Jump to content

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

I'm New! Any Help Greatly Appreciated

BadTummy

Recommended Posts

BadTummy Newbie
BadTummy
Posted

Hi!

I have been looking at this site for a few days now and think that I have a gluten problem. I have been having symptoms since I had my gall bladder out a 2 yrs ago and my problems seem to be escaltaing.

Pretty much my symptoms are: severe diahrea and stomach cramps sometimes asscoiated with nausea and also some vommiting about 3-5 hrs after eating (sometimes it happens a lot earlier, but usually 3- 5hrs). Now, it doesn't happen after I eat a salad, but if I eat anything else, I get sick. IE: Today I had a ham sandwhich and like clockwork, I just got sick!

Any info and help is much appreciated since I am brand new to all of this!

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


amybeth Enthusiast
amybeth
Posted

It depends how confident you are that this is you....if you're pretty confident (over 50%), you should probably consult your dr. and at least have the bloodwork done.

If you're still not that sure...you could keep a food log for a couple of days....My reaction to gluten is pretty immediate (usually within 20 min after the fact)...some people's symptoms aren't realized until much later. If your body's pattern is 3 - 5 hours, then I would keep track of what I ate and then not eat again until that time window has passed. It may be a reaction to another food, too - like dairy? - the log would help you eliminate possibilities and target the culprit.

The log would be helpful if and when you did consult a dr. , too.

I am sorry you are feeling badly. It can be so frustrating - but once you have narrowed it down you can take the positive steps toward making sure it doesn't happen again - or at least not as often.

Good luck!

BadTummy Newbie
BadTummy
Posted
  • Author

As of right now, I have no health insurance, so going to my Dr is out... I am almost positive that I am intolerant to gluten. I will just have to wait to be tested. I am highly considering eliminating gluten for 2 weeks to see what happens...

par18 Apprentice
par18
Posted

Hi,

Well going gluten free to see what happens is certainly an option. Have you ever tried the diet before? This can be tricky as gluten could slip in your diet without you knowing and mess up your results. Also if this does work you will then have to make a decision whether or not to get any further testing done. Say you try the diet and your symptoms disappear. Would that be reason enough for you to stay on this diet from now on? If the answer is yes then nothing else would be needed. If it is no or you are not sure you may have to go back on gluten to see what happens. It can be simple or complicated based on what result you desire and how you obtain that result. If I had no health insurance then I think I would give the diet an honest effort and see what happens. Hope this helps.

Tom

BadTummy Newbie
BadTummy
Posted
  • Author
Hi,

Well going gluten free to see what happens is certainly an option. Have you ever tried the diet before? This can be tricky as gluten could slip in your diet without you knowing and mess up your results. Also if this does work you will then have to make a decision whether or not to get any further testing done. Say you try the diet and your symptoms disappear. Would that be reason enough for you to stay on this diet from now on? If the answer is yes then nothing else would be needed. If it is no or you are not sure you may have to go back on gluten to see what happens. It can be simple or complicated based on what result you desire and how you obtain that result. If I had no health insurance then I think I would give the diet an honest effort and see what happens. Hope this helps.

Tom

No, I have not tried it before. I am new to this with the exception of a child I know is on the diet due to possible Autism... I don't really even know where to start! That is why I joined this place so I could get more info, help and encouragement! At this point I am willing to try the diet though b/c I am tired of being sick to my stomach pretty much daily...

tarnalberry Community Regular
tarnalberry
Posted
Pretty much my symptoms are: severe diahrea and stomach cramps sometimes asscoiated with nausea and also some vommiting about 3-5 hrs after eating (sometimes it happens a lot earlier, but usually 3- 5hrs). Now, it doesn't happen after I eat a salad, but if I eat anything else, I get sick. IE: Today I had a ham sandwhich and like clockwork, I just got sick!

Welcome! Your symtpoms could be celiac related, and do sound food related. The reason why a food log would be so helpful is that you say it "doesn't happen if you eat a salad" - what was on that all of those salads that didn't bother you; did it include croutons? And you say that it does happen if you eat anything else? Is that *REALLY* anything else? An apple? A steak without seasonings? A breaded chicken? These are the sort of seemingly pedantic, but actually vital, questions that a food log can help answer.

That said, your responses, and response time, do fit within the classification of food intolerance symptoms.

