If You Are Confirmed Celiac Or Gluten Intolerant How Sick Were You?

[TracyB]

I was wondering about the gluten challenge - I have no idea what "normal" is as far as how I ought to feel. I was thinking that after testing, regardless of the results I think I'd like to try gluten free and see how I feel. If the change is dramatic, I think I'd have my answer.

But I was wondering how pre-diagnosis you all felt? I mean, did you get really ill right after eating gluten - was it really noticeable then, or did you sometimes not feel anything at all and other times have a bad reaction to gluten?

Just wondering, lately I seem to be feeling really rotten most of the time and I'm waking up at night with my stomach SO noisy and feeling nauseous. Same in the a.m. - noisy stomach, feel sick (not preggers - absolutely not!). This goes on all day, but I find it a bit weird that this is all happening even long after I've eaten anything. Although in general this feeling is familiar, there are differences because I've been feeling like this pretty much all of the time for quite a long time now.

Just wondering....will get bloodwork done tomorrow

TracyB

[ravenwoodglass]

How sick folks are really varies. For years I had on and off symptoms that made it easy to ignore what was going on tummy wise. It wasn't until the last 5 or 6 years of illness that my tummy issues were a daily and nightly occurance. One thing I did learn after diagnosis was that it is not a symptom of IBS to wake up in the middle of the night with tummy issues. My DD mostly had nausea, migraines and weakness and my DS had mostly psychological issues with rare tummy issues. My husband had mostly skin problems with bloating and gas and what he thought was normal sporatic bowel issues. There are some who are diagnosed only when it is found while they are looking for something else or after some off results in certain blood panels like for anemia or when they are found to be losing bone for no good reason. This disorder can effect any system in our bodies and it isn't alway the tummy that drives the diagnosis.

One important thing about gluten and the gluten challenges, gluten causes an antibody reaction and this is not instant. When someone does a gluten challenge it is normal for it to take from 3 to 6 days for a reaction to happen. Some folks will have a reaction right away but not all do. Also while some do get some quick releif from the diet for some it can take a while before they see an astounding difference. When you are done with testing then do try the diet for a good 2 or 3 months and then challenge if you still have any doubt.