Desperate For An Answer

[ItsNotMyProblem]

Hi there,

Firstly, thank you for reading my plight. I have been struggling with this digestive issue for a while now, and I figured a good way to figure out what I may be going through would be to ask a bunch of other people who could potentially be suffering from the same or similar issues.

I believed I had a problem with gluten. If I eat wheat bread, I get bloated. I feel sick. Sometimes I have problems with going to the bathroom (but I've largely remedied that just by taking fiber supplements).

Here's the thing, though. I can eat white bread all day. But I can't eat white pasta. If it's a wheat or whole grain product, it will make me gassy and bloated. Any type of pasta does the same--but white bread is totally fine. I feel just fine after eating it. I've been taking probiotics and my fiber supplements. It's definitely helped, but it just seems to unpredictable.

Does anyone else have this issue? White bread is fine, but no pastas or wheat/whole grain bread.

Thanks so much in advance for any insight!

[GFinDC]

Hi,

 

Symptoms are pretty random with celiac disease.  The best thing to do is get yourself tested for antibodies and possibly an endoscopy before stopping eating gluten.

 

There is a really wide range of symptoms that untreated celiacs have, including no physical symptoms (silent celiac).  Some people only have a skin rash and no digestive symptoms.  So diagnosing yourself by symptoms and somewhat random reactions isn't always workable.  That's why the antibody tests are helpful.

 

If you really don't want to get tested then doing an elimination diet is the way to go.  You would need to eliminate all gluten from your diet for 3 to 6 months, and then trial eating it again for a month.  Most likely you would have clear symptoms then.  But if you wanted to get tested after that you would have to do a full gluten challenge, which some doctors say is 8 to 12 weeks of eating gluten.  That can be very unpleasant if you have symptoms, so it is better to get tested before stopping gluten.

[Celiac Ninja]

That antibodies test, the doctors will know it's name by Celiac Panel. It's going to test your DNA co-signs. Very accurate test. Takes a lot of blood though, so bring water and something gluten free to chow down on afterward if you get faint from giving blood.

[beth01]

Not all doctors know which tests to order, a lot of doctors in my area are only ordering the tTg IgA and total IgA.  Don't assume that the doctors are going to order a whole celiac panel.