Want To Share My Story, And See What People Think Possibly Celiac

[bman34]

Like most posts I've read here it seems many people are in the same boat I'm on. My whole life I've had difficulty with a 'sensitive' stomach, and difficult bowel movements. It's funny because I've always thought that the difficult BM's is just the way it is, and everyone is like that. Since BM's are such a taboo subject it took me living with my room mate to really notice that I was not normal. So like most people I started to look for answers to my issues. I'm 34 now, and up until now my issues haven't really been what I would call severe. So it was easy to shake the issues off, or after a difficult BM I would just feel ok. During my mid 20's I developed pretty deep anxiety, and general negativity. I also at that time gained some weight so I had though that it was due mostly to my weight gain (around 50lbs)

Routinely I would meet people that were severely overweight, and seemed to be fine digestive-wise. I wouldn't call these people *healthy* by any stretch of the word, but I always wondered why they had more energy than I did and why even during physical activity seemed to not get dehydrated/tired etc as quickly.

Anyway so to get to the point, last week I started having severe stomach aches/cramps, with bouts of diarrhea. I have long since backed off of my milk/lactose consumption so I was pretty surprised that I was feeling so horrible. I went to the Doctor, and listed off my symptoms:

• Difficult BMs/Diarrhea/Severe stomach cramps
  
• Sluggish/Tired all of the time (not feeling sharp/foggy)
  
• Depressed/Anxious/Not interested in old hobbies etc..
  
• Dehydrate easily
  

He recommended I remove Gluten, and was going to give the blood test for Celiac, but felt it wasn't very telling in his opinion so he didn't do the test. He instead did a bunch of other blood tests, and took a stool sample to look for paracites/amoebas white blood cells etc. All of that stuff so far has come up negative.

So Friday night I gave up gluten, and have been free if it all weekend. I feel MUCH better already. I feel sharper, felt like I got better sleep, no bad BMs, no stomach aches (like last week), less anxiety, feel sharper. I almost feel like I can SEE better!

So my concern is that I have a placebo effect, and haven't found the real issue. It's almost too good to be true so far. I am excited to possibly have found the issue that has been plaguing me for most of my adult life so far.

Can anyone offer their opinion from personal experience? Does it seem that this is celiac? What advice can anyone offer?

Thanks in advance!

[shopgirl]

I think you need to relax and enjoy it. I'm a worrier, too, but if you feel better when you don't eat gluten, be glad about it. It could be Celiac or it could be a gluten intolerance. If you really want to know, you can go back on gluten and find a doctor to test you. But you need to be eating gluten daily for your test results to be normal.

[Dixiebell]

I had extreme fatigue, depression, anxiety, lack of intrest in anything, my stomach would wake me in the night(no details), very low vit D, all over joint pain, migranes for years, sinus problems, I think that is all for now. All of this has resolved itself almost completely since starting gluten free in May. My celiac test were neg. I agree, if it makes you feel better, do it.

[bman34]

I think you need to relax and enjoy it. I'm a worrier, too, but if you feel better when you don't eat gluten, be glad about it. It could be Celiac or it could be a gluten intolerance. If you really want to know, you can go back on gluten and find a doctor to test you. But you need to be eating gluten daily for your test results to be normal.

Well... I am a worrier, and I think it's a bit warranted after years of not knowing and having these issues. :-)

Any idea when I should feel 100% normal day to day? How long did it take you on a no-gluten diet to get there?

[shopgirl]

Well... I am a worrier, and I think it's a bit warranted after years of not knowing and having these issues. :-)

Any idea when I should feel 100% normal day to day? How long did it take you on a no-gluten diet to get there?

It took me a long time to get a diagnosis too.

I've been gluten-free a little over a month and still feel symptoms. My GI doctor said it could take months before all my symptoms disappear completely. But knowing the source of all my problems has at least begun to put my mind at ease.

The anxiety, however, was one of my first symptoms to disappear gluten-free. I stopped having regular anxiety and panic attacks after about two weeks. Hope that helps.

[T.H.]

From what I've read here on the forums, it depends greatly on the symptoms.

Symptoms that are from the gluten and an immediate reaction seem to heal up quick. Symptoms that result from long term damage can take longer.

When I finally got completely gluten free (it took me a while to figure out that my gluten tolerance was a bit lower than the norm), I noticed a difference in about 1-3 days. If I get glutened, it takes me about a day or two for the worst symptoms to go away, and a week or two for some of the others to clear up. So having a nearly immediate improvement like you are noticing? Not unusual.

[bman34]

So I had a setback today. I had a slightly loose stool, and I got pretty discouraged. I still however am feeling much better, and can still think better. As shopgirl said I feel 0 anxiety compared to last week for example. It's quite liberating actually.

When did everyone get their BM's to firm up? I'm looking forward to a time when I haven't had loose BMs for weeks, and perhaps months.

At least this morning I didn't have a stomach ache or cramps in my abdominal area so that's good.

[bman34]

I think it may be the salads I'm having with dinner that are loosening me up. Anyone else get loose from salads? I still feel way better than I did with wheat. What a huge difference. It's almost like I'm a new person. It's funny that something that is such a staple in the diets of the world such as wheat can mess so many people up so badly. There really needs to be more information about this issue out there.