As of right now, I have no health insurance, so going to my Dr is out... I am almost positive that I am intolerant to gluten. I will just have to wait to be tested. I am highly considering eliminating gluten for 2 weeks to see what happens...

If you choose to wait to be tested, there are two issues: the first is if you don't go gluten free if you are celiac - you continue to damage to your intestines and the rest of your system and increase your risks for long term serious complications, the second is if you do go gluten free - you will have to go back on gluten for at least three months prior to laboratory testing to get accurate results when you decide you do want to go that route.

Either choice is a valid one. The majority of doctors could not in all good conscious advise you to do anything but the first one (because the diet is "so difficult" - they're wrong on that front). Many of us on the board could not in all good conscious advise you to do anything but the later, if laboratory testing isn't an option.

Don't forget, however, that the dietary challenge - going gluten free for a good length of time (2-4 weeks, at least) then challenging with gluten (for 1-7 days), is a valid diagnostic test as well.

No, I have not tried it before. I am new to this with the exception of a child I know is on the diet due to possible Autism... I don't really even know where to start! That is why I joined this place so I could get more info, help and encouragement! At this point I am willing to try the diet though b/c I am tired of being sick to my stomach pretty much daily...

You've found a helpful resource! The diet isn't that hard once you get past the learning curve and adapt, but it's full of pitfalls that make the learning curve steep, and the adaptation a challenging process. The safest way to get started is to stick with naturally gluten free whole foods - produce, meats, eggs, beans, and naturally gluten-free whole grains (corn, rice, quinoa). Keep on reading - you'll find a lot of help!

Nantzie Collaborator
Nantzie
Posted

I always suggest that people go to the doctor and get tested mostly because you want to make sure it's not something else more scary.

But if that's out of the question anyway, I don't see any reason you shouldn't try the diet. There isn't a prescription the doctor could give you if you got an official diagnosis. There are a lot of people here who don't have an official diagnosis, so it certainly won't be a big deal here. A lot of people end up figuring it out for themselves for one reason or another. Testing isn't very reliable, doctors are misinformed, family is unsupportive, funds aren't available...

I agree with keeping a food diary. It may not end up being gluten, but another common food. Gluten is as good of a place to start as any.

Take some time though to really do some research on this message board. Read the archives. Read, read, read and read some more. It's a steep learning curve, but once you've got it, you've got it.

When I first found out about gluten, I ended up having to wait for several months for a biopsy (from September to February!). I pretty much understood most of the diet after about a month or so of being on this message board. So it's not that hard to figure out. By the time Christmas was over, I was so sick, and was so certain by my own trial and error that gluten was the issue that I went gluten-free right after Christmas. I'm never going to know for sure if I would have had a positive biopsy, and by that time I couldn't have cared less anymore. I just wanted to stop hurting.

I would say that you should spend some time on the message board learning as much as you can about the diet. One of the things about being gluten-free is that you really should try to be 100% or it's hard to tell if gluten is the issue.

I hope you feel better soon.

Nancy

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


mn farm gal Apprentice
mn farm gal
Posted

I personally chose not to get test. I have been doctoring since 1998. I started the diet after coming across this board and someone I met that had Celiac. I then tried the diet instead of getting tested. I don't want that in my chart if I do ever come self employeed like I want to it would make it harder to get insurance at that time. It is a preference on what an offical diagnosis would do for you. I tried the diet and have not turned back once. Everyday gets better!!

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      131,946
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    Miva
    Newest Member
    Miva
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.5k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Who's Online (See full list)

  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • Jacki Espo
      Covid caused reoccurrence of DH without eating gluten

      By Jacki Espo · Posted

      This happened to me as well. What’s weirder is that within a couple hours of taking paxlovid it subsided. I thought maybe I got glutened but after reading your post not so sure. 
    • Mari
      New Celiac Mama in My 30s

