Gluten Intolerent?

[katfly90]

Hello everyone so I am new to the site and the possibility of being gluten intolerant. I was one of those ignorant people who did not really know what gluten intolerance or Celiac was even though one of my friends is Celiac. (thank god I have never worked at a restaurant lol) I was looking up my symptoms online and the first thing about popped up was gluten intolerance, and I have recently moved to a different province so my health care is not covered yet, so seeing a doctor is out for a while. So I decided so go gluten free for a few months to see if that could be it.

 

 

I was wondering if you guys could help me with my symptoms, I am 23 and I am not used to these things happening to me. 

 

-I have never really pooped regularly, and I go through random days of constipation and it has been happening more often recently. (I remember a few weeks ago I had random diarrhea 2-3 times over a few weeks which is not normal for me). Also my poos are not normal size for me recently. My old doc just told me to drink more water and eat better, but that doesn't seem to be helping at all!(Sorry for all the poo talk, yuck)

 

-For the past few months I have felt off balance and unable to concentrate.

 

- I have started getting headaches they usually are not very bad but they are just common, like I have one now and I have not even ate anything yes this morning. (I did have gluten free pizza last night that could of been cross contaminated though)

 

- I feel lazy and I don't want to do my every day sports like rock climbing.

 

- I have always been a very gassy person, even more gassy recently.

 

-I don't get the stomach cramping like celiacs usually do, but my stomach is very noisy and I get random pains sometimes in different parts.

 

-I have sciata, and wrist pains

 

-I always look so bloated after a meal

 

- I sometimes feel numbness in my arms but it goes away quickly

 

-I have been more depressed lately but I think that could be because I have not seen my family in a year due to moving and money and I am really close to them.

 

-I have had an ulcer in my mouth for a while, it keeps coming and going

 

-I feel like I have a cold, winter and summer, my whole life, I am told it is allergies but allergy pills don't seem to help!

 

-I have anxiety, heart palpation's and a normal heart murmur. (I have had those checked out and the doc said they are normal)

 

 

I think that is all, its a lot to keep track of so as of yesterday I started writing everything down.

 

I also just realized I feel like crap mostly at work, and most of those symptoms happen at work not long after eating a bagel and 2 gingerbread men from Tim Hortons for breakfast, which is usually the only time that I have anything containing a lot of gluten! I also realized a few days ago that my mother has most of these symptoms too!

 

If anyone could help me out with my weird symptoms that would be great, because I have been freaking out thinking I am going to die for the past few months because none of my symptoms made sense and my old doc thinks my mom and me are crazy with random symptoms that lead to nothing, which makes me and my mom feel like crazy people to the point where neither of us even want to go see the doctor any more!

 

[nvsmom]

Welcome to the board.  

 

Those sound a lot like gluten intolerance symptoms - it actually sounds a lot like the symptoms I was having in my twenties. I think celiac disease or NCGI (non-celiac gluten intolerance) could be a very real possibility.

 

If possible, I would advise getting testing as soon as humanly possible. Some tend to react more strongly (or obviously) to gluten after they have cut it from their diet for a while. Having to eat the equivalent of two slices of bread per day for two months can cause some people to become quite ill and the symptoms can linger for months afterwards (for example, joint pain and poo issues). The longer you are gluten-free, the longer you will have to resume eating gluten prior to testing in order to ensure an accurate test. If you are gluten-free for just a couple of weeks, you may only need to resume eating gluten for a couple of weeks but once you have been off gluten for a month or so, you may need more to to rebuilld your autoantibody levels to a testable level.

 

Testing up in Canada is tricky as some of our provinces do limited testing. In Alberta and Ontario, I believe they only do the tTG IgA test, total serum IgA, and the EMA IgA if the tTG IgA was positive. The full celiac panel is:

tTG IgA and tTG IgG

DGP IgA and DGP IgG

EMA IgA

total serum IgA (a control test to ensure you make adequate levels of IgA for accurate celiac testing - 5% of celiacs don't)

AGA IgA and AGA IgG (older and less reliable tests but is thought by some to indicate gliadin sensitivity in both celiacs and those with non-celiac gluten intolerance [NCGI])

 

The first three tests will be positive is your body is attempting to damage your intestinal villi. Villi damage is the main difference between celiac disease and NCGI, otherwise the symptom lists, and range of severity, is the same.

 

If you do go gluten-free, give it a minimum of three months (six is better) before you judge if it is helping. Some symptoms, like joint pain and cognitive problems) can take months to get better and may even get worse before things improve. A symptoms/diet journal can really help you see how your health is changing and lead to clues about what in your diet works for you and what doesn't. For instance, about half of all celiacs are lactose intolerant, and it can create the same digestive symptoms as celiac disease, so some people may think the gluten-free diet isn't working or attribute health problems to another source; a diet journal can help you recognize the patterns.

 

Soooo, your "everyday" sport is rock climbing?!?