New To Gluten Free Foods

[lisa-123]

Hi everyone, im very new to this and it would be great to hear back from anyone with suggestions and ideas.

Let me just start of by saying that i have always had problem with my stomach, meaning i always felt bloated and sore, even growing up. I had been to many doctors in my late teens early 20s and they diagnosed me with ulcers, anxiety, constipation, IBS, depression, they tell me i need to add fiber to my diet, basically everything under the sun but nothing ever worked!!!

The problem though was that the pain wasn't always there. I could go months at a time and feel just fine, and then for no reason start to have all my symptoms again. But i have noticed as i have gotten older (im 25 now) i have been feeling worse and the pain is a lot more persistent.

Starting July 4th i had been having a lot of pain on the left side of my stomach, starting from under my rib cage down to my hips and also around my back a little. The pain is a dull aching the never seems to leave. I have also been severely bloated (i looked like i was pregnant) and have been having a lot of trouble going to the bathroom!!! On top of this i feel nauseated all the time, tired, no energy and just over all really crapy, i ended up in the ER one night because the pain was so bad

They ran a whole bunch of test again and told me i need to eat more fiber!!!!! That was the last straw for me as i new something was going on with my body and i needed to figure it out.

i went to a new doctor and he ran a test to test for celiacs, and it came back negative, i was really happy with that result but also a little confused. Right after the test i went Gluten free for 7 days and i had never felt better!!! it took me about 4 days before i really felt the effects, but basically i felt like all my symptoms were gone. No more cramps or bloating, i had so much energy and just over all felt great.

I told my doctor about this and he suggested that i start to eat gluten foods again as he wanted to do a endoscope on me to check out my stomach and intestines. I wasn't happy about eating gluten again but for the test i did. On the second day of this i felt so sick again, and my stomach was back to being bloated. I had no idea that gluten could effect me so quickly. I stopped eating gluten after 3 days of pain!!!!!

Im quite sure that im Gluten intolerant as im back on Gluten free foods and have ever felt better. My doctor has told me though that there is another test that he wants to do as the 1st one was only 95% accurate, so there still maybe a chance of Celiacs, but im really hoping not......i will find out in a week.

my question is to anyone that may have had to same symptoms as me, what did you do? where you tested? what was the results? any advice?

i feel a little lost as im learning all there is to no about this online and have no one to really talk to about this

any help, advice or just feedback would be great

thanks!!!!!!

[daphniela]

If eating gluten free makes you feel better, then stick with it. I also have a bloated stomach. I look about 4 or 5 months pregnant. I have had people ask me when I am due. Pretty embarrassing to tell them I am not pregnant. I have been gluten free for 3 months now and I still look pregnnat. I don't know how long it takes for the stmach to go down. I've had issues with my stomach since I was 10 years old. (I am 29 now.) The doctors always said it was constipation and I needed more fiber or I was called a hypocondriac and dismissed. I got tested for Celiac when I requested the test. If I had not requested, I would have never been tested.

[ravenwoodglass]

Your gluten free trial and the result of the challenge are the best diagnostic there is IMHO. I just wish I had known to try it before my brain and body got so damaged but I never showed up in blood work so no doctor ever really told me what the tests were for, just that they were negative. If you are going to continue persueing a doctors diagnosis you HAVE to keep eating gluten. If the consequences of that are too severe, and it sounds like they might be, then just go gluten free and start healing. Your body has really already given you the answer and you don't need a doctors permission to be gluten free. Your doctor might not call you celiac without the biopsy and postive bloods but if he sees a good resolution of your issues on the diet he will likely pronounce you to be gluten intolerant or gluten sensitive. The need to be strictly gluten free is the same whether you are defined as 'celiac' or intolerant/sensitive.

[lisa-123]

wow 3 months gluten free and still a bloated stomach, you poor thing i know exactly how you feel!!! as i to also looked 4-5 months pregnant. The bloating in my stomach usually takes about 1-2 weeks to get back to normal after i have been gluten free. I have my endoscope in 2 days so im eager to hear what the doctor says. But regardless of what he says im going to stay Gluten free!!!!