Questions About Celiac Disease

[tintin]

Hello, I have not been tested for celiac disease so I decided to post on this site. I've noticed, especially within the past year, that everytime I eat things like homemade bread, pancakes, bread, toast, baked goods, that I soon feel naseaus, sick, sour stomach, often getting constipated (once for a couple of days). I don't usually ever get diarreah.

Pretty much my whole life, I have been anaemic and have almost always been iron deficient (childhood, teen years, and now still even into my 20s). I am now 28. Also, ever since I was a child, I have had white hairs, which is only getting worse.

I find that I still have fatigue and feel soooo sick and naseaus after I eat any bread products or baked goods. It's like I have a sour stomach. I feel in love with antacids and have been taking up to 4-6 extra strengh tums a day to ease my sour stomach.

Jogging seems to aggrevate my symptoms.

I read somewhere that IBS is a symptom, however, I usually have constipation and gas (even gas cramps, because its trapped) - and never IBS. However, my mother has IBS, and my cousins are extremely lactose. Not sure if genetics plays any part in food allergies.

I actually live in a remote community, and there is a 9 month wait list to see a doctor. Is there any way of finding out if I have celiac during this time. Does this sound like celiac or something else. Is it safe for anyone to try a gluten free diet, or dangerous if you don't have celiac???

[MitziG]

9 months?!! Where do you live??!!

I think it is pretty obvious that you need to be gluten free. Only testing can say for sure that you have celiac disease- but it can't tell you that you DON'T have it. It just isn't reliable enough to catch all of the cases yet.

Gluten intolerance is very common, just as serious as celiac, and can not be tested for. The "cure" is the same for both. No gluten. Not even a teensy weensy bit. Ever. (Well, I digress. Some who are gluten intolerant due to leaky gut have found they feel ok eating small amounts of gluten once their gut heals. But it is controversial. Just because you don't FEEL sick, doesn't mean your body is enjoying gluten. Many cases of "silent celiac" are documented as well!)

Anyway...how important is a diagnosis to you? Think it over, because if you are celiac, it is a lifetime commitment. You can't just reason with yourself that "I feel better now. Maybe I just imagined that gluten made me sick..."

There is zero harm in anyone removing gluten from their diet. Most could benefit from it. However, if you want to do testing, you can't stop eating gluten until its done. Even a few weeks gluten free can cause the antibodies to disappear, and that is what they are looking for in a blood test.

Also, once you go off gluten, your immune system will recover to the extent that if you try to start eating it again, you will likely become violently ill. Your body sees it as a posion, and thus will take every means it can to expel the posion. It is NOT fun. Does make it easier not to cheat however!

So, only you can answer your question as to if you need testing. Knowing what I know now, if I were in your shoes, having an obvious reaction every time I ate glutenous goodies, and had to wait nearly a year for a test that may not even confirm what I already know...I would go gluten free now.

But it is your call. Wish you the best with whatever you decide.

[MitziG]

Also,m I didn't really clarify...if you DO go gluten free now, but later want the testing- you will have to go back to eating large quantities of gluten for 3-4 months before you can get tested. And it still may be negative. And you will have been miserably ill for the 3 or 4 months of your "gluten challenge" which is why most people give up before then and diagnose themselves!