Follow My Doctor's Advice?

[zuros]

Hi This is my first post the these boards....

A little about my my history and current situation: I had lactose intolerance as a kid (my dad had it really bad) but once I got to high school I seemed to outgrow it. About a year ago I started to have some mild intestinal issues-- most of which I thought were related to stress. (I moved to New York recently, a big change for a suburban midwestern girl.) I would have weeks of feeling really gassy/bloated... general bowel discomfort... and I've had a lot of issues with feeling kind of worn out and run down.

In late January this year I had my wisdom teeth removed, and was put on some strong antibiotics to treat an infection caused by one of the teeth. About two weeks after taking the drugs I started developing severe lower GI problems. After a round of blood/bowel tests (which showed high white blood cell count and low iron), my doctor (general practitioner) decided it was bacterial and put me on a week of flagyl (another antibiotic). My symptoms improved within a few days, and after stopping the meds I was happy and healthy for another three weeks..... but then my symptoms started coming back.

I went back and after asking me lots and lots of questions, she said it sounds like I might have Celiac and the severe symptoms could have been triggered by all the stress/meds I've been on. I don't know of anyone in my family who has it-- unless my dad did and was simply unaware, or attributed his problems only to dairy. My mom has a mild gluten intollerance-- she cut it out of her diet for two months and saw symptoms improve... now she eats gluten foods but only a few times a week, and she's been okay. She hasn't been tested, however. My grandmother (mom's mom) has colitis, which the doctors say is stress related. (She and I both tend to internalize everything

Now, my question!

I had my blood taken this morning, and I have an appointment with a GI specialist (first visit) in a week and a half. My general practitioner told me that I should stop eating gluten until we get the blood work back, but based on what I have read online it seems like I should keep eating gluten until after ALL the testing is done (biopsy included). What advice do you guys have? I will get my blood results back later this week, and if they are positive I am sure I will need to work out the biopsy with my GI doc.

Thank you for the help/advice

- Stephanie

[dilettantesteph]

It is best to continue eating gluten until you have the biopsy done. That is unless you are so sick that you can't stand it. If you quit gluten you can get a false negative.

Stephanie

[whitball]

I concur. Keep eating the gluten until all of the testing is completed.