Classic Celiac?

[XxKittykat]

Hi, my name is Kat. I'm 16 years old and I believe I am celiac. I suffer from severe lactose intolerence, I have fibromyalgia, acid reflux, insomnia, and subluxation. Over the past 2-3 years I have been having strange, unexplainable symptoms. One of the biggest includes bouts of loud, powerful burping, uncontrollable vommiting (large amounts at a time), and horrible bloating with stomach pains. I have felt stomach cramps, stabbing sensations, stomach aches, a feeling in the stomach that I need to burp (this causes me to be unable to sleep lying down at night), and loud stomach sloshing...also, I have felt slight twitches in my stomach (this I believe is caused by food digesting). In addition, I have had headaches, sore throat, itching, an odd rash on my abdomin, hair loss, back/knee/wrist pain, insomnia, poor appitite, buring stomach sensations, weakness, tiredness, intestial pain, unable to urinate dispite drinking loads for water, dizziness, sores in the mouth, hands and feet keep falling asleep, brittle nails, anemia, gas, constipation, muscle cramps, unexplained loss of tooth enamal, and weight loss. I am 5'4" and currently 77 pounds (since begining a gluten-free diet I have gained 4 pounds in 4 days). Last week I removed gluten from my diet and saw an improvment - I had more energy, I have been more upbeat, less bloating, less burping, less vommitting, and sleeping more often. I had been feeling great until yesterday when I had eaten out at the local Bill Millar's - veggie soup, french fries, and a side of beans. Instantly I felt horrible and I've been vommitting and bupring all over again since I woke up this morning and I can't bring my horribly painful bloating down. Sounds like celiac to me! What do you all think? I'm new on here and I have no one else to turn to. Every doctor I've seen wants to shove meds down my throat, send me to an eating disorder counselor, tell me it's "all in my head", or pass me along to another doctor who does the same thing. I've already been tested for lupus, chrone's, and something else that I can't seem to remember. All tests came out negative. It is not candida either, I've been tested and went though that diet for some time (w/o removing the wheat though). Thanks for your time and I appolozige for this post being so long (this was the short version by the way!). I'm starting college full time this fall and I want to be well. My parents don't know what to do with me anymore, I spend so much time in bed moaning and groaning in pain

- ~*~Kat~*~ the lost girl who doesn't know where to go

[darlindeb25]

Kat, have you been tested for celiac disease? If not, request that now, if you have and that has come back negative, then certainly, go gluten free. If you felt better for a few days, then go for it, but you have to go full force. You can't just be gluten free most of the time, you have to be gluten free all of the time. A gluten free person, must be "free of gluten". In the beginning, stick to natural foods, whole foods--nothing processed. Go to the library and check out the book called "Gluten Free for Dummies", its a great book, very helpful. "The Gluten Free Bible" is very good too, as is, "The Gluten Free Connection." The forums are very helpful, although sometimes I think they can be confusing when there is arguing going on about certain items, try to stay away from those threads.

You sound like you have a lot going on. See if you have a celiac support group in your area and maybe someone who can help you get started on your path to good health, someone to take you under their wing. Feel free to email me anytime with questions-- darlindeb25@aol.com .

Good luck, Deb

[stef-the-kicking-cuty]

Hi Kat, if you want a celiac diagnosis, you can NOT go glutenfree BEFORE the tests or the results could be wrong.

Yes, I would suggest, you go to the doctor and request the tests. There are also some doctors out there, as you already know, who will try to ignore you and say you don't need the tests, because they think, it's all in your head and you can't have celiac. How can they know, just by looking at you? That's impossible. Depending on the area, where you are from there might be very good doctors around, that are knowledgeable with celiac. So you might consider asking somebody, could be us, if we know a good doctor in yaddidi yaddida area. Cause you didn't put in your info, where you are from, so I assumed, you don't want to tell us.

Good luck in finding out and welcome to the board.

Oh, btw, it sounds like celiac to me, but I'm not 100% sure, cause I'm not a doctor. You better go and get checked.