Just The Left Side, Or Just Me?

[Spoonwhipper]

Hello.  I am not yet diagnosed with celiac, however almost all of my symtoms seem to match everything this disease has to offer...with maybe two exceptions.  All of my abdominal pain, back pain and limb numbness is on the left side.  At least 85% of it anyway.  The other thing is that I experience forceful vomiting, like projectile.  I could perhaps put Linda Blair to shame in that department.  This comes on so suddenly that I always have a bag with me, and have been doing this long enough, that most of the time, I can throw up and still finish my sentence.  Albeit, not without shocking or disgusting people, even my husband, but let's face it...you tend to acclimate when you go undiagnosed for decades, and unfortunately what would never be acceptable behaviour becomes normal out of necessity.  Anyway, does anyone else have these two specific charactoristics? Any feedback would be so helpful.  Thank you

[cristiana]

Odd.  My tummy pain used to be more evenly distributed but now it is also mostly left side.  Left sided abdominal pain.  Left sided nerve pain in chest and hip area.  Also left leg seems to feel fizzy sometimes after exercise.  I had never really thought about it before.  I'm not sure if it is just a coincidence, but maybe there is something in it!  

[ravenwoodglass]

Have you had any celiac testing yet? If not ask your doctor to test. Has your doctor ruled out anything else it could be? Have you had any testing done like barium swallows, ultrasounds, x-rays etc? Projectile vomiting like you describe is not to my knowledge common with celiac but that is not to say it can't happen. 

Do keep eating gluten until all celiac related testing is finished. 

I hope this gets figured out for you soon. 

[Spoonwhipper]

Have you had any celiac testing yet? If not ask your doctor to test. Has your doctor ruled out anything else it could be? Have you had any testing done like barium swallows, ultrasounds, x-rays etc? Projectile vomiting like you describe is not to my knowledge common with celiac but that is not to say it can't happen. 

Do keep eating gluten until all celiac related testing is finished. 

I hope this gets figured out for you soon. 

I have not been tested specifically for celiac yet.  That is to happen later this month if all goes well.  I so far seem to be among the many who has had several procedures, Mris, ultra sounds, x rays, endoscopies and colonstopies.  My range of diagnosises have ranged from hiatal hernia, lyme disease, bile reflux, to believe it or not...an allergy to dust mites!! I have had so many "medical guesses" that like many, I am at the point of frustration and have lost alot of faith in Drs and really believe they are in it for the money with long drawn out testing and no results.  Hopefully this new Dr will change things.  A recent bought with shingles, that my dr didn't really think was shingles had led me to this new specialist.  Thank you for your input though.  It is nice to find a crowd of people who can identify with this type of issue. 

[ravenwoodglass]

Hopefully your new doctor will be helpful. The rash you had did it itch? Did it leave purplish scars that took a long time to fade? There is a skin condition called dermatitis herpeformis (DH) that some of us get. If you still have the rash a referral to a dermatologist might be a good idea. Do make sure the doctor is familiar with DH though as special testing need to be done on the intact skin next to the lesions. 

Make sure you keep eating gluten until all celiac related testing is done.  Once celiac related testing is finished give the diet a good strict go for a while. 

I hope you get some relief soon. 

[Spoonwhipper]

Hopefully your new doctor will be helpful. The rash you had did it itch? Did it leave purplish scars that took a long time to fade? There is a skin condition called dermatitis herpeformis (DH) that some of us get. If you still have the rash a referral to a dermatologist might be a good idea. Do make sure the doctor is familiar with DH though as special testing need to be done on the intact skin next to the lesions. 

Make sure you keep eating gluten until all celiac related testing is done.  Once celiac related testing is finished give the diet a good strict go for a while. 

I hope you get some relief soon. 

The rash was initially considered and treated as a spider bite.  An urgent care Dr, not my primary one called it shingles a few days later when I kept getting sicker.  It did not leave purple scarring.  Unfortunately, I tend to scar white, almost like vitiligo.  I am actually loaded with scars on my arms, mostly from boiling water burns from several years back, and perhaps those types of scars naturally turn white.  But the rash that was on my neck left white scarring.  I do have the blistering rash on my face quite badly now, which I assumed to be acne, but it behaves differently.  On that note, I'd like to ask your advice.  In the past, I have taken charcoal tablets to control bloating and gas.  But knowing that it kind of grabs on to everything in your digestive system and condenses it.....do you suppose this is a bit of a jump start to detoxifying your body of gluten?  It makes sense to me, but I am completely new to all of this.  My symptoms have been treated as individual issues rather then a big picture.  Anyway, I am quite curious about your thought on the charcoal tablet idea.  Again, thank you for your time and insight.

[ravenwoodglass]

I have never used charcol tablets so it might be a good idea to start a new thread asking folks who have. As to it helping to detox from gluten I don't think it would be helpful. Celiac is autoimmune so antibodies are carried throughout the body not concentrated in the gut. What you may find helpful is avoiding dairy products for a while as they can be hard to digest until we are healed. Eat whole foods not processed as much as possible as that will help avoid cross contamination. Do keep on the gluten if you are still testing as going gluten free or gluten light can cause a false negative. Since you are having some nerve issues it wouldn't hurt to add a sublingual B12 tablet to your daily vitamins. Just be sure to let your doctor know as it will through off B12 testing if he wants to do it.