Are My Symptoms Typical?

[alissar]

Since I was a teenager, I have been suffering from unexplained anemia, GI problems, a daily headache and chronic fatigue, all of which became increasingly worse this past year (I am 25 now). After some researching, I decided to go gluten-free and have been gluten-free for 1month. Since then, my GI problems, headache, and fatigue have gone away completely so I believe gluten was the issue. My question is 2-fold: 1. Did any of you have symptoms that would come and go? For instance, some days I could eat toast and feel fine, other days (esp. Holidays or times with a lot of food), I would eat and have to get up from the table and make a b-line to the bathroom because my GI issues were so bad. If you have Celiac, do you normally have noticeable symptoms every single time you eat gluten? My second question is regarding my eyes. Every morning since I was a teenager, I wake up with VERY swollen upper and lower eyelids that gradually go down during the day. Sometimes, my fingers swell too. I have a low sodium diet and am not overweight at all. I have had blood tests for thyroid, kidney, Lupus, etc etc etc, all normal. My swollen eyes have become 75% better over the past month since going gluten-free but are still present. Have any of you experienced this symptom? If so, how long on a gluten-free diet before this symptom went away?THANKS for your help! This has been tough to manage on my own and many doctors do not know much about Celiac.

[WheatChef]

When you're not looking for it gluten can sneak in from everywhere so your body would be in a constant flux of purging and adapting to the poison. Before seeking doctor advice I decided to try and OD on gluten a few times and it would take a lot for me to be sure that any one particular meal was the actual problem (2 large pizzas, 1 tray of brownies, 2 loaves of bread etc). Once you get gluten-free you notice the effects of being glutened more because your baseline of comparison goes from being "mildly poisoned" to "normal" and swings from normal to poisoned are a lot easier to notice than going from mildly poisoned to poisoned.

I used to have a somewhat similar problem with my eyes. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was in a constant state of severe dehydration and tear/saliva/mucous production was almost nil. While sleeping you can't continue to chug water over those 6-8 hours of sleep and so your body slowly withers away and dries out till you finally wake up and can start the rehydrating process. After getting glutened now I have sleep problems related to waking up in the middle of the night because my eyes/nose/mouth/throat/all of the above have dried out.