Pre-Test Symptoms And Questions

[Howlin-Radio]

Hey, I will begin by saying I have my celiac blood test on August 6th. I decided gluten may be the culprit of the numerous symptoms that have plagued me over the past years, including exasperated symptoms when I went on my college meal plan, consuming wheat on a daily basis. My symptoms include, almost daily green diarrhea, heart palpitations, red itchy eyes, pompholyx/Dyshidrotic eczema (according to the other symptoms thread, other celiacs have this condition as well,) contact dermatitis after exposure to (dairy or possibly gluten on the bottom of the tray, I work at Olive Garden as a busser,)bloating, and lastly nausea when I consume any heavy dairy meal (they are also usually heavy in wheat/gluten)Other symptoms possibly exasperated by possible allergens are occasional canker sores, depression, and anxiety, occasional acne breakouts, extremely large appetite despite only being 132lbs, 5'10-5'11ft fall (I'm 21.)

After suspecting diet ties to my condition, I cut dairy out from my diet completely a month and a half ago(with a few set backs from accidental consumption.) Since I am now at home for the summer, I am able to control my diet, I will also be off the meal plan next semester. After seeing an improvement but not complete recession in my eczema and digestive symptoms, I decided gluten may also be involved when I began to see reactions in dairy free bread that contained soy and wheat. During the cut out of dairy, my wheat consumption drastically cut back (many dairy free foods are also gluten free.) I was also consuming more whole foods, non-processed foods including salads, which could explain an improvement in my eczema.

Five days ago, for the most part, I went wheat/gluten/dairy free, but not bothering with cross contamination. I have mixed emotions at this point... My eczema is even better, only a few new blisters which could be a result of cross-contamination,detoxifying of allergens, other possible allergens, or contact with gluten/dairy at work. On the contrary, I feel terrible. After the first day, I went into a pretty bad depressive slump, and now I believe I am sick (there was a sick co-worker, although we don't interact much nor share the same air for extended periods of time, we're usually on the move, he's a server and I'm a busser.) My temperature is only 98.8 (fareinheit,) but I feel very lethargic, headaches, canker sore, slight body aches, yet no runny nose or congestion. At this point, I know with all these symptoms, it is very likely I am allergic to some food.

At this point, my questions to you:

1) Do you think I may be suffering from a gluten allergy (possibly celiacs?)

2) I plan on re-introducing all foods back into my diet a week before the blood test, would you recommend re-introducing earlier?

Thanks for you that read and sorry for wall of text.

[kareng]

If you are going to be tested for Celiac, you need to resume a regular gluten filled diet. You don't need to eat dairy, but you should not be gluten free.

[Howlin-Radio]

If you are going to be tested for Celiac, you need to resume a regular gluten filled diet. You don't need to eat dairy, but you should not be gluten free.

I can also add my mother suffers for gallbladder problems, yet had her gallbladder checked out and nothing was wrong with it. My sister has digestive problems and my grandmother has a very "sensitive" stomach. My dad's mom has TONS of allergies and my dad is allergic to shellfish himself and he possibly contains undiagnosed delayed food allergies.

If I go gluten free for another week just to see how my skin and digestive track improve will it make a difference? Then I will be eating gluten for more then two weeks, and to my knowledge antibodies take 6 months to fully reset. One more week of gluten free won't leave much room for any or hardly any of the antibodies to fulfill their half-lifes.

[mushroom]

Ditto what karen said - get back on the gluten for testing or it will be invalid. The reason you felt worse when you went off gluten could well be withdrawal - since in some people gluten does have an opioid effect on the body. But to stop eating gluten now would make any testing worthless.

[Howlin-Radio]

Already began the re-gluten phase thanks to your recommendations. Started with half a piece of regular gluten filled white bread last night, and ate an ezekiel sandwich with tofu, lettuce, tomatoes, parsley, onions, and vegan mayonnaise. Alas, blisters accompanied the re-gluten, along with a yellow stool :/ Should I be eating even heavier doses of gluten?

[MitziG]

The recommendation is the equivalent of 4 slices of wheat bread a day. Scary thought when it makes you sick, but if you can manage, do it. The last thing you want is a false negative.

Be aware that after bloodwork, they likely will do a follow up endoscopy, and you need to continue eating gluten until after the endoscopy.

[GFinDC]

Already began the re-gluten phase thanks to your recommendations. Started with half a piece of regular gluten filled white bread last night, and ate an ezekiel sandwich with tofu, lettuce, tomatoes, parsley, onions, and vegan mayonnaise. Alas, blisters accompanied the re-gluten, along with a yellow stool :/ Should I be eating even heavier doses of gluten?

If you are sure you are having symptoms from re-introducing gluten then you really have sort of an answer now. But if you have doubts you can stay on gluten and do the testing. It all depends on what the testing is worth to you as an individual. Some people really need the official diagnosis to motivate them to stay on the diet, or the want it for tax purposes or for future clinical trials or school programs. But there are people with NCGI (non-celiac gluten intolerance) who never test positive, yet they still have symptoms. The blood antibodie tests are a simple blood draw and that is not a bad thing at all. The endoscopy is invasive and more expensive so it's a questions mark to me.

[tom]

The recommendation is the equivalent of 4 slices of wheat bread a day. ...

Every time I look, I find less.

Stanford's GI head told me 1/2 slice/day.