Another Newbie

[ppeterin]

Hello,

I stumbled onto this site after furiously searching for an explanation to my sudden and not-so-sudden symptoms.

A little history,

I have had issues with anxiety and panic since I was a teenager. At the time I used an anxiety packet to get through and it seemed to help. Several years later I ended up on prozac to help with anxiety and depression. Starting around age 22-23 I started to have symptoms lactose intolerance and I cut it completely out of the diet. A year or so after cutting out dairy I started to develop IBS. Around the same time I developed asthma. Like a good boy I followed all the advice on how to manage IBS. That advice included lots of bulky and high fiber grains. Those have been my staple for years. I'll admit that I have also developed some bad dietary habits like eating far too much sugar and using far too much immodium to manage my IBS.

Fast forward 7 years. I am 30 now and recently I took myself off of my latest anti-depressant. For about a month after coming off I felt relatively health except that my IBS sypmtoms were worsening. I again started looking around online and stumbled across a couple of anti-candida diet websites. I figured that if cutting some foods out of my diet would help with my overall symptoms (even if one-tenth of what was promised was true) I would do it. I stuck to the diet for three days and got pretty sick and weak. However, my mood noticeably improved and my bowl symptoms were gone. I just felt really weak and that was what caused me to turn to bread for some sustenance once again. I would have tried rice but I was under the impression that white rice was worse in the diet than whole wheat bread. So I ate bread. A few days later I added some ghee to my bread because I was told it was lactose free.

I was fine for a few days after reintroducing a little bread with each meal. Three days after I couldn't fall asleep for any reason at all. WIDE awake for several hours until some Tylenol PM saved me. I haven't had insomnia in years. The very next day I start developing anxiety. Not the regular run of the mill anxiety but HOLY COW! this is insane I can't find relief anxiety. Then today. Horrible and painful diarrhea (tan and smelly - stetorrhea I guess it is called-I have had it before-for years in fact) and anxiety I haven't felt in years. Now I am sitting here almost unable to work at all. I can barely eat although I have finally figured I should be sneaking rice down the chute instead of bread.

That was the only time in my life that I can remember going without gluten for ONE full day let alone THREE. The conclusion I am moving towards is that it was the cutting of gluten, followed by reintroduction of gluten that has caused this sudden onset of suck. I also completely cut out refined sugars and anything that can easily be converted to sugar. I also continued on without eating any dairy products. I never drink anything with caffeine. When I reintroduced whole wheat bread I also reintroduced a little refined sugar from the honey and white-flour component of the bread (Whole- wheat my butt!). When I ate the ghee I reintroduced a little dairy (supposedly harmless ). So the question for me is which of the three things are causing my problems. Or are all three causing my problems. The dairy and the sugar are the most likely culprits unless you consider that my problems with dairy and sugar may actually be due to celiac. Did I just reintroduce three things I either can't digest

I am terrified. My wife and I just closed on a home and now I can barely function. I know that celiac can't be diagnosed as simply like lactose intolerance. I am just very frustrated and scared. I'm even crying and I NEVER cry.

My course of action is simply to cut out gluten from this moment forward and to see if I can return to those few days when I felt OK. I have an appointment with a PA in two days since I can't get in to see my primary until September. I'll ask for the testing though I know that not eating gluten can throw the tests off.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

My only question is how long after stopping the eating of gluten will the tests still register the anti-bodies? Is two days without gluten too long?

[Gutbomb]

Are you sure you aren't telling my story? I don't have any answers for you since I am going through the testing phase myself but hang in there. Someone will come a long with some answers and just so you know I called out of work sick today. You aren't alone!

Amanda

[gfpaperdoll]

it is your decision but I would quit eating gluten immediately. If you are interested in any testing I would test thru Enterolab.com I like them & tested my family there. You can be gluten free for up to a year or two & not effect the outcome of the tests. They also do the gene tests...

with your strong neurological depression, anxiety, etc you probably have at least one DQ1 gene.

I have an 83 year old friend that had been sick with classic celiac symptoms for three years (she is also Irish) & about day two gluten-free her depression, panic attacks, & anxiety were gone. People were talking to her & not believeing the huge change in her.

Most of us with DQ1 do not have depression when we are gluten-free. well I am gluten-free, DF etc. most meds will not help depression caused by gluten.

welcome to the group & I hope you are better soon. Just quit eating wheat, rye, barley & oats. Giving up dairy & soy is also strongly advised...

good luck

[GFinDC]

Hi ppeterin,

This article on the forum might help answer your questions about testing.

https://www.celiac.com/articles/57/1/Interp...ults/Page1.html

I suggest you ask your doctor to do the blood test first, and a gene test. You can start reading up on G.F. eating and diet in the meanwhile.

[ppeterin]

Thank you for all the replies.

I spent the day in the ER because I just couldn't eat or drink. Far too nauseas. I got an IV and some anti-nausea medication. Feelings slightly better. The doc refused to run any celiac anti-body tests because I failed to eat anything with gluten for two days last week. I think he just didn't want to touch it. The good news is that visiting the ER got me on the fast track to see an GI doc. I will be getting a colonoscopy this Thursday. It is my understanding that biopsies for celiac come from going down the throat and sampling the jejunem. So I don't think I'll be able to get the proper biopsy off the bat. However, I will ask him to run the gene and antibody tests.

Either way, I am going to cut gluten and soy (and ghee) out of my diet and see what happens.