Appt On The 31st Req. Endo!

[peaches102984]

Hello All,

I have not posted too much here...I don't have a computer....So I have to sneek around at work. So here is the deal....my husband has had alot of stomach problems over the last 3 1/2 years! Alot of diarrhea and stomach cramps. Diagnosed with this and that. Even he would have his colon removed in 2 years with no phyical finding or a reason! So....now I got him another GI doctor here in Austin, Tx. Its is on the 31st. He has already had 1 blood test ran IgA tis all (which came back neg!) They say there is no way he has celiac because he weighs too much.....ok when we first met 4 years ago....he only weighed 185 about....now he is 330 and it fluctuates. It almost looks like his stomach is swollen! I just want to know what is wrong with my husband. Also my 3 year old daughter (just turned 3 today) has problems she is hard to deal with when she has too much gluten. My husband is always irritated and blames it on me! I am having a really hard time dealing with things on a day to day basis. Between my daughters irritatedness and his. Him gettin mad at her because she won't listen!! AHHH ok back on task here....my other issue is that I am the only one working because his stomach pain has gotten so bad he has had to stop working all together....I have given him until feb. to get things under contol. We get on a gluten-free diet and then.....we fall off....because of money or what not......I want to get us on a menu so it will be easier.....but my brain seems to go blank alot.....I have heard and seen people post about finacial help that is offered ......but I don't know where to begin. Holidays are coming up and he is going to be in the bathroom alot if I can't get a handle on this now! I have food stamps (bout to get cut off because they say I make too much) I just got a raise at my job from $8.25 to $10 and we have a roomate so that is another issue in its self. I have WIC and all that good stuff....but we are still struggling.....we what to be on this diet but we don't know where to start. We have no car so we are stuck with public transportation. Any suggestions......we are planning on moving back to Georgia next sept also. I know I know what to do.....but I feel like I don't!! Does that make sense?

Thanks for listening!!!!

Casey

[kbtoyssni]

Welcome! It is a common misconception that celiacs are underweight due to malnutrition, but recent studies have shown that it's quite common for celiacs to be overweight as well. And neurological symptoms like the irritability can be caused by celiac. It's also common for blood tests to have false negatives, especially if you've been gluten-free on-and-off.

I'd recommend just trying the diet for an extended period of time. You probably want to wait until after the GI appointment though in case the GI wants to do further testing. Dietary response is a perfectly valid diagnosis, though. I'm not sure what your health insurance situation is, but you always have to option of just going gluten-free without a doctor telling you to.

There have been several threads recently on the high cost of the diet - do a search for some of those. If you want to keep the diet cheap, it will take getting creative, but you'll figure out how to do it quickly. These is no need to buy expensive gluten-free substitutes, there are plenty of ways to eat well without them. This also means you can shop in your regular grocery store so the transportation shouldn't be an issue. A lot of people here also shop online.

In the USA, you can get a tax break, but it's a bit of a pain. You can claim the difference between the cost of "regular" food and the gluten-free substitute (so if gluten-free bread is $5 and wheat bread is $3, you can claim $2). I think all medical claims also have to amount to greater than 7% of your income to be able to make these claims.