Husband Wants Me To Go Gluten Free Without Testing

[anniebeth]

Here's the dilemma. I actually am already gluten free. I had been cheating a little over the past couple of months because the diet was really for my daughter. She is 21 months old and had been experiencing chronic diarrhea almost her entire life until we took away gluten. Within 2 days the diarrhea was gone. She still has episodes of yucky poop, probably from not being monitored close enough or from eating other things that disagree with her (she is intolerant of milk as well) but there is a huge difference in her poop now. She also has FINALLY broken 20lbs, which the average child does at 12 months. Anyway, I was gluten free just to be able to empathize with her. Amazingly, the first month I was on the diet, my period (which usually lasted more than a week and came more frequently than 28 days) showed up on time and lasted less than a week. For the first time EVER. I also didn't break out on my face like I usually do. At first I thought it was a fluke, but this month I have experienced the same thing. Clear skin, milder period. I am not on birth control. I also noticed I no longer burp all the time. Previously, I used to burp a LOT. I started looking at my self and my family history and found that a lot of the problems that run in my family seem to be symptoms of Celiac. I am only 4' 11", I have a history of anxiety/depression/OCD, and on my biological father's side of the family, almost everyone has cancer. I'm not exaggerating about the cancer. I also suffered from chronic allergy-like symptoms as a child, but the allergist said I wasn't allergic to anything. I was diagnosed with non-allergic allergies. I also have trouble with hypoglycemia. My sugar is pretty unstable. Once in college I went to get tested at the nurses station, and it was 40 after just having lunch. I was in the nurses station all the time in college, actually. Once she made the comment that she thought I had an immune disease. The point of all of this is- I realized that I might actually have celiac disease. My husband, however, doesn't want me to be tested. He thinks that it is a waste of money and time if just going on diet makes me feel better. He thinks that I might get a negative diagnosis, but that I might still have it or I might be "gluten intolerant" but I would start eating gluten again since I had a negative test.

[tarnalberry]

Good for him!!!

He's taking the pragmatic approach - if it (the gluten free diet) makes you feel better, do it! If it makes you feel feel worse (eating gluten), don't do it!

Of course, what *you* think is most important, but if you are going to get tested, you need to be on a gluten-FILLED diet for three months prior to testing. (The equivalent of three servings of gluteny products a day for three months.)

[missy'smom]

What do you need in order to commit to gluten-free for life? For some of us no diagnosis is needed, for others, they need an official diagnosis. If you have celiac disease, official diagnosis or not you need to be committed, no cheating, no taking a break, otherwise you run the risk of damage and complications, whether or not you have symptoms. It's not like other "diets" that you can take up for a year or so and then give up later. There are risks to that approach. What do you need to do to make that decision? Gather more info., do more research? Something else? Just some things to think about.

[ravenwoodglass]

Your DH is definately a keeper. It sounds like you have had really good results from the diet and that he has certainly noticed. That is a good thing. Celiac is genetic so your DD got it from somewhere. If you want to pursue testing do go back on a full gluten diet for at least 3 months before you get any testing done. If you go that route you may find that your body gives you the answer as to whether you need the diet the first week you add it back in. He is also right about the false negative aspect and there is also insurance issues. Not all of us have difficulty with insurance after diagnosis but some have. You need do what feels right to you.

[Julie anne]

so when you got on the celiac diet did it make you feel better?

in ur life, have you had stomach aches and diarea alot through out ur lifetime as if it were usual thing?

if so you probably do have celiac.

and if it makes you feel better u should do it

but also if you want to be tested i think it should be ur personal choice

i was not "technically tested" because my mom said i was really sick when i was little and to frail to be tested. i did get so sick though that why wouldnt i have celiac. now i am off of gluten and milk.

[happygirl]

Its your health - what do you want to do?

[Amyleigh0007]

That is EXACTLY how I found out about my gluten problem too! I went gluten free for my son's sake, to help him cope, show him it wasn't going to be the end of the world, and to learn how to cook without gluten. I felt so much better within a week that I was stunned at how horrible I had felt before. I thought feeling like crap was normal. I ended up getting tested for Celiac a few months after my son's diagnosis but my test was negative, most likely due to my gluten light diet for 2 months. Since you have been gluten free or light for so long, it would be pointless to get tested. For accurate results you must continue to eat gluten. So, I don't have an "official" diagnosis of Celiac but what I do have is better health and that means more to me than anything.