Self-Diagnosed Celiac

[canadiangeek]

hello 😀

i am a 44 years old male, even though i had bad bowel movements for years now, Celiac disease never occured to me, after 3 weeks of real stomach pain and discomfort and diarrhea 4 times a day i decided to inform myself.  All The symptoms were there for a few years.... physical and psychological ( i became angry a lot and very impatient, which was totally not me ) i've been eating gluten free for 2 weeks now and the improvements are amazing ! i screwed up twice so far, still learning, and as soon as i eat gluten the symptoms are back... it's amazing and scary. 

my question is, when i ate gluten ( stupidly ) is it normal that the cramps/pain and diarrhea are really bad and took a few hours to appear ?

 

Thanks ! 

[trents]

Yes, that is totally normal. Works that way for me. I think that is about the time it takes for food to move from your stomach into your small bowel.

[canadiangeek]

11 minutes ago, trents said:

Yes, that is totally normal. Works that way for me. I think that is about the time it takes for food to move from your stomach into your small bowel.

That's good to know, thanks! I was wondering cause i was surprised to the intensity of it and that it took a while for the symptoms to appear.

[Scott Adams]

Hi @canadiangeek, welcome to the forum! You might find these articles helpful:

 

 

[trents]

Earlier this year my wife made some gluten-free biscuits for me and some wheat biscuits for herself and put them in separate zip lock bags. She penned her name on her baggie and my name on mine. The biscuits themselves looked almost identical. Just before turning in for bed I got hungry and ate two or three of her biscuits by mistake before I happened to read the name on the baggie. I got ready for bed and lay down and felt fine. Woke up two-three hours later with intractable nausea and intense abdominal cramps for 2-3 hours followed by several hours of diarrhea. 

[canadiangeek]

48 minutes ago, Scott Adams said:

Hi @canadiangeek, welcome to the forum! You might find these articles helpful:

 

 

Thank you so much !!!!

35 minutes ago, trents said:

Earlier this year my wife made some gluten-free biscuits for me and some wheat biscuits for herself and put them in separate zip lock bags. She penned her name on her baggie and my name on mine. The biscuits themselves looked almost identical. Just before turning in for bed I got hungry and ate two or three of her biscuits by mistake before I happened to read the name on the baggie. I got ready for bed and lay down and felt fine. Woke up two-three hours later with intractable nausea and intense abdominal cramps for 2-3 hours followed by several hours of diarrhea. 

That's pretty much what happend to me, sudden and intense. do cramps last long usually ?

[GFinDC]

@Trents, That will teach you to pilfer her biscuits!

@canadiangeek,

Hi CG,

Welcome to the forum!

It sounds like you figured out your health issue.  But you may not be aware of the testing process for celiac disease.  If you want to be diagnosed by a doctor you need to be eating gluten for 2 weeks before the endoscopy or 12 weeks before the blood antibody tests.  A doctor's stamp of approval isn't important to all people but for some it is.  The blood tests look for gliaden antibodies.  The endoscopy is to check for gut damage in the small intestine.

Going back on gluten for testing (a gluten challenge) is often pretty unpleasant so we try to encourage people to get tested before going gluten-free.

It may be difficult to get an endoscopy right now with the pandemic going on and medical workers being so busy.

Celiac disease is an auto-immune condition.  When we eat gluten, it causes an immune reaction by the body.  Those immune cells are happy to stick around for weeks or months to protect you from evil gluten.  The way they protect you (in their misinformed opinion), is to attack the cell structures (villi) that line the small intestine.  This villi damage causes malabsorption of nutrients and leads to deficiencies.  Untreated (eating gluten) celiacs can be low on B and D vitamins, iron, copper magnesium, A, and several other minerals/vitamins.

Symptoms from a glutening can last for 6 weeks or more.  We tend to notice symptoms faster after going gluten-free.  Also, even tiny amounts of gluten (wheat, rye, barley proteins) can trigger the immune reaction.  Our immune systems kill germs and other bad small stuff when they aren't busy trying to kill our guts.  So the immune system is very helpful and powerful.  Usually...

You may still have enough antibodies active in the bloodstream to get a positive blood test right now.  But it would have to be checked real quick.

Edited December 12, 2020 by GFinDC

[canadiangeek]

8 hours ago, GFinDC said:

@Trents, That will teach you to pilfer her biscuits!

