Should I Be Tested?

[kdickinson]

Alright, so here's my story. My name is Kyle, I'm 24, 5'3", shortest guy in my family by about 5" and I think I may have celiac disease/gluten sensitivity. (Not real sure of the difference) Anywho, here's what's up.(This may get a bit nasty, I do apologise)

I have had these bouts with heart palpitations for years now, more recently, last couple of years, they've gotten worse. I can go months without having any, but then boom, I have over 5,000 in a day(literally, wore a holter monitor, doc said they were just Pvcs and pacs. Stinkin annoying though.) I've had prostate problems, colon problems, I've had polyps, hemmroids, blood in me stools, generally pretty fatigued, not severe or anything, but I just don't seem to have the energy of other people my age. Also I've had ADD since I was a child, used to have OCD, but has mostly cleared up. And here lately no matter what I eat I always just get to feeling sick, overly full, and just not good, like I used to. I mean I will enjoy the food, but I always feel drained and crappy afterwards, no matter what it is. not a pleasent experience for someone who likes food as much as I! Also I have... anal seepage problems. I've had it since I can remember. Never told anyone about it because it's so darn embarrasing, but nothing I do seems to make it better. Sorry about that. Also, when it comes to short term memory. I am the WORST in the world. I can't remember anything. I know that sounds random, but I've seen it before crop up as symptoms.

ANYWHO. From january to febeuary, I went on this Daniel Fast thing with my church, which is where you pretty much just eat fruits and veggies, no processed food, and very minimal cooking. Needless to say I felt SO good during that time, more than I have in a LONG time, and ever since that time, it seems as though it's gotten worse when I do eat regular food. I've never had anemia, and my family thinks I'm a hypocondriac for "having" all this stuff at such a young age. Which I would TOTALLY agree with, other than the fact that I in fact have had all the stuff listed above. So I'm hesitant to get tested, when I don't have any "Severe, or classic" signs, because that would be one more thing to add to their list.

What do you guys think?

[eatmeat4good]

I think you have found the right place and you should be very hopeful about your future health! All of the things you describe are very, very common for those with Celiac/Gluten Intolerance. It is really horrifying when your own family thinks you are hypochondriac. I was there too. Nevermind what people say. You need to find out what is going on with your health and I think you figured out a big key-Gluten makes you sick. Now you have to decide if you want the testing which is not always accurate. You could ask your Dr. to do the full Celiac panel if you are still eating gluten that is. If you are not eating gluten up until the time of testing you will test negative. Many of us were not able to get diagnosed through testing or chose not to. It is totally up to you. You could try for the blood testing and endoscopy if you feel you need a firm diagnosis. Malabsorption issues can also be detected through vitamin level blood tests. It is very common for us to be deficient in A E D K, iron, zinc, magnesium, calcium, all the B vitamins, folate and B 12. Thyroid problems are very common too.

You certainly have enough symptoms to warrant either getting tested or giving the diet a good strict try for several months. However, it is very difficult to go back on gluten once you have gone off of it. Should you decide to be tested in the future it could be a brutal 2 months of eating the equivalent of 3 to 4 slices of bread a day and then you still may not get a positive. Some people are Gluten intolerant and will never test positive. Yet they are as symptomatic as a person with the diagnosis of Celiac disease.

Welcome to the forum. I'm sure you get some other answers to help you make your decision, but in the end it is up to you and the good thing is you don't have to have a prescription to eat gluten free. There are several threads recently on here where people are struggling with the same decision. You may find them helpful to read through. I decided the result would be the same if I tested or if I didn't. I cannot eat Gluten without getting very sick. I hope this is the end of your long struggle to find out what is going on with your body. Take care and I hope you feel great really soon!

[ravenwoodglass]

Welcome to the board. The previous poster gave such good advice I really don't have much to add. If you do decide to get tested give yourself a good 2 months back on gluten before you test but be prepared for a false negative. When your done with testing do give the diet a good strict try for a bit and see if it helps.

[mushroom]

Well, I would say you do have classic signs of gluten intolerance. If you have been back on gluten for a month, you would need to do another month of gluten eating before you would likely test positive. But even then, as eatmeat says, it is possible to test negative for celiac if you are in fact non-celiac gluten intolerant , meaning that you have all the same symptoms but don't get the diagnosis. And you also have to decide who the diagnosis is for, you or your family? If your sole goal is to get better than you can go gluten free right now and forget about the testing. If you have to convince family of the legitimacy of your symptoms you might want to try for the diagnosis. But I think if I were you I wouldn't tell them about it unless it were positive, otherwise you would just give them more ammunition

Oh, and when you get the nutrient testing done, include Vitamin D for sure; this is the one that is important to prevent osteoporosis.

[kdickinson]

Thanks for the replies. I have an appointment scheduled for next week with a general sergeon in town about a colonoscopy I'm due for.(closest GI is hour and a half away) But he does testing and stuff, and colonoscopies and endoscopies. I'm gonna talk to him about getting tested, and see the timeframe.. I mean I have been eating regular ol' food since the end of January, so I'm definitely go for testing. I'm just ready to give this a whirl, cuz this gut pain is getting annoying. And getting worse. So we'll see.

[txplowgirl]

Make sure you get the endoscopy, the colonosopy can't diagnose Celiac.

[kdickinson]

Ok I've got a dilemma. I could get into the general surgeon on thursday, here in town, or wait till next Tuesday and get into the GI in the city about an hour away. What would you guys recommend? I wanna get it over with, but I want a doc I can trust. Have any of you guys had experience with general surgeons that do endoscopies? And how were they?

[eatmeat4good]

You might want to start a new post for this question if you still need an answer. I don't know what I would do as I have no experience with either kind of Dr.