeks is the minimum according to the guideline. I would go for four weeks if you can endure it, just to make sure.
    • Zuma888
      Thank you so much! So I can do 10 g worth of gluten in the form of gluten powder per day for two weeks and that should be enough?
    • trents
      It applies to both blood tests and biopsies. Guidelines for the gluten challenge have been revised for the very issue your question raises. It was felt by medical professionals that the longer term but less intense consumption of gluten approach was not proving to be reliable for testing purposes and was resulting in too many false negatives. But do keep in mind that the gluten consumption doesn't have to be in the form of bread slices. It can come in any form: pasta, cake, wraps, etc. Another approach would be to buy gluten powder at a health food store and mix it in a shake. The idea is to get at least 10g of gluten daily, whatever form it comes in.
×
×
  • Create New...