At My Wits End

[scottyg354]

Been going to the doc lately, about issues I've been having. Had a Colonoscopy and Endoscopy in 2004 which apperently came back clean besides GERD and Hiatal. Been having stomach issues lately, went to the doc and he said sounds like IBS. He sent me for bloodwork and I came back hypothyroid. Lately I've been thinking that my stomach issues have to be a food allergy/allergies for a few simple reasons:

A) My stools consitently change. I'm lucky that within the past three years if I had 10 normal BM's. The are either Loose like Oatmeal, Flat and Ribbony or Constipation like. Occasionally I will get out a semi (and I mean semi) normal BM. They also alternate in color: Brown, Yellow, Orange and occasionally green.

My stomach has weird issues. My discomfort is predominantly left sided. From underneath my rib cage to my bottom left almost to were my hip meets. I do get occasional lower back pain and groin pain. (My pain is rarely ever severe, more of an annoyance.) I also noticed that certain day (not sure what I eat on these days, because I never really payed attention until recently) that my stomach is extremely noisy and I become gassy with extremely sour almost sulphur smelling farts.

C) Probably since I had my scope I have been fatigued, feeling bad, anxiety, gaining and losing weight, pains (outside of my GI issues), funky vision, irritable, I also get skins boils frequently.

Right now I am in the process of cutting out dairy. Friday, I am cleaning out my kitchen and restocking Gluten Free to see if this helps. If Gluten and Dairy free work, I think I may try to re-introduce dairy somewhere down the line.

Does this sound, like it could potentially be Gluten Intolerance/Celiac?

I am really at my wits end and would just like to have normal BM's and feel 100%.

[ravenwoodglass]

Yes it does sound like you could be one of us. Have they ever done a celiac panel and when they did the endo did they do biopsies to look for celiac? Keep in mind that false negatives are common with both tests. If you are done with all the testing you can go ahead and start a strict trial of the diet. Your in a good place to learn all you need to about how to do that. Ask any questions you need to and welcome to the board.

[scottyg354]

Yes it does sound like you could be one of us. Have they ever done a celiac panel and when they did the endo did they do biopsies to look for celiac? Keep in mind that false negatives are common with both tests. If you are done with all the testing you can go ahead and start a strict trial of the diet. Your in a good place to learn all you need to about how to do that. Ask any questions you need to and welcome to the board.

They did Biopsy, but for some reason I thought it might have been my esophagus. Not sure. It was quiet a few years ago and I was only 19. All I know is I never heard anything, plus I had to fast the night before. Who would do they Celiac Panel a GI?

[lynnelise]

Ravenwood has a good point...just because you had the endo doesn't mean they looked for celiac. I had one last year and while they noted intense inflammation in my small intestine they did not biopsy. They said the test was being done soley to rule out an ulcer or hernia.

[scottyg354]

I just know that whatever my problem is it is definitely a pain in the butt (literally and phsyichaly). I'm just thinking food allergies because I get horrible smelling gas, and a very noisy stomach on certain days. Not all the time. My initial concern was that I had something horrible like Colon Cancer, but I'm 26, I never see blood and I don't have horrendous pain. Plus, while I have alot of flat ribbon stool I still manage on occasion to push out a normal one. Plus I've had this issue for years with alternating stool patterns. Never lost weight, and my bloodwork is always good.

I read odd smelling gas and bm's are a sign of intolerances as well as odd colored stool (orange and yellow).

[scottyg354]

Plus the smelly gas just recently started maybe 2 years ago. Is it possible for symptoms to hide for years and finally start showing their faces over time?

[ravenwoodglass]

Celiac can be triggered at any point in someones life. It isn't something that is always present from early childhood. The ribbon stools could be from inflammation, I get that when I have eaten soy or been glutened. It can come and go. For me the loud tummy was directly related to gluten as was the constant gas. Either your GI or a GP can order a celic panel. Do make sure that you don't go gluten free until you are done with testing if you want a doctor derived diagnosis. As soon as your testing is done then give the diet a good strict try. I can't say for sure but I think once your on the diet you are going to be feeling a lot better.

[scottyg354]

Celiac can be triggered at any point in someones life. It isn't something that is always present from early childhood. The ribbon stools could be from inflammation, I get that when I have eaten soy or been glutened. It can come and go. For me the loud tummy was directly related to gluten as was the constant gas. Either your GI or a GP can order a celic panel. Do make sure that you don't go gluten free until you are done with testing if you want a doctor derived diagnosis. As soon as your testing is done then give the diet a good strict try. I can't say for sure but I think once your on the diet you are going to be feeling a lot better.

Considering I have had all these crazy issues since my late teens early twenties. The only conclusion beside my thyroid that I came to was allergies. I'm sure if I had a tumor that long (I am 26). I would be walking and weighing 300 lbs (another wonderful thyroid benefit). Talked to my Doc yesterday. He told me to lay off Dairy for a while see if that helps. I am. Going to go gluten free starting this weekend.

All I know is i'm ready for this to be over. I haven't watched my diet either since god knows when, probably been eating immense amounts of Gluten for years. Only thing that I could remember is when I was young, if I would drink alot of Milk like 5-10 minutes later I would cramp up right below my sternum. That hasn't happened in a while tho.

[ravenwoodglass]

Many of us are also intolerant of dairy. The reason is because the same area in the intestines that forms the enzyme that helps us digest lactose is the area that is damaged by celiac. Often after we are healed we can add dairy back in. I avoided dairy for many, many years but within 6 months or so gluten free I was able to eat ice cream with no pain.

