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Doctor Of Internal Medicine Vs. Gi

salexander421

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salexander421 Enthusiast
salexander421
Posted

Would seeing a doctor of internal medicine be just as good as seeing a GI? Would an internal medicine doctor possibly be more familiar with celiac disease?

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mushroom Proficient
mushroom
Posted

Don't ask me because I'm jaundiced. If the Gi"s don't know much, and they are the ones who do the scopes for it, what will an internist know? :P Hypothetical question :rolleyes:

jerseyangel Proficient
jerseyangel
Posted

Would seeing a doctor of internal medicine be just as good as seeing a GI? Would an internal medicine doctor possibly be more familiar with celiac disease?

There are always exceptions but the Internists I've seen really have no idea about Celiac. They have always suggested that I see a Gastroenterologist when I begin asking questions.

meme2kids Rookie
meme2kids
Posted

My internist is the one who suggested it. I had been to GI's and all they told me was my intestines was inflammed. My interenist ran the blood tests, found me a GI who would listen to me.

The 3 of us worked together to find the answer.

Now I love the both, my GI has been supportive since the test results, found me a support group, is talking to my children peds dr and set me on a direction to find what I can eat, instead of what I can not eat.

BUT it took an internist to put all the pieces together.

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

I would ask an internist or your GP to run a full celiac panel. It couldn't hurt and you wouldn't need a referral. Then if you feel that you really need to see a GI for biopsy ask to see one. If your blood tests are positive some doctors now skip the biopsy and just diagnose since the biopsy has a fairly high rate of false negatives. Be aware that the blood tests can be a false negative also.

SaraKat Contributor
SaraKat
Posted

A rheumatologist ran my celiac panel which was positive and then referred me to a GI Dr. I have been seeing him since. He did the endoscopy and I have my follow up blood test with him in a few weeks. I was wondering the same thing though- he told me it is just blood tests from now on, so I am thinking I could just go to my regular Dr. My GI seems pretty well versed in celiac though, I guess I will wait to see how my blood test came back. If it is good I won't worry too much, but if it is bad I might need further guidance with the diet.

I guess go to whoever you feel is more up on the disease?

salexander421 Enthusiast
salexander421
Posted
  • Author

Thanks everyone! I was looking at a list of GI's on the website of a local celiac support group and noticed one of them was actually a doctor of internal medicine and that's what got me wondering. I've already seen one GI and it wasn't the best experience so I'm thinking maybe I should try the internist...but it looks like it just depends on the person. Thanks!

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salexander421 Enthusiast
salexander421
Posted
  • Author

A rheumatologist ran my celiac panel which was positive and then referred me to a GI Dr. I have been seeing him since. He did the endoscopy and I have my follow up blood test with him in a few weeks. I was wondering the same thing though- he told me it is just blood tests from now on, so I am thinking I could just go to my regular Dr. My GI seems pretty well versed in celiac though, I guess I will wait to see how my blood test came back. If it is good I won't worry too much, but if it is bad I might need further guidance with the diet.

I guess go to whoever you feel is more up on the disease?

Would a rheumatologist be even better since they deal with the immune system??

mushroom Proficient
mushroom
Posted

Would a rheumatologist be even better since they deal with the immune system??

It depends on the rheumatologist. My U.S. rheumatologist sees no relationship between arthritis/autoimmune/celiac :o

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

It depends on the rheumatologist. My U.S. rheumatologist sees no relationship between arthritis/autoimmune/celiac :o

Mine didn't either just wanted to give me shots in the joints, send me to a pain clinic to 'learn to live with the pain' and prescribe pill after pill, some of which were later removed from the market. My arthritis has been in remission since a couple months after I started the diet.

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    • knitty kitty
      My only proof

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      You're right, doctors usually only test Vitamin D and B12.  Both are really important, but they're not good indicators of deficiencies in the other B vitamins.  Our bodies are able to store Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D in the liver for up to a year or longer.  The other B vitamins can only be stored for much shorter periods of time.  Pyridoxine B 6 can be stored for several months, but the others only a month or two at the longest.  Thiamine stores can be depleted in as little as three days.  There's no correlation between B12 levels and the other B vitamins' levels.  Blood tests can't measure the amount of vitamins stored inside cells where they are used.  There's disagreement as to what optimal vitamin levels are.  The Recommended Daily Allowance is based on the minimum daily amount needed to prevent disease set back in the forties when people ate a totally different diet and gruesome experiments were done on people.  Folate  requirements had to be updated in the nineties after spina bifida increased and synthetic folic acid was mandated to be added to grain products.  Vitamin D requirements have been updated only in the past few years.   Doctors aren't required to take as many hours of nutritional education as in the past.  They're educated in learning institutions funded by pharmaceutical corporations.  Natural substances like vitamins can't be patented, so there's more money to be made prescribing pharmaceuticals than vitamins.   Also, look into the Autoimmune Protocol Diet, developed by Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, a Celiac herself.  Her book The Paleo Approach has been most helpful to me.  You're very welcome.  I'm glad I can help you around some stumbling blocks while on this journey.    Keep me posted on your progress!  Best wishes! P.S.  interesting reading: Thiamine, gastrointestinal beriberi and acetylcholine signaling https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12014454/
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    • knitty kitty
      Has anyone had terrible TMJ/ Jaw Pain from undiagnosed Celiac?

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      Segments of the protein Casein are the same as segments of the protein strands of gluten, the 33-mer segment.   The cow's body builds that Casein protein.  It doesn't come from wheat.   Casein can trigger the same reaction as being exposed to gluten in some people.   This is not a dairy allergy (IGE mediated response).  It is not lactose intolerance.  
    • trents
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      Wheatwacked, what exactly did you intend when you stated that wheat is incorporated into the milk of cows fed wheat? Obviously, the gluten would be broken down by digestion and is too large a molecule anyway to cross the intestinal membrane and get into the bloodstream of the cow. What is it from the wheat that you are saying becomes incorporated into the milk protein?
    • Scott Adams
      Has anyone had terrible TMJ/ Jaw Pain from undiagnosed Celiac?

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      Wheat in cow feed would not equal gluten in the milk, @Wheatwacked, please back up extraordinary claims like this with some scientific backing, as I've never heard that cow's milk could contain gluten due to what the cow eats.
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