Should I Start Eating Gluten Again?

[abbyryd]

Okay so I'm a twenty year old college student. About a year ago, I started having inexplicable stomach pain and pretty consistent diarrhea (gross). For months I just kind of dealt with it not really acknowledging that it was abnormal. At some point, I realized that my symptoms were pretty consistent with Celiac disease and gluten intolerance, and because I ate bread and other gluten-filled products pretty much every day, I felt like I had found the source of the problem. I decided to stop eating it for a trial period just to see how it went. Almost immediately (within a few days) I felt better. I didn't have the stomach pain anymore and the diarrhea all but went away. I have felt better since cutting gluten out of my diet, but I haven't been officially diagnosed with anything. All of the literature says you should be eating gluten for four weeks before your test to avoid inaccurate results. The thought of eating gluten for a full four weeks is terrifying - the gastrointestinal horror!

So my question is the following: Should I keep doing what I'm doing, or should I bite the bullet and start consuming gluten again? Has anyone had the same problem?

Thanks a lot for any information you guys can give .

[eatmeat4good]

Some Possible outcomes are:

1. Many people try to return to eating gluten for 3 months and find they simply cannot handle the symptoms. Result: They go gluten free and forget the testing.

2. Other people make themselves handle eating gluten for 3 months and feel lousy the whole time and still test negative. Result: They go gluten free and try to forget the lousy months of glutening.

3. Some people test positive and then are told by their Dr. to go gluten free. Result: They go gluten free and try to forget that they already knew that in the first place.

A lot of people have gluten intolerance and won't be able to test positive....but they won't be able to handle eating gluten either.

Eating something with gluten in it is enough to make me very ill and I don't need the Dr. to tell me to stop eating it.

When I asked the Dr. about testing he said, Why? So I can tell you to stop eating gluten? We already know it makes you sick. At the time I was mad, but now I see that he was right.

I'm not trying to tell you what to do, just giving you something to consider.

[mushroom]

As eatmeat4good says, you can eat gluten for the recommended two months at the rate of 3-4 slices of bread a day, and still test negative on blood and biopsy, because you have a different form of gluten intolerance than celiac disease, and they don't have any way of testing for this yet. So it is entirely up to you if you want to torture yourself for that period of time to attempt to get a label which may not apply to you A diagnosis is nice work if you can get it, without causing yourself too much harm, and if you need it to convince yourself that this is the way you must eat, or if you need it for some other unspecified reason, but if you know that gluten makes you sick, and you are going to eat gluten-free anyway, why bother? That is not to say that gluten is definitely the cause of your problems, but if they do resolve gluten free, then you have your answer. I would never go back to eating gluten to get tested. Just as I would never knowingly eat the other things that I don't tolerate. Well, actually I did that last week (because hubs had prepared a special dinner) and boy did I pay the price for eating it.

[katiekay]

to abbyryd - thank you for posting this question.

to mushroom and eatmeat4good - thank you for your answers!!! It's funny because I know that I want to go gluten free but for some reason I have felt like I couldn't without a test result. Each time I see answers like these it gets me going in the right direction!! I am curious about the results from the blood test that I took today but I no longer feel like I need the test results. I'm going to immediately go gluten free and get rid of the itchy skin, headaches, tiredness, stomache stuff etc. thanks!

[Kre8sioN]

I'm so confused, I go for a test @ 7am tomorrow, not even sure what its for (I'll ask when I get there). I told my doctor I went gluten free and most of my symptoms went away. Gave me another blood test, cant read his writing but it says gluten panel something. Is this a test for the gene or intolerance? as I stopped taking in gluten 3 weeks ago. BTW great post eatmeat4good! And I need to ask doc more questions I guess. New here so I guess its time to log in whats going on In my signature....As for taking in gluten again? UGH.

[abbyryd]

Thanks so much for your input, everybody . I've been worrying about this for months but now I feel better!

[katiekay]

eee gads... A new day and I'm once again unsure what I'm going to do. I want to be gluten free but I wish I had a diagnosis.

[abbyryd]

Katiekay, just do it to see if it makes you feel better . It's really not that difficult - there are tons of "normal" foods you can still eat that don't even have to be made specifically gluten free. Just always check the label! Rice, salad, Chick fil A fries, tortilla chips, steak, tacos, chocolate, potato chips, cheese...

[katiekay]

Today we are starting gluten free.