Help

[Guest Tish]

I was diagnosed with Celiac sprue in May and was relieved for the past 14 + years this was not all in my head. I went on a all protien diet at first not knowing what I should eat?? I live in a very rural area and gluten free just was not a issue in fact the hospital dietian only had one other patient that was a celiac at that time. So I have had to learn on my own the hardway and now I am very sensitive to gluten but I have several other things happening that I am not sure is related to being a celiac so I need to ask all of you ..

1) I sometimes break out in the itchies from top to bottom... I had seen a dermotologist and they biospied me but did not find what they are looking for.. At the time I had three hershey bars (one a day) then later found out candy is often dusted with flour and do not list it as a ingredient... I am taking allergy medicine every other day to prevent a scratch attack .. Has anyone else had this problem ?

I did break out last week with little bumps mostly unvisible in the back of my knees down to my ankle... called the dermotoligist and she said nothing to worry about.... Weird...

2) I began having some pain in my tail bone then pain in my wrist joints. The doctor gave me a athritis test and x-rayed my tail bone and said I was fine. Last night the pain was horrible in my shoulder bones, arm joints, wrist and all the bones in my fingers.. Has anyone experienced such pains ?

3) I am very active and exercise vigorously 7 days a week usually and had lost a lot of weight prior to this whole celiac bizz on my own... but when I finally found a bread that I can finally choke down I gained 10 pounds and I am afraid to gain anymore... any suggestions ? Most celiacs I have read about are worried about being so thin, wish I had that problem.

I know I should be able to get this information from my doctor but this last visit he though the only food I was to avoid was wheat... Boy that really worried me. Please give me some advise I could use........

[Guest LisaB]

I too have had all kinds of changes/wierd things happening since going gluten-free. My skin has totally changed, I am often itchy and get rough dry skin off and on, mostly on. My skin was never dry before, I wasn't itchy before. I get very wierd joint pain and other pain and then it goes away but I also feel stronger everyday. My theory is that things are working themselves out now that it is getting some nutrition.

Maybe working out so heavily isn't such a good idea right now, your body may need time and energy to catch up internally before devoting so much to muscle output? My belief is that it is good to keep moving, your lymph system cannot function to move waste unless there is some movement, but if there is too much waste to move to quickly along with other biological functions that need to start running properly and organs/glands that need to get the nutrition your hopefully now absorbing...that is a lot to ask of your system. Just a possibility.

[EmilyP2004]

I was diagnosed with Celiac sprue in May and was relieved for the past 14 + years this was not all in my head.  I went on a all protien diet at first not knowing what I should eat?? I live in a very rural area and gluten free just was not a issue in fact the hospital dietian only had one other patient that was a celiac at that time.  So I have had to learn on my own the hardway and now I am very sensitive to gluten but I have several other things happening that I am not sure is related to being a celiac so I need to ask all of you ..

1) I sometimes break out in the itchies from top to bottom... I had seen a dermotologist and they biospied me but did not find what they are looking for.. At the time I had three hershey bars (one a day) then later found out candy is often dusted with flour and do not list it as a ingredient... I am taking allergy medicine every other day to prevent a scratch attack .. Has anyone else had this problem ?

I did break out last week with little bumps mostly unvisible in the back of my  knees down to my ankle... called the dermotoligist and she said nothing to worry about....  Weird...

2) I began having some pain in my tail bone then pain in my wrist joints.  The doctor gave me a athritis test and x-rayed my tail bone and said I was fine.  Last night the pain was horrible in my shoulder bones, arm joints, wrist and all the bones in my fingers.. Has anyone experienced such pains ?

3) I am very active and exercise vigorously 7 days a week usually and had lost a lot of weight prior to this whole celiac bizz on my own...  but when I finally found a bread that I can finally choke down I gained 10 pounds and I am afraid to gain anymore... any suggestions ?  Most celiacs I have read about are worried about being so thin, wish I had that problem.

I know I should be able to get this information from my doctor but this last visit he though the only food I was to avoid was wheat... Boy that really worried me.  Please give me some advise I could use........

It is possible you may have Dermatitis Herpetiformis

Dermatitis Herpetiformis is a rare condition with a very itchy rash.

DH associated with Coeliac Disease.

It is, however, difficult to diagnose and not many skin specialists understand about it.

You can see examples & descriptions of DH & ask for advice on this website.

Open Original Shared Link

Bone pain can indicate low bone density which is a risk for coeliacs.

Have you had a DEXA scan? This can show the state of your bones.

Please see :

Open Original Shared Link

I used to be underweight before diagnosis. Then I could eat any food & it would rush through me as my body tried to get rid of the gluten.

When you are diagnosed with celiac disease your body can recover on the gluten-free diet & it absorbs more, including the calories!

However, being overweight could indicate a thyroid problem which is sometimes found in coeliacs, so you might want to have your thyroid checked - but I think you may find you are just absorbing more food now your guts are healing.

[gaceff]

Careful with low calcium intake: celiacs tend to improperly absorb calcium and also eliminate milk products from their meals. Just be sure you get enough calcium (1g per day is needed, I believe, check other sources too).

And yes, I, too, suffer from different forms of skin problems (incl dandruff), that get worse when my digestive problems get more severe, and I'm pretty sure they are related. However, you indicate even worse symptoms than I ever had, so you should have a trip to a city with better doctors to check your condition.