Will Catscan Show Celiac?

[Susan555]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this site but I've been doing a lot of reading the past few days. There's great info on here. I have had abdominal problems my entire life. The problems worsened the past 10 years. I am a 30 year old woman and the past two years of my life have been almost unbarrible with the constant pain I am in. I can't eat anything without doubling over in pain. It got to the point that I stopped eating because it hurt so bad. I went down to 80lbs. I am now back to 100lbs. My doctors has recently suggested that I have celiac because of something found in my bloodtests. For years I was told I had IBS and I knew it had to be more than just IBS. This problem and excrusiating pain has effected my entire life. It's held me back from working, from doing the important and special things with my kids, from going places, to my marriage falling apart because my husband was sick and tired of me being sick all the time and the doctors telling me there was nothing wrong with me. This disease has stopped me from living my life and I want my life back now!

My question is, will a catscan confirm that I have celiac? I am having one done this month. I am schedualed for a colonoscopy and endoscopy in July because the doctor wants biopsies of my large and small intestines. I am scared to death to have those tests done. I've already postponed them once. How bad are those tests? I was also wondering, how long does it usally take to be symtom free after starting a gluten-free diet? I have been gluten-free about 9 days now and really haven't seen any results.

Thank you all so much for listening to me. Any replies would be greatly appriciated. I don't feel so alone now. Susan

[kerri124]

I don't think you can determine if you have Celiac by a Catscan. I could be wrong though. I have been gluten-free for 4 weeks and haven't had any major improvements. I am beginning to think I have other intolerances/allergies to foods. I'm going to talk to my dr tomorrow.

[Guest jhmom]

HI Susan, I am sorry to hear of your health problems but it sounds like the doctors are on top of things and checking everything!

I too had a CT scan and it does not show Celiac. The Colonoscopy doesn't either (I don't think) but I am sure because of your symptoms and weight loss your doc wants to check your entire GI tract. The Endoscopy will show if there is any "villi damage" in the small intestines. The tests are not bad if you are sedated, when you wake up you should not remember anything and should not be in any pain. The worse thing is the

[lovegrov]

Sorry, but the CT cannot show celiac. You must have the endoscopy with biopsy.

Both the endoscopy and colonoscopy are a breeze. The colonoscopy prep the night before isn't a barrel of laughs, but for people who have suffered through years of diarrhea and worse, it's not so bad. For the actual procedure you will be sedated and also given an amnesiac. I remember nothing at all about either one. I was groggy for part of the day because of the sedation but I didn't even have a sore throat (or a sore anything else).

I'll repeat that you must continue eating gluten for this test to be accurate.

good luck

[Guest gillian502]

Don't worry about the endoscopy or the colonoscopy. I spent months worrying myself sick about them, and they are nothing! Everyone says the prep for the colonoscopy is so awful, well, for me it wasn't. Can't explain it, maybe I just got lucky for once! It helps to have a bowel movement early in the day before you drink the prep stuff, that way there's not much left to give if you know what I mean. I was not in the bathroom every 2 minutes like everyone said I would be. It was maybe 3 times an hour, very briefly, for about 3 hours. That was it. A breeze, completely.

As for the CT Scan, it can show additional problems but not Celiac. The endoscopy will show that. The colonoscopy is there to show Inflammatory Bowel Diseases such as Crohn's and Colitis (just found out myself I have that one, too.) There is no pain with any of these procedures, and they're worth having. Good luck!

[debmidge]

Susan:

Wish you much good luck! You're story mirrors my husband's in that it took doctors many, many years to get the diagnosis correct. They kept saying IBS just until late 2003. He too was too sick to work or travel or attend social engagements. Undiagosed celiac disease is debilitating and creates its own stress.

Keep you chin up and stay positive. Keep gluten free forever - no cheating. You should have relief soon and will feel better than you had in a long time.

Best wishes,

debmidge