Venting

[BamBam]

I've been reading a lot of the threads in this area the "pre-diagnosis, testing and symptoms." I get so fed up with so many of us going to doctors and they are not listening. I feel the reason for this is - if they diagnosis "gluten intolerance or celiac" there is nothing else they can do for us really. There is no magic pill or test or testing or ongoing doctors thereapy/office visits that will make us better. Only a gluten free life will make us better. So I feel gluten intolerance is going to challenge the medical world, because there is nothing to fix us except a gluten free life. That is why doctors don't want to diagnosis it, I think, because once we are diagnosed, there is nothing else they can do. In the ten or twelve years that I suffered I had three or four colonoscopies, upper GI's, Lower GI's, urine tests, poop tests, blood tests up the whazoo, and then went to a "specialist" to get it all done again costing me and the medical insurance thousands and thousands. And reading some of these threads, some of you have spent tons of money on medical issues and in the end it was celiac disease.

So in the end, I diagnosed myself with the help of some friends. I feel almost 100% better (now that I stopped eating a couple gluten containing items!). When I am 100% gluten free I have little or no cramping, no bloating, very little diarrhea, I still fight constipation a little bit - I do not eat enough fiber yet but that is something I can work on myself. My mood swings have subsided and my depression is minimal to none.

As I get older I may regret not getting an "official" diagnosis, although none of my doctors had a clue anyway. But I refuse to feel horrible for three months to get an "official" diagnosis. I know my body and I know what it does not like, gluten is poison for me.

My husband, who has diabetes, allergies and several other health problems, has gone gluten free with me. Since he has gone gluten free he has not taken any allergy medications except for an occasional nose spray, he has lost 20 pounds, and his diabetes is much more easy to handle, he does not have near the highs and lows as he has had in the past. Is he Celiac? We don't know, but the gluten free diet has helped him immensley in many areas of his health. He is no longer bloated, he very seldom has gas or belches now. His bathroom problems have been fixed.

Today I wrote to several major comanies (General Mills, Post, Kellogs) and stated that the gluten free diet/life is going to become a major thing soon, there are thousands of us already that live this life style, whether we are diagnosed or not, and they need to start producing more "gluten free" items.

I'm done. my fingers hurt from typing! Thank you for listening and reading. I just hope and pray that the medical world will take this more seriously than they have in the past.

bambam

[Jnkmnky]

I hear you. My life was dominated by dr appts for the first three years of my son's life. Now, the drs we see don't even want to discuss his celiac. It's a complete Non-issue. They can offer me nothing now that he's dx and gluten free.

[ianm]

Amen to that. If the gluten-free diet has improved your health then that is all you really need to know.

[Guest nini]

I 100% agree with everything you've said...

I feel like we as a society have been conditioned to regard Dr.s as the ultimate authority on our well being and so many of us will go to the Dr. expecting them to "fix" us and when they prescribe more drugs for our symptoms we actually THANK them???!!! Sure they have their usefulness but keep in mind that Western Medicine, as we know it, has only been around a few hundred years (if that). For millennia humans have been treating ailments through natural methods that are tried and true, Dietary being number one. The Chinese for centuries have known how to treat all kinds of ailments by simply changing the diet.

Anyway, we need to trust our innate intelligence more. We need to listen to our bodies. If your body is telling you a certain food doesn't agree with you WHY do you have to go to a Dr. to get confirmation of this??? I know that some people do not know how to listen to their bodies yet, but the medical community needs to behave more responsibly and when indicated encourage people to try dietary changes first instead of going through costly and invasive tests. IMHO Celiac is only one condition associated with an intolerance to gluten and it's not going to change anything by confirming with a biopsy that there is already damage. The only treatment for Celiac and for gluten intolerance for that matter, is a lifelong avoidance of gluten.

[FaithInScienceToo]

You go Bernadette!

Gina