Celiac Or Lactose Intolerance?

[stromssa1]

Hello,

This is my first post to these forums. For about six or seven years, following a major life stressor (my grandma's death, which I took very hard) I have suffered from a dizzying array of physical and mental symptoms and have generally felt unwell. In addition to depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, I think I may have some sort of food allergy.

My mother is lactose intolerant, and is also allergic to cheese. I am unaware of anyone in my family being gluten intolerant, although I suppose that it's possible they could be and just don't know it or don't have severe symptoms.

In my case, I feel the worst in the morning. I wake up and my neck and back muscles, especially in my right side, spasm and ache (this could be due to the fact I've carried a heavy tote bag on that shoulder for years-I got checked by a chiropractor recently and he said the muscles there were "very tense"-I initially felt better but now, after a week, I continue to be sore in that region). I also wake up congested, and the congestion usually gets better throughout the day, as I'm up and moving around. Nearly every morning, I have loose stools (not quite diahrrea) that smell bad, as if I'm reacting to something in my diet (I eat my heaviest meal in the evenings). This seems to worsen when I eat acidic foods, such as anything with tomatoes (like spaghetti sauce), orange juice (which I love, even though I feel immediate indigestion after drinking it). I also have avoided bread for years, but sometimes feel bad after eating pizza. Almost immediately after eating, I also suffer some reflux.

I am also chronically exhausted and just don't feel good. I'm 29 years old and feel like an old woman. No libido, either, and my husband is getting frustrated because we'd like to start a family, but it's hard to be in the mood when I feel such malaise... and if I get pregnant, I want to be at the best level of health I can.

I "look" healthy overall...but the dark circles under my eyes, achy muscles and lack of energy kind of "give me away" as suffering with something. I hesitate to think it could just be depression or anxiety, though these things play a role. I have this sense as though I am not being truly "nourished" by what I eat. One of my mom's friends recently told me that, in her 60s, she had just been diagnosed as celiac. My mom said to me, 'Maybe you should look into that, too." I just want some answers-I'm tired of feeling so out of it all of the time, lethargic and yucky.

Any thoughts? Has anyone experienced similiar symptoms?

[KarenLee]

Hello,

This is my first post to these forums. For about six or seven years, following a major life stressor (my grandma's death, which I took very hard) I have suffered from a dizzying array of physical and mental symptoms and have generally felt unwell. In addition to depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, I think I may have some sort of food allergy.

My mother is lactose intolerant, and is also allergic to cheese. I am unaware of anyone in my family being gluten intolerant, although I suppose that it's possible they could be and just don't know it or don't have severe symptoms.

In my case, I feel the worst in the morning. I wake up and my neck and back muscles, especially in my right side, spasm and ache (this could be due to the fact I've carried a heavy tote bag on that shoulder for years-I got checked by a chiropractor recently and he said the muscles there were "very tense"-I initially felt better but now, after a week, I continue to be sore in that region). I also wake up congested, and the congestion usually gets better throughout the day, as I'm up and moving around. Nearly every morning, I have loose stools (not quite diahrrea) that smell bad, as if I'm reacting to something in my diet (I eat my heaviest meal in the evenings). This seems to worsen when I eat acidic foods, such as anything with tomatoes (like spaghetti sauce), orange juice (which I love, even though I feel immediate indigestion after drinking it). I also have avoided bread for years, but sometimes feel bad after eating pizza. Almost immediately after eating, I also suffer some reflux.

I am also chronically exhausted and just don't feel good. I'm 29 years old and feel like an old woman. No libido, either, and my husband is getting frustrated because we'd like to start a family, but it's hard to be in the mood when I feel such malaise... and if I get pregnant, I want to be at the best level of health I can.

I "look" healthy overall...but the dark circles under my eyes, achy muscles and lack of energy kind of "give me away" as suffering with something. I hesitate to think it could just be depression or anxiety, though these things play a role. I have this sense as though I am not being truly "nourished" by what I eat. One of my mom's friends recently told me that, in her 60s, she had just been diagnosed as celiac. My mom said to me, 'Maybe you should look into that, too." I just want some answers-I'm tired of feeling so out of it all of the time, lethargic and yucky.

Any thoughts? Has anyone experienced similiar symptoms?

I am somewhat new to all this as well, but it sounds like a visit to a GI that has experience with Celiac and Gluten intolerance would be your next step. Your fatigue, and some other symptoms I had also. I am gluten intolerant and now those symptoms are gone since my going gluten free.

I am sure someone will give better explanations/advice soon.

Good luck!