      By Mari · Posted

      Hi Tiffany. Thank you for writing your dituation and  circumstancesin such detail and so well writte, too. I particularly noticed what you wrote about brain for and feeling like your brain is swelling and I know from my own experiences that's how it feel and your brain really does swell and you get migraines.    Way back when I was in my 20s I read a book by 2 MD allergist and they described their patient who came in complaining that her brain, inside her cranium, was swelling  and it happened when she smelled a certain chemical she used in her home. She kept coming back and insisting her brain actually swelled in her head. The Drs couldn't explain this problem so they, with her permission, performed an operation where they made a small opening through her cranium, exposed her to the chemical then watched as she brain did swell into the opening. The DRs were amazed but then were able to advise her to avoid chemicals that made her brain swell. I remember that because I occasionally had brain fog then but it was not a serious problem. I also realized that I was becoming more sensitive to chemicals I used in my work in medical laboratories. By my mid forties the brain fog and chemicals forced me to leave my  profession and move to a rural area with little pollution. I did not have migraines. I was told a little later that I had a more porous blood brain barrier than other people. Chemicals in the air would go up into my sinused and leak through the blood brain barrier into my brain. We have 2 arteries  in our neck that carry blood with the nutrients and oxygen into the brain. To remove the fluids and used blood from the brain there are only capillaries and no large veins to carry it away so all those fluids ooze out much more slowly than they came in and since the small capillaries can't take care of extra fluid it results in swelling in the face, especially around the eyes. My blood flow into my brain is different from most other people as I have an arterial ischema, adefectiveartery on one side.   I have to go forward about 20 or more years when I learned that I had glaucoma, an eye problem that causes blindness and more years until I learned I had celiac disease.  The eye Dr described my glaucoma as a very slow loss of vision that I wouldn't  notice until had noticeable loss of sight.  I could have my eye pressure checked regularly or it would be best to have the cataracts removed from both eyes. I kept putting off the surgery then just overnight lost most of the vision in my left eye. I thought at the I had been exposed to some chemical and found out a little later the person who livedbehind me was using some chemicals to build kayaks in a shed behind my house. I did not realize the signifance  of this until I started having appointments with a Dr. in a new building. New buildings give me brain fog, loss of balance and other problems I know about this time I experienced visual disturbances very similar to those experienced by people with migraines. I looked further online and read that people with glaucoma can suffer rapid loss of sight if they have silent migraines (no headache). The remedy for migraines is to identify and avoid the triggers. I already know most of my triggers - aromatic chemicals, some cleaning materials, gasoline and exhaust and mold toxins. I am very careful about using cleaning agents using mostly borax and baking powder. Anything that has any fragrance or smell I avoid. There is one brand of dishwashing detergent that I can use and several brands of  scouring powder. I hope you find some of this helpful and useful. I have not seen any evidence that Celiac Disease is involved with migraines or glaucoma. Please come back if you have questions or if what I wrote doesn't make senseto you. We sometimes haveto learn by experience and finding out why we have some problems. Take care.       The report did not mention migraines. 
    • Mari
      My only proof

      By Mari · Posted

      Hi Jmartes71 That is so much like my story! You probably know where Laytonville is and that's where I was living just before my 60th birthday when the new Dr. suggested I could have Celiacs. I didn't go on a gluten challange diet before having the Celiac panel blood test drawn. The results came back as equivical as one antibody level was very high but another, tissue transaminasewas normal. Itdid show I was  allergic to cows milk and I think hot peppers. I immediately went gluten free but did not go in for an endoscopy. I found an online lab online that would do the test to show if I had a main celiac gene (enterolab.com). The report came back that I had inherited a main celiac gene, DQ8, from one parent and a D!6 from the other parent. That combination is knows to sym[tons of celiac worse than just inheriting one main celiac gene. With my version of celiac disease I was mostly constipated but after going gluten-free I would have diarrhea the few times I was glutened either by cross contamination or eating some food containing gluten. I have stayed gluten-free for almost 20 years now and knew within a few days that it was right for me although my recovery has been slow.   When I go to see a  medical provide and tell them I have celiacs they don't believe me. The same when I tell them that I carry a main celiac gene, the DQ8. It is only when I tell them that I get diarrhea after eating gluten that they realize that I might have celiac disease. Then they will order th Vitamin B12 and D3 that I need to monitor as my B12 levels can go down very fast if I'm not taking enough of it. Medical providers haven't been much help in my recovery. They are not well trained in this problem. I really hope this helps ypu. Take care.      
    • knitty kitty
      Does anyone here also have Afib

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      Fascinating.
    • DebJ14
      Does anyone here also have Afib

      By DebJ14 · Posted

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.