acurry

I totally get the excitement. The more I read about celiac's the more I think: "oh my god! That thing could also be related?!?!" My brother keeps telling me I'm being too dramatic with my gluten avoidance (because I'm concerned about cross-contamination...) but I really want to see how things change if I am very strict, otherwise I will always wonder about it.
I've only been gluten-free for a week or so and my bloating and constipation are already so much better (despite being on some hardcore iron supplements 3x a day!)
Amanda

Thanks for your reply! I'm happy to hear so many issues cleared up. It's funny how many things we attribute to something else... I stopped eating gluten after my first blood test since my doctor said it could be months before I got a biopsy (I'm in the UK) and that given my deficiencies he felt it would be irresponsible to tell me to keep eating gluten even though it was the official guidance. I was off-gluten for 2-3 weeks and then I had to start it again ahead of my second blood test... oof!! I suddenly felt like I had the flu (minus the fever). I couldn't believe I'd been dealing with that my entire life and not realised... 
I do hope going off gluten can help me heal and I won't have fertility problems... 🤞 My mother also had her menopause pretty early after having three children (though she refuses to get tested on the basis that she doesn't each much bread anyway 🙄).
 

Newly diagnosed celiac
I was diagnosed this month at 29. The diagnosis was quite a surprise since I was always told celiacs were scrawny and short and had constant diarrhoea (and indeed the only three celiacs I have met are quite underweight). I am very tall and a bit overweight (and have pretty much always been) and have had some GI issues but more often constipation and indigestion, which I always thought was "normal". I also tended to eat more gluten when I was eating more sweets so I blamed feeling unwell on the high fat/high sugar foods. In January I went to see my doctor because I had lost my period for about a year (I thought it was stress for the first few months since I am finishing my PhD and there's a pandemic), it turned out I had hypothyroidism and several deficiencies (iron, calcium, vit D and B12, folate). Since I insisted I had no symptoms, he said it was a long shot but worth testing for. Now that I've looked into it more I realise I actually have a lot of symptoms, like joint pain, problems with balance, and fatigue, but I always just thought that was me. My mother also recently told me (after I told her my dr thought I had celiac's) that as a toddler I did in fact have constant diarrhoea, was underweight and had a huge bloated belly. Doctors suspected celiac's but were unable to confirm it back then (apparently I had a biopsy but it was inconclusive? I don't remember any of this). I am not sure at what point in my childhood I started eating gluten again, but I can't help but wonder how it has affected me to have been eating gluten for as long as I can remember if I already had celiac's as a baby...
I am not feeling too bummed about the diagnosis because I am hopeful that a lot of things will get better after I've been gluten free for a while, e.g. my family have always said I am lazy but I always just felt very tired, and |I have ADHD which now I wonder if it might be brain fog (maybe? 🤞). I was wondering what kind of changes people saw when they went gluten free? How long did it take you to feel better? Is there anything I can do to speed up recovery?

Welcome to the forum @suila! Most of us have shared our experiences, sometimes many times, here already. Can you tell us more about your "hardest of times," and how going gluten-free helped you?

Hello. I would like to share my experience with ya'll. I was diagnosed one year ago and it was the hardest of all times.

After going gluten free, my headaches disappeared immediately, my sinusitis and drippy nose cleared up within 2 weeks, my constipation cleared up within a month, my severe rheumatoid arthritis cleared up totally in 5 months. I have now been gluten free for over 30 years!

Welcome to the forum @acurry! 
It's great to hear that you have a doctor who is on top of this. The UK diagnostic criteria for blood tests only is fairly new, and more about that is here: