Some Odd Symptoms That Leave Me Wondering...

[emilee89]

Hello all! It is great to find a place like this to talk and get advice. I am experiencing some annoying, slightly worrisome symptoms that I need some input on.

First of all, I'm 17, and have had a "sour stomach" or "weak stomach" all of my life. I never thought there was anything out of the ordinary going on until I met someone with celiac disease. However, I have none of the growth problems that are supposedly common in kids, so I am wondering if I'm just going crazy. For the past few years especially, after I eat, I feel bloated, nauseous, and have stomach pain and excessive gas within 5-10 minutes (sometimes I vomit...but most of the time it is just nausea). Also, I feel extremely tired after I eat (I have noticed that particularly it is pastas, breads, pizza, etc) and feel as if I need a nap halfway through the day. Also, I am almost always going through a cycle of being extremely constipated (sometimes up to 2 weeks with absolutely no action!) or having lots of diarreha. Also, I get headaches a lot and often have canker sores... That may or not be related to the problems I'm experiencing. I've never had any rashes or skin symptoms... I am thin, and have never been able to gain weight no matter how hard I try.

I'm not sure if this sounds like a gluten intolerance... I was diagnosed with IBS 2 years ago which meant absolutely nothing to me really... But thank you for reading! I'm just sick of feeling crappy and want to know if there's a chance that it can be fixed!

[hannahp57]

Hello, I have been there!

i was diagnosed at 16. before that my life was exactly as you described. after eating i would feel bloated, nauseous, and i would almost always get D. I always had D and C issues. go three or four days wth nothing and then something would trigger D and i would be sick for days. and i began losing weight in high school. at the end of sophomore year i weighed 135 (im 5'8) and two months later -100lbs. my doctor said i had acid reflux and then looked to my mom and said she's probably just wanting to lose weight to get more attention. well nexium proved to be useless.

so by some work of god my doctor went to a conference and one of his little doctor friends told him about a patient he had... and the lightbulb came on. he put me on a gluten free diet along with a couple of medications. one of which he told me was to make my body feel hungry because the last two months before diagnosis i could not eat AT ALL. i survived off of 1/4 of an individual sized jello cup a day. two months later i had gained five pounds and was eating small meals every 2 to four hours. it took four months before i was "regular" and at 6 months i learned what it is like to feel good.

i hope this helps you to not feel so alone. any other questions feel free to ask. nothing embarasses people here! we've all been there. YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

[emilee89]

Thank you!! That makes me feel a lot better. It's so nice to have a place like this with people that actually know what they're talking about because they've experienced all of it. I am hopeful for the future and getting down to the bottom of this

[Majorwest]

Hello all! It is great to find a place like this to talk and get advice. I am experiencing some annoying, slightly worrisome symptoms that I need some input on.

First of all, I'm 17, and have had a "sour stomach" or "weak stomach" all of my life. I never thought there was anything out of the ordinary going on until I met someone with celiac disease. However, I have none of the growth problems that are supposedly common in kids, so I am wondering if I'm just going crazy. For the past few years especially, after I eat, I feel bloated, nauseous, and have stomach pain and excessive gas within 5-10 minutes (sometimes I vomit...but most of the time it is just nausea). Also, I feel extremely tired after I eat (I have noticed that particularly it is pastas, breads, pizza, etc) and feel as if I need a nap halfway through the day. Also, I am almost always going through a cycle of being extremely constipated (sometimes up to 2 weeks with absolutely no action!) or having lots of diarreha. Also, I get headaches a lot and often have canker sores... That may or not be related to the problems I'm experiencing. I've never had any rashes or skin symptoms... I am thin, and have never been able to gain weight no matter how hard I try.

I'm not sure if this sounds like a gluten intolerance... I was diagnosed with IBS 2 years ago which meant absolutely nothing to me really... But thank you for reading! I'm just sick of feeling crappy and want to know if there's a chance that it can be fixed!

Hello! I am new to the forum and doing research on celiac disease after just learning my 20yr old daughter is gluten intolerant.

