Testing Questions

[karalisa78]

Hi everyone,

37 year old female, and after being referred to a GI for ongoing reflux issues, then going in and realizing I have a lot of other GI symptoms. My GI decided to have me go in for a full endo/colonoscopy. (I am having bleeding from hemmeroids caused by BM's). She is suspecting allergies, however.

She had me go off dairy for a 2 week trial, then said the staff will call to schedule the tests. She did talk about taking biopsies, but didn't mention celiac, just said wheat/gluten.

I got the call to schedule, and they're out until September 30th! I have been dairy free, and although I feel that is helping some, I am still having bad days. Today was one. I started thinking about it, and I had 3 sandwiches for all 3 meals yesterday. I thought back to the last couple times, and I can pinpoint the episodes of diarrhea to eating heavy wheat the day before.

My question now is, what should I do? Should I call doc and inform them? (I think I have the soonest appointment), should I try to lessen the gluten? I'm not sure if I should stay off the dairy or what?

They also called today and I have an appointment with an allergist for a full food allergen panel. I asked if this includes the blood test for celiac and they said they don't do that there. Will my GI do that?

[cyclinglady]

Welcome!

First, if you suspect celiac disease, you must continue to eat gluten daily until all testing is complete. Here is a link to the University of Chicago's celiac website (leading researcher and reputable!):

Open Original Shared Link

Go through the entire website to learn about the 300 or so symptoms of celiac disease. Find out about biopsies taken during an endoscopy, etc. Research, because based on what people post on this forum, doctors make lots of errors when attempting to diagnose celiac disease.

I would call the GI office and see about getting tested for celiac disease since you are having an endoscopy and colonoscopy. It is a simple set of blood tests. You could have a wheat allergy but that is a separate issue. celiac disease is an autoimmine disorder not an allergy -- though you could have both. You can go dairy free. That will not impact celiac disease tests. You could have lactose intolerance or even a milk protein allergy. Lactose intolerance is common for those with celiac disease due to damaged intestinal villi.

Hang in there!