Pre-Diagnosis

[NecroD314]

Hi guys I name is Andy and in 4 days I find out if I have Celiacs disease. I began showing symptoms about 5 or 6 months ago, and recently discovered my brother has Celiacs. I am currently in the process of having my blood tested, and I get the results this Friday.

Since the blood test I have been following a strict gluten/wheat free diet and already have some symptoms fading. This to me is my body's way of saying 'Yes you do have it'. At the moment I've gotta say I'm not having the best of time coping with what I'm no longer allowed to have!

I've joined this site today in an attempt to be able to talk to people who also have this condition just so I've got some support to hand. I hope to hear from people soon, and ill also post hear on Friday regardless of results.

[Celiac Mindwarp]

Come on in Andy, glad you found us.

I am about 3 months in now, and it does start to make sense what you CAN eat.

Lots of people find a fairly simple diet to start works well, meat, fish, veg, fruit.

There are a ton of gluten-free foods out there, but maybe go a bit easy to start, and use these as treats rather than swap everything like for like. Try it and see what works.

Most people get loads of questions as they go, the folks here are amazing with answers.

Let us know how it goes. Great news you are getting some relief already gluten-free.

[nvsmom]

Sorry to hear you've been unwell, but that's great to hear that you are already showing improvements on the gluten-free diet.

Those first weeks are pretty hard, especially if you go through a withdrawl of sorts which can make you feel pretty poorly on top of deprived. My advice would be to treat yourself to gluten-free treats over the next few weeks when you want them. I know it made me feel better (emotionally) to eat yogurt covered pretzels when I knew I couldn't eat a muffin, or some gluten-free cookies instead of oreos, M&M's instead of licorice... and I actually lost weight. LOL

I would also advise you to clean out your kitchen of as much gluteny stuff as you can. It makes cooking much simpler, and it's nice to know you can eat almost anything in your own home.

When your tests are in, you might want to check your vitamin and thyroid levels too. Many celiacs are low in vits and a bit malnourished. Vitamin D, B12, K, ferritin and calcium levels aregood to check... I think there are others... TSH and free T4, free T3 and TPO Ab are good to check; most doctors just check TSH but patients with thyroid issues (which are fairly common amoungst celiacs) often have a TSH that falls in the normal range so problems can be missed.

Good luck with the tests!

[NecroD314]

Hey guys thanks for your messages.

Unfortunate I don't have my results yet, the doc said ill hear back in the next couple of weeks. Only thing she did say was that my cholesterol was kinda high, but apart from that there was nothing remarkable about my bloods. So ill guess ill have to wait and see about Celaics. I'm on a full wheat/gluten free diet at the moment, even got a mini cupboard of snacks and treats I'm allowed :-)

[Celiac Mindwarp]

Is your doctor recommending and endoscopy too? Remember you need to stay on gluten until after that if you are having one.

It is really worth posting your results here when you get them, lots of the folks are experienced enough to pick up bits doctors miss (though fingers crossed you have one of those good docs we occasionally hear about).

Also, there will be plenty of advice if you test negative but still want to try gluten-free. There's a lot of us about...

Mw