What Next?

[ramsfan1]

To make a long story short, i was diagnosed with IBS a few years ago. About a year ago i started to get red itchy skin on my face and was diagnosed with a form of eczema. The eczema has never truly gone away and i had no idea about allergies cause my doctor, dermatologist, GI specialist never mentioned it whatsoever. I got a flare up with my stomach like 7 months ago and it sucked. I couldn't leave the house. Well it eventually got better, but fast forward to a few weeks ago and its even worse now. Excess gas, bloating, constipation, heart burn that i've never even had before. At this point, my Eczema is almost as bad as its ever been. Now that i've discovered food allergies i am very suspicous that i could have celiacs disease or an allergy. I am almost positive i am allergic to wheat, soy, or milk. Either that or i have celiacs. Let me sum this up:

My symptoms:

Constipation

Heart Burn

Eczema(seborreac dermatitis)

Excess gas

Bloating

Canker Sores

Runny nose(may be unrelated)

Bad memory

Anxiety

What I think i might have:

Celiacs

Milk Allergy

Soy Allergy

Wheat Allergy

So i really really think all of these symptoms are related to each other and its taken me 5 years to figure this out and doctors are worthless. Where do i begin? Do i get a blood test for Celiacs, or take the stool test from enterolab? I'm also a poor college kid and very impatient, and i know this could take weeks or months to diagnose and its killing me. I'm afraid i'm gonna spend all that money to take a test and it could be negative, and be right back where i started. Also, the elimination diet will be extremely hard cause everything in my house has wheat in it practically and i can't really cook. Any suggestions on where to start first? My mind is saying just take the test and find out for sure. EDIT- i meant to put this in pre-diagnosis.

[eKatherine]

So i really really think all of these symptoms are related to each other and its taken me 5 years to figure this out and doctors are worthless. Where do i begin? Do i get a blood test for Celiacs, or take the stool test from enterolab? I'm also a poor college kid and very impatient, and i know this could take weeks or months to diagnose and its killing me. I'm afraid i'm gonna spend all that money to take a test and it could be negative, and be right back where i started. Also, the elimination diet will be extremely hard cause everything in my house has wheat in it practically and i can't really cook. Any suggestions on where to start first? My mind is saying just take the test and find out for sure. EDIT- i meant to put this in pre-diagnosis.

It looks like it is highly probable that you've got it. Testing is not necessary. You can test yourself with the diet...BUT...

As you say, your house is full of gluten and you don't cook. These things will both need to change. You need to sit down and figure out what you can eat and plan your diet around that. Rice is good and really cheap. Get yourself a sack of plain rice and a rice cooker - much cheaper than a blood test - then learn how to use it. With the internet as a research source, you can figure out how to prepare just about anything. Set yourself a goal of learning to fix something new on a regular basis.

You know what you need to do.