Delaying the inevitable

[lcamero2]

So I am a 24 year old registered nurse and medical student. I have always had stomach issues (bloating, distension, and gas) and both my older sisters have been told they have IBS. My cousin (21) was just recently diagnosed as having coeliac's disease. 

I know I need to go to the doctor and ask for the coeliac tests, but not only am I wary of them rejecting my request, I am worried that they will think I am just being a paranoid medical student. Here is my list of symptoms:

- Abdominal bloating, distension and gas after eating (forever.. getting worse over the past year)
- Heartburn (Started one year ago when my consumption of diet soft drink increased drastically... was associated with eating pizza at first)
- Iron deficiency (I was diagnosed as being severely iron deficient three months ago.. they couldn't figure out why and think it was because of heavy menstruation combined with the tannins in the diet cola). 
 

Over the past three months I have stopped drinking all soft drinks (has not helped my heartburn). I took ferrous sulphate (650mg) for one month until my numbers were normalized but have since stopped as they were making my stomach and heartburn problems worse. Since stopping these pills I have only noticed a slight improvement in symptoms. This week I have started taking ferrous fumarate as I could feel the old iron deficiency symptoms coming back and this med doesn't cause as much gastric upset. I also removed all carbohydrates (except fruit) from my diet and have noticed a HUGE improvement. I haven't been bloated this week, haven't had gas, have lost weight quickly (2kg in 5 days without increasing exercise), and have only had 2 mild episodes of heartburn (After eating chocolate chip cookies... im bad I know). 

Erg.. everything points toward coeliacs I think I just don't want to go as I am in denial. 

If anyone thinks I am just crazy please let me know so that I can start eating my cookies again. Otherwise... let me know what happened when you went to the doctor with your coeliac testing requests. 

[snstbeach]

Your symptoms sounds similar to mine.  The  abdominal bloating, distension, gas (nightly) , etc.   I've always been bloated but around thanksgiving last year, my symptoms got worse/ I got new symptoms.  I was suddenly really nauseous to the point where I couldn't fall asleep., Had no appetite, was exhausted and constipated which was usual for me.  It took weeks before getting blood tests done which ended up showing  Tissue transglutaminase antibody (tTG), IgA class  being at 100 which is extremely high. Normal was around 0-3.  I went back for testing again a week later and was at a 10.  Had to wait on a referral to see gastroenterology  where I had a consultation and they suggested an endoscopy to confirm results. The next day they told me I had celiacs disease.  I've been gluten free 2 weeks now and my bloating is gone, stomach is back to flat, no more gas and i'm feeling normal again.  I hope this helped!!  

[cristiana]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I note you are spelling coeliac with an o as well as an e......  Does that mean you are writing from the UK?  I ask not just because I am British and that is the way we spell it over here - not sure why we do though? - but if you are writing from the UK I think you will find it very easy to get a test at the moment: one of my relatives is also a health care professional  who is always being bombarded with reminders to look out for coeliac disease in his GP literature.   I'd just go in and ask, and mention that it is in your family too.  

My symptoms in my 20s were a nervous stomach which I had on and off for years.  I never thought for one minute I had coeliac disease, by the time I was diagnosed my liver function tests were awry, I had iron anemia and crippling anxiety.  I would say just go for it, you are doing the right thing.  If it isn't coeliac disease then you can look at other things but I think with family history it is well worth pursuing.   If I had seen this ad in my 20s I think I would have gone to see my GP and would have saved myself a lot of problems later.

Let us know how you get on.

 

 

 

[RMJ]

You can and should keep eating your cookies and other gluten filled foods until all testing is complete.  Otherwise you might get a false negative.

[Irene Joanne]

I don't think you're crazy- but keep eating your cookies! You need to keep eating gluten for a accurate diagnose. 

[rockstarkate]

I didn't have the usual symptoms at all. I had fatigue and joint pain and just feeling overall weird/not right... I couldn't even explain it very well. My doctor thought I had depression, but I didn't feel like I was depressed. I was happy, just tired and unmotivated. I asked for other tests before celiac. Lyme disease, diabetes, fibromyalgia... I diagnosed myself with lots of things  I also wondered if it was chronic fatigue due to the epstein barr virus from my bout of Mono as a teenager. So, I'm sure my doctor does think I'm a hypochondriac, but whatever. We have to advocate for ourselves or nobody will, especially women. You deserve to feel good. Don't worry about what your doctor thinks, it's your life and your body.

What finally led me to be tested was finding out a first degree relative was had Celiac. I did not expect to have it and neither did my doctor, but I do. I went on the gluten-free diet right after the endoscopy and felt so much better I wasn't even surprised when I got a positive result.