[briar]

hi guys! i'm new to the gluten-free diet and i've never been diagnosied with celiac disease but since i've been gluten free i've gained around ten pounds and i've been feeling GREAT! when i did eat gluten after 50 days of being gluten-free i lost eight lbs in a very short amount of time and as soon as i was back to not eating gluten i started gaining the weight back. i am really curious about if i could have celiac disease... i looked at all the common symptoms and i have a few but any pro help would be awesome!!! please reply!!!! ((oh and i started all the gluten freeness because i'm engaged to a guy with celiac disease just in case anyone was curious!!!))

[Switch2GF]

Eating gluten free is an extremely healthy way to live... celiac or not! There are lots of people who adopt the diet just for the benefits. You are cutting out a lot of unhealthy and/or processed foods and thinking twice about everything you eat.

My guess is NO, you don't have celiac, but are just getting the healthy benefits from eating a healthy diet.

If you really want to know, go have a blood test done. Blood work is not a 100% diagnosis, but at least a first screening to whether you should dig deeper(PUN ) and have an endoscopy.

[mushroom]

briar, on Nov 7 2009, 04:16 AM, said:

hi guys! i'm new to the gluten-free diet and i've never been diagnosied with celiac disease but since i've been gluten free i've gained around ten pounds and i've been feeling GREAT! when i did eat gluten after 50 days of being gluten-free i lost eight lbs in a very short amount of time and as soon as i was back to not eating gluten i started gaining the weight back. i am really curious about if i could have celiac disease... i looked at all the common symptoms and i have a few but any pro help would be awesome!!! please reply!!!! ((oh and i started all the gluten freeness because i'm engaged to a guy with celiac disease just in case anyone was curious!!!))

I would like to hear what your "common" symptoms are, just as a matter of interest. Also if the weight loss was good news or bad news, i.e., were you overweight before and trying to lose weight? Celiac produces two diammetrically opposed responses depending on your body's reaction. Some people lose weight drastically while eating gluten and cannot gain an ounce. With others, the body seems to go into defensive mode when it is not getting the nutrients it needs (i.e., thinks it needs to prepare for famine) so these people gain weight and cannot lose any until they heal from the gluten, start absorbing gluten again, and the body says, "Okay, no famine any longer."

[briar]

mushroom, on Nov 9 2009, 01:02 AM, said:

I would like to hear what your "common" symptoms are, just as a matter of interest. Also if the weight loss was good news or bad news, i.e., were you overweight before and trying to lose weight? Celiac produces two diammetrically opposed responses depending on your body's reaction. Some people lose weight drastically while eating gluten and cannot gain an ounce. With others, the body seems to go into defensive mode when it is not getting the nutrients it needs (i.e., thinks it needs to prepare for famine) so these people gain weight and cannot lose any until they heal from the gluten, start absorbing gluten again, and the body says, "Okay, no famine any longer."

well, i've always been really small. i never weighed over 110 until i quit eating gluten. losing weight for me was bad. i gained ten lbs when i first stopped eating gluten and i lost a bunch of weight when i did eat gluten and gained it back in the gluten free weeks that followed and have been gaining weight since then. my mom is going to set me up for a blood test even though i've heard from alot of people that its not 100% accurate. i just dread the thought of eating the gluten before hand. and i've looked online at the 300 symptoms but honestly with a list that long everyone is bound to have some of them right?

[briar]

Switch2GF, on Nov 8 2009, 11:50 PM, said:

Eating gluten free is an extremely healthy way to live... celiac or not! There are lots of people who adopt the diet just for the benefits. You are cutting out a lot of unhealthy and/or processed foods and thinking twice about everything you eat.

My guess is NO, you don't have celiac, but are just getting the healthy benefits from eating a healthy diet.

If you really want to know, go have a blood test done. Blood work is not a 100% diagnosis, but at least a first screening to whether you should dig deeper(PUN ) and have an endoscopy.

