Do You Think I Have celiac disease?

[glutenfreejenny]

I'm a college student and don't have heath insurance. I can't afford to go get tested, but I'm almost 90% sure it's celiac disease. I just hate going out and saying I have celiac disease when I haven't been tested. Here's my symptoms. Please let me know what you think!!

..I've had stomach problems my whoooole life. When I was about 14 I was diagnosed with food allergies to soy, corn, and tomatoes. I cut them out and wasn't having any allergy attacks, but still didn't feel better. (I've never had an "allergy attack" so the diagnosis was a little funny).

..I menstruate maybe once every 7 months or so if even. A few days after I make myself go off gluten I get my period! That for me is a huge sign.

..I have trouble sleeping, and sometimes restless leg. When I try to run I get out of breath really really fast and have really bad leg pains. It's weird because I'm on my feet all day, and am not really out of shape.

..I have ADD. I have a really hard time concentrating, even if it's something I'm really interested in.

..I am constipated all the time. A few days go in between bowel movements. I don't think that's normal?

..I rarely get diarrhea but am always bloated and have been diagnosed with acid reflux

..Sometimes I get really bad stomach pains that make me fall forward in pain.

..I have what was diagnosed as Exzema and it doesn't go away. It's on the back of my arms, the front of my lower arms, top of my legs and sometimes lower and my stomach.

..I was diagnosed with anemia when I was about 12 or so and think I still am

..I have very low energy, and don't sleep much at night. Sometimes I will sleep all weekend because I'm so exhausted.

..I'm a positive person, and see the good in everything but for some reason get really bad depression. I think it's very related to food and thinking everything I'm eating is poisoning me. The side effects of eating gluten with celiac disease scare me a lot. I've been in college since I was 18 (6 years!) and have only been able to work a lot of the time because I've been too sick.

..I swear there's more I can't think of now...

ALSO when I go off gluten should I also go off my allergens? Going of gluten alone is 100% better than when i went off all my allergens alone. Going off it all would leave me eating strictly rice, and fruits and veggies. Not much to eat that has no gluten, soy, corn, and tomatoes.

Thanks so much.

[maile]

You do sound like you could be one of us!

If you really want a medical diagnosis then you have to keep eating gluten and get a doctor to run the celiac panel of blood tests for you.

You said you are a student and have no insurance, is there a free clinic at the college you could go to? (Sorry if that sounds odd but I'm Canadian and that's what we'd do up here) If not perhaps someone more familiar with the med system could suggest something.

Barring the ability to get a medical diagnosis then you could just go gluten free and see what happens, reaction to the diet is usually the best "test" there is.

ALSO when I go off gluten should I also go off my allergens? Going of gluten alone is 100% better than when i went off all my allergens alone. Going off it all would leave me eating strictly rice, and fruits and veggies. Not much to eat that has no gluten, soy, corn, and tomatoes.

Are you vegan? what about beans? legumes? nuts? you might also want to google "Karina's Kitchen" it's a blog by a vegan celiac with tons of recipes, that might give you some ideas.

if you go gluten-free you could then, a few months later, try adding back in your "allergens" 1 at a time (making sure there are no other problem foods being consumed) so you could see if you are indeed allergic.

[glutenfreejenny]

Are you vegan? what about beans? legumes? nuts? you might also want to google "Karina's Kitchen" it's a blog by a vegan celiac with tons of recipes, that might give you some ideas.

if you go gluten-free you could then, a few months later, try adding back in your "allergens" 1 at a time (making sure there are no other problem foods being consumed) so you could see if you are indeed allergic.

Yeah I was thinking of starting insanely strict for a few months, then slowly adding in the allergens.

I am not vegan but that's a good idea. I do eat beans and veggies and am not a picky eater but I'm going to have to go very very basic. When I go soy free I can't use any cooking sprays or use vegetable oil or butter so I have to use other oils and be very very careful. But switching out other oils shouldn't be too bad.

