New Sufferer

[douglas95]

Hi everyone

I don't remember how I picked up the idea that I may be affected by food containing gluten. I must have read an article or overheard a conversation that hit a nerve and thought "sounds like me".

Within the next couple of weeks I will be hitting the 'big 60', ten years after suffering a mild heart-attack. I have over the past years developed or so it seems symptoms that were related to my medication, corroborated by my doctor, some of which are getting more pronounced. I have taken time today and looked on the Internet at related sites and seen lists of symptoms related with Celiac Disease

[Ursa Major]

Hi Douglas, and welcome to these boards.

Your symptoms sound definitely like they could be caused by gluten. Or dairy, or soy, or all of the above.

You can go and try getting an official diagnosis and get the testing done. Or you could just try eating gluten-free to see if you feel better that way. If you don't notice any difference within a couple of weeks, eliminate dairy, and then soy.

Or you might want to cut out all three for about two weeks, and then reintroduce them one at a time (a week apart, to catch delayed reactions), to see if one of them is the culprit (or more than one).

It certainly can't hurt to try, and may just be the answer you are looking for to feel well again.

[gfpaperdoll]

Hi & I am happy to welcome another person my age. You might think that your health issues are because that you are getting older but they most probably are not.

I have been gluten-free for 3+ years now & have never felt better.

For testing look up the 5 blood tests & print them out to take to your doctor, if you want to go that route, then you may or may not want to get a biopsy. If you want to do either one of these things you should continue to eat gluten until the second you get the last test. also be aware that you can still have celiac or gluten intolerance & have both of these tests be negative.

The dietary trial is the real true test...

Or you can do like I did & a lot of other people, start your dietary trial & just get the testing thru enterolab.com you can also get a gene test thru them. Enterolab can ID a problem with gluten, soy, dairy, eggs & absorbtion. They cannot tell you whether it is celiac or gluten intolerance - which really requires the same thing - no gluten, but some people are really picky about if you say celiac but you have not had a positive biopsy - which is the old fashioned way that they know to be diagnosed. If you read the book "Dangerous Grains" it will give you the whole picture.

I do suggest that you "clean up your eating habits" & only eat the whole foods, meat, veggies, seafood, fruit, nuts, eggs, seeds... give up colas, & artificial sweetner.

one other thing to watch out for is dairy & soy - a lot of us do not tolerate that stuff. I think you said you had a heart condition, so you should not be eating dairy anyway. & there are several doctors that are studying the effects of gluten free diet on the heart... so this would be a win win situation for you. then the next thing to stufy is the lectin foods & the nightshade foods. A lot of us cannot eat potatoes - & until I got on these gluten-free forums I thought I was the only person in the world that could not eat potatoes. I now use sweet potatoes.

so this ought to get you started with some things to think about

welcome to our world...

one note if you go gluten free & then decide that you want to start eating gluten again so you can get a blood test etc. gluten will in all likely hood make you very ill - & I do not know about you but I do not have 6 months to moan around & be sick.

sorry for the bad grammer - it is 1:30a.m. & I am up too late & my brain is dozing