Nausea And Unexplained Weight Loss

[llama3]

I went gluten/casein free about a month ago and since then I have been experiencing frequent waves of nausea throughout the day. It seems to be getting worse. Also, I have lost 10 lbs in the past month, and the rate of weight loss seems to be increasing! This would be great if I were overweight, but I am not - I'm thin and have been underweight in the past.

I had blood tests for various things and they came back normal.

Help?

[missy'smom]

As for the nausea, have you started consuming things frequently or in larger quantity since going gluten-free/CF that you didn't before? I'm just wondering if a new allergy/intolerance has come into the picture.

If you were tested for diabetes via a one-time fasting blood sugar value, that is insufficient. I keep saying it here, but I had slow onset type 1 and can still pass a fasting blood sugar test, witout meds or insulin. You want a test that is reflective of more than 1 point in time. An A1C might be helpful but IMHO an oral glucose tolerance test gives good data, that's how I was dx. Testing your blood sugar at various points in the day with a meter is also good. I have always been thin but lost alot of weight before dx. There is a form of T1 called LADA or T1.5 that starts in adults and is slow progressing/slow onset. Many docs don't know about it.

I have a thin friend who had thyroid issues and she also lost alot of weight prior to dx with that.

Sadly, sometimes we have to educate ourselves and ask for tests and find new doctors and dig a little deeper. With diabetes, I've had to ask for every single test I've had, even though it is such a common disease. You'd think the docs could at least get that figured out!

Best of luck and health to you.

[llama3]

  On 12/16/2011 at 1:27 PM, missy said:

As for the nausea, have you started consuming things frequently or in larger quantity since going gluten-free/CF that you didn't before? I'm just wondering if a new allergy/intolerance has come into the picture.

If you were tested for diabetes via a one-time fasting blood sugar value, that is insufficient. I keep saying it here, but I had slow onset type 1 and can still pass a fasting blood sugar test, witout meds or insulin. You want a test that is reflective of more than 1 point in time. An A1C might be helpful but IMHO an oral glucose tolerance test gives good data, that's how I was dx. Testing your blood sugar at various points in the day with a meter is also good. I have always been thin but lost alot of weight before dx. There is a form of T1 called LADA or T1.5 that starts in adults and is slow progressing/slow onset. Many docs don't know about it.

I have a thin friend who had thyroid issues and she also lost alot of weight prior to dx with that.

Sadly, sometimes we have to educate ourselves and ask for tests and find new doctors and dig a little deeper. With diabetes, I've had to ask for every single test I've had, even though it is such a common disease. You'd think the docs could at least get that figured out!

Best of luck and health to you.

As far as new foods, the only thing that stands out to me as being really new is coconut. I have also been eating a lot more eggs. I should mention though that I used to get this nausea frequently and then it went away for several years.

What I had was a non-fasting test of my blood sugar, which was 111. Diabetes runs in my family and I am prone to hypoglycemia, so I am definitely concerned about this. Do you have any suggestions on how to get more complete testing for it? My GP seems to think the test I already had is sufficient to say that that's not the problem.

[missy'smom]

  On 12/16/2011 at 4:10 PM, llama3 said:

As far as new foods, the only thing that stands out to me as being really new is coconut. I have also been eating a lot more eggs. I should mention though that I used to get this nausea frequently and then it went away for several years.

What I had was a non-fasting test of my blood sugar, which was 111. Diabetes runs in my family and I am prone to hypoglycemia, so I am definitely concerned about this. Do you have any suggestions on how to get more complete testing for it? My GP seems to think the test I already had is sufficient to say that that's not the problem.

111 is not high but...The problem with any one-time BG check is that it really depends on what you've eaten and when you ate it relative to the test. Any random check of my BG(with no meds or insulin) could produce a number between 74 and close to 300! A narrower range with conscious management

Many meter companies will give out free meters, the catch is that you have to pay for the strips yourself without a prescription-maybe you could talk your doc into giving you a trial prescription for supplies or freebies from the office and you could use the hypoglycemia angle to ask for it.

Believe it or not, I can go low without insulin or meds. My BG is not sky high all the time, which is what docs are used to seeing. I have mild hypoglycemia in certain situations-when it's cold, when I go more than 5 hrs without eating, in the early a.m under certain conditions. I recently met another T1(T 1.5) who is like this as well.

