Accidental Biopsy

[NikkiC.]

Hi everyone,

I am new to the site though I have been reading it for the last few weeks. Here is my story and I would love to hear what anyone has to offer about my situation. I have had stomach issues since I was about seven years old. I can still remember the first time I didn't make it to the bathroom...my mom was furious. I seemed to have a reprieve from the stomach issues during middle and high school, but they returned with a vengeance by the time I hit twenty. I have also dealt with anxiety and some minor "women" issues for most of my life as well. In my early twenties I was diagnosed with IBS-D and that seemed to make sense so I lived with it. After all, I didn't have any issues as an infant, such as Gerd or anything that would indicate a stomach disorder. In my late 20's, I did have my gallbladder out after dealing with gallstones for about a year and I was tested for lactose intolerance. My testing came back negative, so I continued to live with the IBS- D; never certain what would set it off. I did notice that I could eat a dry bagel and I could get sick, which never made sense to me because it seemed so benign...dry bread. Fast forward a few years and two babies and someone mentioned celiac to me. On a whim, I asked my GP to test me and the results came back negative. I really didn't know anything about the testing; I thought there could be false positives, but not false negatives. Shows, what I knew...or know now. So now I am 39, still struggling with my weight and developing an uncomfortable acid reflux problem.I decided to see a Gastro Dr. and he felt it would be a good idea to do an endoscopy to ensure that I the acid hadn't damaged my esophogus. It went fine and I waited patiently for about an hour for the doc to come see me. He got stuck in another procedure so the nurse kindly went over the my preliminary results (with color images, lovely!) and I see that I had a biopsy of the second chamber of my duodenum. When I asked why she said (I hope I am getting this right) that my "folds were consistent with Celiac Disease". So now, I have to wait til the end of the month to meet with the Dr and I am just wondering what to make of this. One caveat, of course..., a month and a half before my procedure, I took my son to the Dr. for a grunting issue. Until we saw a specialist, his Pedi recommend a gluten-free diet which I did with him for about two weeks and I only cheated twice. I was on Gluten for 3 weeks 2 days at the time of my endoscopy. Do you think this could effect my results. Thank you for listening. I really appreciate it!!!

[mushroom]

Hello Nikki, and welcome.

To answer the most important question first, while we always tell people not to go gluten free until they have had their blood tests and endoscopies, if your nurse was accurate in reporting this finding "folds were consistent with Celiac Disease" then I would say that your gluten free eating did not make any difference to the findings.

It is always hard waiting for results, but I think you already have them and they are positive. A positive result would certainly be consistent with your history. Is your son back on gluten too? Because he should be tested too. Was the grunting associated with BM's or attempted BM's? I am sure since you seem to have done your reading that you know that this is a genetic disorderr and he could have easily inherited from you. And that constipation is just as common as diarrhea.

Best wishes for your gluten free future healthy life

[shadowicewolf]

eeek, that does not sound fun. I had damage due to GERD and it took about a year to heal sort of. It still gets irritated from time to time. Same thing with the IBS and whatnot.

I would assume you've got it if that was part of what they saw. Or, if you really wanted to, you could do a gluten challenge then get a blood test done for it. Or you could get a genetic test done (should be noted that there are some cases that do not have the genetics for it).

[NikkiC.]

Thanks to both of you for your replies. It really is hard waiting for the results. I guess my confusion lay in the fact that it wasn't clear to me whether the nurse was speaking directly about my case or whether she was speaking generally about second chamber of the duodenum biopsies. I am thinking that you can also having them for peptic ulcers. Though, I really don't think I have an ulcer because my pain is just esophageal as far as the acid reflux goes. I think that regardless of my results, I am going to cut out gluten. I noticed that when I did for my son, I didn't have brain fog which is just an amazing feeling. As for my son, he was diagnosed with a vocal tic due to anxiety...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. But his pediatrician just wanted him to go gluten free until we saw a neurologist. Though, my son does have stomach issues at times, so I haven't completely ruled out the idea.

Anyway, thanks for listening. It is hard to talk about this kind of thing with people who haven't suffered with stomach problems. I think I would rather it be celiac than ibs...at least I could do something about it. At least I only have one week to go.

[mushroom]

Hang in there. IBS is just a symptom that something is making your bowel irritable. Most likely it is gluten. On biopsy with celiac there is typically "scalloping" of the folds which is possibly the reason the nurse mentioned them. A mark for the nurse for knowing that -- not many do. If your brain fog disappeared along with the gluten that is another strong sign.