Do You Always Have To Be Underweight With Celiac Disease?

[Jamie]

I am 4'10'' and 1/4 I am about 104 lbs... I am average weight... I look healthy. I do have a big butt and a little gut that I am constantly trying to lose... but weight loss for me has always been very hard for me.... After I was diagnosed... (Last Tuesday by the way)... I read up that many people lose a lot of weight are are usually very skinny and malnurished by the time of their diagnosis. I eat about 1700 calories a day to sustain my heavy work outs and I am at a healthy weight... body fat 19.5 and a BMI of 21.... The only indication that I had celiac disease was through a blood test I had. Should I get an endoscopy just to be sure before I make this life change?

[Lisa]

Hi Jamie and Welcome to the Club!

BTW, can I have some of your butt please. My stomach is bigger than my bottom. If you turned my torso around, I'd have a pretty good figure.

Yes, those with malabsorption issue can be thin, but not always. Some can be overweight and still have malabsorption issues.

Curious though, what made you test for Celiac? Some members here are silent Celiacs and have no symptoms. An endoscopy exam can also serve as confirmation as well as look for damage. This might be important, especially if you are a silent Celiac.

[MELINE]

BTW, can I have some of your butt please. My stomach is bigger than my bottom. If you turned my torso around, I'd have a pretty good figure.

lol.... :D

[Jamie]

Hi Jamie and Welcome to the Club!

BTW, can I have some of your butt please. My stomach is bigger than my bottom. If you turned my torso around, I'd have a pretty good figure.

Yes, those with malabsorption issue can be thin, but not always. Some can be overweight and still have malabsorption issues.

Curious though, what made you test for Celiac? Some members here are silent Celiacs and have no symptoms. An endoscopy exam can also serve as confirmation as well as look for damage. This might be important, especially if you are a silent Celiac.

I have been having bad stomach problems since last January... I am a hypoglycemic, I have hypothyroidism and I get terrible migranes... so I see a neurologist, an endocrinologist and a gastro.... No one could figure out what the stomach pains linked to. I would up in the emergency room last January.. had a bunch of tests done.. they found nothing. I had a colonoscopy.. nothing.. Small bowel series.. nothing.. Blood work.. nothing. .. Cat scan.. nothing. regaurdless of nothing showing up.. every 3-4 months I would have these random attacks.. it would last about 7 hours and would be so bad it would wake me from my sleep.. I couldnt go to work... I would have to curl in a ball.. I would cry from the pain. On regular days I just have chronic constipation, gas and bloating. I finally found a new doctor.. an internist.. I gave him all the files from all the doctors I've been seeing, he gave me blood work and he said my antibodies were high to gluten. I've been on this diet fully since Wed. I don't feel any different. I have so many questions. He told me the results over the phone in 1 minute... but its a life change. I need more details.. I have more questions.. and I want to get the endoscopy.. just to see.. just to make sure this is def it.

[dandelionmom]

I was overweight when I was diagnosed.

[Jamie]

I was overweight when I was diagnosed.

Now that you are on the diet... have you lost weight, gained? still the same?

[mushroom]

Hi Jamie: I was overweight when I diagnosed myself a year ago; have lost 44 lbs.

[nw0528]

I love the question for this thread of comments. Apparently the first GI I went to subscribes to this thought - that someone with Celiac MUST be underweight.

I went to see him a few weeks ago. I explained my symptoms (oily stools, frequent bowel movements, severe urgency to "go" within 15 min. after most meals) and he said, "You have IBS, take 1 Immodium every day and if that doesn't work, take 2 Immodium every day." I've had IBS for 24 years (I'm only 35) and I kept telling him that my symptoms are totally different from the IBS symtoms I've had in the past, especially the fact that I had never had oily stools before. (I've had no symptoms of IBS in over three years, then this past summer I started with my current symptoms.) Anyhow, at the end of our appt., the GI looked at me and said, "Well by looking at you I can tell that clearly you aren't sick." I was so PISSED! (The last time he saw me was in 2002 and I weighed 135 pounds. I'm 5'8". Since then, I became pregnant in 2006 I weighed about 145. Then, I was on bedrest for FOUR MONTHS, and at the end of my pregnancy I weighed 245 pounds! My son is now two years old. I'm now at 175 pounds. Sure I've still got a ways to go, but still...) This GI just took one look at me and made his own mind up. I guess to him you must be skinny to have Celiac! Hmm...I'm considering sending him an informative letter once all my results are back. (I've since switched to a different GI.)

Anyhow, the question you posed made me chuckle, since a trained MD apparently thinks it is true!

Nicole

[mushroom]

Anyhow, at the end of our appt., the GI looked at me and said, "Well by looking at you I can tell that clearly you aren't sick."

How typical! My PCP responded much the same way when I was complaining that I had trouble digesting food. She said, "Well, clearly, digestion iS taking place."