Does This Sound Like Celiac To You?

[saldwal]

i know you all are not doc's but i was wondering if i could have your feedback. I am not being tested until the end of this week. i have had g.i. problems most of my adult life - dx'd with irritable bowel but nothing really helped and i dont have the "classic" constipation-diarehha. i can go 2-3 days without a bm and then go up to 10 times the next day - but not diarreha, just constantly urging to go - and i do. i have mild cramping in my abdomen 4 out of 7 days and i take peppermint plus for that and it helps. my most aggravating sx's are a general achiness, especially my arms and hands and fatigue. i also have a poor appetite. i dont feel like this all the time but can for anywhere from 1- 10 days at a time - then it just goes away. may come back again in a week, might be a couple of months. i have never tied it to one specific food but there was an article in our paper about celiacs and it sounded alot like my symptoms. what do you think and if i go gluten free - and that is the cause - how long until you usually feel better?

thanks alot for your feedback!

[Emily Elizabeth]

Your symptoms definitely suggest celiac from what I have read. The only thing I haven't heard about is a decreased appetite. But that could be due to the fact that food is making you sick, so subconsciously you don't want to eat. I know at one point I started eating a minimal amt each day and felt much better (though I lost too much wait). Anyway, the most important advice I can give you right now is to make sure you eat gluten everyday until you get tested with both a blood test and endoscopy. If you stop eating gluten you may produce a false negative. They say you should have the equivalent of 4 slices of bread a day for 2 months to truly know if your test results are correct. So as long as you can handle the symptoms, definitely eat gluten until you are diagnosed!

i know you all are not doc's but i was wondering if i could have your feedback. I am not being tested until the end of this week. i have had g.i. problems most of my adult life - dx'd with irritable bowel but nothing really helped and i dont have the "classic" constipation-diarehha. i can go 2-3 days without a bm and then go up to 10 times the next day - but not diarreha, just constantly urging to go - and i do. i have mild cramping in my abdomen 4 out of 7 days and i take peppermint plus for that and it helps. my most aggravating sx's are a general achiness, especially my arms and hands and fatigue. i also have a poor appetite. i dont feel like this all the time but can for anywhere from 1- 10 days at a time - then it just goes away. may come back again in a week, might be a couple of months. i have never tied it to one specific food but there was an article in our paper about celiacs and it sounded alot like my symptoms. what do you think and if i go gluten free - and that is the cause - how long until you usually feel better?

thanks alot for your feedback!

[Teacher1958]

Your symptoms sound so much like mine. I have had problems for the past 42 years (scary, huh?). I was also diagnosed with irritable bowel, plus "nervous stomach" and an ulcer (no ulcer located). Last October I received a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. I had pain in most of the 18 tender points described in the literature on the topic, but the worst pain was in my shoulders, hands, wrists, and arms. Throughoutt out my life, I've been spacey with significant symptoms of ADD. During the time between my diagnosis with fibromyalgia and my realization that I was gluten intolerant, my mental symptoms worsened significantly. I believe that I was in the beginning stages of some type of dementia (my father and his father had severe forms of dementia), because I was so forgetful that I was not able to function well at all. Other symptoms I've had over the years include mouth ulcers, repeated sinus infections (not sure if this is related to gluten), sore throats, vomiting, myclonic jerks, clumsiness, depression, vitiligo, and premature labor. All of these symptoms have been connected to gluten intolerance/celiac disease. When I am gluten free, most of the symptoms lessen or totally disappear.

If I were you, I'd give the diet a try. I started to notice significant improvements within the first week after going gluten free. One of the strangest effects was the increase in my level of alertness. It was overwhelming at first. I noticed so many things that I'd never consciously observed before. It was like I was waking up- that's the only way I can describe it. I would never eat wheat again intentionally because my life is so much better without it.

[sunshinen]

Sounds very familiar to me, too.