18 Years old and terrified

[Joff]

Hi everyone, I've had pale foul smelling stools for an extended period of time which can sometimes alternate between diarrhoea and constipation with very rarely some red/white spots in the stool along with lower abdominal pain and pain below my ribcage/lower sides which I'm terrified is to do with my lymph nodes. When I first went to my doctor he gave me some treatment for IBS and also got me in for a blood test. All my bloods came back normal apart from my liver which really freaked me out at the time and I have another blood test in a few days time. I have been gluten free for about 2 weeks, since my first blood test, and symptoms haven't stopped although gluten free food does seem to sit in my stomach easier and I have felt less fatigued upon going gluten free, though I did unknowingly eat some gluten last night and have had a very gassy stomach since. The symptoms can also be heavily exacerbated by alcohol however. I'm 18 years old having just started university in the UK and this things are getting to the point where I'm struggling to cope. My fears are also making me feel like I could have some kind of cancer or Crohn's disease and at 18 this is turning me into a complete wreck. Is it likely I have Coeliac or could it be something much worse? I'm starting to fear the worst!

[GFinDC]

Hi Joff,

Welcome to the forum!

You could have celiac disease, or something else.  Nothing in your symptoms descriptions would rule out celiac disease.  Celiac disease can cause abnormal liver function tests.  The best thing to do is get tested for celiac disease.  But to do that you need to keep eating gluten until all testing is done.  The testing checks for antibodies to gliaden in your bloodstream.  No gluten equals decreasing antibodies in the bloodstream and an inaccurate test.  So it's just a simple blood draw for the antibody testing.  The 2nd part of testing is an endoscopy to take 4 to 6 biopsy samples of the small intestine lining.  They check those biopsy samples for damage to the villi lining of the small intestine.  You are better off to be diagnosed early so you can avoid a lot of possible future damage to your body.  We are glad to help you out with questions and advice on how to get started on the gluten-free diet.