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Is it with Diarrhea? If so you could Salmonella - can cause greenish stool (usually diarrhea)

# Giardia - can cause greenish stool (usually diarrhea)

I have Rheumatoid arthritis along with Ankylosing spondylitis and degenerative joint disease. My doctors told me after I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease that it explained why I had the other problems. So there is an association between Celiac and other diseases that a good doctor will see. Being gluten free does help with the pain and stiffness form the arthritis (All Types). I really do not notice it until I have been glutened and then I have flare ups of the arthritis.

I really recommend that you press your doctors into finding out what is wrong with you. I went for years just accepting what the doctors where telling me when they were not really looking for what the problems were. As a result my arthritis and stomach problems just kept getting worse. It took about twenty years of going to bad doctors when I finally got fed up with them and started searching for a doctor that would help me and finally got good diagnoses of what my problems were. But by then a lot of damage had been done and I was determined to be disabled by the time I was 46. So get the help now before it causes severe problems.

I had recurring Iritis since I was 14 years old. Basically I would get the infection about every 4-5 years and it would take about 1-2 years to clear up. I have not had a single infection since I went gluten free. When I was diagnosed I was at the time being treated for an Iritis infection. When I told the ophthalmologist that I had been diagnosed with Celiac Disease he commented "That explains every thing." I have also worn glass since I was 10 and my eyes have slowly gotten worse. On the poll I labeled my self as both near sighted and far sighted because I can not see anything closer then six feet without bifocals (graduated) and I can not see anything past fifteen feet with out it going blurry. When I first got glass my mom said when we walked out of the doctors office the first thing I said was, look there are leaves on that tree. I need to replace my glasses at least once a year because my eyesight changes in that short of a time. Unfortunately my insurance only covers glasses and an exam every two years. I do have dry eyes but my insurance will not cover the medication so I use over the counter drops. They do not work near as good as the samples I get from the doctor.

I also have other auto immune diseases. Ankylosing Spondylitiis and Rheumatoid Arthritis along with many other health problems some of which are considered severe.

Mark

April,

Your symptoms sound just like mine. The mouth sores and nasal sores went away after I went gluten free and other then one time in the last fifteen years I have been free of them. As far as the eczema behind the ears I have never been able to get rid of it completely. I have had allergy tests and I am allergic to so much it makes it hard to find products that do not bother me. I have also found out that fabric softeners are really bad. My daughter also has reactions to it. Her doctor said that he sees about three cases a week that are rashes caused by fabric softeners. The only one that I have been able to use and not get a rash is manufactured by Lame Advertisement.

Mark

I have similar problems with shampoos. I have to check to make sure they are free of gluten contain products. Oats are very common in shampoos and conditioners and wheat is also often used. I get a burning itch and sores and scabs that burn even more when I wash my hair. I seem to get it to clear up but after a while it comes back. I have found that it is best (for me) to alternate shampoos. Using a medicated shampoo for dandruff and then a daily clearifyer. I also have found that I am allergic to other items in shampoos. Nettle is one that I have to avoid is it is very common also. Currently I am rotating Equate Cooling Dandruff Shampoo and Conditioner and Suave Daily Clarifying Shampoo. That seems to be working right now.

I really think I have the Dermatitis condition that goes along with gluten. But the doctors just call it eczema. You would think they would put it together. Especially since it does break out with contact to gluten. The worst areas I get it right now is the back of my years. Even with the shampoos I am using I still have to apply cortisone to that area frequently to sooth the burning. It is not so bad now as it was before I found these two shampoos that seem to work together.

I am curious. Do you have a real bad itch inside your ears also? It is driving me nuts and thedoctors can not find anything wrong there.

Mark

I think I was labeled as a hypochondriac and actually had a doctor tell me that all my problems were just in my head. So I can understand how you felt when the doctors thought you were crazy. But once I found doctors that actually listened to me and were willing to work with me it opened the eyes of the doctors who thought I was just making every thing up.

