I Think It Could Be Celiacs

[teach02]

I was diagnosed with mono about a year ago and i haven't felt right since. It started off with some nausea and of course the extreme fatigue (which has never gone away) and has just been getting worse ever since. I have been in and out of doctors offices for the last 6 months with all seemingly unrelated symptoms (yeast infections, sinus infections, acid reflux etc...). Then over the summer i started to get bad Diarrhea and my acid reflux became unbearable. I finally got referred to a GI and am getting a colonoscopy and an endoscopy in 2 weeks. some of my other symptoms have begun to include:

excessive gas

cravings of wheat

headaches

extreme tiredness after eating

muscle cramps and spasms at night

restless leg syndrome

joint pain

hair loss

dry eyes

a constant discomfort in my stomach and intestines

intolorance to alchohol (i get very sick after drinking, especially beer)

vision problems (floaters and flashes)

lactose intolerance

distended stomach

depression (just lately after being sick so much)

irritability

Im sure if I kept thinking I could find some more symptoms too. Ive been reading this message board for a while and it is scary how similar some of the stories are. I was just wondering what some people thought and if there is anything else people think I should look into. I really have done a lot of research and I cant find anything else that sounds quite right. I am a teacher and going to work everyday is torture. I would really appreciate peoples thoughts on this because if I test negative for celiacs I want to know if i should pursue more testing. thanks for your help.

[AndreaB]

As long as you are still eating gluten I would advise you going to your doctor and asking/telling them to do a celiac blood panel.

It definately sounds like gluten is the culprit. Whether you have celiac genes would determine whether you have the classic diagnosis of celiac or not. You may have gluten sensitivity genes. If your blood test comes back negative then I would highly encourage you to get tested through Enterolab. Their website is Open Original Shared Link.

If you aren't concerned about an official diagnosis you can skip the blood test and go straight to enterolab.

If you would be satisfied with just the elimination of gluten and positive results you don't have to get any testing. I was curious as to the numbers and genes myself.

If you have read around alot you may have already read to check your personal care products, nonstick pans, plasticware....etc.

Oh, and Welcome! We are glad you joined the forum.

[Jestgar]

People have different personal requirements for testing, some need something from a doctors office, some just need a friend to say "Hey, try this and see if you feel better".

I'm in the latter group, so my advice is "Hey, stop eating gluten and see if you feel better!"

Decide what you need and go from there.