How to get a doc on board? that's the question! I was dismissed for years because I am thin but the doc's partner actually gasped out loud when she saw my OGTT results. I had moved and found a new doc just for the purpose of getting tested. He was recommended to me via the local celiac disease support group.

If you have an official celiac dx and your family has a history of diabetes maybe you could get in to see an endo? they usually need a referral. Just so happened my allergist believed my autoimmune diabetes theory(I was originaly dx T2) was possible so he helped me get my foot in the door so I could get more tests. Sometimes OBGYN's are open to testing as well since they work with alot of women and gestational diabetes. Mine seemed open when I brought it up once. Some practices cover a little bit more and delve into other healthcare issues.

With everyone, I presented my facts and my case. They are busy so with the endo I typed up a list of data/facts and short to the point questions etc. so that she could get a quick glance and know where I was coming from.

[llama3]

  On 12/16/2011 at 4:57 PM, missy said:

How to get a doc on board? that's the question! I was dismissed for years because I am thin but the doc's partner actually gasped out loud when she saw my OGTT results. I had moved and found a new doc just for the purpose of getting tested. He was recommended to me via the local celiac disease support group.

If you have an official celiac dx and your family has a history of diabetes maybe you could get in to see an endo? they usually need a referral. Just so happened my allergist believed my autoimmune diabetes theory(I was originaly dx T2) was possible so he helped me get my foot in the door so I could get more tests. Sometimes OBGYN's are open to testing as well since they work with alot of women and gestational diabetes. Mine seemed open when I brought it up once. Some practices cover a little bit more and delve into other healthcare issues.

I don't have a celiac dx, but have never been tested. You know, every single diagnosis that I have gotten for anything serious has taken literally years with many expensive tests (usually unnecessary, and I almost always had to request the necessary ones) and visits to different doctors who laughed at me and dismissed me and treated me like a hypochondriac - yet it has now happened several times that the symptoms they dismissed did turn out to have a physical and serious cause. I've been trying for seven years to find out why I am exhausted all the time and all these other symptoms and everyone just tells me I'm obviously healthy. I'm 23.

Why do I bother? Why not just stop bothering with the doctors, live with the symptoms, and eventually I will either end up in the emergency room where someone will finally take me seriously, or I'll die and it won't matter anymore.

[llama3]

By the way I looked at the test again and it was a HBa1c and the numbers were 5.3 and 111. Those are averages, I understand? So is it possible that my blood sugar has been up and down and then produced a normal result as an average? Or should I just give up on this and pursue other directions?

I'm sorry if I am being annoying ...

[missy'smom]

  On 12/16/2011 at 8:08 PM, llama3 said:

I don't have a celiac dx, but have never been tested. You know, every single diagnosis that I have gotten for anything serious has taken literally years with many expensive tests (usually unnecessary, and I almost always had to request the necessary ones) and visits to different doctors who laughed at me and dismissed me and treated me like a hypochondriac - yet it has now happened several times that the symptoms they dismissed did turn out to have a physical and serious cause. I've been trying for seven years to find out why I am exhausted all the time and all these other symptoms and everyone just tells me I'm obviously healthy. I'm 23.

Why do I bother? Why not just stop bothering with the doctors, live with the symptoms, and eventually I will either end up in the emergency room where someone will finally take me seriously, or I'll die and it won't matter anymore.

I totally understand. Been there done that! I could have written this!

[missy'smom]

  On 12/16/2011 at 8:23 PM, llama3 said:

By the way I looked at the test again and it was a HBa1c and the numbers were 5.3 and 111. Those are averages, I understand? So is it possible that my blood sugar has been up and down and then produced a normal result as an average? Or should I just give up on this and pursue other directions?

I'm sorry if I am being annoying ...

You're not being annoying. It is good to ask questions, that's how we learn and learning is a good thing.

From what I understand the A1C can be a little off base if there is a wide fluctuation in BG, as you mentioned.

A perfectly normal A1c is supposed to something like 4.6 and a perfectly normal BG is 83. My son tested at 95, before and after a carby meal when I checked him at home but he's got a heavy allergy load which can keep BG up.

Here's more info on BG numbers Open Original Shared Link

[llama3]

Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it.

I'll try my OBGYN since I need to go soon anyway. Thanks again.