[one more mile]

ALSO when I go off gluten should I also go off my allergens? Going of gluten alone is 100% better than when i went off all my allergens alone. Going off it all would leave me eating strictly rice, and fruits and veggies. Not much to eat that has no gluten, soy, corn, and tomatoes.

Thanks so much.

If you found the thing that makes you 100% better why would you look for another answer? As time goes on you will find more things that you can eat and be happy with. Personally I would rather have the life I have now that I am healthy rather then all the food I had when I was sick. Sometimes it is hard. But before I went of the gluten every day was hard.

Good luck on finding what works for you.

[Nadia2009]

..I menstruate maybe once every 7 months or so if even. A few days after I make myself go off gluten I get my period! That for me is a huge sign.

..I have trouble sleeping, and sometimes restless leg. When I try to run I get out of breath really really fast and have really bad leg pains. It's weird because I'm on my feet all day, and am not really out of shape.

..I have ADD. I have a really hard time concentrating, even if it's something I'm really interested in.

..I am constipated all the time. A few days go in between bowel movements. I don't think that's normal?

..I rarely get diarrhea but am always bloated and have been diagnosed with acid reflux

..Sometimes I get really bad stomach pains that make me fall forward in pain.

..I have what was diagnosed as Exzema and it doesn't go away. It's on the back of my arms, the front of my lower arms, top of my legs and sometimes lower and my stomach.

..I was diagnosed with anemia when I was about 12 or so and think I still am

..I have very low energy, and don't sleep much at night. Sometimes I will sleep all weekend because I'm so exhausted.

..I'm a positive person, and see the good in everything but for some reason get really bad depression. I think it's very related to food and thinking everything I'm eating is poisoning me. The side effects of eating gluten with celiac disease scare me a lot. I've been in college since I was 18 (6 years!) and have only been able to work a lot of the time because I've been too sick.

Jenny,

-go off gluten if that's what you have to do to get your periods. That's way too important to your health.

-go off gluten if that's what you have to do to get more focus and succeed in your education. ADD is another big issue and I have heard that ADD could be caused by gluten. I am new to this forum and to the whole celiac issue but I too suffer from a brain fog and went to see the doctor about ADD 3 years ago. He ruled out I had ADD because I had no sign or very little of ADD as a child (on the opposite I was very attentive and was a sponge didnt miss anything) but guess what I had a diet that was lower in gluten also...I grew up in Africa where not everything is made of wheat like here.

-go off gluten if it means to get rid of depression or lack of sleep etc.

But I know it is easy said to go off gluten but we have to do for our health. I took the blood tests and they came negative. People here have told me negative tests doesn't mean you dont have celiac but I really wanted some proofs and I dont have any now. Anyway, one thing I have in common with you is that my years at college-university were my worst years...I complained about so many things...back pain panick attacks, headaches, lack of energy etc thanks God my periods were very regular but they gave me so much pain!

I didn't know about gluten then and intolerances. Anyway, better be gluten free and see how your health can improve and take advantage of your youth than waste your health on a bagel since you are a college student dont every worry about taking the test just do it...specially the issue with your period is really a big one. If I were you I woudlnt hesitate.

Nadia09

[caligirl2001]

Do whatever gives you your life back. If that is gluten free, then do it with no apologies and no regrets. I don't have any insurance either, and I am not concerned enough with an official diagnosis to bother with further testing. Eliminating gluten from my diet, and the difference it made in my health is all the answer I need.

Tests can be wrong, and there is no official test for gluten intolerance. My blood test came back negative, yet I feel like a new person because I decided to eliminate gluten anyway. I suffered through extreme fatigue before eliminating gluten. And if I get into it now, I have 3 or 4 days of feeling so tired that it is hard to function.

As for saying you have celiac when you are not sure, well, the treatment for celiac and non-celiac gluten intolerance is the same: a gluten free diet, so I fail to see what difference it makes. You are simplifying an explanation to protect your health. That's my opinion, for what it's worth.

I hope you feel better soon!