My Story

[Vanquish]

Hello all, just figured i'd give you my story and see how closely this resembles your own celiac diagnosis. It all started 6 months ago when i had started to get a rash on my elbows, lower back, and knees. The rash did not go away but was not that bad in the beginning. Until one day about 5 months into having the rash it started to blister and itch terribly bad. Went to the dermo, had 2 biopsies done, first one was negative, second one was positive for DH. My derma wanted me to have another blood test too, the first one being negative and the second one being positive again...so i was referred to my family doc who took another blood test and found i had positive anti endomyseal and anti giladin antibodies. Which i guess is the gold standard for celiac disease. I am unaware if there is any error in those tests however. I went on the gluten free diet in the meantime and my rash cleared up extremely fast probably within 2 weeks. Which is really starting to point me to celiac disease. However i hit some bumps along the road and...i didn't have any reaction. So i was befuddled, can you have celiac and DH but only react to large amounts of gluten? I am awaiting an endoscopy on the 2nd of june which should confirm what i think i already know but is it possible to have all these symptoms and have tropical sprue? I can almost remember my symptoms before my Dh started, and it was major stomach pains maybe once at night for 2 to 3 months prior to starting to have break outs. Oh, and i am the first in both sides of my family to be diagnosed with celiac if i indeed have it (which i am sure i do at this point....unfortunately..). I guess im just confused as to why i can tolerate gluten at some times and not others without the nasty repercussions that other people face. Unless as i go along with the gluten free diet my reaction to gluten ingestion only gets worse. Thats my story up to this point. Just trying to go with the flow of things.

[IMWalt]

So i was befuddled, can you have celiac and DH but only react to large amounts of gluten? I am awaiting an endoscopy on the 2nd of june which should confirm what i think i already know but is it possible to have all these symptoms and have tropical sprue? I can almost remember my symptoms before my Dh started, and it was major stomach pains maybe once at night for 2 to 3 months prior to starting to have break outs. Oh, and i am the first in both sides of my family to be diagnosed with celiac if i indeed have it (which i am sure i do at this point....unfortunately..). I guess im just confused as to why i can tolerate gluten at some times and not others without the nasty repercussions that other people face.

I also wonder the same things. I have recently started the journey of finding out what causes my symptoms, and why sometimes I can eat bread with no reaction and other times I get a bad stomache ache, cramps, gas, etc. That's a mystery to me. What isn't a mystery is how much better I felt when I ate gluten-free for a month. I am 50 years old, and I did not realize I could feel that good. I always thought everybody had the cramps and gas that I did. I thought I was normal. When I asked my doc why I always had those symptoms, all I got was "Hmmmmm". Finally after a 2-year journey to get my daughter diagnosed with celiac disease, I decided to try a gluten-free diet, and it was like somebody flipped a switch and I was normal.

Good luck!

Walt