Self Diagnosed-would Like To Hear Some Opinions

[ZZBottom]

I will try to make this short. I have suffered from lifelong depression/anxiety, and in June it had gotten so bad I almost could not go in public without having panic attacks, also I generally felt sick and run down always and had only a couple bowel movements a week. I went serching for somekind kind of answers and after reading alot on the internet I decided to go gluten free in July. After about 4.5 months I am now having a bowel movement everyday (and they actually look normal, I think) Also I feel my deppression/anxiety is slowly improving. Some other things I have been realizing is: When i look at childhood pictures my stomach is oddly bulged out , like a extreme beer belly ( but not so into adulthood), I have always had constipation and loose but solid bowel movements, lots of trouble in school with focus, etc., and no matter how healthy I eat I was always slightly overweight and chubby, plus vision blurry and trouble focusing but eye docter says I have 20/20 vision. Anyhow that is all I will say for now. My question is, does it sound like i have celiacs disease? I do not have health insurance so i do not want to be diagnosed by a doctor. One more thing in June I had blood work done and the doc said I had low iron, can gluten cause this?

Peace

[wowzer]

The bloated belly from childhood is a symptom. I noticed my "brain fog" lifted afer a few weeks gluten free. I get a funny vision feeling when I get glutened. I know that low iron can also be a symptom. The same with the stools. I am self diagnosed and had many symptoms disappear after going gluten free and some that I didn't expect. It sounds to me like you are on the right track.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Gluten can certainly cause low iron and all your other symptoms as well. If you are gluten intolerant or have celiac disease (many of us believe that gluten intolerance is simply early-stage celiac), that usually damages the villi that line your small intestine. The villi are what absorb nutrients, so then you would not be absorbing iron. Calcium is another one that doesn't get absorbed, which results in loss of bone density.

I wonder if lutein also doesn't get absorbed, and if that would explain your vision problems?

It does sound like you are in the right place! Welcome to the board!

[ravenwoodglass]

I agree you sound like one of us. Welcome, you have come to a great place for support and info. Read as much as you can here and ask any questions you need to.