It’s great that you’ve scheduled a doctor’s appointment to address your symptoms, especially given your family history of autoimmune diseases, including celiac disease. Your symptoms—such as stomach pain, chronic diarrhea, nausea after gluten consumption, joint pain, and headaches—do align with common signs of celiac disease, so it’s definitely worth discussing with your doctor. To help your doctor understand your concerns clearly, consider writing down a detailed list of your symptoms, including when they started, how often they occur, and any patterns you’ve noticed (like symptoms worsening after eating gluten). Mentioning your family history of autoimmune conditions will also be helpful, as celiac disease has a genetic component. You might also ask about getting tested for celiac disease, which typically involves blood tests and possibly an endoscopy. Avoid cutting gluten out of your diet before testing, as this can affect the accuracy of the results. Hopefully, your doctor can provide clarity and guide you toward the right next steps—hang in there, and good luck with your appointment!

Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS) is not a common symptom of celiac disease, but there can be occasional overlap—particularly in children. Celiac disease typically presents with symptoms like chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, fatigue, and nutrient deficiencies, while CVS is marked by repeated, intense vomiting episodes separated by periods of normal health. In rare cases, undiagnosed celiac disease can cause recurrent vomiting that mimics CVS, and symptoms may resolve on a gluten-free diet. Because of this, celiac disease should be ruled out in anyone diagnosed with CVS, especially if there are other gastrointestinal or nutritional concerns. However, vomiting alone is more often related to other conditions such as migraines or autonomic dysfunction.

First, be sure to eat tons of gluten in the two weeks leading up to the endoscopy--like 4 slices of wheat bread a day. Talk to your doctor about when to go gluten-free, but normally you can do so after all tests are done.

Be aware that putting your child on a gluten free diet ahead of an official celiac diagnosis will invalidate any attempt to arrive at an official diagnosis. If at some point in time after commencing a gluten free diet you wish to have your child tested for celiac disease, he/she would need to go back to eating normal amounts of gluten for weeks/months leading up to the testing date. And it is often the case that once gluten has been withdrawn for a significant amount of time, the reactions are much stronger when going back on it.

I'm investigating the possibility of having celiac disease. My kid has Coffins Lowery syndrome, a rare form of Austism, and constantly has these CVS episodes. We suspect it could be related to Gluten sensitivity or celiac. We just started the diet last week, and we'll keep an eye on any improvements.