Do I Have Celiac Disease?

[sharon 43]

Hi, I wonder if someone out there can help me.

I am female 43 years old and when aged approx. 20 had bleeding from the bowel , was told there was an old scar there from an ulcer and was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. Although I don't remember suffering from constipation/diarrohea/bloating anytime until that happened.)

When I was 32 years old, one year after the birth of my first child, I had 'pains' in the soles of my feet and joints, I was told I had a viral infection for 9 months, then diagnosed with an under-active thyroid, then 3 months later diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. My irritable bowel came and went at various times worse than others, but mostly constipated then every so often bouts of severe diahorrhea.

About 6 weeks ago I had a sickness bug(the whole family had it) but one week after it I started to get a feeling of food 'stuck ' at the top of my stomac just where my ribs join. My doctor prescribed me Colofac 3 times a day and suddenly I had severe diahorrhea (sorry for this graphic description!!) but like muddy water running from me. I contacted my local pharmacist who told me this was a side effect of the tablets and contacted my doctor who changed me to Spasmonal, 2days after taking this I had severe back pains and abdominal pains, like cramp, then again still bouts of the severe diahhorea. I stopped taking them over a week ago and visited another doctor today who is sending a blood sample away to test for celiac disease and I also handed in a stool sample for testing.

My stomach pains and back pains are more severe normally in the evenings.

Yesterday I ate a sandwich at 1pm and was 'sore' from about 3pm to 10pm and did not eat again the rest of the day.

I did not in fact eat again until about 1pm today, for fear of having diahorrhea when visiting the doctor, and at 2.30pm the pains again and severe diahorrea now for about 2 hours.

Sorry to ramble on, but can anyone tell me if they think this could be celiac disease??

Any info would be great.

Thanks.

Sharon,

Scotland.

[JNBunnie1]

Sure sounds like it to me. There's a website called celiaccentral.org that has a quiz on the front page where you check off all the things you've experienced, and then print it out and take it to your doctor. You have a lot of the things on the list, I suggest you take a look at it. And no matter what the test your doctor did says, the best way to find out if you have celiac disease is to go gluten free and see what happens. The nice thing is, is that it can't hurt!

[sharon 43]

Sure sounds like it to me. There's a website called celiaccentral.org that has a quiz on the front page where you check off all the things you've experienced, and then print it out and take it to your doctor. You have a lot of the things on the list, I suggest you take a look at it. And no matter what the test your doctor did says, the best way to find out if you have celiac disease is to go gluten free and see what happens. The nice thing is, is that it can't hurt!

Thanks for your quick reply, my husband went out last night and hunted for gluten free bread for me! So, I've started from last night trying to be gluten free and will do a big shop at the weekend, anything now's worth a try, I can't go on being ill like this. Will let you know what happens...by the way, how long before I should notice an improvement on a gluten-free diet??

Sharon

Scotland.