Please Help

[Nikniknoo]

Hi, I am hoping someone can guide me in the right direction. I have suffered for many years with terrible abdo pain, diorea and constipation, bloated and swollen stomach, feeling sick, headaches, terrible tiredness (even when just woken) awful wind, terriby smelly and trapped wind too. it happens especially after i have eaten cereals (weetabix, oatibix, alpen, granola) bread, granary bread and most pasta. Peanuts seem to play a part too sometimes. I have contacted a friend of mine who thinks i am celiac. I have not had this confirmed by a doctor yet but am going to go this week. But also the pharmacist thinks i am too. I wonder if anyone on here, could tell me what they think. Also where can i find a list of foods i can and cant eat. I have been to tesco today and bought some gluten free flour to make my own loaves, but am at a lose as to what to eat really.

My doctor has put this down to IBS, but have not had treatment for that for many years as i thoguht i just had to deal with it. I have started a gluten free diet today (from info i have obtained from the net) and am hioping that at last i may have found otu what is really wrong.

I am really hoping someone can help, i am desperate now and very upset as i write this.

Regards

Niki

[ptkds]

You should not start the gluten-free diet until you are tested, unless you are willing to give up gluten without a doctors diagnosis. The tests will not be postitive it you have been off of gluten for a while.

[Foxfire62]

Before you go on a gluten-free (gluten-free) diet, you should have blood work done to confirm diagnosis. Even with a positive blood test result, you would need to be scheduled for a biopsy for a 100% diagnosis. You should not go on a gluten-free diet before these confirmations because it can alter the results.

However, if you are diagnosed with celiac disease, it is of uptmost importance to eliminate all gluten from your diet (no wheat, barley or rye, and oats are sometimes questionable due to cross-contamination). You also would need to be wary of products made on the same manufacturing line as those that contain the gluten protein. Lastly, you would also need to be aware of any make-up, shampoos, etc., that may contain the wheat protein or any gluten protein. Medications also occasionally use gluten as a binding agent. You will now often have to confirm anything you eat or put in or around your mouth.

The best places to get food are on the web, in stores such as Fruitful Yield, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's. Other stores include Costco and Dominicks and Jewel, which contain a limited amount of gluten-free foods.

I no long eat things such as hot dogs from Kraft, although I confirmed with them that their products contain no gluten. After eating them and becoming constipated, I've decided to just stay away from this stuff and only eat from natural sources. You will find it much easier, but you will need to travel the road you feel you are most comfortable with and what your body can tolerate.

You might find yourself becoming intolerant to some common allergens. This may or may not resolve itself once you are healed. But you might want to be prepared to learn that you become lactose, soy, nut or any other allergen intolerant.

Good luck with your diagnosis. I don't know how old you are, but the younger you are, the easier the recovery process. The older you are, the harder. If older, you could conceivably go through a rough recovery process when your intestines begin to work again, and your body has to adjust. Be prepared in case.

[The Fluffy Assassin]

I am really hoping someone can help, i am desperate now and very upset as i write this.

Just breathe, it'll be all right. If you're celiac (or as they say in the UK, coeliac), you'll find quickly that living gluten-free is a challenge, but can be a very fun challenge. For the moment, focus on what you can still eat: all meats, all fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as rice, corn (maize) and many wonderful grains you probably haven't tried before such as quinoa and millet. Also, many ethnic cuisines are largely gluten-free, such as Thai and Ethiopian/Eritrean. Of course, you may have to do the bulk of your own cooking since people put wheat, barley and barley malt in a lot of unexpected places.

If you're in the UK as I suspect (due to the Tesco reference), this ought to help: Open Original Shared Link While we're very nice, this is the outfit in the UK to talk to; can't see a discussion forum on the site, though: Open Original Shared Link

The people who have already replied above give good advice regarding waiting on a diagnosis before going gluten-free, but if you're all that uncomfortable you can certainly try the gluten-free diet for a couple of weeks and see if you feel different. So relax, don't panic, and try to focus on how much fun it can be to learn a new way to approach food. I promise you that it's nowhere near as difficult as you think.