Celiacs Should Get A Pass

[sandsurfgirl]

When I got diagnosed celiac nearly two years ago I thought that was it, the answer to all my health problems. My health improved so much on the gluten free diet but I still couldn't lose weight and still had fatigue and a few other things. Now I find out I have an adrenal tumor (not cancerous) but it's secreting cortisol which means I have Cushings. I'm looking at surgery for it in the future. And I'm sick again.... especially in the morning. I spent 10 days in the hospital a couple of weeks ago.

I hate celiac and what it has done to my body. I was diagnosed at 40 and I have to wonder if celiac caused the tumor. And I'm angry because I feel like celiacs deserve a pass on all this other crap! It's not fair that doctors missed it for so long on so many of us and we have all these other things.

Since I'm sick again I'm not eating out at all for fear of CC and it is such a pain to have to cook everything and take food everywhere I go. I don't eat at that many restaurants anyways, but still I'm scared to take any chances at all. They didn't gluten me in the hospital but the food was so difficult to eat. They were very careful, but that meant all of my food was plain and so dry. At one point I was putting pats of butter on the meat so I could gag it down. I ate so many snack packs just to get something down. Dry rice. Dry potatoes. Dry meat. Dry eggs. Dry, dry, dry. On the one hand I was so happy that they were so careful, but oh the dry just got me down.

When I have surgery I'm not sure what I will. It will be a shorter stay, but I'm going to have to figure out how to make my food more palatable.

I just needed to rant to my celiac peeps. I haven't posted much for awhile and I miss you. This board is so inspiring and you people are amazing!

[Takala]

Well, that just completely *****s. You just really won the lottery on stupid, obscure diseases with this one. But at least here is the excuse for the other problems.

That's amazing you managed to find a hospital that could do gluten free. I wouldn't trust any of them around here to be able to do that, and assume that any major illness would take me down if I don't have a relative there to constantly supervise. When I had day surgery a few years back, I told my spouse to not let them give me anything if there were complications and I had to stay longer, and I had packed some food in the car. Even if they had given me gluten free food, with my luck it would have been the commercial, manufactured type of things that also wreck me up because of ingredients I don't do. But I just sailed thru that surgery, phew.

[jerseyangel]

You poor thing A few years ago I was in the hospital for surgery. I made meals before going in and froze in individual portions. My husband was able to bring me my meals (I cleared all this at the pre-op appointment--the nurses showed my husband where he could microwave my food on the same floor as my room and it worked out very well--there was also a fridge. I also brought individual cartons of Pacific broths, applesauce, Glutino crackers, etc and kept those right in my room in case I got hungry. The broth was perfect for after surgery when you may be limited to liquids.

Take care.

[sandsurfgirl]

I know! I should've won the lottery with this nonsense! On the one hand I'm so grateful to have diagnosis on it now because just like celiac, Cushings patients go YEARS undiagnosed, but the affects are far more devastating and debilitating than celiac. My tumor is pretty tiny compared to some others I've read about. But it's just so unfair and I need to vent about the fact that my body was ravaged for FORTY long years from celiac and now I have to clean up the mess.

The food was one of my biggest fears but they were really careful. Actually I was at two hospitals. The first one had no endocrinologist on staff so they worked me up as much as they could and then they transferred me to another one to have an endocrinologist look over my case before I was discharged. He ended up being like most of the GI doctors we've seen... useless. Thankfully I'm seeing one of the best endo docs in the US, but I have to pay out of pocket and he is not cheap. After messing around with clueless GI docs for celiac all those years I will not fool around with this diagnosis. I went to the best and he is figuring it out fast.

Both hospitals did a good job with the safety of the food. Much of it is prepared at a facility and brought in just to be heated so there is no CC. They just use pretty much salt as a seasoning. But oh boy, plain chicken breast, plain rice, plain green beans, plain ham, plain roast beef... you get the picture. It got to where I wasn't eating much because I couldn't get it down.

When I have surgery on this stupid adrenal tumor I may try to bring some home cooked food in. Maybe my husband can bring me stuff I prepare ahead of time. It should only be a couple of days stay this time.

It is so frustrating to have to worry about being glutened in the hospital or not be able to eat out at all when you're sick with something else. I am sick and I have to cook every flipping day! My husband is gone 12 or more hours per day so I'm on my own with cooking.