[CMCM]

I have had so many of your listed symptoms, right down to the spaghetti! Despite the fact that my own mother was diagnosed with celiac disease at 48, I never thought I had it because my symptoms weren't extreme like hers (I thought it had to be extreme). I spent my entire life up until age 56 thinking I was most definitely lactose intolerant. Perhaps I was, but it was due to the gluten eating. Now, I've never eaten tons of bread things, but I ate it. Anyhow, I started having all these very strong, continual complaints and had a scary dizzy spell, so I started learning about gluten and celiac disease. I had a negative blood test. But I did the Enterolab testing including the gene test, and learned that I got my Mom's celiac gene plus a gluten sensitivity gene from my dad. My other tests also showed autoimmune activity. When I stopped eating gluten, a huge number of my issues went away....noticeably within a few days. And better and better as time went on. Now a year later, I find that dairy, and thus lactose, doesn't bother me at all. I don't have a bona fide stamp of approval from a clueless doctor, but the results seem pretty obvious: My health is 1000% better without gluten in it.

As for the lactose...remember that if you have celiac disease, and if villi damage is occurring as a result of eating gluten, then the tips of the villi disappear first, and those tips are what help to digest lactose. When you stop eating gluten, the damage reverses, the tips regenerate after a bit of time, and once again you can eat lactose (dairy) without a problem.

If you find that you have celiac disease, or at least, the genes for it, you probably got the gene from you mom as it sounds like she may have issues too. Also remember that a person's physical reaction to gluten can be very different from one person to the next.

Hello,

This is my first post to these forums. For about six or seven years, following a major life stressor (my grandma's death, which I took very hard) I have suffered from a dizzying array of physical and mental symptoms and have generally felt unwell. In addition to depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, I think I may have some sort of food allergy.

My mother is lactose intolerant, and is also allergic to cheese. I am unaware of anyone in my family being gluten intolerant, although I suppose that it's possible they could be and just don't know it or don't have severe symptoms.

In my case, I feel the worst in the morning. I wake up and my neck and back muscles, especially in my right side, spasm and ache (this could be due to the fact I've carried a heavy tote bag on that shoulder for years-I got checked by a chiropractor recently and he said the muscles there were "very tense"-I initially felt better but now, after a week, I continue to be sore in that region). I also wake up congested, and the congestion usually gets better throughout the day, as I'm up and moving around. Nearly every morning, I have loose stools (not quite diahrrea) that smell bad, as if I'm reacting to something in my diet (I eat my heaviest meal in the evenings). This seems to worsen when I eat acidic foods, such as anything with tomatoes (like spaghetti sauce), orange juice (which I love, even though I feel immediate indigestion after drinking it). I also have avoided bread for years, but sometimes feel bad after eating pizza. Almost immediately after eating, I also suffer some reflux.

I am also chronically exhausted and just don't feel good. I'm 29 years old and feel like an old woman. No libido, either, and my husband is getting frustrated because we'd like to start a family, but it's hard to be in the mood when I feel such malaise... and if I get pregnant, I want to be at the best level of health I can.

I "look" healthy overall...but the dark circles under my eyes, achy muscles and lack of energy kind of "give me away" as suffering with something. I hesitate to think it could just be depression or anxiety, though these things play a role. I have this sense as though I am not being truly "nourished" by what I eat. One of my mom's friends recently told me that, in her 60s, she had just been diagnosed as celiac. My mom said to me, 'Maybe you should look into that, too." I just want some answers-I'm tired of feeling so out of it all of the time, lethargic and yucky.

Any thoughts? Has anyone experienced similiar symptoms?

[stromssa1]

Hi,

Thanks for all of your replies. I just wanted to update you: Yesterday for lunch, I had a Caesar salad at a restaurant. Unfortunately, it came with crutons. I tried to take most of them off, and ate around them, but I also had some of the dressing, which may have had gluten in it. It also had Swiss cheese. Then, later, for supper, I had stir-fry, with brown rice, canned pineapple chunks, leftover potroast, carrots, green peppers, onions, olive oil, curry, ginger and black pepper. I thought this was gluten-free...but overnight, I was all congested (as usual) and after being up in the morning for a few hours, had a strong urge to have a BM...I did, and I could actually see pieces of rice. So, now I'm wondering if I have an allergy to rice...is this common with celiacs? I know rice is a staple of the gluten-free diet...further, I'm wondering if the reaction was triggered by something other than the rice-but it was the rice I saw, which apparently hadn't been completely digested.

Now, as the day progresses, my mind continues to be foggy with fatigue.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this latest episode?

(Also, as of today, I started taking lactaid-don't know if it's working yet)...

[babygirl1234]

im both celiac disease and lactose intolerance ive been both since i was 16 some cant digest lactose and need to take lactose pills for the rest of their lives i have to