Any Doctors In Central Canada?

[LittleDende]

I realise "central Canada" is mighty huge, but I would be willing to take a days' drive to get to a good doctor. I live in southern Sask.

Anyways, I've been seeing doctors since I was 12, trying to diagnose what the heck might be wrong with me, until I was finally able to SELF-diagnose gluten problems when I was in my late-20s.

I started going for allergies and migraines, heart palpitations, and chronic fatigue - they could tell me nothing except that somehow according to the allergy test, I was basically allergic to *everything*...

Then I was told I was hypoglycemic, had thyroid problems, low iron, depression (that was annoying... I went in saying I was tired all the time, and left being told I was depressed. =/ ), anxiety, some mysterious abdominal pain that really threw to doc off... I said I was having pain in the lower left area of my abs, for about a year at the time, and all he could reply was that there was nothing there! Then I was told I need to eat more fibre, was told I had IBS, went in for some more very mysterious issues of dizziness and limb-tingling, and got a prescription for the eczema I suddenly developed, all the while complaining of being totally tired all the time...

After I finally diagnosed myself with gluten intolerance, my doctor won't even listen properly to me when I ask about tests, and I get skewed results (I've had 2 tests, *after* having been off gluten for 4 years, and he said it didn't matter, they still came up negative).

Aaaanyways, I guess I am just frustrated that no doctor was able to put all those pieces together, and even when I put the pieces together for them, they still talk to me like I am some kind of delusional child.

Why is gluten-intolerance and celiac disease so taboo and unstudied among medical practitioners?

Do they think we are faking it?

Does anyone know of any better docs near my area I could go talk to...?? I just really, really want to know if I have celiacs, or just a gluten/wheat allergy!

Thaaanks a lot!

[love2travel]

Hi! I was born and raised in Saskatchewan and lived there my entire life until just a few years ago when my husband and I moved to Alberta. I did not see any doctors in SK for celiac as I was diagnosed after moving to Alberta so am afraid I cannot help you with that BUT there are great ones in Edmonton. Would that work for you or is that too great a distance? One of the leading celiac specialists in Canada works in Edmonton and her name is Dr. Connie Switzer. She is AMAZING. She also says that only 40% of biopsies in Canada and the U.S. are done correctly! She really knows her stuff and is teaching medical students about celiac at the U of A.

Also know that false negatives on bloodwork is not unusual. I believe the rate is about 70% accuracy. Plus you could exhibit symptoms and not test positive until later. As mentioned biopsies have an even greater false negative rate because most doctors only take a few samples rather than the 8-11 or more that are required. Are you still off gluten? If you are off gluten no wonder the tests show up negative - you must be consuming gluten (and lots of it) for 3 months for accurate results. That is called a gluten challenge.

Hopefully you are able to find a doctor soon and start recovering!

[LittleDende]

Thanks so much! That's great to hear. I would definitely drive to Edmonton to see a good doctor; my husband and I are a bit weird like that - we're in Regina and have gone to Edmonton just to get the crepes that we like (back when I used to eat crepes... ), Lethbridge for this one tiny Japanese imports store that we like, Calgary for the Asian supermarket, and nearly went to Salt Lake City just for awesome grocery store. The only thing that finally stopped us was deciding we couldn't do it in our three-day weekend... (For anyone in Utah, it's the Whole Foods Market, and the local gluten free bakery there (Blossom Bakery) is so amazing I can hardly contain myself thinking about it... the first time we were there we bought a cooler just to bring some of this stuff home, and filled it up and drove it all the way home, replacing the ice as necessary... you need to go there!!).

Anyways, that's a bit off topic, lol...

Thank you very much for the name of the Edmonton doc, I might take a trip up there!

[LittleTee]

I am in the same boat in Ontario. Seems no doctors take celiac or gluten sensitivity seriously. Like our symptoms are fake or something. My doctor said "I'm not going to test you ... just try the diet and see if it helps." Well, that's great, but I kind of wanted an answer. And now my son is showing symptoms IMO. :/

I am considering hitting Toronto WholeFoods and doing the cooler idea, too! Our selection is limited (we're about 2 hours outside Toronto).

[Sherry53]

I live near Sherwood Park, just outside of Edmonton. Dr. Scott Fisher became my Dr. 4 years ago, when my other Dr. retired. I had been having stomach/digestive issues for about 14 years and had been taking Zantac during that time. Without my knowledge Dr. Fisher added the gluten antibody test to the other blood tests at my regular yearly checkup. Wow! was I surprised when the results showed a very hight antibody count. I was referred to Dr. Forooq in nearby Fr. Saskatchewan and had the biopsy within 5 months....diagnosis positive for celiac disease! If Dr. Switzer is unavailable you should contact Dr. Fisher (Sherwood Park) and see if he will take an out of province patient. (My sister lives south of Saskatoon and I am quite sure she has celiac disease...I am now trying to convince her, to convince her Dr. to do the test.)

[kyla]

i have been diagnosed with celiac just a few yrs ago and at first no one thought it was celiac. The docters wouldn't believe me or my mom which we thought it was celiac so finally we went to sick kids hospital and got diagnosed. I think you should make a special trip to a big hospiatal known like sick kids because they usally are the best bet on finding out if you are celiac. good luck