[kitgordon]

I'm so sorry you have another health problem to cope with - it does seem SO unfair! I would try to get my husband to bring me food at the hospital if it were me. It's nice to see you posting again

[Skylark]

I'm so sorry to hear you have Cushing's. I'm VERY glad to hear it's not cancerous and they can treat it with surgery.

I feel your pain. I really could do without this thyroid autoimmunity. Isn't one autoimmune condition enough? I agree. We should get a pass. If you have celiac and manage the diet, you should get to live to a ripe old age with no other health problems and die peacefully in your sleep.

[sandsurfgirl]

I'm so sorry to hear you have Cushing's. I'm VERY glad to hear it's not cancerous and they can treat it with surgery.

I feel your pain. I really could do without this thyroid autoimmunity. Isn't one autoimmune condition enough? I agree. We should get a pass. If you have celiac and manage the diet, you should get to live to a ripe old age with no other health problems and die peacefully in your sleep.

My thyroid readings were what led them to suspect Cushings. My TSH and T4 and T3 were all low. TSH should be inverse of T3 and T4. If all of them are low it can indicate Cushings. They thought I had a pituitary tumor but the MRI was clear. Then they found the adrenal tumor on a CT scan. Adrenal is easier to cure than pituitary, so I'll take the adrenal one!

I feel bad for not posting for awhile. Newbies need us oldbies to come encourage them. Actually I was doing really well until about 6 weeks ago when my health just crashed. I wrote two novels in the past year and a half. I was busting my tail looking for a literary agent and then whammo, things went nuts and writing is on hold.

Those are good ideas for the hospital. The broth and crackers can go a long way to help. Soups are good too. Maybe I can make a few different soups ahead of time and freeze them.

[pain*in*my*gut]

My thyroid readings were what led them to suspect Cushings. My TSH and T4 and T3 were all low. TSH should be inverse of T3 and T4. If all of them are low it can indicate Cushings. They thought I had a pituitary tumor but the MRI was clear. Then they found the adrenal tumor on a CT scan. Adrenal is easier to cure than pituitary, so I'll take the adrenal one!

Sandsurfgirl, I am so glad you posted about your problems, as I am going thru something similar right now and could use some insight! I recently saw an endocrinologist for Hashimoto's confirmation (I have it), and she ran my TSH, free T3 and free T4. My TSH was 3.8 (considered normal by her, even though I told her about the new recommended .3-3.0 range for TSH, she wasn't buying it ). What was concerning to her is my free T4 was low .7 (.82-1.77), but TSH was normal, so doc wants me to have an MRI of my pituitary. My cortisol was also elevated at 44 (2.3-19.4). She thinks this is because I am on birth control pills . I am thinking of asking her to do a 24 hour cortisol and possibly investigate my adrenal glands futher, just to be sure. I am worried about Cushings.

Did you have any symptoms with the adrenal tumor? I get this pain in my upper left abdomen, just under my ribcage that radiates thru to my back. It is in the exact area of my adrenal gland. I had an abdominal CT where I had to drink that stuff a few months ago, and I have also had a scope by my GI doc (they were thinking that this pain was GI related, but nothing showed up but a benign stomach polyp). Given my elevated cortisol, should I push for an MRI of the adrenals? Any additional testing I should ask for?

See, you never know who you can help when you share by venting!

[pain*in*my*gut]

When I got diagnosed celiac nearly two years ago I thought that was it, the answer to all my health problems. My health improved so much on the gluten free diet but I still couldn't lose weight and still had fatigue and a few other things. Now I find out I have an adrenal tumor (not cancerous) but it's secreting cortisol which means I have Cushings. I'm looking at surgery for it in the future. And I'm sick again.... especially in the morning. I spent 10 days in the hospital a couple of weeks ago.

I hate celiac and what it has done to my body. I was diagnosed at 40 and I have to wonder if celiac caused the tumor. And I'm angry because I feel like celiacs deserve a pass on all this other crap! It's not fair that doctors missed it for so long on so many of us and we have all these other things.

Can I rant with you?

In the last 3 months I have been DX with the following:

Celiac disease

Hashimoto's thyroiditis

Sjogren's disease

Rheumatoid Arthritis (early stages, thank God)

All of this is in addition to Premature Ovarian Failure, Endometriosis, Fibromyalgia (maybe I don't have this since I now have RA??), Degenerative Disc Disease, GERD and depression/anxiety. I am only 38 years old, for crying out loud!!! I can't even begin to list all of the tests that I have had in the last few months!! I am so OVER IT!!!

