Do I have Celiac Disease?

[texasguy90]

Hey Everyone, 

Proclaimer: I am a 26 year old male with a relatively healthy diet, I've already had a colonoscopy at the age of 22 due to blood when pooping. During the colonoscopy they found a large amount of polyps.

I'm concerned that I may have Celiac Disease. My symptoms include diarrhea (soft stools on a good day), bloody stools, severe light-headedness when using the restroom or right after eating, stomach pain/cramping, gas, bloating, low energy, and frequent headaches. When I do have gluten, I have diarrhea, stomach pain, gas and light-headedness shortly after with frequent back-to-back-to-back-...etc trips to the restroom. Does this sound like Celiac Disease? Or maybe IBS?

I have a doctor’s appointment coming up in March. Should I remove gluten from my diet now or wait until speaking to a doctor? 

Thank you! 

[SLLRunner]

50 minutes ago, texasguy90 said:

Hey Everyone, 

Proclaimer: I am a 26 year old male with a relatively healthy diet, I've already had a colonoscopy at the age of 22 due to blood when pooping. During the colonoscopy they found a large amount of polyps.

I'm concerned that I may have Celiac Disease. My symptoms include diarrhea (soft stools on a good day), bloody stools, severe light-headedness when using the restroom or right after eating, stomach pain/cramping, gas, bloating, low energy, and frequent headaches. When I do have gluten, I have diarrhea, stomach pain, gas and light-headedness shortly after with frequent back-to-back-to-back-...etc trips to the restroom. Does this sound like Celiac Disease? Or maybe IBS?

I have a doctor’s appointment coming up in March. Should I remove gluten from my diet now or wait until speaking to a doctor? 

Thank you! 

Hi Texas Guy,

Welcome.  If you are going to be tested for celiac disease, you don't want to cut out gluten because you can get a false negative.

Can you get in to see your doctor sooner? 

Do you have the ability to email your doctor or do phone appointments? If so, I certainly would contact him/her with your concerns and ask for a sooner appointment. 

[cyclinglady]

I am sorry that you are sick!  

The only way to know if you have celiac disease is to get tested:

Open Original Shared Link

You must be consuming gluten daily or the tests will be inaccurate!  

Symptoms:

Open Original Shared Link

Please do not settle for an IBS diagnosis.  I personally think it is just code for "I Be Stumped".  There is a reason for all your symptoms.  You are your best health advocate, so do not give up!

You can also have more than one thing going on, so your doctor should re-check your colon, rule out Crohn's Disease, SIBO, and a zillion other possible things.  

Take care!  

[GFinDC]

Hi Texasguy,

Definitely stay on gluten until all testing for celiac is completed.  the testing is usually a blood sample to test for gliaden antibodies, and then an endoscopy later  to take biopsy samples of the small intestine.  You want to get the full celiac panel, not just the ttg.

It's much easier to stay on gluten throughout the testing process than to go off gluten and then back on it for 12 weeks to be tested later.