Did I Make A Mistake?

[dandelionsrflowers2]

i think i may have made a mistake...

for the celiac's blood test, from what i understand, you need to be consuming glutin, correct?

i have drastically cut back on the quantity of bread, pasta, crackers, etc... not because i suspected celiacs, but becuase all these (favorite) foods make me feel like crap. i had finally gotten to the point where if i feel sick from a food, i try not to eat it.

all that said... for the last 10-15 years i have had the following symptoms...

chronic constipation

severe fatigue (some days even getting out of bed was almost impossible)

strange wondering joint pain, no x-ray, pt coud describe

foggy and extreamly hard to concentrate at times

moody

extreamly bloated, painful abdomine

i have tried eating more/ less fiber... no help. increasing water intake... no help. the only things that seem to help is cutting out the grainy foods that give me a heavy stomach feeling. since then... the symptoms have improved. the only one i am still REALLY struggling with is constipation.

after a weekend of binging on resturant food/pasta and my in-law's cooking some symptoms return.

is it still worth my while getting the blood test if i have reduced my glutin intake?

i have also been struggling with unexplained infertility for the past 3 years.

thank you! any questions and/or comments would be greatly appreciated!

[MySuicidalTurtle]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Yes, you need to be eating gluten in order to have accurate test results. However, if you are not totally gluten-free, then you should be fine as long as you are eating gluten before, and at the time, of the tests.

If you are doing the elimination diet, though, then you need to be 100% off the things making you ill. Otherwise, your elimination diet will also be inaccurate.

Good luck and feel free to ask as many questions as you want!

[caligirl2001]

The elimination diet can be very effective, but for it to work, you have to completely eliminate gluten. I also found out from personal experience that even if a doctor tells you the blood test is negative, you could still have a serious problem with gluten.

I had similar symptoms to yours, along with severe nausea, headache.( I was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia 4 years ago). I was pretty much to the point of not wanting to get out of bed because I felt so miserable. The blood test for celiac was a shot in the dark for them. a last ditch grab for a diagnosis. But after my own research, and finding out about the large percentage of false negatives, as well as non-celiac gluten intolerance, I decided that I had nothing to lose by seeing if gluten free made a difference. The doctor had pretty much resorted to telling me that my symptoms were mental, and I had lost my health insurance as well. So seeing if gluten free made a difference was the only thing I had left that I could do myself without expensive lab fees and more doctors appointments. I already suspected it was something I was eating.

As for the results of my eliminating gluten, my headache that I had for 3 months straight vanished within 24 hours of going gluten free, and 7 months of nausea almost completely gone after only 48 hours. I would say that 75% of my joint/bone/muscle pain was gone within 6 weeks. My fatigue is much better as well. Over all, I feel a million times better than I have in years, and not eating some of my favorite foods has been well worth the sacrifice. My symptoms return within a few minutes if I accidentally consume gluten.

Whatever you decide to do, I hope you find an answer and that you start feeling better.

[dandelionsrflowers2]

i just don't seem to have the energy for a true elimination diet. ( i know, that sounds bad, but..) i crave some things sooooo bad. it seems like i would have more drive to do a huge diet change if i had proof that it was harming me.

maybe it's just cause i am sick of experimenting on my self (in relation to infertility and general well being). doctors have been very little help to me, they just offer up perscription drugs.