My Crazy Symptoms And My Small Wallet

[IndiaEileen]

Hi there,

So, some advice from all across the board would be so appreciated.

Long story short, a few months ago I had a drastic work schedule change and I figured that eating my bowl of cow milk and Wheaties cereal at 2 am was just poor digestion. Well, it never went away, my symptoms of extreme gas, bloating and terrible stomach pains (keeping in mind at this point I was about to be diagnosed with Mono, I had frequent UTI's and some kidney pains every now and again, possible carpel tunnel and tendonitis in wrists AAND back pains).

I thought it might be a dairy thing cause I had major complications with that when I was little. I switched to Almond Milk over my cereal, in my Cream of Wheat (I know, brutal on the wheat!) but still felt terrible no matter how many cups of mint tea I drank!

I moved to Tacoma, got a job with a little better schedule but I was growing really curious about Gluten free. I made the switch after some research on my symptoms (also leaving out cow milk, just occasional ice cream and, yeah yikes, my same amount of cheese intake).

I felt better after a week! I felt a little more spry, dealt with some withdrawals that kicked my bum and now, two months later, I'm even going without my regular old wrist and back pains. I'm a grocery stocker so this was pleasant.

Ok, down to it, I got a nose bleed today when I came home early from work for extreme fatigue (an ongoing thing as of the last few weeks) and shortness of breath (another ongoing for a couple weeks).

I read about the whole Intestine disease thing, my inability to absorb nutrients as well, and noted the iron part as a concern of mine. I started taking a prenatal with iron and my B's and also a vit. D gummy. I got a nosebleed randomly today, small spurt, and I'm not going to lie I spent a good amount of time cradled in my man's arms.

I know seeing a doctor or nutritionist is ideal, I'm not a huge fan of Western medicine practices, but I'm still paying off other hospital bills. Any advice given will be rewarded with virtual hugs and gluten free Kinnikinnik Kinnitoos!

So, in a nutshell:

1) Might I have Celiaac Disease?

2) Might I have anemia?

3) Am I running the risk of low infertility?

[ravenwoodglass]

Yes you could be celiac.

Yes that would cause your iron levels to be low.

Yes celiac can result in infertility.

Ideally you should be tested for celiac while you are still eating gluten. If you want testing then go back on gluten right away. There are plenty of folks that are self-diagnosed either because of false negatives on testing, because they went gluten free before testing and became too ill on the challenge to stay on it long enough for testing, couldn't afford testing etc.