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I have my first GI appt tomorrow

I guess this is a two-part question:

1. Once you figured out gluten was the problem and you'd had some time to look back, did you find yourself remembering symptoms and reactions from long, long ago, and suspect you'd had a gluten issue for far longer than you'd originally thought?

And,

2. Did you notice that perhaps you unconsciously preferred a lower-gluten diet (just weren't that "into" wheat-based carbs), as if your body was trying to protect you with a natural disinterest or aversion?

Just curious. I'm looking back and realizing there were subtle clues...

Not diagnosed yet but...

1. Looking back I connect a lot of problems with symptoms that didn't make sense until now.
2. I ate like a 260 pound overweight kid would eat, hot pockets, cheez-its, sammiches, doughnuts, cake, cookies, ice cream, massive amounts of energy drinks, soda.

Good luck with the bloodwork!

Thanks a million man.

Not diagnosed (yet, bloodwork tomorrow) but I know when I eat gluten filled foods I panic, lightheaded, light sensitivity, dizzy, upset stomach, then usually after all thats over I get gasious, stomach rumbling, the normal IBS symptoms.

Yes,m it sounds exactly like celiac, and stress is a common trigger to have the disease reactivate in adulthood.

Yes, you need to start eating gluten again immediately, and continue eating it until all testing, including biopsy, is done. Then, by all means, go gluten free. Many celiacs still get negative test results (it is a flawed science still) and non-celiac gluten intolerance cannot be tested for at all, but causes the exact same symptoms. Blood tests look for antibodies to gluten, and when you stop eating gluten, your body stops making them, quickly. It is imperative you resume eating gluten NOW. Biopsies look for damaged villi. Villi renew themselves every 3 days, and in some people, significant healing can take place in a matter of weeks, rendering a false negative biopsy.

You do not need a drs permission to eat gluten-free. It is important to know if it IS celiac though, as it predisposes you to other auto immune issues and is genetic, so your future children will be at risk, as well as other blood family members.

Well that is a bit relieving in a sense, that stress can trigger it to reactivate...I've been trying to tell my fiance and her family that stress can trigger and they kinda thought I was crazy I guess!

The only cruddy part about all this information is obviously eating gluten again, I just now started to feel GREAT not eating it, except last night when I thought a piece of beef jerkey was gluten-free and I looked to see it contained wheat, soy and corn protein...yucky.

The weird thing is now that I'm discovering my mother has lived MANY years of her life with the same symptoms but they diagnosed her diabetic, but our symptoms are spot on, match to match. I'm now wondering if she is not celiac or gluten sensitive and she just passed it right on to me. It's weird how life works sometimes, right?!

Even if the tests come back negative, false-negative or positive I know I will continue a gluten free lifestyle. just the way I've felt the past two days has been great compared to the past 4 months of feeling overwhelmed and sick.