Celiac?

[erbadger]

Hi,

I have been having some stomach and intestinal issues for the last nine months. It started off as just nausea, but however has gained some frrequent bathroom trips, cramps, intestinal pains, gas and bloating. My GI and primamry care doc have had me do an extensive series of tests like endoscopy, a barrium swallow, and ultrasound of my gallbladder, an ultra sound of my "girl parts" and random blood and fecal tests (not to mention the initial pregnancy test 9 months ago-thank god I'm not preg, my husband and I would be so upset!)

A few months ago my GI put me on amytriptiline which is an antidepressent (at much higher doses than what I was using) with the positive side effect of decreasing nausea, decreasing migraines (about 2x mo since I was 15) but causes weight gain! I went from about 135 lbs to 155 in just over 8 weeks! (I'm 5'8) I just stopped the medication due to the side effects and that it wasn't working very well.

I have always been a sleepy person (8-9 hrs a night is never enough) and have gone to the doc for exhaustion. But, that medicine made my sleepyness increase but olike 200%. In addition to nausea and migrane prevention, at the same lower concentration is perscribed as a sleep aid! So, needless to say, on the meds, I was drowsy for at least 4 hrs after waking. Now, I am still tired and exhuasted, but not as bad as on that medication!

I started having all these issues about a month after a pretty serious surgical procedure (totally unrelated) and just after being accepted to graduate school, though I wouldn't say I was under a ton of stress. Also, at that time I was doing Atkins, though not as good as I should have been. I was down to about 128-130 lbs (lowest in my life!) By the way, I am 24.

This week, my primamry care doc thought to test me for food allergies and sensitivities, so had me do a blood celiac test and some more stool samples.

I have been on that medicine for so long that I forgot what I felt like without it, that I just wasnt hungry and always sick to my stomach. Since Saturday, I haven't wanted to eat anything, because I always feel worse.

I don't know how long these results take, but do any of you have advice? Part of me wants this to be it so I dont have to be poked and prodded as much, but the majority of me really doesn't want this because I love pizza and chocolate cake and would miss having them ever.

Thanks in advance!

erbadger

[Guest jhmom]

Hi erbadger, Welcome to the board!

I too had such nausea that I thought I was pregnant, had my doctor run a pregnancy test too and of course it came back negative but the point is the nausea was so bad and lasted all day and was not normal.

My suggestion to you is: Order a stool panel test from Open Original Shared Link if you receive negative blood results and continue to have the same problems. I had all the same symptoms as you and my blood-work came back negative but my stool panel test came back positive. A lot of times if the disease or intolerance is just beginning it may not register in the blood or has not done any damage to be seen in a biopsy.

A gluten free diet can be intimidating and can be overwhelming at first but there are a lot of foods out there we can eat, you just have to search for them. You mentioned you liked Pizza and cake, well you can still have those. There is a pizza made with Rice crust that is pretty good that is made by Amy's Organic. As far as the cake you will have to get in the kitchen and bake some, I still have not got the cake down pat but I will soon enough . The gluten free pantry sells an awesome Brownie mix that is better than the regular ones and for now that satisfies my cake craving!!!

I hope this information is helpful and I do hope you begin to feel better soon!