Symptoms that seem related to gluten intolerance or celiac disease

[kmrp]

Hello,

I’m new to the site and would like advice and/or recount of related experiences. I’m a 37 year old female experiencing new digestive issues for about 8 weeks or so. I’ve had chronic constipation my entire life but lately random foods will cause diarrhea. Also, I’m experiencing terrible abdominal pain and bloating that lasts for hours at a time. My abdomen becomes distended and feels like it will burst. My symptoms are similar to how I felt when I had gallstones but my gallbladder was removed 8 years ago.

I recently had routine blood work done and they found vitamin D and B12 deficiency, low hemoglobin, and elevated liver enzymes. Doing some research into these results I am becoming suspicious of gluten intolerance. I also have other symptoms that I had attributed to daily stress but now I’m not so sure: fatigue, joint and muscle pain (knees primarily), hair loss, traces of blood in urine.

I’m going to request a referral for a gastroenterologist but was curious if anyone had experience with symptoms similar to mine that resulted in positive diagnosis.

Thanks.

[kareng]

1 hour ago, kmrp said:

Hello,

I’m new to the site and would like advice and/or recount of related experiences. I’m a 37 year old female experiencing new digestive issues for about 8 weeks or so. I’ve had chronic constipation my entire life but lately random foods will cause diarrhea. Also, I’m experiencing terrible abdominal pain and bloating that lasts for hours at a time. My abdomen becomes distended and feels like it will burst. My symptoms are similar to how I felt when I had gallstones but my gallbladder was removed 8 years ago.

I recently had routine blood work done and they found vitamin D and B12 deficiency, low hemoglobin, and elevated liver enzymes. Doing some research into these results I am becoming suspicious of gluten intolerance. I also have other symptoms that I had attributed to daily stress but now I’m not so sure: fatigue, joint and muscle pain (knees primarily), hair loss, traces of blood in urine.

I’m going to request a referral for a gastroenterologist but was curious if anyone had experience with symptoms similar to mine that resulted in positive diagnosis.

Thanks.

Yes those are often symptoms of Celiac.  Any doctor can order the Celiac blood panel and get you started before you get to the GI doc.

[rehh05]

Fatigue can be related to low B12. Joint and muscle pain can be related to low vit D. Being low in both vitamins is common with celiac. There are also other sensitivities that cause gastric problems... dairy, and corn are common... but these also can go along with celiac. Get tested by a doctor. Keep eating gluten until after you get test results and find out a diagnosis. See if you can figure out what foods are triggering your diarrhea so you can tell the doctor. Good luck!