How Fast This Celiac Hit You?

[Renegade]

From my other thread I made asking if this was normal to get strike by Celiac so fast, I am now making this thread.

 

I am asking how fast Celiac hit you? Did you get symptoms that went undiagnosed for a long period what is it more gradual or did it just all happen so fast?

 

In my case it went like this, I was completely fine then one day I started feeling bloated, so I tried to look into what was the cause, I had constipation too and so I tried to eat multiple stuff,yogurt,avocado and honey, I pretty much tried all the food that pretend to help your constipation and intestines. I also decided to cut all the heavy food, so I cut bread,noodles,rice and kept the cereal, cereal were from wheat, but cutting all that heavy food for a week and eating less helped quite a bit.

 

So I proceed to reintroduce all that slowly in smaller portions, 3 slice of bread instead of 4, adding peanut butter, noodle and boom, bloated hit me again, then I started getting my heart rate going low, felt like I was gonna get an heart attack. I would get nauseous if I wouldn't eat every 3 hours, never got to puke as I always kept eating.

 

Proceed with this misery for about a month went to my chiropractor who did nothing to help and then later that month I went to see my family doctor who said I could be gluten intolerance and recommended quitting, no test, no more then a piece of paper telling me to abstain from wheat,barley,rye and oats.

 

Then went into a 1 month gluten free diet and at first it didn't change much but 2 weeks into it I was good, no more cramps,constipation, then I started feeling severely tired so I went for no grain except rice,no bread and veggies diet, been at this for 4 weeks and it only went downhill from there.

 

I had to cut exercise,neck pain,difficulty to walk and cut oatmeal.honey,peanut butter,milk,weed,coffee and breathing became extremely difficult, exhausted all the time. I am still new to this and going to see the doctor and see what I can do to get this checked, it could always be something else as other as pointed out, so what about you how did it go for you?

[kareng]

I think that Celiac takes a while to appear. You have to make antibodies and then they have to have time to destroy the small intestine enough that it starts to bother you. I would think this would take at least a month, probably more. Just my guess. For most people, it appears it was a gradual decline over many months or years.

[mommy2krj]

I don't know. My 6 year old went from being just fine to complaining of a stomach ache/pain every.single.day for several months. If I had suspected a gluten issue....we would have had relief sooner but I had no idea so had to go the longer route through the doctor. But he definitely went from fine to not fine in 2.2 seconds!

 

I think the diagnosing is the part that takes the longest. And having an occasional upset stomach or bloating issue is something that everyone has....putting it all together and realizing you have the upset stomach or the bloating or the migraine after eating a certain food requires you to be very self aware if you are going to get it right away.

 

I went gluten free with my son. Never really had any issues like he did...I did get blood work done (as did the entire family since we were going gluten free as a household) to make sure I didn't have Celiac also....but I find myself with less brain fog, the nasty dry skin issue on the backs of my arms is clearing up for the first time in my life and a pain that I've had in my ribs since I was pregnant with my 6 year old is all but gone and that was a daily pain that just never went away. It does occasionally flare up but in a different area (like it was loosen from it's spot or something) and not anything like what I had before. It's actually kind of weird being without that pain since it's been around for so long! And definitely have more energy too. So, probably NCGS here but without the stomach issues.

So, I guess you would call it rather sudden here at our house.

[Adalaide]

Judging by the fact that my demeanor changed with my first dietary change, I would say it didn't take long at all for some symptoms to be at least noticeable. I didn't sleep through the night as an infant, my doctor told my mother to start giving me cereal at bed time. Within weeks I went from a generally pleasant (if an infant can be described as anything other than a poop and eating machine) baby to colicky and generally a nightmare to be around. If the symptoms I get now are any indication, I was probably miserable with gas, bloating, and headaches, and all I could do was cry. What does crying do? Give you a headache naturally... Of course, it is only suspicion on my part that it set in so early. But by the time I was potty trained my symptoms were what I now realize should have been blatantly obvious. I was three then and had suffered enough damage by that point that other than not being underweight I was a walking classic celiac case. I was undiagnosed for more than three decades. In a year and a half I have regained more life than I ever thought possible. Not as much as I would like yet, but it took a long time to get as sick as I was.

 

I think often people don't connect their symptoms from months or years past until it smacks them in the face to do so. For instance, you mentioned that you struggled with constipation 2 years ago. If this truly is celiac and not something else, you have to consider the possibility that you have been having symptoms for much longer than you think you have. It is only recently that it went from mildly bothersome to serious. You wouldn't be the first person that happened to, that looked back and realized that with the benefit of hindsight they could connect the dots in a way that just never made sense before. It happened to me. Some things people never think of as a problem, others they just don't think of to connect with a possible serious illness or are so much a part of life that we never think to mention it to our doctor.

