Need Some Help...

[curlingfan]

Ok, basically I've felt not completely myself since sometime during freshman year of college. I'm in my senior year right now. Freshman year is also when I started to go vegetarian, which included me eating lots of fake meats which have lots of wheat in them. But anyway, I kind of isolated a lot of how I felt to hypolycemia. I would get lightheadedness and absolutely HAVE to eat otherwise I would feel sick.

But in the past few months I've read about Celiac and gluten sensitivity. These symptoms seem to have gotten worse in the past few months. The list of symptoms that I have that I feel are suspect are: sore joints, alopecia areata (diagnosed with a biopsy), low vitamin D, b12, and iron, yellowy smeary poop (gross, i know...), nausea, anxiety, BRAIN FOG, maybe the sebhorric dermatitis on my face. That's all I can think of right now. I kept wanting to make an appointment, but was running out of time and kept feeling bad, so I decided to just start the elimination diet. I've been gluten free for about 3-4 weeks now. I think I feel less nauseous and anxious, but the poop, brain fog, joints and hair don't seem any better.

My main questions are:

1) Was it wrong to start the diet without getting tested?

2) Do these symptoms sound like gluten sensitivity or celiac disease?

3) My aunt on my father's side had type 1 diabetes, and my aunt on my mother's side has fibromyalgia. Is this related to me?

and last, but certainly not least

4) The first 2-3 days of my elimination diet, my brain cleared up perfectly and I felt like myself again, my poop was brown and normal, and I couldn't feel my joints. I was sooo excited. Then after those 3 days (even now 3.5 weeks later) I still have all those problems. What gives? This is so frustrating.

Sorry for such a messy post, but I wanted to get all the info in. Thanks so much for the help in advance!

[starrytrekchic]

When I started the diet, I felt better right about 2 1/2 days into it. That lasted for several days, then I felt horrible again. For me, how bad it was varied with my monthly cycle--no idea if your male or female, but if you're female, your sensitivity can change with your hormone levels. But I was also making some minor mistakes with the diet. You'll have to assume everything has gluten in it--even drinks--that you haven't thoroughly checked the ingredients. You'll have to make sure there's no cross contamination, that your hair/makeup/lotion/etc are all gluten free, that you're not getting it from any other source--handling pet food, kissing the SO after they've eaten gluten, etc.

You may also be experiencing other food allergies that pop up after you go on a gluten free diet, and you might simply be getting more sensitive to gluten.

I'm also veggie, and my problems also started in college. I also have brain fog, anxiety, fecal issues, nausea, anemia, and a sore joints.

I'm not an expert, but I think diabetes 1 can occur more often in celiac relatives/celiacs themselves. As to the diet--it depends on how much having an official diagnosis means to you. If you want to get tested later, you'll have to eat gluten everyday for several weeks.

[curlingfan]

When I started the diet, I felt better right about 2 1/2 days into it. That lasted for several days, then I felt horrible again. For me, how bad it was varied with my monthly cycle--no idea if your male or female, but if you're female, your sensitivity can change with your hormone levels. But I was also making some minor mistakes with the diet. You'll have to assume everything has gluten in it--even drinks--that you haven't thoroughly checked the ingredients. You'll have to make sure there's no cross contamination, that your hair/makeup/lotion/etc are all gluten free, that you're not getting it from any other source--handling pet food, kissing the SO after they've eaten gluten, etc.

You may also be experiencing other food allergies that pop up after you go on a gluten free diet, and you might simply be getting more sensitive to gluten.

I'm also veggie, and my problems also started in college. I also have brain fog, anxiety, fecal issues, nausea, anemia, and a sore joints.

I'm not an expert, but I think diabetes 1 can occur more often in celiac relatives/celiacs themselves. As to the diet--it depends on how much having an official diagnosis means to you. If you want to get tested later, you'll have to eat gluten everyday for several weeks.

Thanks for the response. I am male, btw. I sort of started getting a post nasal drip right around when I started going gluten free. I still have it, actually. So, I'm really hoping that's the reason for the fecal issues. By the way, I kiss my cat on his cute little lips all the time.

The weird thing is though, I never noticed being allergic to anything in my life, but a few days after going gluten free I tried to eat some pecans and it burned my tongue.

But yea, 2 days after going gluten free, I literally felt as good as I did when I was like 10 years old. It was so crazy. I don't think I have felt that good for over 10 years. Then, it came back So wierd.

[Jestgar]

I kiss my cat on his cute little lips all the time.

Unless your wee beastie is gluten-free, he may be doing you in....

[starrytrekchic]

Thanks for the response. I am male, btw. I sort of started getting a post nasal drip right around when I started going gluten free. I still have it, actually. So, I'm really hoping that's the reason for the fecal issues. By the way, I kiss my cat on his cute little lips all the time.

The weird thing is though, I never noticed being allergic to anything in my life, but a few days after going gluten free I tried to eat some pecans and it burned my tongue.

But yea, 2 days after going gluten free, I literally felt as good as I did when I was like 10 years old. It was so crazy. I don't think I have felt that good for over 10 years. Then, it came back So wierd.

You're probably getting more sensitive or making little mistakes. I'd investigate the cat thing. I like to kiss my little kittie all the time too, but I'm thinking I'm going to have to get her some different food. She eats Whiskas and it has 'Wheat Gluten' right there on the ingredients in large letters.

I don't know what's available gluten free for cats, though. And she has a sensitive stomach--and since Whiskas seems to work for her, I hesitate to try and switch her to something else.

Be sure you're washing your hands after handling your ball of fluff's food. I've glutened myself that way before.

You might try a journal--rating your symptoms 1-10 in severity--and see if they go down over time. It can be hard to judge objectively if your symptoms are better or worse than they were a week or month ago.