Weight gain

[Sheri Barbell]

First time posting and just learning about celiac’s. For years I’ve been having severe nausea, bloating and pain. Doctors just don’t know what it is. In the past two years I have gained 74 pounds and having severe problems with bowels. My appetite has not really increased. I recently had a cat scan of stomach and my bowels are so backed they couldn’t believe it. GI doctor said bowels looked puffy like I had celiacs. I guess my question is has anyone else had such weight gain? I’m trying to educate myself as much as possible so I can talk to my doctor when I see her in four days. Any help is very much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[Wheatwacked]

Hi Sheri, welcome to Celiac.com. Many people have weight gain, others have weight loss. If your GI recognized Celiac Disease from the cat scan it seems that she has experience and knowledge, so you are in good hands. She may want to run a Celiac blood test and endoscopy to verify. Celiac is an autoimmune response to the gluten in wheat, rye and barley. It damages the villi in the small intestine causing malabsorption of nutrients. The treatment is abstention from gluten and replenish the vitamins and minerals that you are deficient in. Your symptoms may begin to improve within days just by starting the Gluten Free Diet, but full recovery depends on replenishing the vitamins and minerals you are deficient or low on, so ask what she recommends and possibly a referral to a Nutritionist familiar with the special needs of Celiac patients. Vitamin D and B1 status are often compromised.

Celiac Disease Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

[trents]

Sheri, don't start a gluten-free diet effort before all testing for celiac disease is complete. Otherwise, you will invalidate the tests.

[Sheri Barbell]

2 hours ago, trents said:

Sheri, don't start a gluten-free diet effort before all testing for celiac disease is complete. Otherwise, you will invalidate the tests.

Thank you so much

[trents]

You're welcome. Both the blood antibody tests and the endoscopy/biopsy are designed to detect inflammation in and damage to the small bowel villi. If you withdraw gluten from your diet before testing is complete, healing would begin if you have celiac disease and the testing would be compromised. Amazingly, many doctors seem not to know this and neglect to tell their patients not to start the gluten free diet before testing is done. Even worse, some even advise their patients to start the gluten-free diet before testing. There is just a lot of ignorance in the medical community about celiac disease.

[Sheri Barbell]

11 hours ago, Wheatwacked said:

Hi Sheri, welcome to Celiac.com. Many people have weight gain, others have weight loss. If your GI recognized Celiac Disease from the cat scan it seems that she has experience and knowledge, so you are in good hands. She may want to run a Celiac blood test and endoscopy to verify. Celiac is an autoimmune response to the gluten in wheat, rye and barley. It damages the villi in the small intestine causing malabsorption of nutrients. The treatment is abstention from gluten and replenish the vitamins and minerals that you are deficient in. Your symptoms may begin to improve within days just by starting the Gluten Free Diet, but full recovery depends on replenishing the vitamins and minerals you are deficient or low on, so ask what she recommends and possibly a referral to a Nutritionist familiar with the special needs of Celiac patients. Vitamin D and B1 status are often compromised.

Celiac Disease Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

Thank you for replying. I’m really trying to educate myself on this. I’m making notes and when I go to doctor Wednesday I’ll be prepared to ask questions. I read it’s autoimmune, I also have RA and problems with my thyroid ( on meds for both), this is a bit overwhelming at timrs

[Sheri Barbell]

11 hours ago, Wheatwacked said:

Hi Sheri, welcome to Celiac.com. Many people have weight gain, others have weight loss. If your GI recognized Celiac Disease from the cat scan it seems that she has experience and knowledge, so you are in good hands. She may want to run a Celiac blood test and endoscopy to verify. Celiac is an autoimmune response to the gluten in wheat, rye and barley. It damages the villi in the small intestine causing malabsorption of nutrients. The treatment is abstention from gluten and replenish the vitamins and minerals that you are deficient in. Your symptoms may begin to improve within days just by starting the Gluten Free Diet, but full recovery depends on replenishing the vitamins and minerals you are deficient or low on, so ask what she recommends and possibly a referral to a Nutritionist familiar with the special needs of Celiac patients. Vitamin D and B1 status are often compromised.

Celiac Disease Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

Thank you for replying, I will definitely go to a nutritionist who specializes in this. I also have RA and slow thyroid and read I’m more likely to get celiacs when this occurs. 

[Wheatwacked]

1 hour ago, Sheri Barbell said:

slow thyroid

See if you can get her to do a urine test for iodine deficiency. The NIH maintains that the US population is sufficient so not usually checked. The average intake of iodine has dropped 50% since 1970.  

Iodine Absorption in Celiac Children: A Longitudinal Pilot Study

Iodine Fact Sheet for Health Professionals

Quote

Iodine deficiency is common in the US population and in pregnant women specifically. The study included 467 women who were trying to become pregnant between 2005 and 2009. It found that 44.3% had urine iodine-creatine ratios of less than 50 μg/g.    https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2673527#:~:text=“Iodine requirements increase during pregnancy,to Mills and his coauthors.

 

[trents]

6 hours ago, Sheri Barbell said:

Thank you for replying, I will definitely go to a nutritionist who specializes in this. I also have RA and slow thyroid and read I’m more likely to get celiacs when this occurs. 

Yes, celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder. People with celiac disease have a statistically higher incidence of RA and thyroid disease and other autoimmune disorders. Keep in mind that it typically takes many years for people to get diagnosed with celiac disease and many of those were "silent" celiacs for a period of years until the villi damage became advanced. So, it's hard to say which came first, the RA and thyroid or the celiac disease.