I Think I Have It!

[Donald]

I have always had stomach issues since childhood and I can relate to all the classic symptoms except weight loss. I have always battled my weight being anywhere between 10 to 30 lbs over weight.

I became vegan about a year ago and in doing so I was able to narrow down what food bothered my stomach. Well I began to suspect gluten issues then a couple weekends ago on a friday my wife and I had onion rings and fries, saturday I went to a cookout and had about 7 beers, sunday i had whole wheat pasta, and white bread...alot of it. Well Monday I was in the bathroom, and(sorry for the bluntness) it was water. So this continued for a couple days and then I discovered a web site about celiac. I went gluten free. That was a week ago and just today my stomach stopped cramping and I am beginning to be normal in the bathroom.

I am not thrilled about going to the doctor to go through testing. I thought I would just stick to a gluten free diet and see if things improve. All my life I have been plagued with fuzzy mind, occasional joint issues( of which I also had during this last attack), low energy etc. If this is indeed celiac, I would be thrilled to know that my issues have a name and that I may be able to control it and, basically, change my life!

Can anyone relate? Any suggestions??

[GlutenFreeManna]

Welcome! Just some advice, don't go gluten free until you have the testing done. You have to be consuming A LOT of gluten for the test results to be positive. If you are gluten free when you test it could be a false negative. If the diet helps it is really hard to go back to eating enough gluten (and making yourself sick in the process) for the tests. You can go gluten free the day your testing is done, you don't have to wait for the results to try the diet. Just try to get tests ASAP.

[Skylark]

Why are you concerned about the testing?

Doctors encourage it because celiac tends to be accompanied with vitamin deficiencies, thyroid problems, and other autoimmune disorders. There is no treatment other than a gluten-free diet right now but there are treatments in clinical trials and they will only work for people who actually have celiac.

It's true there are false negatives, and I'm always one to encourage folks to try the diet once you've gotten at least the blood panel.

Also, I can completely understand your enthusiasm for finding something that might make you feel better. I do hope you have your answer, and that your health improves gluten-free.