Celiac Or Just Intolerance?

[melon-uk]

Hi all,

I'm new here and i'm hoping someone can answer my question. I recently went gluten free (3 weeks or so now) and my health has improved big time. i'm wondering though, is it possible to know without diagnosis, wether it's Celiac disease or just gluten intolerance. I know that now i've been gluten free, a blood test would be rather pointless. I went to my doctor last week and he also agreed (because of my digestive symptoms) that it is a problem with gluten, and that to have a test i would need to continue eating gluten, but as I am so much better without it he was happy to leave it at that.

The thing is, over the last 2 years or so, I have had a whole host of very unpleasant problems which all seem to point to problems with my adrenal glands or 'adrenal fatigue' as i have seen it termed (Possibly thyroid, though recent test said all was normal). In june, because of these probs I decided I would try the paleo diet (didn't make a gluten connection at the time) My digestive problems immediately improved, but after about a week, I was taken into hospital with quite severe tachycardia (my pulse was right up to 165 just walking round the supermarket) which is when they did a full blood work (anaemia, thyroid, liver function among other things) and the only thing that came back abnormal was a slightly elevated white blood cell count. It was because of this episode that i ended up seeing the doc last week. unfortunately, the doc only seemed interested in me wearing a 24 hour heart monitor so he could rule out a heart problem (i have no family history of heart issues and no other symptoms to suggest it either). I reeled off a whole long list of all my health problems over the last couple of years which are, persistant yeast infections (which were worse the day after a good workout) severe fatigue (the afternoon after a good morning workout) numbness in my fingers (only during the night, but seems to have now disappeared) yellow skin, blood sugar probs (thirsty after eating a relatively small amount of sugar (though this symptom disappeared a while ago when I went paleo), mild puffiness at the top of my cheeks (improved a ton since gluten free). incidentally, i gained 14 pounds in 1 week at christmas 2010, i ate a fair bit over, but not THAT much!!!!

Some of these symptoms have either improved or gone since i completely cut out gluten, some have not. unfortunately, my doctor the other day, hardly seemed to listen to a word i said even though I told him I thought it was my adrenal hormones.

I do feel that my adrenal pobs are slowly getting better but i'm wondering if the difference in celiac disease and gluten sensitivity would be the difference in there being permanent or temporary damage to my adrenal glands?

incidentally, i've been taking maca root powder the last 5 days, i'm unsure wether this has helped or if it's my body healing from the gluten...

any help would be greatly appreciated but i really don't want to eat gluten again just so i can have a blood test, i'm feeling so much better without it...

Thanks :0)

[Takala]

If you are feeling better without it, and your doctor is in agreement, then continue to eat a diet without gluten. Three weeks is not that long a time to recover from all the bad effects, whether it is celiac or gluten intolerance.

Maca and irregular heartbeat discussed here, for starters (and read the comments)

Open Original Shared Link

[melon-uk]

Thanx for the reply :0)

I did do a lot of research on the maca powder before i started taking it, but i have only been on it for about 5 days, and I had the tachycardia attack in june. My resting heart rate has actually improved since i went gluten free (almost back down to what it was before all my problems started). I wasn't taking anything at all in fact when it happened, i had just inadvertently been gluten free for about a week and a half. I'm hoping that they will find nothing wrong with my heart and that I will be referred to an endocrinologist. I guess i'm trying to find out which came first, the adrenal probs causing the gluten intolerance or vice versa...

Whichever, the good thing is i'm on the mend and i've persuaded my mum (who still eats gluten and has had many gluten related probs for years) to go to her doctor for a blood test, if they come back as celiac, then i suppose i can probably assume i am also....

[GFinDC]

Hi,

I have been taking one 585 mg maca capsule daily for several months and haven't noticed any bad effects. I don't know what would happen if I took 4 a day like the person in the link was doing. I am male too FWIW.

Your mom being tested is good idea. Any first degree blood relatives have a higher chance of being celiac.

[carteem]

Hello! I was actually diagnosed with adrenal fatigue and hormone imbalances (estrogen dominance) before dx with celiac. I had coped with it for 3 years. I was constantly adjusting my doses of hormones and adrenal supplements due to fluctuating "hormone symptoms". Just within the last year I had an echocardiogram done due to leg swelling and it was fine. (I did have a few heart pappatations but theye were never consistent). When I started to have Intestinal symptoms my doctor decided to run a celiac panel and it was positive. I called my pharmacist (she is specialized in hormones and works closely with my doctor). She said it all made sense. The inflammatory response of celiac affects the same organs related to hormonal imbalances. She also explained that as we were increasing my hormone doses to help with the symptoms, my body would use that to help feed the inflammatory respone! So it was a double edged sword...my body needed the extra progesterone I was taking but then at the same time it was utilizing it against itself. My pharmacist told me that going gluten free was going to help tremendously. I have been gluten free for 2 months and am now down to 1/3 the progesterone I was taking and have stopped my adrenal supplements. I cannot tell you how much improvement I have seen with my hypoglycemic problems, brain fog, intestinal, and muscle/joint pains, edema, tingling, and fatigue.

Sorry for the long post....I hope it helps!

[melon-uk]

Hello! I was actually diagnosed with adrenal fatigue and hormone imbalances (estrogen dominance) before dx with celiac. I had coped with it for 3 years. I was constantly adjusting my doses of hormones and adrenal supplements due to fluctuating "hormone symptoms". Just within the last year I had an echocardiogram done due to leg swelling and it was fine. (I did have a few heart pappatations but theye were never consistent). When I started to have Intestinal symptoms my doctor decided to run a celiac panel and it was positive. I called my pharmacist (she is specialized in hormones and works closely with my doctor). She said it all made sense. The inflammatory response of celiac affects the same organs related to hormonal imbalances. She also explained that as we were increasing my hormone doses to help with the symptoms, my body would use that to help feed the inflammatory respone! So it was a double edged sword...my body needed the extra progesterone I was taking but then at the same time it was utilizing it against itself. My pharmacist told me that going gluten free was going to help tremendously. I have been gluten free for 2 months and am now down to 1/3 the progesterone I was taking and have stopped my adrenal supplements. I cannot tell you how much improvement I have seen with my hypoglycemic problems, brain fog, intestinal, and muscle/joint pains, edema, tingling, and fatigue.

Sorry for the long post....I hope it helps!

Hi,

Thanx for the response. It's really reassuring to hear from someone with similar issues to mine who is well on the mend. I've also started taking vitamin d this week (didn't get a test for it but strongly suspect i was deficient), it's too early to say for sure but i think it's also helping. The sad thing is, i've actually had to find most of these things out for myself as my doctor just didn't make the connection, he pretty much dismissed all the other symptoms i had. Still, at least i know now :0)

[carteem]

I too just started taking vitamin d! I was still having soreness/fatigue and requested my doctor draw a level. (I used to work in a rheumatology office and I am very aware of vitamin d and educated many patients). My level was only 13 and I started the high dose 50,000iu once a week (very common rx for such a low level). I too feel great benefits! Keep taking the D but I would also suggest asking your doctor to draw a Viramin D 25(OH) level. (must be 25 OH). See where your level is....you might need a bit more than just over the counter. ...it has great benefits!!!