I Think I Might Have Celiac Disease O.o

[tranquilskies]

A few months ago I began having episodes of reflux. It got so bad that I had irriatated my esophagus and was having trouble swallowing. I had an incident in April where I was eating a tuna sandwich and almost choked because the food got stuck in my throat. After that I had another incident 2 weeks later at a restaurant. I had an endoscopy and they found esophagitis and chronic gastritis. Since then I haven't had anymore choking incidences and my throat was getting better. I cut out dairy which I am allergic to recently. Just within the last few days my throat is almost at the irritation level it was a few months ago. I had almost exhausted all possible causes when something occured to me. The first incident I was eating a tuna sandwich on WHEAT bread, the second incident I had just finished the first course and I had eaten WHEAT bread. Then while at my mother in laws I stopped eating some cereal bars she had because they would hurt my esophagus every time I ate them. Most recently after months of feeling better until the last few days...I have had WHEAT bread...which I hadn't had in a while. And now I am thinking I have an intolerance to wheat and it could be causing my issues. My mother said I was allergic to barley when I was a baby but I never noticed any real issues with it growing up.

Other symptoms I have had are feeling extremely tired, tingling hands and feet (which subsided when I was feeling better), easy bruising and overall weakness. I am going to make a doctors appointment to have a physical and see if he can figure this out. Does this sound like something any of you have experienced? Is Celiac something I should get tested for or can they test for it? Thanks!

[SAVANNAH21]

I actually experienced something similar. I was at an allergist and he asked me what I thought I was allergic to. I said you are gonna think I'm nuts, but I think I'm allergic to tuna sandwiches on whole wheat bread. I was trying to figure out what was causing my symtoms. I thought I had an ulcer because everytime I would eat pasta I would have terrible pain, gas, nausea etc. I had an endo done and my biopsy showed blunting villi. Here it was not the sauces that were causing my pain but the pasta it self. Looking back we were on a high fiber diet and it was the gluten that was the cause of my symptoms. I am now on a gluten free diet and feeling wonderful with more energy. No more pain or nausea. I also had terrible hip joint pain and that has lessened since going gluten free. Best of luck.

[Harpgirl]

A few months ago I began having episodes of reflux. It got so bad that I had irriatated my esophagus and was having trouble swallowing. I had an incident in April where I was eating a tuna sandwich and almost choked because the food got stuck in my throat. After that I had another incident 2 weeks later at a restaurant. I had an endoscopy and they found esophagitis and chronic gastritis. Since then I haven't had anymore choking incidences and my throat was getting better. I cut out dairy which I am allergic to recently. Just within the last few days my throat is almost at the irritation level it was a few months ago. I had almost exhausted all possible causes when something occured to me. The first incident I was eating a tuna sandwich on WHEAT bread, the second incident I had just finished the first course and I had eaten WHEAT bread. Then while at my mother in laws I stopped eating some cereal bars she had because they would hurt my esophagus every time I ate them. Most recently after months of feeling better until the last few days...I have had WHEAT bread...which I hadn't had in a while. And now I am thinking I have an intolerance to wheat and it could be causing my issues. My mother said I was allergic to barley when I was a baby but I never noticed any real issues with it growing up.

Other symptoms I have had are feeling extremely tired, tingling hands and feet (which subsided when I was feeling better), easy bruising and overall weakness. I am going to make a doctors appointment to have a physical and see if he can figure this out. Does this sound like something any of you have experienced? Is Celiac something I should get tested for or can they test for it? Thanks!

It wouldn't hurt to get tested. There is a blood test and an endoscopy, where they check for blunted villi like the PP described. I too have the fatigue and weakness (though I haven't yet been diagnosed) but I've also read about the easy bruising and tingling being symptoms.

If you're going to be tested, however, you must continue eating gluten until after the test is performed otherwise you may get a false negative (though a false negative is common anyway regardless if you've eaten gluten or not ).

[GlutenFreeManna]

A few months ago I began having episodes of reflux. It got so bad that I had irriatated my esophagus and was having trouble swallowing. I had an incident in April where I was eating a tuna sandwich and almost choked because the food got stuck in my throat. After that I had another incident 2 weeks later at a restaurant. I had an endoscopy and they found esophagitis and chronic gastritis. Since then I haven't had anymore choking incidences and my throat was getting better. I cut out dairy which I am allergic to recently. Just within the last few days my throat is almost at the irritation level it was a few months ago. I had almost exhausted all possible causes when something occured to me. The first incident I was eating a tuna sandwich on WHEAT bread, the second incident I had just finished the first course and I had eaten WHEAT bread. Then while at my mother in laws I stopped eating some cereal bars she had because they would hurt my esophagus every time I ate them. Most recently after months of feeling better until the last few days...I have had WHEAT bread...which I hadn't had in a while. And now I am thinking I have an intolerance to wheat and it could be causing my issues. My mother said I was allergic to barley when I was a baby but I never noticed any real issues with it growing up.

Other symptoms I have had are feeling extremely tired, tingling hands and feet (which subsided when I was feeling better), easy bruising and overall weakness. I am going to make a doctors appointment to have a physical and see if he can figure this out. Does this sound like something any of you have experienced? Is Celiac something I should get tested for or can they test for it? Thanks!

What you are describing with your throat sounds more like an allergy to me. I had those symptoms as well as the neuro symptoms you described and I ended up having BOTH a wheat allergy and a gluten intolerance (they are two different things). If you have insurance it would be a good idea to get both celiac testing and allergy testing done just to be sure you cover all your bases. Keep in mind that it is possible to have an intolerance to gluten without having celiac disease so even if the tests are all negative you can try going gltuen free and see if that helps your esophagus heal. Don't go gluten free until your celaic tests are done but if you keep having choking instances discontinue eating gltuen right away without worryign about testing as that sounds like threatening. Call your dr the next time something like this happens and be sure to documanet everytime it happens and what you were eating.