Lots of different symptoms. Worried

[Sophie mads]

Hi. My son is 26 and has been really ill for about two months now. He has lost a lot of weight,  numbness in his face and arms, fatigue, aching joints to the point where he has no energy and sometimes can't put one foot infant of another. He's not sleeping, waking up early hours. He was tested for diabetes. Results negative but now he has been diagnosed with vitamin d deficiency.  On a 8 week course of vitamins. He doesn't feel any better for them. Sweating one minute and cold the next. The worst thing is he is suffering from excruciating headaches, worse in the evening and early morning. And for the past 5 weeks,  Every 2 or 3 days, he is violently sick in the early hours of the morning along with these headaches. He is just not very well at all, and I am really worried about him. He is normally a healthy bloke. He has just had a blood test for celiac disease and is waiting for results. Just want to know if it could be this. At least then, I would know what was the matter with him. Thank you. 

 

 

[GFinDC]

Hi Sophie,

There are 300 symptoms possible with celiac disease, so it is really hard to identify it by symptoms alone.  The most easily recognized symptoms are digestive issues, but there are many that have nothing to do with the digestive system.  One condition associated with celiac disease is gluten ataxia, which could explain his headaches.  It is important to keep eating gluten throughout the testing process though, as the test results depend on the antibodies showing up in the bloodstream.  He may be able to reduce his gluten eating some though, to say 1 or 2 slices of bread a day.  That should still give him sufficient antibodies to show up on the tests.  His doctor should be consulted before changing his diet though.  I'm just thinking it might reduce the headaches if they are gluten related.

The usual testing process is blood antibodies first and then and endoscopy later to take 4 to 6 biopsy samples of the small intestine.

Intermittent diahrea and constiptation are classic symptoms though.

 

[Jmg]

16 hours ago, Sophie mads said:

Hi. My son is 26 and has been really ill for about two months now. He has lost a lot of weight,  numbness in his face and arms, fatigue, aching joints to the point where he has no energy and sometimes can't put one foot infant of another. He's not sleeping, waking up early hours. He was tested for diabetes. Results negative but now he has been diagnosed with vitamin d deficiency.  On a 8 week course of vitamins. He doesn't feel any better for them. Sweating one minute and cold the next. The worst thing is he is suffering from excruciating headaches, worse in the evening and early morning. And for the past 5 weeks,  Every 2 or 3 days, he is violently sick in the early hours of the morning along with these headaches. He is just not very well at all, and I am really worried about him. He is normally a healthy bloke. He has just had a blood test for celiac disease and is waiting for results. Just want to know if it could be this. At least then, I would know what was the matter with him. Thank you. 

 

 

If the tests come back negative and the doctors have finished any celiac diagnosis then your son can still give the gluten free diet a try. I test negative on blood and endoscopy, but I still had a positive reaction to going gluten free with the lifting or easing of multiple symptoms. He shouldn't cut gluten out however until the diagnostic process is done, something to discuss with the dr.

In the meantime, why not see if your son would start keeping a food diary? Just noting down what and when he eats and how he feels. If diet is related to his condition then a diary like this can be a very powerful diagnostic tool.

Good luck to him and you both!