New To Gluten Intolerance, Does This Sound Like Celiac?

[kait-o]

This past semester of school I have been struggling with illness on and off again. I've been to the university doctor who is at this point boggled. It doesn't help that I have to eat dorm food.

When I first started feeling bad, I went to the doctor with sharp abdominal pain, fatigue and headache. I felt like I'd been hit by a bus. Doc thought it was a hernia or a issue with my gallbladder I had to get an ultrasound. I had neither a hernia or gallbladder issue.

I went back to the doctor when the pain didn't cease to exist. He thought that maybe I had something wrong with my ribs or a possible gluten allergy.

I decided to cut gluten out of my diet and found that it had worked. For about four weeks my pain was relieved until i suspect I had eaten something with a bit of gluten and was writhing in pain just below my ribs and in my upper back. This has happened one other time, just a couple days ago.

Other symptoms:

headache

bloatedness

tired

nausea

joint pain

poor blood circulation

itchy scalp

dry skin

bad, chipping flaky nails

and undulating weight gain and loss

irritable

gassy

not able to focus in class or to others

sensitivity to bright light

my mother is scheduling me an appointment with my own doctor when i go home for spring break. do i really need to be eating gluten for more than a month for it to be detected in an actual test?

please help?

[etta694]

Others who have been the testing route will fill in here but from what I understand, yes, you need to be eating gluten for the antibodies to show up.

Some of your symptoms are very much like mine. I have had a lot of discomfort or pain in under my ribs and under my shoulder blade in the back. Also bloating, constipation, exhaustion, feeling unwell (I don't even know how to describe it), foggy thinking, dry skin, and I also had a cough that wouldn't go away. The clue here is that cutting out gluten worked. That's how I figured it out too.

So you really need to have a diagnosis? You may be the best 'diagnoser'.

Now that I am gluten free I feel so much better and Zantac takes care of the pain in the back and under the ribs.. it only bothers me intermittently now.

You'll have more good input so for now, wish you the best.

[kait-o]

Others who have been the testing route will fill in here but from what I understand, yes, you need to be eating gluten for the antibodies to show up.

Some of your symptoms are very much like mine. I have had a lot of discomfort or pain in under my ribs and under my shoulder blade in the back. Also bloating, constipation, exhaustion, feeling unwell (I don't even know how to describe it), foggy thinking, dry skin, and I also had a cough that wouldn't go away. The clue here is that cutting out gluten worked. That's how I figured it out too.

So you really need to have a diagnosis? You may be the best 'diagnoser'.

Now that I am gluten free I feel so much better and Zantac takes care of the pain in the back and under the ribs.. it only bothers me intermittently now.

You'll have more good input so for now, wish you the best.

thanks for your input etta! i really appreciate it and it's good to hear that i'm not the only one with these symptoms.

[etta694]

If you explore the forum you will see that at the bottom of the posts some members have posted their history with symptoms and medical steps taken. It makes for very 'cathartic' reading.. your symptoms are bound to be on others bios. They sound so familiar. If you don't get enough info - repost. See Ya