Newbie Posting Story And Wanting Advice

[Taliesyn]

Hi,

I am not sure if this is the right place?

I want to post my info and possibly get some feedback as I start on my journey.

About 10 yrs ago I started with symptoms that GP's were thinking were related to thyroid and then bloods were showing negative. I spent a long time with many symptoms including having a hysterectomy for fibroids (7 yrs) and weight gain, hair thinning,fatigue, cold intolerance/itchy skin/tinnitus type noises/low mood/mild anxiety/tearfulness/recurrent puffy face and eyes/bloating/some constipation - and so on.

I ended up joining a forum and finally having battled the system and seen a private doctor (who said I had an autoimmune thyroid condition) and now self treat - my health started to improve - since 2 yrs ago.

Recently I have started to crave food/always feel hungry and always being a chocoholic that has featured big time. I always eat healthy and have not really been into processed foods sticking with cooking fresh. I am always tempted to eat a lot of cakes/biscuits at work on special occasions or at home if it is there.

I have been comfort eating also due to some work stress.

My symptoms - I feel tired and not wanting to exercise/bloated/put on weight - 10lbs in about 4 months - fatty stools as described as a symptom of gluten intolerance which are really smelly (sorry). I have another cold and sometimes have achy bones/joints. I have had some sinus discomfort and headaches.

I am taking T3/Liothyronine and was taking B12 and Selenium ( I ran out and stopped taking the vitamins so regularly)

So - I am wondering whether I may be gluten intolerant and not having much faith in the NHS General Practitioners - I would like to explore this myself.

I do not have diabetes or any other conditions - I am female and 49 yrs old.

When Christmas is out of the way - I plan to address gluten and see.

Any thoughts would be very welcome.

Many thanks

[Takala]

Try to ease yourself into eating more healthy fats, such as olive oil, coconut milk, avocado, nuts, because they sate hunger better than carbohydrates. Also, cravings for minerals and vitamins may show up in your body as sugar cravings, because "hunger" is not that specific, more of a generic sensation. Eating carbs in the form of high glycemic index ones ("white, fast acting") and sugar will spike your blood sugar, then it crashes, then it feeds another craving. So going back to the vitamin B mixture (gluten free) and adding in some calcium and magnesium and D may help with that, also.

[Celiac Mindwarp]

If you are in the UK you may want to go to your GP and ask for celiac blood tests and to be referred for a biopsy. You need to still be eating gluten for the tests to be accurate. Many areas still have access to gluten-free food on prescription if you have an offial diagnosis.

Many people here are self diagnosed, mainly through response to a gluten-free diet and how bad they get eating gluten, and their history.

Whichever route you decide come and ask lots of questions and get support. It can be overwhelming at first, but plenty of the folks here have great advice

[GFinDC]

Yep, get tested for celiac disease first, then try the gluten-free diet. The initial testing is just a blood draw to check for antibodies to gliaden, the protein in wheat that causes the auto-immune reaction in celiac disease. There are IgA and IgG antibodies tests, and ttg and Deamidated gliaden also, plus total IgA. Test results can take a couple weeks to get. If initial blood tests are positive, the docs usually want to do an endoscopy to check for villi damage in the small intestine, taking 5 to 8 biopsy samples. There are some newly identified forms of gluten intolerance that can't be detected with the current test methods though. So it is good to try the diet after the celiac disease testing regardless of results. That way if you have a non-testable condition, you may still discover it by dietary changes that results in symptoms improvement.

It is much harder to be tested after doing the gluten-free diet, and can be more painful also. After being off gluten a while the antibodies decrease, and to get antibodies back up to a testable level, the person needs to start eating gluten again for a while. Since symptoms are often more painful and unpleasant for people after stopping gluten and then getting re-exposed (glutened) it can be hard to endure a gluten challenge.

FAQ Celiac com

http://www.celiac.co...celiac-disease/

Newbie Info 101

http://www.celiac.co...ewbie-info-101/

Non-celiac wheat sensitivity article

http://www.celiac.co...ists/Page1.html