I know what you mean about it feeling worse then a broken bone. I have had several broken bones and none of them even came close to the pain of the swollen knee I had. And it took them three months to find out what they thought it was. I really feel that they never found out what I really had and made me so sick and eventually lead me to becoming disabled. The pain was very severe and I could hardly walk. All I could do was lie in bed. What was bad is that after seeing the doctor for three months she did not realize how bad my knee was until she saw me leaving. She then ran out and had me come back to the office and apologized for not realizing how bad the pain was. Doctors are so used to people who complain about small little things that they just assume you are in that category when you are taliking to them. Make sure to let your doctor know just how severe you feel the pain is.

Mark

By Reading through this it sounds a lot like problems I have. It all started in August of 1999 when I had my first major Asthma Attack. I was put on Asthma medicine and then on anti-biotics. Two days after going off the anti-biotics I woke with my left knee double in size. I spent three months being tested and probed for every thing in the books and the pain and swelling would not go away and they could not find what I had. Finally I was sent to a Rheumatologist. He sent me for some other tests, catscans and MRI's and discovered I had Sero-Negative Rheumatoid Arthritis. The regular RA panel is only 85% affective and I was one of those 15% that have it where it does not show up in the RA panel tests. I was also diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis and degenerative joint disease. I was put on Sulindac (a prescription anti0inflamatory) and the swelling finally went away. The RA has since moved to my hands and they are painful and stiff all day long with no relief. I also am very stiff in all my joints when I wake up in the mornings and it goes away after I take a warm shower.

The Rheumatologist who diagnosed me told me that it is very common for people with Celiac Disease to have other auto-immune problems. I was the lucky one tho get not just one but two of them. I have never been able to associate any swelling and flare ups with an accidental intake of gluten. But I do notice an increased pain level after an exposure. that usually lasts about a week but has lasted up to a month.

I really recommend that you have your primary doctor refer you to a Rheumatologist and I hope that you can get a good one.

Mark

This is really interesting that you feel more depressed after eating chocolate. I did an internet search about chocolate+depression and could not get any clear answer, some articles said it could happen while others said that chocolate helped people with depression. A lot of contradiction out there. One article did say that they felt it was the sugar that caused the uplift and then the down that some people feel after eating chocolate. Sugar is know for causing a quick rise in mood followed by a severe down turn as its affects wear off. So the question is could it be the sugar you are reacting to and not the chocolate?

Have you tried any of the low sugar dark chocolates? Hershey's just released one that they call heart smart or something like that. I am not a real fan of dark chocolate but I actually liked it. The one I tried had blueberries in it.

Mark

Meline,

I am glad that your Nausea has finally gone away. Before I was diagnosed I jokingly called my nausea morning sickness, because the first thing I would have to do when I woke up was to throw up. I could not eat anything for several hours after I got up or it would just come back up. This was a daily thing. It got much worse when I was put on prescription Motrin for my arthritis. Then I felt sick most the time. When they finally diagnosed me with Celiac Disease the symptoms took about six months to clear up. But I still can not eat anything for several hours after I wake up. I think it weekend my stomach or something and that has never fully healed. And it has been 14 years now since I was diagnosed. Nausea i the morning is still one of the first symptoms I get if I have an accidental exposure to gluten. I might go a whole day not even knowing that I was exposed. But the next morning my body tells me that I have been and then other symptoms start and this can last up to a week.

To go along with the magnesium my doctor told me to take a combination. Calcium with vitamin D, Zinc, Copper and Magnesium. So I use a complex that has all of these along with some others.

I also have sacroilitis and Spondylitis the latter I was told was connected to the celiac disease ( the doctor said that is why I developed it when it is not something in my family history) which both cause tail bone pain that seems to come and go as the inflammation comes and goes. Mine has not been reduced by being on the gluten free diet. I think because the damage was done before I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. I was diagnosed with the sacroilitis in 1994 before I was diagnosed with the Celiac Disease. I was not diagnosed with the Spondylitis untill 1999 but was told I had suffered from it for at least twenty years before being diagnosed.