Would Some Of The More Advanced Members Tell Me?

[alabama girl]

For the last eight months, I have had horrible bloating on and off(feel like somebody's pumping my stomach up to my throat); sciatica,knee, hip and back pain; left lower abdominal pain on and off; constant pain in my left side like a "stitch in the side" on and off; rib sensitivity on that side; left groin pressure like a balloon is blowing up over my groin off and on; and feeling like there is a "blob" in my rectum which just started a couple of weeks ago and has been pretty consistent. I also have had anxiety, nervousness and irritability and lots of insomnia---especially if I consume sugar. I itch all over all of the time and run to urinate constantly. I've had some nausea on and off. My vision can get blurry sometimes. No blood in anything and no fever. If I consume milk, I will "dump my colon" within 1 hour of that consumption. My temps are always low---around 97.5 and I have had leukocytes in my urine without any bacteria present.

Eight months ago, I was diagnosed with diverticulitis but I am not certain this is a correct diagnosis. I get vast improvements when I leave off sugar, dairy and gluten...but also when I leave off most grains, including corn and rice and also red meat. Has anyone on this website ever had these symptomns in conjunction to celiac???? I am trying to determine if I really have had diverticulitis or if this could be gluten/lactose problem. I did stay off gluten for two weeks and saw a vast improvement in my symptoms and then started back eating it and got worse and I don't dare drink a glass of milk because I know what will happen there! Any reponses would be appreciated.

[squirmingitch]

Bama, it sounds like you could have a problem with gluten for sure & should consider getting tested for celiac disease. Have you also tried eliminating soy from your diet? When you eliminate foods, do you do one at a time or lots of them? Then when you add them back in do you do 1 at a time for say a week before adding another?

[MitziG]

I shared some of your symptoms. The urinary issues- definitely. I was running to the bathroom 40-50 times a day- doctors kept treating for UTI but nothing helped. I also had the "fullness" in my rectum and a constant feeling of pressure in my pelvis. A urogynecologist dx me with a prolapsed bladder, uterus and rectocele, and I had surgery to repair it. After the surgery he told me that he wasn't sure that was the total cause of my symptoms, as once he got in there, the prolapse was more minor than he had thought. While the rectal pressure did go away after the repair, and I quit leaking urine, the constant urgency and frequency did NOT go away, and I developed chronic pelvic pain. A hysterosalpinogram showed severe interstitial cystitis. I was also dx with celiac about the same time. My doctor gave me a list of foods to avoid to ease the IC symptoms and also said a gluten free diet helped a lot of people. He was correct. The IC is completely under control as long as I avoid any trace of gluten or casein. Other foods do not seem to aggravate it, but every person is different. Your left side pain could be related to IC, as it causes pelvic pain in varying locations and severity.

If I missed this in your post, I apologize, but have you had celiac testing? It would be worthwhile to have it done. It is important to keep eating gluten until all testing is done though, or you will likely get a false negative. The tests to do identify every celiac, but catches about 70% of them. The tests do not identify gluten intolerance. After testing, definitely try a strict gluten free, casein free diet. A lot of people get relief from their bladder issues after doing so!

[alabama girl]

Bama, it sounds like you could have a problem with gluten for sure & should consider getting tested for celiac disease. Have you also tried eliminating soy from your diet? When you eliminate foods, do you do one at a time or lots of them? Then when you add them back in do you do 1 at a time for say a week before adding another?

No, I've been off gluten/lactose for a couple of weeks and then I added back gluten to see what would happen and I got "worse". I don't dare drink milk because I will "dump my whole colon" within an hour of that and the only soy I am on is in my multivitamin. I think I need to get stricter with warding off all gluten/lactose for a longer period of time and see what happens.

[alabama girl]

I shared some of your symptoms. The urinary issues- definitely. I was running to the bathroom 40-50 times a day- doctors kept treating for UTI but nothing helped. I also had the "fullness" in my rectum and a constant feeling of pressure in my pelvis. A urogynecologist dx me with a prolapsed bladder, uterus and rectocele, and I had surgery to repair it. After the surgery he told me that he wasn't sure that was the total cause of my symptoms, as once he got in there, the prolapse was more minor than he had thought. While the rectal pressure did go away after the repair, and I quit leaking urine, the constant urgency and frequency did NOT go away, and I developed chronic pelvic pain. A hysterosalpinogram showed severe interstitial cystitis. I was also dx with celiac about the same time. My doctor gave me a list of foods to avoid to ease the IC symptoms and also said a gluten free diet helped a lot of people. He was correct. The IC is completely under control as long as I avoid any trace of gluten or casein. Other foods do not seem to aggravate it, but every person is different. Your left side pain could be related to IC, as it causes pelvic pain in varying locations and severity.

If I missed this in your post, I apologize, but have you had celiac testing? It would be worthwhile to have it done. It is important to keep eating gluten until all testing is done though, or you will likely get a false negative. The tests to do identify every celiac, but catches about 70% of them. The tests do not identify gluten intolerance. After testing, definitely try a strict gluten free, casein free diet. A lot of people get relief from their bladder issues after doing so!

No, I haven't been test for anything yet. I have wondered about a rectocele but I have so many other symptoms going on that really point to some kind of allergic/histamine type reaction, but it is all so confusing.