Is My Doctor Wrong?

[shanbr]

I asked him to test me for Celiac and he said "your liver functions look fine, no need to test".

Is that right?

I basicly put me on a non-gluten diet and the world of changes that have happened.

First, let me tell you about my RA. I was diagnosed with what they said was the "worst case they have seen" for Rheumatoid Arthritis.

A couple years later, nothing they gave worked, they actually made me worse.

My symptom I am worried about most is my swelling of the muscles. I don't think my joints are swelling, I think it's the muscles at those joints that are because they swell me my calves swell and my tops of my feet etc. where no joints are.

Anyway, being gluten free, I am doing pretty darn good on only celebrex.

I am concerned that he is wrong is saying my liver looks good so i don't have it.

If he is right, is there another disease with gluten problems that isn't celiac? I always told him all this time that when my stomach is worse, so is my body.

Any advice is appreciated.

[RiceGuy]

From what I've read on this board, many Celiacs experience the swollen feet and ankles you describe. It sounds to me like water retention, which I have found to be lessened with reducing salt intake, but most notably when I started taking a magnesium supplement.

I must say I've never read anything about the liver function being any indicator of Celiac. To me that sounds like non-sense.

[Ursa Major]

Your doctor sounds like one of those many doctors who is completely clueless about celiac disease. Whether your liver function is okay or not is irrelevant when it comes to celiac disease testing.

I used to get very swollen feet and ankles (even though I hardly used any salt then, which likely caused me to be deficient in iodine). When I cut out gluten the swelling stopped as well.

If you have improved on the gluten-free diet you are at least gluten intolerant, and you might have celiac disease. Either way, the gluten-free diet is the only treatment. Just ignore your doctor and keep up with the diet, unless you want an official diagnosis.

If you want to have celiac disease testing done, you will have to keep eating lots of gluten until after the tests. Mind you, NOBODY could make me eat it again, just so I will find out what I already know. Gluten makes me sick, so I won't eat it. Fortunately my doctors agree, but if they didn't I'd still refuse to eat gluten.

[Guest Eagle]

Your doctor sounds as clueless as the one I just had. My liver functions just fine but my stomach was a mess and I was always bloated. I wonder what made him make that decision. I guess we'll never really know!