Thanks for the help!!! i talked to my mom and she's going to set me up with a blood test and i've done my homework on this stuff but what exactly is a "first screening"? is that like a pre doctor thing before the endoscopy? i'm going to google now.

i know its probably really silly to get a test done when i'm already gluten free but i'm really curious and i feel like i HAVE to know for sure.

[Switch2GF]

briar, on Nov 9 2009, 08:20 AM, said:

Thanks for the help!!! i talked to my mom and she's going to set me up with a blood test and i've done my homework on this stuff but what exactly is a "first screening"? is that like a pre doctor thing before the endoscopy? i'm going to google now.

i know its probably really silly to get a test done when i'm already gluten free but i'm really curious and i feel like i HAVE to know for sure.

I called the blood work a first screening, because, like you know, it really can't be used to officially diagnose celiac, but it is a good start. You will have to eat gluten the days prior to the blood work, so that they have some antibody to look for. If you weren't eating gluten, then the test would show up negative because your body isn't fighting gluten.

If your test came back positive or really inconclusive, then you follow up with an endoscopy. Start with the blood work, cause I wouldn't want to put myself through an endoscopy if I didn't have to(not b/c it is hard, just inconvenient to devote a day towards it and can be costly)

Good luck and keep us updated!

[mushroom]

You probably know that in order for the blood test (or endoscopy for that matter) to have any chance of validity you need to have been eating gluten (say 3 slices of bread a day or equivalent) for at least two months, some say three. Otherwise your body will not have made enough antibodies to show up on the tests or the damage to the small intestine may have healed too much. Often people are diagnosed with celiac who have been completely unaware that they had any symptoms, so it is not unusual.

[briar]

so i've decided for sure to do a test. i've started eating gluten again and honestly i feel like crap. my sister never stopped eating gluten so she went ahead and got a blood test and her results come in either today or tomorrow. so if she comes back positive i might just skip to the endoscopy. i feel pretty sick; i guess it could all be in my head but i'll let yall know. see ya...

[G-freegal12]

Here is a few tips for you while you eat gluten....
1) Never wander far from a near-by bathroom
2) Pretend that what you are eating is good for you
3) Don't stare at rice pasta in the store...staring isn't nice.
Good Luck!!!

[GottaSki]

You'll need to continue to eat gluten for a few months for either blood work or biopsy and even then many with Celiac Disease have negative tests.

You mentioned you already feel bad since adding gluten back into your diet. Do you feel strongly that you need an official diagnosis?

Your doctor may be able to diagnose you with the dietary response along with a gene test. You can have the gene testing done whether or not you are eating gluten. The celiac genes are DQ2 and DQ8 - if you carry either of these genes it is possible you have celiac - the genes alone do not mean you have celiac - only that it is possible for you to develop celiac.

Even if you are not Celiac - it is good that you found eating gluten-free is of benefit to your body at a relatively young age!

Good luck to you and your finance!

[Fitze082]

GottaSki, on Nov 14 2009, 11:20 AM, said:

You'll need to continue to eat gluten for a few months for either blood work or biopsy and even then many with Celiac Disease have negative tests.

You mentioned you already feel bad since adding gluten back into your diet. Do you feel strongly that you need an official diagnosis?

Your doctor may be able to diagnose you with the dietary response along with a gene test. You can have the gene testing done whether or not you are eating gluten. The celiac genes are DQ2 and DQ8 - if you carry either of these genes it is possible you have celiac - the genes alone do not mean you have celiac - only that it is possible for you to develop celiac.

Even if you are not Celiac - it is good that you found eating gluten-free is of benefit to your body at a relatively young age!

Good luck to you and your finance!

Since the weight loss is a good thing there is a decent chance that you have Celiac. Malnutrition is a symptom. Its smart of your sister to get tested since it is genetic. Even if you don't have celiac disease you may just have a gluten intolerance which is why you feel better when you avoid gluten