@canadiangeek,

Hi CG,

Welcome to the forum!

It sounds like you figured out your health issue.  But you may not be aware of the testing process for celiac disease.  If you want to be diagnosed by a doctor you need to be eating gluten for 2 weeks before the endoscopy or 12 weeks before the blood antibody tests.  A doctor's stamp of approval isn't important to all people but for some it is.  The blood tests look for gliaden antibodies.  The endoscopy is to check for gut damage in the small intestine.

Going back on gluten for testing (a gluten challenge) is often pretty unpleasant so we try to encourage people to get tested before going gluten-free.

It may be difficult to get an endoscopy right now with the pandemic going on and medical workers being so busy.

Celiac disease is an auto-immune condition.  When we eat gluten, it causes an immune reaction by the body.  Those immune cells are happy to stick around for weeks or months to protect you from evil gluten.  The way they protect you (in their misinformed opinion), is to attack the cell structures (villi) that line the small intestine.  This villi damage causes malabsorption of nutrients and leads to deficiencies.  Untreated (eating gluten) celiacs can be low on B and D vitamins, iron, copper magnesium, A, and several other minerals/vitamins.

Symptoms from a glutening can last for 6 weeks or more.  We tend to notice symptoms faster after going gluten-free.  Also, even tiny amounts of gluten (wheat, rye, barley proteins) can trigger the immune reaction.  Our immune systems kill germs and other bad small stuff when they aren't busy trying to kill our guts.  So the immune system is very helpful and powerful.  Usually...

You may still have enough antibodies active in the bloodstream to get a positive blood test right now.  But it would have to be checked real quick.

Thank you for all the info! 

I wasn't aware of most of what you posted so I am happy to have new knowledge!! 😀

As you said with the pandemic and the holidays that time is not appropriate to get tested 😕 so I am relying on listening to my body and doing everything i can for now to go gluten free for a while and see what happens, so far it's been positive! 

I just got this upper stomach pain, under my breastbone twice because i ate what i thought was gluten free food 😕 it lasted a few days but it got better with time and a better diet.

At first I was panicking... googling symptoms is beyond a bad idea... I went from liver cancer to pancreatitis to gallbladder disease... but so far this diet is not a miracle cure, still sensitive throughout my IG tract but it's not as bad.

 

[trents]

Pain under the breastbone could be GERD. That is common with celiacs and you are in the right age group for those kind of problems to develop anyway. There is a  tendency for people with gluten related disorders to blame all physical and medical problems on that but we are still subject to the same things that everyone else is.

[GFinDC]

7 hours ago, canadiangeek said:

Thank you for all the info! 

I wasn't aware of most of what you posted so I am happy to have new knowledge!! 😀

As you said with the pandemic and the holidays that time is not appropriate to get tested 😕 so I am relying on listening to my body and doing everything i can for now to go gluten free for a while and see what happens, so far it's been positive! 

I just got this upper stomach pain, under my breastbone twice because i ate what i thought was gluten free food 😕 it lasted a few days but it got better with time and a better diet.

At first I was panicking... googling symptoms is beyond a bad idea... I went from liver cancer to pancreatitis to gallbladder disease... but so far this diet is not a miracle cure, still sensitive throughout my IG tract but it's not as bad.

 

You are welcome CG.  It seems like people new to the gluten-free diet often have a sort of a rough time the first 6 months.  The immune system can flare up with a very small amount of contamination.  Plus with a damaged gut things aren't great in the digestion realm anyway.  As the immune system calms down the villi lining the gut can grow back.  That new villi surface area is a perfect place for bacteria to colonize.  So there are changes in diet causing bacterial adjustment and new habitat/territory causing bacterial expansion.  That combo can cause symptoms by itself.

You  can certainly just go gluten-free for life if you want.  There are a number of us who don't have a formal diagnosis for various reasons.  In my case I had to wait 4 months to see the gastro and went gluten-free during the wait.  I wasn't willing to do the gluten challenge for verification at that point.  My gastro did say my symptoms matched so that's something.

A simple diet of whole foods is good for beginners.  Meats, veggies, eggs, nuts and fruit are good but no dairy or oats.  You can always add those things back into your diet later after healing.  Congrats on feeling better!

[DJFL77I]

what about lactose free dairy