Preparing For Colonoscopy

[mojoBanjo]

Hey All,

I'm new to the forum and to the wonder of celiac disease which I think I may have, although I'm not sure. I've been having stomach problems for the past year and a half. It usually involves cramping pains in my left side just under my ribs (thats right side for someone looking at me) that wakes me up in the morning, usually followed by some uncomfortable bowel movements. The pain sometimes eases after BM, but more often lingers until about midday then returns in the evening. Lately I've been experiencing the pain all day with the addition of back pain. Since having these pains I've been left feeling drained, cranky and my appetite is disappearing. Other weirdness I've been experiencing is a strange feeling in my legs and arms, which I'm associating with bad circulation, but I don't know if it is, it's just a weird uncomfortable feeling I get from time to time.

Other symptoms / signs that I've matched up with what I think might be celiac is the fact that I was tested a lot when I was younger regarding my height or lack of. I was also diagnosed as being slightly anemic.

When the pains first started I went to the doctors (UK) and was told I had IBS, this was without any tests whatsoever, I was prescribed some antispasmodics and fibre. This didn't help my problems at all, it gave me more diarrhea, which I assume was linked to the fibre.

I have since moved to Canada and registered for a new doctor where I was given the usual blood tests you get when you register with a doctor. I told them about my "IBS" and they prescribed Zelnorm without any testing. However I was called back into the docs a week later for more blood tests after being told my blood was insufficient from the first tests. The following week I was told I had an inflamed liver and high cholesterol. This baffled me because I ain't much of a drinker and I eat pretty healthily. I took the doctors advice and avoided red meats and alcohol, infact I tried my hardest to eat only things with 0 cholesterol! Two weeks later I had another blood test and it said my liver was 100% again, the doc said it must've been a virus.

While waiting for these results I did some research online looking for links between my pains and liver problems, etc... I found celiac disease, I have most of the symptoms and I also read that it can cause abnormalities with liver enzymes, which may explain my inflamed liver. I spoke to my family members about it and found out that my cousin has similar problems and is being tested for crohns disease and my mother has gluton intolerance. I read up on crohns disease, but I don't think I have the symptoms, so I think I can rule that out.

I tried staying away from glutony food for a bit and I felt a bit better, which I think is a sure sign that it must be something along these lines. I told the doc about my cousin and mother and he said he's going to arrange a colonoscopy, but said it could take some time. I've read on this forum that I should eat 4 slices of bread (or equivalent) a day before my colonoscopy for accurate results, but the doc said nothing about this. I'm not too thrilled about getting a camera shoved where the sun don't shine, so I want to get it right the first time.

Any help would be highly appreciated. And if you read this and think, this dude doesn't have celiac disease, let me know, I'm just trying to find out whats wrong! Thanks.

[jerseyangel]

Hi Mojo, and welcome!

First, I'd say that you have a lot of symptoms that could indicate Celiac.

The test you would need to have done is an Endoscopy, during which the doctor would take samples from your small intestine to check for damage to the lining (villi). This is done by inserting a tube/camera down your throat, through your stomach and into the small intestine.

A Colonoscopy checks the large intestine, and is not useful in diagnosing Celiac Disease.

I would urge you to continue to eat a lot of gluten before your test--if you try to go gluten-free, or cut down on the amount of gluten , you will skew the test result.

Best of luck!

[Ursa Major]

Hi, and welcome to these boards.

I have no idea why the doctor wants to do a colonoscopy, because in order to check for celiac disease, you'd need to have an endoscopy (going through your mouth and esophagus) with biopsies being taken. A colonoscopy would be useful in checking for Crohn's, for instance.

Also, before you have the biopsies, you should have complete celiac disease blood work done. I am sure somebody can enlighten you as to exactly what that entails.

You appear to have a fairly ignorant doctor (no surprise here, that seems to be normal), who doesn't know anything about celiac disease, or nutrition. The cholesterol you eat has nothing to do with the cholesterol in your blood. So, not eating food with cholesterol will just force your body to make more of it, as it is essential for life.

I hope you figure it out. I had those same pains you describe for six months, accompanied by chronic diarrhea in 2005. I ended up in the hospital emergency, thinking I had a heart attack once. Only for the doctors to declare after five hours that there was nothing wrong with me, I had only severe stomach and bowel cramps, was low on potassium and my electrolytes were out of whack. And with that announcement they sent me home.

I finally clued in after being doubled over with severe stomach cramps right after eating a slice of bread one day, and eliminated gluten from my diet. By the next day the diarrhea had stopped, the day after that the backache was starting to get better, and within two weeks I was off the codeine I had been on day and night for five years for fibromyalgia pain.

So, gluten could definitely be your problem.

[jerseyangel]

Here is the complete Celiac Blood Panel--

Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgA

Anti-Gliadin (AGA) IgG

Anti-Endomysial (EMA) IgA

Anti-Tissue Transglutaminase (tTG) IgA

Total Serum IgA

I never had these done, my doctor went right to the endo/biopsy.

[mojoBanjo]

Wow, cheers for the super speedy replies, much appreciated. I had no idea what a colonoscopy would actually find, so it's helpful to know that it wont find celiac disease. I guess the doc is checking me for crohns first, since my cousin might have that. He never really tells me much, so I'm left clueless after my appointments.

He mentioned referring me to a specialist, so I'll stick it out for a bit longer and if nothing is suggested after the colonscopy, I'll suggest the blood tests and endoscopy to the doc.

Thanks