[glutenfreejenny]

I don't have heath insurance because I'm a poor college student Growing up I've been to MANY doctors who have been no help whatsoever. An allergist who told me I was allergic to soy, corn, and tomatoes and sent me on my way. I had to REQUEST an epi-pen. And he simply told me not to eat anything I couldn't. I've been to natural healers, regular docs, gastro docs, etc. After many years of trying to go allergy free and still being really sick I gave up gluten and now I feel waaaay better. It's only been about 2 weeks but it's going really well.

I still have a skin rash and trouble sleeping but my stomach feels 100% better and I'm finally properly digesting my food. My question is should i go see a doctor? Does anyone think it would be worth it? I've heard so many horror stories about docs and celiac, and since i've been Gluten-Free for a while I probably won't test positive. I know I have celiac and don't need a doctor to tell me that and don't want to waste my money if they are no help.

Any suggestions? I know there are some specialists around the SF area where I live, but it could get expensive. I really just want to spend my money on food. Thanks

[mushroom]

Hi Jenny, and welcome. Glad to hear that gluten free eating is going well for you. Congratulations on figuring it out!

Yes, many of us have a very hard time finding doctors to take us seriously and who know much about celiac (the minority, it would appear). The answer to your question depends on what's right for you. If you are happy with your self-diagnosis and it resolves your symptoms, than the official diagnosis is not going to be of much use to you. What would be of use to you though is a blood test to determine your nutritional deficiencies. Or you could just decide to supplement in the things that you are likely to be deficient in as a celiac, such as Vitamins D, B12 (use a sublingual) methylcobalamin), folic acid, and calcium, magnesium, zinc, and take a good multivitamin and multimineral.

On the other hand, if part of you doubts your self diagnosis or if your symptoms do not resolve, testing could be of benefit (although it could come back negative too). You would have to resume eating gluten for a couple of months for testing to be valid and even then there are false negatives. The downside of an official diagnosis is that it can sometimes affect insurance issues (life and health).

Good luck on your gluten free journey.

[MrsClaus]

The other info. was good advice. My two point to add is you seem serious most people need to be diagnoised to be convienced to go to that extreme.
2nd Celiacs have a hard time absorbing Iron and may need to get shots or IV therapy to get it built up in the blood. as well as the other things mentioned above. Celiacs are often allergic or sensitive to other things like Dairy so keep that in mind. I have just had 6 treatments of IV Iron.

[glutenfreeeugene]

Yes if you can find a doctor that not just give you a drug. 25 years ago I had DH and I could
not find one doctor who would help me. They all said it was in my head, no it was on my arms.

I finally decided to go see a Naturopath physician and he ran the saliva test, and told me to eat gluten through the weekend. On Monday they would test me and I turned out to be positive for Celiac.

Now 25 years later the MDs are slowly coming on board. If you dont like your present doctor keep looking and I promise you, you will get some answers.

[GottaSki]

Seems to me that if you have found your answer by living gluten-free and your health continues to improve there isn't a compelling reason to get an official diagnosis.

If your symptoms don't continue to improve or you desire an official diagnosis in the future look for a gastroenterologist that takes/wants a Celiac case as many doctors, even GIs don't yet understand Celiac Disease -- although this seems to be improving.

Good Luck to you!

[Serversymptoms]

glutenfreejenny, on Jun 2 2009, 08:17 PM, said:

I don't have heath insurance because I'm a poor college student Growing up I've been to MANY doctors who have been no help whatsoever. An allergist who told me I was allergic to soy, corn, and tomatoes and sent me on my way. I had to REQUEST an epi-pen. And he simply told me not to eat anything I couldn't. I've been to natural healers, regular docs, gastro docs, etc. After many years of trying to go allergy free and still being really sick I gave up gluten and now I feel waaaay better. It's only been about 2 weeks but it's going really well.

I still have a skin rash and trouble sleeping but my stomach feels 100% better and I'm finally properly digesting my food. My question is should i go see a doctor? Does anyone think it would be worth it? I've heard so many horror stories about docs and celiac, and since i've been Gluten-Free for a while I probably won't test positive. I know I have celiac and don't need a doctor to tell me that and don't want to waste my money if they are no help.

Any suggestions? I know there are some specialists around the SF area where I live, but it could get expensive. I really just want to spend my money on food. Thanks

I selfdiagnosed myself as being gluten intolerance, though lately I have been aware of other health problems. One is my thyroid, I need to get it tested. Second, I need to get my candidia diagnose, and basicall a look at my immune system etc... biopsy. I found out that many with candida may cause a food intolerance.... so I'm really just waiting for my next appointment, this is dire.

I would suggest you to take the candida home test, you can be a suspect of candida. Just google candida spit test, though you can only correctly do the test right after awakening in the morning.