Living in the Gluten Free World

Biopsy, as in endoscopy? No, it doesn't hurt. They'll put you to sleep and you won't feel a thing.

As for lactose intolerance...I've read that about 50% of people with celiac disease are also lactose intolerant. However, it often goes away after being on the gluten-free diet. That happened with my son. He had been lactose intolerant ever since he was a toddler. He started the gluten-free diet at around age 14 and after being on it for about a year, his lactose intolerance went away. He can now eat as much dairy as he wants without any problems. Also, if you are lactose intolerant, you don't have to give up dair. You can switch to Lactaid milk (or any brand of lactose free milk). We're so used to it that I still buy it even though none of us are lactose intolerant. When my son was lactose intolerant, he took the Lactaid pills whenever he wanted to eat dairy and they really worked.

Wow, thanks for the info, yes I mean Endoscopy, which is now scheduled for April 14th, so only two more weeks of eating gluten, then I can go gluten free, I can't wait!!!!
Thanks for the info on Lactose too, I have a lot to learn.........

We all start out with a lot to learn.

I saw on your profile that you are suffering with fatigue. Your doctor will, or perhaps already has checked your blood for B12 levels. If you are low on B12, that could be causing fatigue. You might want to mention it to him, just in case. If you are low, you can get B12 shots to boost you up back to normal. But if you want to take an oral supplement, it is recommended that people with celiac disease take a sublingual tablet rather than the regular pills that you swallow. The reason being that if you are B12 deficient, that means you aren't absorbing nutrients in the normal manner and if your intestines are not able to absorb nutrients from food, they will not be able to absorb them from a pill that you swallow. A sublingual is a pill that dissolves instantly in your mouth and will absorb into your body rather than passing through it with no effect.

Wow, I had know idea, here I am pounding the vitamins into me and not seeing any results, where can you get the sublingual tablets, at a pharmacy? Also who gives you the shots, Your doctor?

I'm not a doctor and am just going by what I've observed, read, and learned from my own doctor, so make sure you do talk to your doctor about these things. It seems that some nutrients are absorbed and some are not...otherwise, I suppose we'd all be deficient in all nutrients. I don't know why or how these things happen. Personally, I haven't been deficient in any nutrients that I know of. My blood tests always come out normal. On the flip side, my daughter, who also has celiac disease, was severely B12 deficient. That's how I found out about the link between fatigue and B12, she's in her early 20's and was exhausted all the time, just wanting to sleep, sleep, sleep. That's not normal, so we had her checked out. Her doctor gave her a series of B12 shots to boost her levels back up to normal and recommended that she take the sublinguals. It made sense to me.

Your doctor can give you the shots and the sublinguals can be bought at pharmacies or health food stores...really, anywhere that vitamins are sold. We get my daughter's sublinguals at Whole Foods grocery store. I don't know if all vitamins come in a sublingual form, though.