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[Guest Qtsy]

I thought you guys should be aware of this:

I was reading a book last night about autoimmune disorders. (I was trying to find out more about my autoimmune hepatitis) and I came across Celiac Disease. I didn't know that Celiac Disease was an autoimmune disorder, or that most of my disorders are autoimmune disorders. Here are somethings that I got from the book.

Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disorder. And if you have one autoimmune disorder you are more than likely to have others. So if you have some odd symptoms or you have just Celiac Disease then maybe you should check with your doctor. It's better to be safe then sorry.

Other Autoimmune Disorders:

Hypothyroidism

Hypoglycemia

Diabetes

Multiple Sclerosis

Lupus

Graves Disease

Misc. Symptoms:

Tingling/numb hands and feet

Achy joints and muscles

Fatigue

Weight Loss

Depression

Difficulty thinking clearly

"Multiple autoimmune conditions are frequently accompanied by dramatically worsening allergies, heightened chemical sensitivities, hormonal imbalances, and a host of other debilitating and life changing symptoms"

- Living well with Autoimmune Disease (what your doctor doesn't tell you... that you need to know) by Mary J. Shomon

[watkinson]

Hi qtsy,

I have as good friend and neighbor who has MS. She started having classic celiac symptoms within the last year. I have been encouraging her to be tested. She finally went to see an endocrinologist (the same one I went to see). I was soooo dissapointed in him. She said he was ready to send her to get the blood tests for celiac disease but then dismissed the whole thing. She is now seeing an allergist to see if she is allergic to wheat. I have told her about the corrolation in autoimmune dieases. (having one means a higher possibility of having more, like you said). I don't get this Dr. but then, I don't get most doctors. I had to suffer my whole life progressivly getting worse until I spent more than 6 years in torture. I saw Dr. after Dr. Only to finally figure it out for myself. I had to tell the Dr. what I had. Then came the tests and a positive result.

I am trying to encourage her to demand that the Dr. give her a blood test but I don't know if she will.

Wish her luck,

Wendy

[stef-the-kicking-cuty]

Hello Wendy,

same here. I also told my doctor what I had after 7 years of pain and running from one doctor to the other. Isn't that weird? I don't get some doctors.

[jenvan]

Qtsy-Thanks for the info. What kind of symptoms do you get from Hypoglycemia?

[Guest Qtsy]

Warning: This is long and about my experience with doctors and being diagnosed.

Read at your own risk

Hypoglycemia, that one is a fun one. Let's see, when my blood sugar is low

-the lights become brighter

-I get dizzy

-I get nausea

-I get lightheaded

That's about it.

It is weird. For the last 6 years Ihave been through 5 doctors. My family believed that I was making it up for attention because my doctors couldn't find anything wrong with me. All of my symptoms merged together so it was hard to pinpoint what was wrong.

The first time I went to the hospital (ER) was because I was in pain. But:

-they checked my gallbladder, it was fine

-they checked my stomach, it was inflammed but they told me it was nothing (Little did anyone know that the inflammation was a sign of an autoimmune disease.)

-they then told me nothing was wrong and, by the way, I owe them over $1,000

The second time I went to a doctor I was diagnosed with Idiopathic Gastroparesis. Dictonary: Gastroparesis - My stomach becomes paralyzed and can't digest food

Idiopathic - they have no idea why

I was then told to go home, eat slower, drink water 30min after I eat, and don't worry, it's nothing.

A few months later I was still having problems and demanded that I get my blood sugar looked at. He was hesitant at first but did it. I thought I was diabetic but found out later that I had low blood sugar. (Normal range is 70 to I think 110) Mine was 57. Which is low enough that it needed to be monitered.

This lasted for 3 years. My pain stopped, my dizzyness and nausea went away. I was happy.

Then, at the begining of 2004, I started to have diarhea. I didn't pay to much attention to it because it wasn't bad and there was nothing urgent about it. 5 months

later I had not had a single normal stool. I was worried that I would get dehydrated and went to another doctor. The doctor count by now was 3.

This doctor was awesome! If you guys want a referral, I'll put the info at the bottem of this. Anyway, he found out that I had hypothyroidism. He then referred me to my last doctor. (I'll put his name and contact number at the bottom of this as well)

Pasha found out that I had Gastritis, Duodenitis, Celiac Disease, and Autoimmune Hepatitis.

Now I'm just trying to heal!

After doing all this I realized that in my signature I missed Hypothyroidism.

Anyway,

Here is that contact info I promised:

General Family Practitioner

Dr. Gregory Sholeff

N. Buffalo Drive

Suite 100

Las Vegas, Nevada

89128

702-233-8855

Center for Colon and Digestive Diseases

Dr. Tousif Pasha

2050 Mariner Drive

Suite 150

Las Vegas, Nevada 89128

702-948-9480

[Lisa Ann]

I have celiac disease (recently found out) and my cousin has been diagnosed with MS. Her mother also had MS. I'm very concerned about this and I'm trying to tell her she should at least look into possible celiac disease. I just read something the other day re. lesions in the brain that also occur in celiac disease patients that look for similar to MS lesions.

I would really like to talk to someone who was either diagnosed with MS or has MS like symptoms. My cousin's ? to me was re. spinal taps.