gluten-free 3 years but constantly ill...

[polkflguy 0]

Ok first let me start out by saying I know I should and plan to see a doctor when I can afford it with that said I need to ask if anyone thinks this is possibly celiac disease.

My very first symptom was a burning in my stomach (left side) and heartburn, I was put on a PPI and diagnosed with GERD.

The ppi does help the burning and heartburn however recently as in about Nov of 2009 I started experiencing many symptoms and by researching found out about celiac disease.

The main symptoms that really bothered me at this time was gas and bloating and constant stomach noise. Now I tend to have diarrhea a lot and when I have bouts of diarrhea I usually get tingling in my hands and strange intermittent buzzing in my feet approx 3-6 seconds apart.

After finding out about celiac disease and having an extremely bad episode with pizza I decided to try a gluten free diet for 2 weeks. I felt great I only ate fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat for my meals and I felt 100% better no doubt about it!!

Anyway after two weeks I decided to grab a subway flat bread sandwich to see what reaction I may have if any. Within 1 hour I was in the restroom in misery and felt bad for a couple days after with tingling / buzzing. The best way I can describe it was it felt like food poisoning WITHOUT nausea and vomiting. Make no mistake this was not food poisoning this would happen to me right now if I was to go out and eat a pizza at Papa John's or ANYTHING from subway.

Symptoms are

Gas, bloating, constant rumbling

Heartburn

Tingling in fingers

Buzzing in feet

Headaches

Joint pain (right ankle right hip/back)

Chronic diarrhea until I alter my diet to high protein, fruits and veggies

At one time before my stomach trouble I developed this terrible burning blistering rash on my lower back the right side at the time I was terrified that I may have herpes or something, this rash came about after a long night of drinking "beer" but I never thought about the possible connections and later my father had the same problem after a night of beer in almost the exact same location I had it. He has no other symptoms that I know of.

Another interesting fact is that my little brother who lives 1200 miles away from me has been experiencing similar symptoms as mine for well over a year I know celiac disease is genetic so those two things also raise suspicions.

I am starting to piece together a puzzle and I believe I may be getting close to the answer.

I have never had problems with wheat until recently I used to eat nothing but wheat bread, my question is could this be celiac disease?

Thanks in advance for your responses

[ravenwoodglass 1,345]

Yes it certainly could be. What you did was a gluten challenge. You dropped gluten and felt better then ate gluten and saw your symptoms return. You do need to be on a full gluten diet for testing. So if you want a doctor to confirm what your body has already told you get back on gluten. You should also encourage your family members to get tested. The rash sounds much like DH, or the skin form of celiac. A biopsy can be done if you have an active lesion but it needs to be done by a derm who knows how to do when looking for DH. The biopsy needs to be taken from the area next to the rash not the rash itself. A diagnosis of DH is a diagnosis of celiac even if no other symptoms are present. You would not have to go back on gluten long term for testing for DH, only long enough to produce active lesions. Also if your Dad or another family member have an active rash let them know about DH and testing. Celiac is very strongly genetic and with your response to the diet it is likely that it is their issue also.