So Sick, And Not Sure Where To Go

[ImagineEscape]

I am at my wits end with this sickness. 

 

My story -

 

• I was raised on junk food, tv dinners, cans of veggies, etc. 
• Around 3rd grade my abdomen became shockingly distended, stretch marks and all. Never went away, regardless of overall body weight. I suffered constipation daily. I was very overweight.
• As a teen, I suffered extreme D, lost a ton of weight for seemingly no reason. I went vegetarian around age 13, but I still ate the junk food my parents would buy, in large amounts.
• D remained throughout college, to the point of me fearing going anywhere without a restoom nearby. I could not drink cold water or drinks without immediately having D. I snuck away from my dorm and used the general university dorm bathroom downstairs to avoid embarrassment. I could eat anything I want, in any quantities I wanted without gaining weight. I also experienced extreme nervous bowels. 
• In grad school I changed my diet to whole foods, and went vegan. The lack of dairy improved things immensely. Now, when I "cheat" and eat dairy, I feel the effects obviously. I gained weight because of this whole foods diet, and struggle with controlling portion sizes as I used to be able to eat anything.
• However, I'm still sick. No dairy, no eggs, no meat, all whole foods. I drink a green smoothie for breakfast, and eat healthy for lunch and dinner. I exercise. I am still so sick, so often, however.  While I finally have normal-ish bowel movements, they are closer to D than what I imagine they are for other people (they're usually a run-to-the bathroom asap or be sorry, but not pure liquid as they used to be)

I'm so sick of being sick. A really bad doctor who I talked to for 5 minutes said I have IBS. I finally talked to a doctor about my concerns with gluten, but she did not seem to take my concerns seriously in the least, perhaps because I am overweight. I was going to get a test done, but she made it very complicated and by the time I convinced her to schedule it, I lost my health insurance. 

 

I get headaches, stomach aches of all kinds, my immune system just seems to turn off for a week at a time - in which case I get rashes and feel awful, and I just generally feel sick. Just sick. Dizzy, disconnected, sick to my stomach, just sick.

 

I don't now if it is celiac, I am kind of hoping it is, so I will have a cure. Does any of this sound like celiac?

 

I still lack health insurance, however, so I suppose my only choice is to attempt a gluten-free diet to see what happens?

[mushroom]

Hello, and welcome to the board.  It does sound like gluten could be a problem for you.  Most doctors don't know that gluten can make you overweight and automatically dismiss the idea of celiac in someone who isn't skinny.  It actually can make you skinny or overweight.  Sorry you found one of these doctors.  It's no wonder we don't get diagnosed

 

So unless you can conjure up some insurance from somewhere, or some funds of your own, it looks lke you might have to be content with just eliminating the gluten and seeing what happens.  Do be aware before doing this that if you are gluten intolerant, you will probably never be able to go back to eating gluten without suffering worse than you are already - our response seems to get worse after we have been off gluten (scientifically proven), so if you think you are going to doubt yourself down the line and need the diagnosis now is the time to do it.

 

Before trying the diet, read the newbie 101 thread here https://www.celiac.com/forums/forum/5-celiac-disease-coping-with/ as it has a lot of useful information to get you started.  I hope you are able to figure out if this is your problem and are feeling better soon.

[pricklypear1971]

You can order the tests yourself from an online lab. Open Original Shared Link

 

If it's in your budget, and you can get to a lab draw location I'd try this before going gluten-free. Because if gluten-free works for you, I doubt you'll want to go back on it for testing later.