Frustrated

[stillight]

Hi I'm new to the boards. I am a 24 year old female and about 3 weeks ago I went on a gluten free diet under the suspicion I have some sort of intolerance.

Before going on the diet my symptoms were:

• - left side bloating under my ribs with some pain
  
• - clicking ribs on left side
  
• - left side gurgling noises
  
• - foggy thinking
  
• - white spots on skin on left side of ribs
  
• - undigested food in my bowel movements that were usually loose
  
• - clear urine (even while taking vitamins)
  
• - hopelessness/slight depression at times
  
• - rash on elbows
  
• - gas
  

I went to the doctor and was sent for an abdominal ultra-sound which was normal, a chest x-ray and an abdominal x-ray, both of which were normal. I also had blood testing which was normal except I had low iron. I have an appointment with a specialist, but not until July.

I went on the gluten free diet and the results were as follows:

• - left side bloating under my ribs is almost rare, and seems to be tied in with eating gluten, though I can't always identify the source
  
• - left side gurgling noises are pretty much gone
  
• - still have clicking ribs on left side, though it seems to be less frequent
  
• - I now think clearly
  
• - white spots on skin on left side of ribs are still present
  
• - bowel movements are fully digested, though occasionally a little bit hard
  
• - urine is back to normal
  
• - only very rarely feel depressed or hopeless
  
• - rash on elbows comes and goes
  
• - rare gas only when I think I have eaten gluten
  

Some unexpected results:

• - weight loss, 5 pounds so far (I have been overweight for years)
  
• - pimples on face cleared up
  

Does this sound pretty typical? My family is skeptical and thinks that a lot of this is in my head and I'm sort of a hypochondriac. Or that the results are simply due to eating less processed and packaged foods.

I am still planning to attend my specialist appointment in July, I just had to do something now because July is really very far away, and I think I am on the right track, but I'm still a little unsure. Thank You.

[nora-n]

I lost weight off gluten too.

Sounds suspicious for celiac or something.

What blood tests excactly were done?

Now that you have gone off gluten, it might be very hard to get a diagnosis.

[stillight]

I'm not sure which blood tests were done actually. I know I was tested for mono and for diabetes, aside from that I am not sure. I should have paid closer attention.

[nora-n]

Sometimes they order the wrong tests, we havwe seen that here, and there have even been postiive test results they did not understand.

One hospital said the tests sere negative but when the parent looked them up from the lab, the hospital had the ranges wrong and the tests were definitely positive.

They ended up having to write to a lot of patietns that the tests actually were positive....

Sometimes the doctors get it srong, like the doctor who said the gene test was not postive unless one had both DQ2 and DQ8, both of them.