New To Celiac

[MAYzar29]

I am new to celiac and not sure where to start.

I am 31 and have a long list of medical problems that are really hindering my progress in life. I have always battled with diarrhea, severe bloating and gas. I also have early signs of osteoporosis/osteoarthritis with multiple surgeries for hyper mobility. I was recently looking up AVN a disease my mother has in both hips as I wanted to see if it was hereditary and for the second time in my life I was introduced to celiac. I started looking more into it and I have just about every symptom right down to having a child that was growth restricted or IUGR intrauterine growth retardation(for unknown causes); fortunately he is now healthy and seems to be growing fine. I have unexplained sores in my mouth batteled with anemia all my life and never made it over 100lbs until I was 23.

The biggest issue is that my doctor wanted to just put me on the medications to help the diarrhea and that was it. What ever happened to getting to the source of the problem. When I mentioned celiac she started to jump around trying to make me second guess myself. I guess after telling her that I was going to start wearing depends when I get in my car is what made her decide to test me. I am not sure of the results yet and this is where I am at. Where do i go from here? I have a military provider who fortunately has recently been to the conference and has the new numbers on celiac so I am able help them to get the ball rolling about this disease and hopefully getting it more awareness. What do I do in the mean time and should I start going gluten-free now? I am very emotional about this since my younger years were full of pain, embarrassment, and feeling like I could always do better in school but never I just never knew what was wrong with me. I have a brother who is just like me and I am hoping that he will get tested as well. Please help me try to get a better grasp on this before I find out if this is what I have. sad.gif

[OptimisticMom42]

First you have to decide if you are going to wait until the testing is done or dive right in and see what happens. If you're going to dive in, start with a simple menu and shopping list.

Here is what mine looks like.........

Breakfast

2 eggs fried in olive oil

1 banana

2cups black coffee

Lunch

apple slices

all natural peanut butter

cherry juice (real juice and water, no corn syrup or additives)

Snack

Rice Chex

Rice Milk

Supper

Meat

potato or rice

veggies

This is an easy way for me to stay Gluten, Dairy and Soy free.

Most of us have several food intolerances beyond gluten so you should read up on the elimination diet. It will teach you how to identify and eliminate foods that you are not tolerating. And it will help you find foods you can add to your menu..........like Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Hope you and your brother feel better real soon,

OptimisticMom42

[luvthelake21]

Just wanted to say welcome and you have found the best place for answers. My 13 year old daughter doctor told us she had Celiac and he could not help us on how to live gluten free but told us to come here. I have been here reading alot of the diffrent forums from the past and have learned alot over the last couple of years. Do not know the answers to you questions just wanted to say hi.