[1desperateladysaved]

Mine snuck up on me.  Lately, I keep or finding evidence that I had it for my whole life.  However after a bout with  mono when I was 19  I noticed the nearly constant bloating up and down of my abdomen.  I convinced myself that I wasn't a child anymore and was gaining weight.  My Mom and I did try some things with diet including cutting all wheat.  However, I ate rice and peanut butter and now I know that I also have a problem with them.  I couldn't stay ahead of the fatigue, but many things helped for some time over the years.  I was checked by a GI in my first really nauseating pregnancy which determined that I was well nourished in spite of the fact I hadn't had a reasonable meal for 3 weeks! 

 

The summer of 2007 I just couldn't cope (Irritability, fatigue, and brain fog) and my husband asked me to get help from a chiropractor that helped me years before.  She found my blood pressure plummeting upon standing up.  We got me on a nutrient program and I felt much better.  The summer of 2010 I realized that in spite of the supplements all of my tissues felt irritated.  My chiropractor had asked me if I still ate gluten,  Why not???  so I went online to read about gluten.  As I read through symptoms I thought that if I had that, it could explain a few things.  I cut out gluten and noticed some extreme responses.  I knew I couldn't eat gluten ever again, so I decided to do a genetic test.  This test found I had 4/4 gene alleles.  I took this to an MD and described my symptoms.  We agreed I looked 5 months pregnant at 3 weeks gluten free.  She told me that I had celiac disease and should never eat gluten again!

 

It is still sinking in 18 months later, but I am feeling stronger and happier.

[nvsmom]

I'm another who thinks she's had this from birth, or at least all symptoms seem to point that way. I know I had it as a young kid because I remember the stomach aches, C, and "growing pains" in my joints. 

 

My symptoms did come and go even though the overall trend has been a slow decline of my health. I had some years where I felt great, ran half marathons on the weekends and climbed mountains after work, and then I had some years where I hurt so badly I couldn't use scissors... actually, I think that was the same year.  LOL

 

It's not a static disease. Things change and symptoms change. Just because symptoms are mild at some points, doesn't mean that celiac wasn't active - it just expressed itself in a different manner for a while. KWIM?

[HumanDecency]

I'm curious about your supplement routine. What did you take? What helped? I'm seeing a supp doc on Tuesday and want to prepare.

Mine snuck up on me.  Lately, I keep or finding evidence that I had it for my whole life.  However after a bout with  mono when I was 19  I noticed the nearly constant bloating up and down of my abdomen.  I convinced myself that I wasn't a child anymore and was gaining weight.  My Mom and I did try some things with diet including cutting all wheat.  However, I ate rice and peanut butter and now I know that I also have a problem with them.  I couldn't stay ahead of the fatigue, but many things helped for some time over the years.  I was checked by a GI in my first really nauseating pregnancy which determined that I was well nourished in spite of the fact I hadn't had a reasonable meal for 3 weeks! 

 

The summer of 2007 I just couldn't cope (Irritability, fatigue, and brain fog) and my husband asked me to get help from a chiropractor that helped me years before.  She found my blood pressure plummeting upon standing up.  We got me on a nutrient program and I felt much better.  The summer of 2010 I realized that in spite of the supplements all of my tissues felt irritated.  My chiropractor had asked me if I still ate gluten,  Why not???  so I went online to read about gluten.  As I read through symptoms I thought that if I had that, it could explain a few things.  I cut out gluten and noticed some extreme responses.  I knew I couldn't eat gluten ever again, so I decided to do a genetic test.  This test found I had 4/4 gene alleles.  I took this to an MD and described my symptoms.  We agreed I looked 5 months pregnant at 3 weeks gluten free.  She told me that I had celiac disease and should never eat gluten again!

 

It is still sinking in 18 months later, but I am feeling stronger and happier.

[luvs2eat]

Mine came out of nowhere and very quickly at age 49. I never had digestive problems before and my actual digestive problems were mild. After eating I used to say it sounded like wolverines were fighting their way out... my belly would make noises you could hear across a room! The symptom that took me to the GI doc was unrelenting diarrhea many times a day and always at least once overnight. I only had the symptoms for about 2 months when I was diagnosed by bloodwork. Been gluten-free for more than 10 years.