Should I Change Doctors?

[Aeval]

Hi,

I just joined this forum today and I need some advice. My doctor wants me to go off grains. I have never been tested for Celiac Disease, do not have any of the symptoms and, as far as I know, am not related to anyone who has it. I have recently recovered from adrenal fatigue but my DHEA is still way to low. My doctor thinks going off grains will help. When I ask her why, she says because I have Celtic, Nordic and Germanic ancestry. This doesn't sit well with me as an explanation. I said, "Why don't you test me for an allergy or an intolerance?" She says that she doesn't think I have an allergy or an intolerance. She thinks I have "wheat toxicity" and there's no test for it. She says there's some type of test she can give me after I've been off grains for three months that will show if I have anti-bodies but I have to be off the gluten for a while first. She says if she gives it to me now, no anti-bodies will show up because I've got grains in my system. Or something like that.

Does this sound right? Has anyone out there ever heard of wheat toxicity? Is it different than intolerance? Is my doctor crazy? Should I run from her office and never look back? Giving up gluten just seems like a big lifestyle change to make for an uncertain reason.

Thanks,

Aeval

[Guest memoryofaspyn]

Aeval,

I am very new to this also, but to my understanding you want to be on gluten while they test you. They ran my blood work, and I wasnt off of gluten, I didnt even know they were going to test me until I was there. I am sorry I am not much help, but I am sure some one else out here will have better info for you. You are in the right place, everyone here is great!! Good luck!!!

[gf4life]

Your doctor has it backwards. You need to be ON gluten grains for at least three months for the antibodies to show up. Please print out some articles about celiac disease/gluten intolerance to take to her that talk about this.

Some good ones are:

University of Chicago

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University of Maryland

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Columbia University

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American Association of Family Physicians

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And should you test negative on the bloodwork and still are looking for answers please read these:

https://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?p_prodi...-41104189220.0e

Open Original Shared Link

I hope this helps.

God bless,

Mariann

[Aeval]

Thank you both for your letters. I have sent copies of a couple of those articles to my doctor. Hopefully they will help.

Take care,

Aeval

[livingwithceliac]

Actually your doctor sounds GREAT! The first doctor I saw opted to give me a full endoscopy to see what was wrong with me, which revealed nothing at all. A complete waste of thousands of dollars. I WISH he would have said something about Celiac disease or wheat intolerance!

[jenbody2003]

The doctor does have it backwards, they are to test while ON gluten. They test for three types of IGA antibodies but you want to make sure she orders the right tests and that the lab has the knowledge to run the right tests at the lab. It took three tries before my pediatrician had it right, even though he had heard of the disease. You can also have the disease without any symptoms.

Print this info to keep on hand for any doctor or specialist...

Open Original Shared Link

But some words of advice...

A relationship with a doctor should be a partnership where you feel comfortable with your conversations and feel free enough to ask questions. If this is not the kind of relationship you have with your doctor, you can try to change that or go with your gut if you think that this doctor is not for you.

Good luck and God Bless!

[starlitgrl27]

I would definitely get tested. My family practice doctor that I used to go to told me that I had a mild gluten-intolerance and that i should just start a gluten-free diet. She didnt run a gene test, didnt do an endoscopy or colonoscopy or anything like that to confirm I had celiac. She just left me hanging! And no one else in my family has it, so I dont know where it would have come from. Now I am seeing an incredible gastroenterologist who thinks I dont even have celiac! I've been on the diet for six months! So now he's gonna have me go off the diet and do real tests to make sure i really have it. The moral of my story is, it's not worth all the trouble if you can't confirm it.