Don't Know If I Have Celiac Or Not

[serenity0607]

Hi all i am a 21 year old female for years as a young child and a teenager.. i suffered with horrible stomach cramps , upset stomach, and constapated pretty much my entire life..... my mom decided about a year ago to loose weight i was very spportave of her but when she made the switch.... to whole grains such as wheat,barly, amongst others i realized a pattern i would eat with her and then get horrible upset stomach ,stomach cramps,fatigue...headaches too... my mom tells me it's all in my head and that i just have a nerves stomach... i don't by that because it reall got bad and flaired while my parents were going throught a divorce... since then it's pretty much been constant because my mm pretty much eats nothing but whole grains... by boyfriend told me he thought i had IBS which i could see why he would say that... do to the type of symptoms my boyfriend has long standingly been told he had IBS he can't tolerate whole grains either and pretty much he will eat and 10 mins later he's making a beeline for the bathroom... but back to me my father is the same way he eats 10 mins later he's running to the bathroom and onlt recently my grandmother has noticed that she eats certain foods and it sends her runnign to the bathroom she goes maybe 3-4 times per day..... i realize IBS is inherited but this is something that i have had pretty much since i can remember ... i have never cut gluten out of my diet to see how i respond to it ... for fear that maybe all this is in my head and that i'm just making myself feel bad... i too as a young child could eat and eat and not gain weight ... i am short for my age i'm not even 5 feet tall ... when i was younger i would complain that my legs would ache consatantly it just seemed no matter what i did it was there i started taking a multi-vitamin and it got better ... but recently after spending a week or 2 weeks with my mother while eating her whole grain diet i went over there weighing 120 afterthe 2 weeks i'm 106 with my hair falling out horrible uset stomach and stomach cramps ..... and again lack of going to the bathroom mixed with occasional runs !!! also i have had a skin condition for some time it really itched and flairs when im staying with my mom where i eat whole grains all the time i would really like to get test for celiac but i dont have insurance so i'm having to self diagnosis myself and nobody believes me about it !!! I do plan on getting formal testing done when i have insurance which will be some point next year!!! i hope you guys can shed some light on this and i'm sorry my message is so long...

[Salax]

Serenity- I am sorry your going through so much. IMHO, I would tell you that this is your body and your life..it is in your hands. I would tell you to take charge of your body and do what your instincts tell you to do. I would recommend offical testing, but since you can't do it right now...do what your body tells you to do. You don't need a diagnosis to go gluten-free. Try it if you think you need to. Maybe a food journal. Start slow or cut everything. Your body is a smart machine, it knows what you need and I think deep down you do too.

And I think most of us have experienced the "its all in your head" line before, its normal. My reply to those people, "no, its all in your head. I have real medical issues, I know my body and you do not." But then again I am feisty.

Best of luck and welcome to the boards...and hopefully the answers you have been looking for.

[serenity0607]

thank you for the reply.. i'm sorry my entry was so long...I think i will go on the gluten free diet and see how i react if i start to feel better then i guess i would be getting my answer like you say i dont need a Rx to go on a gluten free diet... i will definitly give it a try and then get officially tested next year i've been dealing with this for almost 10 years anyways.... i will just have to do what i need to do! and thanks for the information... i do know myself best it is my body after all

[Salax]

Good luck and be sure to let us know how your doing.

[GFinDC]

Hi Serenity,

If you do the testing after a year on gluten-free diet there is a very good chance the tests won't show anything. So you need to decide if the testing is really important to you. If you want to do the tests you need to be eating gluten for a while before hand. Maybe 6 weeks. The blood tests show antibodie presence and the body stops making them when the gluten is not eaten.

[serenity0607]

the testing is important to me ... but i wont have access to insurance till next year.... i may hold off on the gluten free diet... i don't want to though because even if i don't have celiacs or not i know i would rather feel normal again!!!! i will keep everyone informed as much as i can maybe i could try the diet for a while and then try to go back on gluten before the test i guess or i dont know i'm just confused

[serenity0607]

i want to say sorry for how hard my first entry is to read. i just read it and it ws hard to follow even for me ... i have decided as of now to go ahead with the gluten free diet and test the waters and see if i improve if i do then that is a big plus for me if i don't then i guess it will be time to go see my pcp to see what is going on!!! i'm really hoping this gluten free diet is the answer to my problems because i would love to feel human again for once in my life!!!

[GFinDC]

Trying the diet is a fine idea Serenity! Patience is a virtue as they say and it helps in the beginning. It can take months to learn the things to avoid and start to really feel the positive effects. Some people feel better very quickly but others seem to take a while. I suggest you take a look at the vitamins and medicines you might be taking to verify they are gluten-free also. It si very easy at first to think you are eating gluten-free but be getting small amounts of gluten in your diet, which can keep you from healing. So starting out a simple diet is easier to manage. No dairy is often a good idea at first, as many celiacs can't digest lactose sugar in dairy. Testing later is certainly an option and some people do it. If you do a search on "gluten challenge" you might find some threads about it.

No problem on the long post. If you had read the symptom list I gave my doctor you'd probably think I was ka-nuts!