Has Anyone Experienced This?

[Mime]

First let me say, I am so glad you guys are out there. I have to start going to bed though. I stayed up last night reading the posts, trying to educate myself with this newly discovered disease. Let me start off by telling you my 20 yr old daughter is waiting for Enterolab testing results. (She had neg. blood tests last week.) In Jan. '06, she began a vigorous health regimen including eating only whole grains, specifically whole wheat, lower fat, lots of water, fresh veggies and fruit, no/extremely low sugar, and exercise. By the end of the month, abd. pain, bloating & gas began but the connection with food was never considered. This began the 9 months of doctor visits, tests, ER visits with still no diagnosis. We have been to 7 different specialists and Celiac was NEVER mentioned. I found the disease 2 wks ago on-line and put two and two together. Other symptoms include: Lost 32 lbs during the last 10 weeks while eating constantly and still feeling hungry, hair loss, missed periods, abd pain, rash on top of hands, floating stool, sore muscles, headaches.....The minute I called her and told her about Celiac-she threw out all the food in her dorm. She has been eating gluten-free for the past 12 days. Her symptoms began to improve after 2 days. Her abd pain stopped, she was still feeling hungry but no pain, bloating stopped, still a little gas, rash is still there, no headaches or sore muscles. My concern now is she has developed pain???or pressure-like pain at the base of her head (brainstem area) for the past 4 days and it is getting worse. At first we thought it might be like withdraw due to going gluten-free. But not being near her, I am concerned. No fever or vomiting. Have any of you recovering Celiacs or Gluten Freebies experienced this kind of symptom? She has a doctors appt tomorrow (Friday) with her family doc. I hate not knowing how to help her and having to just "wait and see".

Please let me know if you have any info.

[lonewolf]

Welcome to the forum. You've come to the right place. Your daughter is so lucky to have such an on-the-ball mom! Way to go! It sounds like you've found the answer - hope the Enterolab results confirm it.

I can't remember if I ever had pain where you describe - it's been over 10 years since cutting wheat and most gluten out of my diet. Hopefully someone else will be able to address it.

Please stick around and ask questions - lots of people here are willing to help.

[Guest nini]

she very well could be experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Those are not fun at all, but it will pass. She may also benefit from seeing a chiropractor. Regardless of what any test results say, it sounds like you've already figured out what the issue is and hopefully the tests will confirm it for you. Unfortunately still too many Dr.s are not well educated about gluten intolerance/celiac and many will refuse to accept that it is even a possibility because they are taught in med school that it it soooooo rare they will probably never see it. That's not true, recent studies have indicated it is way more common than previously thought.

Good for you mom, and here's hoping she gets feeling much better very very quickly.