Bad Day.

[Aetheana]

I'm still new to this whole celiac disease, gluten free thing and I did something really stupid yesterday. See, I haven't been officially diagnosed, and sometimes I feel like I'm a hypochondriac thinking I'm gluten intolerant when I just can't lose weight and am tired... you know, finding something to BLAME it on instead of just taking responsibility for myself.

Well, I had been good and gluten free for a week and a half. Not a long time, I know, but I was doing good. Still fatigued, but no GI problems. Yesterday, I succombed to dear husband and had pizza, delicious delicious gluteny pizza. I even had freaking gluten free pizza crusts in my freezer! but dh said it wouldnt taste as good as normal pizza.

Good lord was it a bad idea! D, flatulence, nausea. I stink today because of my problems. This whole thing sucks.

Should I take that as a sign I really have gluten intolerance or is it just a coincidence? Maybe I'm still in denial about having to eat this way for the rest of my life.

[debbiewil]

If you're questioning it, then you probably need to get the tests done, for your own satisfaction. If you won't go gluten free without proof, then you need the proof. You will have to continue to eat gluten until you can have the tests done, but I'd try to get them done as soon as possible.

I went gluten free without the tests, becasue I KNEW it was right for me. I was going to try it for a week or two, then see about getting tests if it seemed warrented. I knew it would take months to get appointments with the gastroenterologist anyway, so figured if I seemed to do better gluten free, I'd still have plenty of time to eat gluten before I could have the test. Anyway, I felt SO much better with just a few days gluten-free I knew there was NO way I was ever going back to eating gluten. But that's me. Since you seem to need the tests to commit to the diet, then I think you should schedule the tests ASAP and continue to eat gluten until then.

Debbie

[Lollie]

You said you didn't have the GI problems on gluten-free? What were your symptoms prior to going gluten-free? What made you think you were gluten intolerent? I'm just asking because, I am pretty much self dx. I had tons of pain prior to the diet. I decided to get the testing-quite expensive, even with my insurance- and uncomfortable-I had the colonoscopy as well as the upper GI and blood work..... Unfortunately, my doc doesn't seem to know what he's looking at and I don't understand my levels..... But after the testing I went gluten-free- it's been about 2 months and I'm really doing better. I figure the proof is in the pudding- I feel better gluten-free, and that's all that matters. Everyone is different. You have to do what is best for you. But for me, feeling better is what matters. As for your husband- sorry he isn't supportive. My husband is the one that found out about celiac and persuaded me to try the diet....He watched me in pain, fatigue, losing incredible amounts of weight, etc......for 10 years. By then he was willing to do what ever he could to help me. We had homemade gluten-free pizza's this weekend. He said he thought they were great......

Good luck! Let us know what you decide to do!

Lollie

P.S. I have alot of good recipes and tips for making things. Feel free to pm me if you want some of them....

[ravenwoodglass]

I'm still new to this whole celiac disease, gluten free thing and I did something really stupid yesterday. See, I haven't been officially diagnosed, and sometimes I feel like I'm a hypochondriac thinking I'm gluten intolerant when I just can't lose weight and am tired... you know, finding something to BLAME it on instead of just taking responsibility for myself.

Well, I had been good and gluten free for a week and a half. Not a long time, I know, but I was doing good. Still fatigued, but no GI problems. Yesterday, I succombed to dear husband and had pizza, delicious delicious gluteny pizza. I even had freaking gluten free pizza crusts in my freezer! but dh said it wouldnt taste as good as normal pizza.

Good lord was it a bad idea! D, flatulence, nausea. I stink today because of my problems. This whole thing sucks.

Should I take that as a sign I really have gluten intolerance or is it just a coincidence? Maybe I'm still in denial about having to eat this way for the rest of my life.

You basically did a gluten challenge. Now you know what will happen and that yes you do react. I agree though that you may want to go ahead and get tested if you feel that is the only way you can stay gluten-free. Please be aware that false negatives do occur though. For myself and our family we did both dietary challenge and blood tests and one endoscopy but the sickest one (me) never came up positive on any bloodwork.

[Aetheana]

Yea, i figured that it was a sort of gluten challenge.

the reason i think im gluten intolerant/celiac is that i have hypothyroid and fibromyalgia. I also have blood markers for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. My mom is really bad off with hypoT, lupus, arthritis and just in general she is always miserable. I don't want to be like her when i grow up!

i had blood tests drawn and i get the results of them tomorrow. Yes, i was eating some gluten when i had them drawn, but i have a feeling its going to be a false negative. i didnt eat that much gluten for quite some time when i had the blood drawn (trying to follow an atkins type diet).

i never had many GI problems before, just fatigue, tiredness, crankiness, brain fog, water retention (like noones business! 7 pounds in one night after eating at olive garden!). I attributed them all to the hypothyroid and they got better when i went on meds for it... but slowly, it feels like the meds arent working as well.

more proof i have it is that i dont retain water when i eat things like rice or chocolate (which are high carb, but no gluten) but i do retain water like MAD with wheat products... before i was just attributing everything to carbs in general, but every time i cheated it was with wheat.

dear hubby is supportive today. he said that it was a good test and he wont try to pursuade me to go off the diet any more in the future.

[aikiducky]

dear hubby is supportive today. he said that it was a good test and he wont try to pursuade me to go off the diet any more in the future.

Well, maybe it was worth it after all. That seems to be a common experience, spouses who give you a hard time until they see you really get sick from gluten once. I hope you're not feeling too sick anymore. Remember that it will take a few weeks to get over this gluten challenge, don't expect to be where you were last week for a while now.

You're in the first stage of the process of adjusting to a new lifestyle, namely DENIAL. It's a natural and necessary stage to go through. That's all I'm going to say.

Pauliina

[Lollie]

I'm glad your husband is supportive today! It really helps when you've got someone right with you to help you along the way! I agree that it was a good test! If your still feeling icky, try to drink alot of water- it will help your body flush out the gluten!

Let us know how your test results turn out!

Lollie

[Aetheana]

My visit to the doc today was good. My thyroid meds are correct and my levels are good.

The blood test for gluten intolerance came back negative, but that wasnt too surprising to me, i still had the resolve to continue on the gluten free way of living anyway.

but the thing that kicked my a$$ so to speak was the fact that i have candida. i also have stressed out adrenals (im still not sure what that means yet.)

so, even though i said the specific carbohydrate diet was too strict, that might be what i have to follow.

im really depressed about it. i really thought i could handle the gluten free way of life if i could eat fruit and some sugar, now...

things suck sometimes.