Apprehensive/confused

[celiacSuzie]

I have several health issues and allergies which seemed to have just "popped up" only a few years ago.

No one in my family is lactose intolerant, sensitive to soy (I get migraines from it), sensitive to meat (inability to digest it properly, hence I'm a vegetarian)... I'm sure there are other things I don't know about.

I've been going from Dr. to Dr. for the past 5 years to find a Dr. who'd listen to me & acknowledge that indeed I do have a thyroid problem. Finally this new Dr I've been to said indeed I do have a serious problem.

This same Dr said I have IBS w/constipation - despite my not ever having constipation & prescribed me one of the Rx's for it... which I have never taken because I do not have the symptoms.

So, I decided, since she wasn't listening very well, to go on a diet that I'd done about a year ago and remembered how much better I felt & how fast weight came off. A gluten/wheat free diet. No processed foods. Only veggies, fruits, some grains (ie, rice - but no pasta), beans & nuts. Pretty basic, pretty simple.

So I started this diet again about 3 weeks ago... and I'll admit it's hard as all hell - especially when you have a family to feed & they don't always want beans & rice or stir-frys!

Then, due to work, forgetting to bring in food/lunches, going out to restaurants (plain baked potatoes & side salads got boring) it was all to easy to NOT follow the diet.

So last Wednesday I ate a sandwich. First time I'd had bread. I noticed by Thursday I felt bloated, gassy, uncomfortable. I felt like I'd gained back all that weight I felt I had lost over the past few weeks.

The worst part was, I woke up dizzy and nauseous on Thursday. I was scared but thought I was dehydrated or hungry... neither helped. So at work I drank a caffeinated coffee, that didn't work. It was pretty bad... but I trudged through work.

Friday came, same thing... but this time, the dizziness was less and the nausea was more. I did not eat all day of Friday out of fear of getting sick. Which happened only once on Friday. The look and smell of food made me feel ill enough to vomit.

I did contact my Dr. Friday a.m., but she didn't get back with me.

So now it's the weekend. I'm back to eating fruits & veggies & no flour/gluten-laden foods (as far as I"m aware of).

I'm still a little dizzy... but feeling better and can eat now. The dizziness seems to come after having eaten a large meal... which i'm not really used to doing... but I did notice after dinner out with friends last night I was very dizzy. I didnt feel nauseous, I just noticed the world spinning again. But it went away the more I walked around.

Is this really celiac? I've heard that if you introduce gluten back into the diet too soon you can have adverse reactions... but I dont know what these adverse reactions would be.

I would appreciate any information you would be able to provide me.

[BRUMI1968]

I can tell you that when I would eat gluten, I would get anxiety attacks to varying degrees. Sometimes they would be full blown - I'd get tingly, clammy, feel like I needed to poop quite suddenly, wanting to throw up, nevous, shaking, scared, sometimes mentally disoriented, always dizzy. Sometimes they would just be mild - and what I noticed most was the dizziness -- or more a feeling of disconnectedness from the world altogether. When I quit gluten, this went away. This, canker sores, and itching are ways I tell if I'm getting mild glutenings. (Severe glutenings I usually tell by my running to the bathroom and barely making it there before bad bad things happen.)

What you've described could very well be celiac. I don't get those symptom myself, but I recognize them from other folks' posts.

Good luck to you. If you are able to keep on the diet, it is certainly worth a try. You should know, though, that if you do go on the diet and are on it for some time, any tests you take for celiac will come back negative. If you're interested in getting tested, you should keep eating it long enough to get the test. it's a blood test, so it's not too difficult. If you try the diet itself as a test, that's great. If you feel better, stay on it. It is hard at first, but eventaully it becomes easier.

You should also know that lots of folks with celiac are lactose intolerant, at least at first. And soy is difficult for many many people. Peanuts are related to soy, and should be avoided by everyone really since they're riddled with mold.

Take care.