Suspicious Of Having Celiac

[J123-123]

So I started having digestive issues at about age 19, and I'm 22 now. I had a blood test for Celiac about 2 years ago and it came back negative but I hadn't eaten anything with gluten in it for a few days beforehand.

 

 

When my symptoms started, they were very irregular and it took my about a year and a half before I tried cutting wheat out to some success. I still get digestive symptoms such as gas, bloating, diarrhea, and constipation (lifelong so not out of the ordinary) when I cut out gluten for some time, but whenever it gets reintroduced somehow I get the symptoms back majorly.

 

 

For instance, I hadn't eaten anything with gluten for 3 weeks recently and ended up having pizza with friends only to have intense stomach pain (rare for me) and significant digestive distress for the rest of the day.

 

 

I am not sure if I should get retested for Celiac though as it isn't only wheat that does this to me. More recently, many different foods seem to have the same effect such as many vegetables and fibrous foods. 

 

 

Any opinions would be helpful.

[Scott Adams]

If you do decide to go get retested be sure to consult with your doctor. Normally you need to eat gluten daily for a few months before any tests can be done.

[nvsmom]

I found that other foods gave me the same symptoms as celiac disease too; it was not just gluten but that has improved over the last couple of years. I assumed it is because my intestines have healed so other foods do not bother me as much - dairy especially has improved.

 

It sounds like you have undiagnosed celiac disease or the more common non-celiac gluten sensitivity(NCGS), which has the same symptoms as celiac disease.  Either way, you should probably avoid gluten all the time because if it is celiac disease, you will be affecting your health if you consume small amounts of gluten... actually, consuming gluten if you have NCGS isn't much safer.

 

As Scott said, if you do want to retest for celiac disease, you'll need to consume gluten for 2 or 3 months to get an accurate blood test - not a pleasant thought.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do, and welcome to the board.