Like you, I was so excited when I found out about the Celiac....I thought it was the answer to everything, and all I had to do is change my diet. Then everything else came crashing down.....who know's what's next??

Rant over.

[sandsurfgirl]

Can I rant with you?

In the last 3 months I have been DX with the following:

Celiac disease

Hashimoto's thyroiditis

Sjogren's disease

Rheumatoid Arthritis (early stages, thank God)

All of this is in addition to Premature Ovarian Failure, Endometriosis, Fibromyalgia (maybe I don't have this since I now have RA??), Degenerative Disc Disease, GERD and depression/anxiety. I am only 38 years old, for crying out loud!!! I can't even begin to list all of the tests that I have had in the last few months!! I am so OVER IT!!!

Like you, I was so excited when I found out about the Celiac....I thought it was the answer to everything, and all I had to do is change my diet. Then everything else came crashing down.....who know's what's next??

Rant over.

You must push for extensive Cushings testing. The pituitary MRI and the adrenal MRI too. Those tumors can be tiny. They need to do multiple cortisol tests to see is there is a pattern of high cortisol. My doc had me do four 24 hour urine collections, four 11 pm saliva tests, four 10 hour urines from 11 pm to 8 am and blood tests. Cushings is hard to diagnose and you need someone who knows what they are doing.

I don't know where you live, but the endocrinologist I see is a Cushings expert in Los Angeles. People fly from all around the world to see him. He's not cheap but he knows what to look for and he will find it if you have it. His name is Dr. Ted Friedman and his website is www.goodhormonehealth.com He teaches at UCLA and he's head of endocrinology at Charles Drew Medical University as a researcher there. If your docs are clueless about it or won't get all the tesing done he is a backup resource for you.

I'm 41, so I hear you about being too young to be this sick!

Feel free to email me. erikaoncam@yahoo.com

[kareng]

SSG-

Happy to see you again! Thought you were off having a happy exciting life! Sorry to hear about the Cushings!

I think illnesses should be spread evenly throughout the population! That way everyone can have one! And nobody gets 2 or more! Would make people more sympathetic, too.

Coming on here and posting about your disease may help someone else catch it sooner.

[anabananakins]

When I got diagnosed celiac nearly two years ago I thought that was it, the answer to all my health problems. My health improved so much on the gluten free diet but I still couldn't lose weight and still had fatigue and a few other things. Now I find out I have an adrenal tumor (not cancerous) but it's secreting cortisol which means I have Cushings. I'm looking at surgery for it in the future. And I'm sick again.... especially in the morning. I spent 10 days in the hospital a couple of weeks ago.

I hate celiac and what it has done to my body. I was diagnosed at 40 and I have to wonder if celiac caused the tumor. And I'm angry because I feel like celiacs deserve a pass on all this other crap! It's not fair that doctors missed it for so long on so many of us and we have all these other things.

Since I'm sick again I'm not eating out at all for fear of CC and it is such a pain to have to cook everything and take food everywhere I go. I don't eat at that many restaurants anyways, but still I'm scared to take any chances at all. They didn't gluten me in the hospital but the food was so difficult to eat. They were very careful, but that meant all of my food was plain and so dry. At one point I was putting pats of butter on the meat so I could gag it down. I ate so many snack packs just to get something down. Dry rice. Dry potatoes. Dry meat. Dry eggs. Dry, dry, dry. On the one hand I was so happy that they were so careful, but oh the dry just got me down.

When I have surgery I'm not sure what I will. It will be a shorter stay, but I'm going to have to figure out how to make my food more palatable.

I just needed to rant to my celiac peeps. I haven't posted much for awhile and I miss you. This board is so inspiring and you people are amazing!

I'm so sorry to hear this - it's so unfair. I'm glad you've got such a good doctor now though. I hope you're doing well.

[sandsurfgirl]

SSG-

Happy to see you again! Thought you were off having a happy exciting life! Sorry to hear about the Cushings!

I think illnesses should be spread evenly throughout the population! That way everyone can have one! And nobody gets 2 or more! Would make people more sympathetic, too.

Coming on here and posting about your disease may help someone else catch it sooner.

Hey! Good to see you! I was actually doing very well. Busy as can be with the kids. I wrote a couple of novels I've been shopping around. Easier to write without the brain fog. I've been meaning to come on and support newbies and then I've been too busy to do it. But now I'm laying low and resting a lot again. Back to the starting point I guess.