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Confused Between Celiac And Gluten Intolerance

blondebombshell

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blondebombshell Collaborator
blondebombshell
Posted

my doc did some bloodwork and it came back that i had a gluten intolerance. for 1 month i took gluten out of my diet and i felt great. i dont know if its psychological but i felt not bloated and my skin looked great (acne cleared up).

for a week now, my GI doc has suggested that i go back on gluten b/c he is going to do an endoscopy and some additional bloodwork.

so now i am eating gluten and feel SOOO BLOATED and feel like crap! PLUS i have new pimples!

do you think i have celiac or just a gluten intolerance? whats the difference?

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cruelshoes Enthusiast
cruelshoes
Posted

Open Original Shared Link helps explain the difference. Here are a few key points:

* Gluten intolerance is an adverse food-induced reaction that does not involve the immune system. This is a reaction in the digestive tract that causes gastrointestinal symptoms.

*Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition. Autoimmune disorders occur when the immune system acts to destroy the body's own tissues. The tissue damage created by an autoimmune disorder can lead to medical complications and an increased risk for other disorders. The trigger for this autoimmune response is gluten.

There is no bloodwork to test for gluten intollerance. There is bloodwork to test for celiac disease. This is probably the test that your doctor ran. All people with celiac disease are gluten intollerant, but not all gluten intollerant people have celiac disease. If your doctor says your bloodwork is positive for gluten intollerance, he/she is really saying that your bloodwork is positive for celiac disease.

Hope this helps.

blondebombshell Collaborator
blondebombshell
Posted
  • Author

it wasnt the GI who did the bloodwork. it was my regular doc and i said i had a lot of constipation and bloating. he did a test for some food allergies and a wheat allergy came up. isnt that gluten?

cruelshoes Enthusiast
cruelshoes
Posted
it wasnt the GI who did the bloodwork. it was my regular doc and i said i had a lot of constipation and bloating. he did a test for some food allergies and a wheat allergy came up. isnt that gluten?

Celiac is not an allergy. It is an autoimmune response. Allergies are a hystamine response. A doctor would most likely not order an endoscopy based on allergy testing. Did he run the celiac panel or did he run allergy tests? They are not the same thing. It would be very helpful to know exactly what tests were run, and what your results were.

A wheat allergy would only mean that you cannot eat wheat. Gluten is also present in barley and rye. Celiacs have to avoid all 3, people with a wheat allergy do not.

Hang in there

blondebombshell Collaborator
blondebombshell
Posted
  • Author

:( i dont really know.

it was my regular doc. he tested me for food allergies b/c i was always constipated, etc. he then told me that i should try a gluten free diet.

i then went to a gastro doc and he orderd some different tests but i am not getting them done until 3 days before the endo.

cruelshoes Enthusiast
cruelshoes
Posted

You can have a wheat allergy and gluten intollerance celiac together, but they are not the same thing, and would not have the same symptoms. You would not be sent to a GI doctor as a result of allergy testing. You would have been sent to an allergist. The bloodwork that would have resulted in you being scheduled for a biopsy is the celiac panel.

You do need to be eating gluten in order the the biopsy to be accurate. I know it is hard, but if you go gluten-free before the biopsy, you tun the risk of getting a false negative.

Hang in there.

blondebombshell Collaborator
blondebombshell
Posted
  • Author

thank you. i just need to get rid of the bloating, constipation and the cystic pimples once again!!!

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Crystalkd Contributor
Crystalkd
Posted

Here is my take on the whole thing. I spent years having problems that my doctors said was due to my Cerebral Palsy. I took that answer with out question and because I did I was on all sorts of meds to depression, mood problems, and pain. Earlier this year I woke up with symtoms of having had a stroke but no evidence was found to prove it. The doc then said stress and sent me to a shrink. The shrink told me to get by now what was my fourth opion. I went to a GI doc that automaticly thought celiac disease. The blood work came back abnormal twice. After my endoscopy my mom looked up the diet. The next day I was on it and there was an immediate change! The endoscpy came back inconclusive so I went and ate a sandwhich and automaticlly ate a sandwich. BIG MISTAKE!!! I went to an internist the next day and he told me know matter what the test said to stay on the diet, He then ran a test forgetting I had been on the diet for three weeks. After that he ran an allergy test. It came back that I was allergic to wheat and corn as far as foods go. I also react very strongly to MANY foods.

I wouldn't gluten load if I were you. The treatment in either case is the same. Is it really worth it to know what type of responce you're having. Granted if its celiac disease there are other things to look for but if you have a good doc that's not out to make money on tests they could still keep an eye out for those things without putting you through and endoscpy since they know your having a reaction.

No matter what form of gluten problem I have I feel a whole lot better being gluten-free. I'm like a new person. The only med I'm on now is for my enviromental allergies!!!

blondebombshell Collaborator
blondebombshell
Posted
  • Author

can i just eat a lot of gluten two days before? i felt so sick after the bagel from friday. constantly bloated and constipated. i also broke out on my face which i seem to think is a result from the gluten or wheat.

babygirl1234 Rookie
babygirl1234
Posted

i always though celiac disease and gluten intolerance where the same

Crystalkd Contributor
Crystalkd
Posted

They aren't the same. No the two day gluten loading won't work as I understand it. You know gluten is a problem for you. You have to be gluten-free no matter what. Why even make yourself so sick for this test. The longer I'm on the diet the harder it gets to even think about going back. The better I get I realize just how sick I was and how LONG I was sick. I'm sure that if I wasn't on the diet I'd be bed ridden by now if not dead, My brain can't understand at this point in time why you would want to make yourself sick just for a test. You have the power to tell your doctor that no you don't want the test. You feel better gluten-free.

hathor Contributor
hathor
Posted

You aren't going to find agreement on what gluten intolerance is or isn't. Sometimes gluten intolerance is what someone has before the blood tests will show the antibodies and the villi are observably injured. There is a deleterious, autoimmune process going on ... it just hasn't turned into "celiac" yet.

There are also cases where it is believed that gluten has caused injury to the neurological system instead of the villi.

For the purposes of Enterolab testing, gluten intolerance does involve the immune system because it is the measurement of certain antibodies. I fail to see how antibodies don't involve the immune system.

You might read:

Open Original Shared Link (First sentence: ""Gluten sensitivity" is the process by which the immune system reacts to gluten contained in wheat, barley, rye, and oats." Obviously, this is a difference POV from U Chicago's "Gluten intolerance is an adverse food-induced reaction that does not involve the immune system." )

https://www.celiac.com/articles/1101/1/Glut...ewey/Page1.html

OK, I've seen people draw different distinctions between allergy, intolerance and sensitivity, too. The terminology is not consistent. There are some who think that only IgE mediated, immediate onset responses are "allergies," while others allow that label to include delayed onset, nonIgE mediated immune responses as well. The distinction, if any, between intolerance and sensitivity is also varied.

So when anybody uses any of the these terms, it is important to get at what they mean.

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