Reading your post, you are almost identical to my daughter who has had gastro-type complaints most of her life. And, just like you, although she has always been on the thin side, her height is normal. She, too, is almost always extremely fatigued and is known for sleeping and napping a lot. She has also complained forever about mild sore throats and a general discomfort of the lymph node area under her jaw bone. We had been looking into a tonsilectomy, but her ENT wanted to do that as a last resort. She is easily excited/stressed and easily angered and frustrated which has always been her emotional profile as long as I can remember. I began to wonder recently, during my usual research into her symptoms, if her adrenals were the problem.

She has been to many doctors over the years but celiac disease was something that just never came up. We finally had her see a kinesiologist this year. After a few weeks of muscle manipulation and physical therapy that seemed to produce little relief, he suggested an adrenal stress test. This is the test using saliva samples. The results of the test came back the other day and, although we were looking for confirmation about her adrenals, was surprised when the kinesiologist mentioned gluten intolerance and celiac disease.

So, that is where we are at now. This is the closest we have ever come to something that makes sense with her symptoms. If you suspect a gluten intolerance or celiac disease, perhaps you may want to look into getting this test.

[emilee89]

Wow, thank you for all of that information. I didn't even think of being easily stressed, frustrated, or angered as being related, but that would really fit my profile as well. Since I am young, many of my personality quirks such as irritability and fatigue have been explained away as hormones by my doctor. I'm definitely taking a hard look at any possibilities and I've scheduled an appointment with a general physician with a specialty in gastro issues so I hope he'll know his stuff. This may sound terrible, but part of me hopes to be diagnosed as celiac so that I can finally have some relief! Any little bit of information helps a lot! I hope your daughter is doing well and that the new diet helps her after all the time spent searching for an answer

[emilee89]

I'm kind of just using this as a place to document and explore what I keep realizing about my symptoms. I never thought about my family history related to what's going on now. My maternal grandmother had Grave's disease and ended up getting her thyroid destroyed.. She also had her gallbladder removed and has had debilitating stomach problems her whole life without a diagnosis. I don't know if thyroid or gallbladder problems are related to celiac but I think that might be what she's suffering from... I can't even count the time I've heard her say "I need more immodium!!" poor grams

Also, does celiac/gluten intolerance/whatever I might have get worse around traumatic events? My boyfriend passed away in June, and I noticed a kind of resurgence of more intense or new symptoms...I chalked it up to being emotional, but now that I feel better emotionally, I feel worse physically.

[Serversymptoms]

I'm also 17 years old and have/ do experience similar health problems as you and more ofcourse. When I removed gluten from my diet I started to see many improvements, and went through a long process with the doctors and had to self diagnose myself as gluten intolerance. I also became aware that removing yeast was improving my symptoms and was able to self diagnose as yeast intolerance with many improvements. Though I notice after eating something with lots of sugar I get headaches etc.... did a candida spit test, tested positive and now know I have candida. Other health problems I stay alert to is thyroid, pre-diabetes and malnutrition. Though candida can be causing me problems of thyroid adn pre-diabetes... and possibly could have gave me leaky gut giving me food intolerances like gluten and yeast. I think you should look into those problems also.

(Tried to explain everything very shortly)

[ravenwoodglass]

I'm kind of just using this as a place to document and explore what I keep realizing about my symptoms. I never thought about my family history related to what's going on now. My maternal grandmother had Grave's disease and ended up getting her thyroid destroyed.. She also had her gallbladder removed and has had debilitating stomach problems her whole life without a diagnosis. I don't know if thyroid or gallbladder problems are related to celiac but I think that might be what she's suffering from... I can't even count the time I've heard her say "I need more immodium!!" poor grams

Also, does celiac/gluten intolerance/whatever I might have get worse around traumatic events? My boyfriend passed away in June, and I noticed a kind of resurgence of more intense or new symptoms...I chalked it up to being emotional, but now that I feel better emotionally, I feel worse physically.

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. Yes celiac can get worse after a traumatic event or a physical illness or stressor. For many women celiac is triggered by childbirth, for example.

If you can get your grandmother to be at least tested for celiac that would be a really good thing to do. And yes celiac is associated with both thyroid and gallbladder issues, it can really attack just about any organ in the body including the brain.