Waiting for blood test result

[Anethyste]

Hi, here is my story.

 

I am 38 and complained of abdominal pain about 2 months ago. As they lasted over 2 weeks, I went to the doctor who requested a blood test and ultrasound.  Blood test came back low in iron and also the second blood test I had 10 days later ( still waiting for ultrasound appointment) .

Now I was low in iron when I was pregnant both times. I was given tablets but there wasn't any follow-up and I got on with my life.

So the doctor rang me back last week  the day after giving me tablets saying another doctor suggested I also get tested for celiac. I looked into it and celiac would make so much sense !!

First I have been dealing with fatigue all my life but just learned to live with it. I had epilepsy when I was younger, i thought the tablets could make me a bit tired or I wasn't getting enough sleep because uni, then work, the children.. ( there is always a good excuse). Now I have also been experiencing sometime joints and muscle pains but it has worsen recently . I got told I had Ibs after a clear ultrasound few years ago and then I got told I had fibro ( which why I dismissed the pain in my body) .

There are also  couple of other odd thing. I had some tingling sensation in my feet before and I thought it was me being hypochondriac. And  this summer I went to a theme park and ended up with a massive bruise on my thigh from a ride ( I am not kidding it was huge ). Then we all joked on how quickly I have always bruised. Now I believe a vitamin deficiency cause by celiac can cause easy bruising.

In a way I really hope it is positive because although it would suck (and  I am scared I have damaged my body all those years) , at least there might be hope to put an end to all my symptoms. I just remember being especially really tired after breakfast when I was on holidays to my parents. I am a French person living in the uk so I would make the most of eating french bread and other goodies stuffed with gluten .  Surely all of that scream celiac to me, what do you all think about it ? 

Thank you for reading my post. 

[trents]

Anethyste, welcome to the forum!

Yes, there is a lot there that points to celiac disease so your next step would be to get antibody testing done specifically designed for diagnosing celiac disease. Here is a primer outlining the tests I am referring to. Ask the doctor to run a "full celiac panel" and not just the tTG-IGA: https://celiac.org/about-celiac-disease/screening-and-diagnosis/screening/

If the serum antibody tests are positive, the doctor may put you in contact with a gastroenterologist to have an endoscopy done with biopsy to check for damage to the villi that line the small bowel. But it is very important that you continue to eat generous amounts of gluten-containing food products (wheat, mostly, but also barley and rye) until all diagnostic testing is done.

The easy bruising is a concern may not be related to celiac disease. Have you had your platelet levels checked lately?

[Anethyste]

Hi,  thanks for the reply. I had a full blood test,  then another blood test but don't know what for and the last one was for celiac yesterday. I am in the uk so the doctor don't really tell you much about them . I believe the procedure is celiac blood test then endoscopy.  

To be honest, I am still waiting for results so it might not even be celiac at all. I am so anxious of having something worse and when I looked at the celiac symptoms, everything seems to make so much sense.  I will mention the bruise to my doctor and in the meantime,  i ll try to not freak out too much. 

[trents]

Okay, so the celiac antibody test has already been done. My observation is that doctors in the UK typically only order the tTG-IGA antibody test and not the full celiac panel.

[Scott Adams]

If you can get a copy of your blood test results, please share them with us, along with the reference ranges for a positive test result.

Also, even if your tests turn out negative for celiac disease, you could still have non-celiac gluten sensitivity, which is ~10x more common, but there are no tests for it yet. It may still make sense for you to try a gluten-free diet for a few months to see if it helps with your symptoms.

[Anethyste]

Hi,  the celiac test have turned out to be negative but I still started a gluten free diet as those were not new symptoms. I haven't had those abdominal pain since a bit after I went to the doctor. My thought is that they could have been linked to the change of diet as I spent 6 weeks in france and the food is very different from the uk. 

I still went for the gluten free diet because those are symptômes I have had for years and I got told it was fibro ans ibs. And the last 2 times I had iron tablets was after birth and then during my second pregnancy so they didn't do a follow-up blood test.  This time I have one after 3 months and my ultrasound is not before the 5th of September (las time I had one it was all clear, they said ibs) . So I thought I dont have much to loose just by trying for few months and see how it goes. 

I meant 5 of December 

[Scott Adams]

It sounds like you may be in the non-celiac gluten sensitivity group, and unfortunately there is no test for it. If you have symptoms when you eat gluten which go away when you eliminate it, then you have all the confirmation you need.