Should I Get Tested Again?

[kprince]

Hi Everyone-

I found out I had celiacs the day I found out I was pregnant and I had almost no systems. Now that I have had my daughter, some weird symptoms have poresented themselves and I am not sure if it is related to the celiacs or not. I never really had any systems..sometimes a "fatty stool," so I am ot sure if there is gluten sneaking into my diet etc. Is it proper protocal to get a follow-up blood test to be sure your numbers have ndeed gone down? Is ther any other "post-diagnosed" test that I should be taking?

I have a lot of "allergy-like" things going on now and I am not sure if it is because I just had a kid, or something related to what I am eating. I pretty much eat the same things everyday, so there really isn't any rhyme or reason why somedays I have a reaction and some days I do not.

I have had a lot of skin rashes ( sort of like a heat rash), I have episodes where the bottoms of my feet itch like crazy, and my stools go from being hard to diarreah...anagin, no changes in what I am eating.

I am at the point whewre I need to start eliminating possible factors and thought this might be a good start. I am thinking about getting tested for lactose intolerence too.

Any thoughts or ideas would be amazing!!!

Thanks-

Kathy

[ang1e0251]

It would be appropriate to be retested at a year's interval. You don't need a test for lactose, just eliminate it and see. My daughter required an endoscopy and a biopsy for them to test for lactose. If I had understood it better, I wouldn't have put her through it. It wasn't hard on her, just unnecesary.

[gfb1]

  kprince said:

[snip] Is it proper protocal to get a follow-up blood test to be sure your numbers have ndeed gone down? Is ther any other "post-diagnosed" test that I should be taking?

[snip]

interesting question.

during the 'early days', when my wife was first diagnosed with celiac disease (going on 10 yrs) -- we blood tested her every 3-4 months for the anti-gliadin ab's (to find if gluten was sneaking into her diet) and, with less frequency, the ttg/em ab's (to be sure there was no continuing damage to the bowel).

we also had regular checks on her iron nutriture -- to monitor anemia. her celiac disease manifests itself in severe anemia due to an inability to absorb iron. over the last several years, she's been receiving iron infusions every 6-8 wks.

lastly, a check on vitamin status may also be a good idea. data in the literature are equivocal as to whether vitamin deficiencies (or requirements) are different for celiac patients -- but, it is clear that a gluten-free diet can be significantly lower in B6 and folate than a diet that includes wheat products. (i generally recommend a decent multi-vitamin anyway... just make sure its gluten-free. we buy Wegman's Women's Daily -- gluten-free and CHEAP!).