New Member

[linweid]

Hi. I'm new to this board. I am 61 years old. About 8 years ago (2001)I had been getting dizzy spells off and on. The Dr. said it's an age thing and gave me an antidepressant (in 2004). Ever since then everything went downhill. I changed to a Woman Dr. She increased the antidepressant and (in 2006) I started taking thyroid pills (Synthroid). Then two years ago (2007)I had pain in my stomach every day at work after eating lunch. It was so bad I doubled over. I stopped eating and lost 20 pounds . I had so many tests and they found nothing. My Dr. mentioned Celiac but never had me tested. I never heard of it. I eventually started eating and regained most of the 20 pounds back again. In the last two years my memory has been so bad I was tested for altzheimers. It was negative, the arthritis in my hands got so bad I needed surgery, and could no longer work. Last December my arms started itching. I scratched til I was raw. I got strange flat red dots after scratching. Ever since then, about once a week that happens to me. My thyroid pills have been increased many times in the past year, so I was sent to an Endocrinologist. He found nothing but decided to have me tested for Celiac he said because it often accompanies my problems, Thyroid, depression, stomach pain, itching, Arthritis and other autoimmune problems. Next week I will go for the Celiac test. Has anyone else had the same symptoms? Especially the itchy upper arms and sometimes ankles, and mysterious red dots that fade a day or two later.

linweid

[Lisa]

Welcome to the Forum!

Your symptoms are similar to those of Celiac Disease, which has over 200 symtoms. Here is the full panel that you will need to be tested for Celiac:

Anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) both IgA and IgG

Anti-endomysial antibodies (EMA) - IgA

Anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTG) - IgA

Total IgA level.

***please make sure that you doctors does all of these test, because they are interactive.

Good luck

[GFinDC]

If you decide to get the blood test, remember to keep eating gluten until the tests are over. And check with your doc on the antibodie tests they have run. I've read threads here by people who asked for all the tests and then the doctor or lab didn't do them all or they lost the results. then they were stuck with having to do the tests over but had already stopped eating gluten while waiting for the first test results.

Your symptoms sound like celiac to me. Prometheus labs advertises on this forum and people say good things about their testing. You might want to ask your doc to use them and also do the blood draw very soon so you can get it over quicker.