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Does it sound like I have Celiac Disease?

Zitrob
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Zitrob Newbie
Zitrob
Posted

Hello,

I am kind of new to all of this and all of the information I am reading through is a bit overwhelming so I thought I'd ask the opinions of some folks who have gone through this. 

I have been feeling unlike myself for close to a year now. I went from a guy who was rarely sick (only been to see a doctor maybe 5 times in my life) to one who feels pretty bad most days. 

Since this all began I have had a few different symptoms including weakness/fatigue, nausea, night sweats while cold, minor abdominal pain, testicular pain, lower back pain, headaches and have noticed some things that were not normal before such as weight loss (about 30 lbs in a year, 6ft2in started at 209lb and am now around 178lb so its not like I needed to lose the weight), bruising easier, swollen gland in my throat.

I have seen a few different doctors, the first of which said it was probably allergies and to take an antihistamine. The second thought maybe gut problems so he prescribed two different meds. I think they helped but the symptoms come and go regularly so there is no way of knowing if it was the meds or just the natural cycle of whatever this is. I finally visited an allergy specialist and she very thoroughly examined me. She sent me for blood work as well as an ultrasound on the swollen gland in my neck. The ultrasound came back normal but the blood tests showed slight allergies to soy, peanuts, corn, as well as a "slightly elevated" TTG-IGA reading. Not exactly sure what the value was but when I saw the gastroenterologist he said that "anything below a 3 is considered normal and yours came back at a 4."

I have an endoscopy scheduled in about a week and should know by then but I wanted to see if my symptoms sound like celiac symptoms or something else? Hashimoto's runs in the family but the weight loss can't really be explained if thats it. Also, I have been mostly gluten free for about 2 and half months since first hearing of the TTG-IGA results, only about 10 things that I know of contained gluten since then but since I'm new to this its probably more than that. Will this affect the endoscopy results? I asked the receptionist when scheduling if I need to be on a normal gluten diet before the endoscopy and she said no. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

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trents Grand Master
trents
Posted

The receptionist gave you a bum steer.

Yes, significantly reducing your gluten intake for 2.5 months could have an impact on the endoscopy/biopsy results but that is not enough time to allow for complete healing of the villi, especially if you are still getting some gluten in your diet. It may not give unequivocal test results, however, leaving your doctor unsure about the results. But it will be what it will be.

Scott Adams Grand Master
Scott Adams
Posted

If you want a definitive diagnosis you may want to postpone the endoscopy for a few weeks and keep eating gluten until it’s finished, otherwise you may not get a clear answer, although your blood tests results probably indicate gluten sensitivity at the very least, and possible celiac disease.

Zitrob Newbie
Zitrob
Posted
  • Author
2 hours ago, trents said:

The receptionist gave you a bum steer.

Yes, significantly reducing your gluten intake for 2.5 months could have an impact on the endoscopy/biopsy results but that is not enough time to allow for complete healing of the villi, especially if you are still getting some gluten in your diet. It may not give unequivocal test results, however, leaving your doctor unsure about the results. But it will be what it will be.

 

13 minutes ago, Scott Adams said:

If you want a definitive diagnosis you may want to postpone the endoscopy for a few weeks and keep eating gluten until it’s finished, otherwise you may not get a clear answer, although your blood tests results probably indicate gluten sensitivity at the very least, and possible celiac disease.

That’s kind of what I figured after reading through the forums here, that’s why I thought I’d ask. My endoscopy isn’t until the 12th, if I start eating gluten today is 8-9 days enough time to have the damage be more clear? Like I mentioned I haven’t been 100% gluten free but definitely a lot less than before. 

Scott Adams Grand Master
Scott Adams
Posted

The usual amount of time for an endoscopy would be two weeks of eating a slice of wheat bread each day, longer for blood tests:

 

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