Would Like Your Opinions Please

[GoSurf1]

Hi,

I am a type 1 diabetic (x 15 years) and i believe i may have celiac dz. I realize that having type 1 diabetes already puts me at a higher risk group for celiac. I am a healthcare professional and i was at a conference yesterday listening to a doctor speak. I have thought before that i might possibly be celiac because of GI problems that i have such as extremely painful bowel movements, diarrhea, bloating, gas, constipation at times, etc. However yesterday this MD mentioned some other symptoms that i didnt even realize were symptoms, and i have these also. I have had a "rash" that looks like small dry pimples on the backs of my arms and side of my upper thighs for years. i have dried acne wash and other treatment to no avail. I now realize this may be the DH he mentioned and that i have read about on here. I also have suffered from migraines for years. I currently have to take a daily prophylactic drug (topamax) to help prevent them. I read on someone elses comment about vitiligo which i also have. Everything seems to be coming together and making sense now. Of course i plan to talk to my endocrinologist on my next visit about this, but i just wondered about other peoples opinions, thoughts, etc. Would you be in agreement? I started a gluten free diet today just to see if it helps at all in the next week or 2. It is a really difficult, expensive diet and i greatly sympathize with everyone. Thanks for any input.

[zero]

I will just mention that if you are planning on getting a blood test for celiac then you should be consuming gluten in your diet.

[elye]

Welcome, Gosurf!

You've come to the right place!

One in eight type one diabetics are also celiac, and there is suspicion now that the number may be even higher. Your symptoms certainly sound like a problem with gluten. I would make an appointment with my GP and/or endo and insist on the celiac blood panel. Make sure you are consuming gluten! Also be aware that false negatives are not uncommon, so the blood work can rule in the disease, but cannot rule it out.

Good luck! Keep us posted!

[rinne]

Hi,

I am a type 1 diabetic (x 15 years) and i believe i may have celiac dz. I realize that having type 1 diabetes already puts me at a higher risk group for celiac. I am a healthcare professional and i was at a conference yesterday listening to a doctor speak. I have thought before that i might possibly be celiac because of GI problems that i have such as extremely painful bowel movements, diarrhea, bloating, gas, constipation at times, etc. However yesterday this MD mentioned some other symptoms that i didnt even realize were symptoms, and i have these also. I have had a "rash" that looks like small dry pimples on the backs of my arms and side of my upper thighs for years. i have dried acne wash and other treatment to no avail. I now realize this may be the DH he mentioned and that i have read about on here. I also have suffered from migraines for years. I currently have to take a daily prophylactic drug (topamax) to help prevent them. I read on someone elses comment about vitiligo which i also have. Everything seems to be coming together and making sense now. Of course i plan to talk to my endocrinologist on my next visit about this, but i just wondered about other peoples opinions, thoughts, etc. Would you be in agreement? I started a gluten free diet today just to see if it helps at all in the next week or 2. It is a really difficult, expensive diet and i greatly sympathize with everyone. Thanks for any input.

You may be an undiagnosed celiac with diabetes as a consequence of that.

I would say that if you have been under doctor's care for fifteen years with the diabetes and migraines then you need to look at just how much your doctors are helping you, sorry if that sounds rude but in my opinion the medical system is structured to profit from your illness and the proof of that is that you are losing your health, now it is digestion issues.

I had migraines but they went away, I lost the pigment on my hands but it came back, this happened when I changed my diet.

I wish you much healing.

[GoSurf1]

Yes i understand that eliminating gluten would cause problems with testing. Basically I just wanted to try the diet for a week or 2 and see if the rash goes away, headaches get better, feel different, that sort of thing. I don't go back to my endo for a couple of months so i can go back to a regular diet. I wanted to see if other people thought that it sounded like celiac also. If anyone here had DH, where was it located? My "rash" is on the backs of my upper arms and also on the outer sides of my thighs. it has probably been there for 8 years or longer. The vitiligo is just a small(3" x 3")area on my chest that appeared about 2 or 3 years ago i guess. I am very curious to see if the diet will help, but what a pain! I am having to read everything and then sometimes i still don't know! I am getting tired of rice chex and envirokidz stuff, haha. Thanks for all your replies. i Really appreciate you taking the time to write.