Diagnosis

[elias]

I always was pretty sickly as a child. Everytime I would eat subway or pizza ect I would get sick. When I was about 8 my dad changed my diet to exclude gluten. I got a lot better and stopped being so sickly. I was still able to eat spelt bread though. It didn't seem to have any effect on me. I went to get diagnosed for celiac a while after I changed my diet and the tests came out negative. Whenever I accedently eat wheat I get sick and throw up all night. I am pretty darn sure that I am allergic to wheat but it seems I can eat spelt and be fine. Is that celiac or what? Any ideas?

Thanks

[Tallforagirl]

I am pretty darn sure that I am allergic to wheat but it seems I can eat spelt and be fine. Is that celiac or what? Any ideas?

Thanks

You can't rely on symptoms to diagnose celiac disease. Your test had little chance of being positive if you were already gluten-free or "gluten lite".

[rinne]

Hi.

Smart dad!

I always was pretty sickly as a child. Everytime I would eat subway or pizza ect I would get sick. When I was about 8 my dad changed my diet to exclude gluten. I got a lot better and stopped being so sickly. I was still able to eat spelt bread though. It didn't seem to have any effect on me. I went to get diagnosed for celiac a while after I changed my diet and the tests came out negative. Whenever I accedently eat wheat I get sick and throw up all night. I am pretty darn sure that I am allergic to wheat but it seems I can eat spelt and be fine. Is that celiac or what? Any ideas?

Thanks

What they are diagnosing with the endoscopy is damage, you can be sick from wheat without their being enough damage for them to diagnose. The blood tests are also unreliable. This is particularly true for both tests if you haven't been eating gluten.

For some years I found that I could tolerate spelt much better than wheat, spelt has less gluten in it than wheat but it still has gluten. I found though that eventually I had the same reactions.

The question is whether or not the spelt is doing damage to you but at a lesser level. You could experiment, cut it out of your diet for a month or so and then reintroduce it to see whether you have a different reaction.

There is a genetic test available that would tell you the likelihood that your reaction is celiac, if the gene is there then you are best to avoid spelt whether or not it seems to be okay.

I am wondering whether you have been on anti-biotics.... ear infections as a small child? There is evidence that they can create problems with our digestion.