Newbie To Cd

[AMOgirl]

Hi Everyone.

I just wanted to let you guys know how glad I am that you are here.

I have had chronic diarrhea since I was and infant. (I am 34) About 8 years ago I started getting joint pain and went to the Dr. who prescribed Naproxin. (it didnt help) so I stopped taking it.

Over the last 6 months the pain and fatigue has gotten to the point where I can't function. I have always had the diarrhea (which at times is EXTREMELY painful) so I didnt think anything about it.

I went to the Dr. last week and told him all of my physical problems ( seemed like a really long list) diarrhea, fatigue, joint/muscle pain, and overall just a really crappy feeling all of the time.

When I told the doctor about the diarrhea he couldn't believe that I had had it my whole life without a diagnosis. I am adopted and my family just considered it to be one of my oddities, I guess. When I was an infant my mom had taken me in because of my irritability and blow out diapers but they couldnt figure it out. So I just learned to live with it, only eating in the late afternoon or if I wasnt planning on going anywhere, etc.

So the Doctor said I think you have celiac disease. I had no idea what that was. So he drew some blood and told me to stop eating anything with gluten and come back in 2 weeks.

I went home and looked in my cubbard and cried, went to the grocery store and only found nut crackers and corn tortillas, I was really depressed.

So I had gone 9 days gluten free, and then saturday night we were out with friends ( having prime rib) and i ate 3 slices of bread ( it was wonderful!!!) but the next day I felt like a cripple again and today i am feeling a little better.

So this Thursday I am going back to the Dr. to get my test results for the blood work and I need to know what tests should I expect to see and what results will indicate celiac disease, etc.

Also, should I have my son tested?

Sorry this is so long.

Thanks,

Alyssa

[Carriefaith]

Welcome!

The tissue transglutamase blood test is highly specific for celiac disease, therefore if it is elevated than you would most likely have celiac.

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However, if you want biopsies of the small intestine, you have to be consuming gluten or you may get a false negative test result.

Also, should I have my son tested?

If you indeed have celiac than yes your son should be tested because celaic disease can be passed through genes.

[AMOgirl]

Thank you so much for your reply.

Whenever i read the posts and so many of the other peoples symptoms seem the same it makes me want to cry. I cant believe there are so many people with this. I thought I was just a freak case. I went to a GI Dr. in my early 20's and he never did any blood work, he just put me on ulcer meds which didn't work so I never went back. I had no idea that pain and fatigue could be related to my GI stuff.

I will know more on Thursday, and Thank you.

[Guest Viola]

Welcome Alyssa; You are certainly not alone in those symptoms. Although I'm sure we all felt that way before we were diagnosed.

Hopefully you will soon have your answer. If it is Celiac, and believe it or not, that answer is a blessing, you can control it with diet and start to get better. I know the diet sounds overwhelming, but we are all here to help you through it, and there really is lots of gluten free products and even normal food out there

And yes ... if you get a postive celiac disease result, get your son tested.

[KaitiUSA]

There is so much that you think you can't have at first but the selection of what we can have keeps expanding. We can have alot more then we think at first.

If you do have it make sure your son is tested and tell your blood relatives to be tested because it is genetic.

Welcome to the board and if you have questions just ask away