If you are dropping dairy you might want to try some of the alternatives. Hemp milk, rice milk (not Rice Dream) almond milk are all good alternatives.

Also I don't know if you have a Wegmans near by but if you do their name brand rice milk is good and they also label all gluten free products with a circle G. Kraft and Unilever are also good companies as far as labeling goes. If you don't see wheat, rye, barley or oats in the ingredients it will be safe.

[scottyg354]

I have a Wegmans about 20 miles from me. I have been shopping there. Great store, especially there health food section. I am ready to help myself get rid of these symptoms and get on with my life. They aren't debilitating, but they are extremely distracting.

Ignoring them for 7 years was dumb. But I think the right move was going to my Dr. Good guy too, never really disagree's with me. Didn't send me for allergy testing, but encouraged my to try and cuts allergens out of my diet, when I mentioned it.

[ravenwoodglass]

I have a Wegmans about 20 miles from me. I have been shopping there. Great store, especially there health food section. I am ready to help myself get rid of these symptoms and get on with my life. They aren't debilitating, but they are extremely distracting.

Ignoring them for 7 years was dumb. But I think the right move was going to my Dr. Good guy too, never really disagree's with me. Didn't send me for allergy testing, but encouraged my to try and cuts allergens out of my diet, when I mentioned it.

Allergy testing will not pick up celiac or gluten intolerance. It is a different type of reaction. Glad to hear you have a Wegmans close by as they do make shopping so much easier, at least for me. One caution if you are looking at a product that comes in two sizes and one has the gluten-free label and the other doesn't there is a reason for that. Buy the one with the label. I saw that with some nuts and when I called to see if the package without the label was just an old package or what I was told the smaller size was produced in a different plant and they couldn't be sure of the gluten statis. I returned it as the rep advised.

[AerinA]

I have had digestive problems as long as I can remember, and I have been low thyroid for several years due to thyroid cancer. My medicine wasn't absorbing and it made me very sick. I am feeling better now due to a combination of my thyroid medicine being fixed (they had to put me on an extremely high dose to get it to the levels it should be, since it still isn't absorbing right), and adding the gluten free diet helped a lot. I'm not sure how often they monitor your thyroid, but for me it seemed I needed both the diet and the thyroid adjustment to feel better. My blood work was negative and doc didn't want to put me through an endoscopy; her philosophy is that if my absoroption/other issues go away on a gluten-free diet, that's the problem and we've fixed it, enough said. I know low thyroid can cause almost as many weird and crazy symptoms as celiac (although different ones). Make sure whoever is monitoring your thyroid is aware of your digestive issues, as you might have to be monitored more closely.

[scottyg354]

I have had digestive problems as long as I can remember, and I have been low thyroid for several years due to thyroid cancer. My medicine wasn't absorbing and it made me very sick. I am feeling better now due to a combination of my thyroid medicine being fixed (they had to put me on an extremely high dose to get it to the levels it should be, since it still isn't absorbing right), and adding the gluten free diet helped a lot. I'm not sure how often they monitor your thyroid, but for me it seemed I needed both the diet and the thyroid adjustment to feel better. My blood work was negative and doc didn't want to put me through an endoscopy; her philosophy is that if my absoroption/other issues go away on a gluten-free diet, that's the problem and we've fixed it, enough said. I know low thyroid can cause almost as many weird and crazy symptoms as celiac (although different ones). Make sure whoever is monitoring your thyroid is aware of your digestive issues, as you might have to be monitored more closely.

Yes. My doctor is good a good guy. He listens to all my complaints and is fairly compassionate. I discussed my digestive issues with him a few time and he agreed that maybe I should try to cut out some allergens. Gluten/Dairy. My TSH wasn't very high this last time I went I believe it was like 3.79 (High end of Normal). It was 8.5 when they found I was hypo. Only been on Levothyroxine a little over 2 months. Digestive issues have been around for a few years, gradually get worse until I went to the doc.

[AerinA]

Yes. My doctor is good a good guy. He listens to all my complaints and is fairly compassionate. I discussed my digestive issues with him a few time and he agreed that maybe I should try to cut out some allergens. Gluten/Dairy. My TSH wasn't very high this last time I went I believe it was like 3.79 (High end of Normal). It was 8.5 when they found I was hypo. Only been on Levothyroxine a little over 2 months. Digestive issues have been around for a few years, gradually get worse until I went to the doc.

I was always really sensitive to being "borderline low." My docs would never put me on levo because they said it wasn't necessary... took them totally eliminating my thyroid when my TSH has to be below 1 to prevent re-growth for me to start feeling better. (Still not even there yet--doc just had to up my dose again since it seems to be hovering around 2). Did your doctor say whether the change in your TSH levels is in line with the dosage they have you on? 2 months should be enough time for your body to adjust, so you should be able to discuss dosage adjustments if you still feel it's necessary. Some people are more sensitive than others.

[scottyg354]

I was always really sensitive to being "borderline low." My docs would never put me on levo because they said it wasn't necessary... took them totally eliminating my thyroid when my TSH has to be below 1 to prevent re-growth for me to start feeling better. (Still not even there yet--doc just had to up my dose again since it seems to be hovering around 2). Did your doctor say whether the change in your TSH levels is in line with the dosage they have you on? 2 months should be enough time for your body to adjust, so you should be able to discuss dosage adjustments if you still feel it's necessary. Some people are more sensitive than others.

All I know is that all this new stuff that is coming up with my health is a real pain in the butt. I did notice that since my TSH is within range my fatigue has been improving. Still get some brain fog. Joint pain is still there as well as digestion problem and dry skin.