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It's Official... My Mom Has Celiac!

Mother of Jibril

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Mother of Jibril Enthusiast
Mother of Jibril
Posted

Six months ago I was diagnosed with autoimmune hypothyroidism. I kept reading about a possible connection to gluten... and I was having abdominal pain... so after checking with an allergist I went on a gluten-free diet. Wow. What a HUGE difference it made. I wasn't able to get an accurate blood test, but the DQ8 gene, a couple of other autoimmune disorders, and a positive response to the diet was enough evidence to make me stick with it.

Anyway... when I saw my parents over the holidays they certainly noticed the change in my weight (I've lost about 30 pounds) and my skin (which hasn't looked this good since I hit puberty!). I was talking with my mom and I told her she really should get tested for celiac disease. And she listened! :lol: The blood test came back positive, so now she has an appointment to have her digestive system examined with a pill cam.

My mom is 61 years old and has been sick ever since I can remember. Over the last thirty years she has been diagnosed with diverticulitis, IBS, depression, diabetes (which she's now taking insulin for), fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, endometriosis (hysterectomy), arthritis (knee replacement), neuropathy, and migraine headaches. I hope she's able to adapt to the gluten-free diet and stick with it!!! She really deserves to feel better.

Keeping in mind that my mom has a lot of brain fog, can anyone recommend some good books or websites to help older adults? I'm going to send her my copy of "Celiac Disease: A Guide to Living with Gluten Intolerance," but I know she could use some tools that are really easy to understand and follow. She's a smart woman... but she has some mixed-up ideas about what a "healthy" diet means (thanks to the low-fat craze). I wish I had time to go up there and cook for a few weeks! :(

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rinne Apprentice
rinne
Posted

Good for you for figuring it out and helping your Mom. :)

This site? :)

curiousgeorge Rookie
curiousgeorge
Posted

oh that's GREAT! I'm pretty much sure my mother had it too but by the time I figured it out it was, alas, too late.

I hope she takes it to heart! It also gives you confirmation too!

caek-is-a-lie Explorer
caek-is-a-lie
Posted

Wow, your mom sounds like my mom, except her blood test was negative 10 years ago. Of course, it was just "below" a certain level, not necessarily zero. They never told us if we were actually at zero antibodies or not.

So she's 70 and I keep encouraging her to go gluten free anyway, but she won't, I suspect. It worries me because she will actually stop eating to stop feeling sick. If I lived closer, I'd just go over for a week and do all the cooking and make her see what a difference it makes. No more staying home for days because she can't leave the house with all the D she gets.

Oh well. :(

Kaycee Collaborator
Kaycee
Posted

Your mums sound so much like my mum.

She has been ill for years, mainly just with stomach issues, and I guess high blood pressure and high cholesterol. She went to the doctor just before Christmas thinking she had what I had, coeliac. But the doctor didn't run the tests, instead he blamed it on her gall bladder and the thing that got me was that the Doctor said coeliac is not hereditary. Well those were mums words.

So mum has been low fat, she still has stomach issues. She is up here, well in this area for a few weeks. I can't convince them to go further, as dad is a hurdle in himself to get past. He did say once, it would be too hard for mum to change to a gluten free diet, but yet she embraces a lower fat diet. Her reading of labels even at 77 has never been a problem. What do you do?

Cathy

rinne Apprentice
rinne
Posted
Wow, your mom sounds like my mom, except her blood test was negative 10 years ago. Of course, it was just "below" a certain level, not necessarily zero. They never told us if we were actually at zero antibodies or not.

So she's 70 and I keep encouraging her to go gluten free anyway, but she won't, I suspect. It worries me because she will actually stop eating to stop feeling sick. If I lived closer, I'd just go over for a week and do all the cooking and make her see what a difference it makes. No more staying home for days because she can't leave the house with all the D she gets.

Oh well. :(

And mine too. :(

nora-n Rookie
nora-n
Posted

My mom has the D too and I have told her to stop eating all that bread lots of times. She is blood type 0 and knows about that type of diet, and she should eat maninly eat vegetables and meat, she does know how to do that, and that is the way I cook, but she craves bread, and lots of it....I wish she would listen to other people.

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      highly unlikely  NOTHING and I mean NOTHING else has ever caused me these kinds of symptoms I have no problem with dates, they are a large part of my diet In fact, I eat a very high fiber, very high vegetable and bean diet and have for many years now. It's considered a whole foods plant based or plant forward diet (I do now eat some lean ground turkey but not much) I was off dairy for years but recently had to add back plain yogurt to meet calcium needs that I am not allowed to get from supplements (I have not had any problem with the yogurt)   I eat almost no processed foods. I don't eat out. almost everything I eat, I cook myself I am going to keep a food diary but to be honest, I already know that it's wheat products and also barley that are the problem, which is why I gradually stopped eating and buying them. When I was eating them, like back in early 2024, when I was in the middle of moving and ate out (always had bread or toast or rolls or a sub or pizza) I felt terrible but at that time was so busy and exhausted that I never stopped to think it was the food. Once I was in my new place, I continued to have bread from time to time and had such horrible joint pain that I was preparing for 2 total knee replacements as well as one hip! The surgery could not go forward as I was (and still am) actively losing calcium from my bones. That problem has yet to be properly diagnosed and treated   anyway over time I realized that I felt better when I stopped eating bread. Back at least 3 yrs ago I noticed that regular pasta made me sick so I switched to brown rice pasta and even though it costs a lot more, I really like it.   so gradually I just stopped buying and eating foods with gluten. I stopped getting raisin bran when I was constipated because it made me bloated and it didn't help the constipation any more (used to be a sure bet that it would in the past)   I made cookies and brownies using beans and rolled oats and dates and tahini and I LOVE them and have zero issues eating those I eat 1 or more cans of beans per day easily can eat a pound of broccoli - no problem! Brussels sprouts the same thing.   so yeh it's bread and related foods that are clearly the problem  there is zero doubt in my mind    
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