I am a celiac! YES!!!

[Cavernio]

And I totally mean it. I've been having health issues for a very ****ing long time, and to finally, FINALLY be diagnosed with something that can explain ALL my issues...And it's way better than the kidney problems I thought I might have had (just the most recent idea that I had come up in my self-diagnosis attempts...rather, since only 1 side of me generally hurts, and my kidney tests have shown up decent, I thought perhaps only 1 kidney was ****ed up, something I'd never been tested for.)

ALSO...the doctor who ordered the test agreed to take me on as a patient! I have been without a family doctor for 7 years, and I'm sure I could've gotten one earlier if I knew I had something that a doctor had to see me about, which of course I didn't, because I had never been diagnosed with something.

I feel like celebrating! I shall go buy a cake...oh wait

[hi19hi19]

It must be very hard having a disease that forces you to regulate what you eat so closely- one of my friends has an EXTREME peanut allergy and it's kinda painful to see how he has to constantly be thinking about it. It seems to take all the joy out of eating, the constant worry that there might be a product harmful to you would certainly make it so I couldn't really enjoy my food.

On the other hand, I'm glad you were diagnosed and can begin treatment. Always better to know your issues



p.s. they have gluten free cakes. and they actually don't look that bad.

[Cavernio]

I actually went out and bought a ton of gluten-free stuff about a month ago, thinking it might be it and I might be one of those people who feels better after just a couple of weeks of being gluten and lactose free, thereby diagnosing myself. I wasn't, but I still have a bunch of gluten-free stuff around. I've made 2 gluten-free pie crusts so far. The second one actually stayed together.

I'm sure my joy will go away in a couple of days as the reality of my diet sinks in. Unlike my own self-imposed diet, I cheat on only-eat-ethically-raised-meat diet more often than I should, but I don't see the impact of those consequences like I will with this. Cheating won't be an option here.

[bballa48]

It isn't that bad. I am not a celiac, but I have gone months at a time gluten free. You (especially you) will feel WAY better, and it isn't that hard to eat gluten free. Once you get used to it, you won't even feel like you have a "disease".

[Vanilla Mnm]

I know how you feel actually. I've been having terrible stomach problems for the past three years and my dad told me it was just my 'eating habits', because I have a poor diet, but I know the amount of stomach aches and how bad my stomach aches were couldn't just be from a poor eating habit. Eventually we went to the doctor and he told me to go see a gastrologist and that gastrologist never really told me exactly what was wrong with me, he just told me to take this over-the-counter medicine and it'd help me. About a week ago my doctor told me that the gastrologist told him I had Irritable Bowel Syndrome and I was pretty happy I at least knew what was wrong with me. It's kind of annoying when you can tell something is wrong with you, but you don't know exactly what it is.

[Cavernio]

I wouldn't be happy if I found out I had IBS because they don't even know what causes it...it's better than not having any diagnosis, but not by much. Like, it seems like that's what doctors diagnose when they've run out of ideas regarding digestive problems. I hope that the gastroenterologist at least told you what you didn't have and what he tested you for...

That's one good thing about not having a family doctor; whichever doc I saw would give me my own copy of tests, which I could then look over. For instance, I wouldn't even have thought about celiac disease as a possibility for me, and therefore would not have been tested for it, had I not seen for myself seen that my blood triglycerides were lower than acceptable levels despite me drinking and eating in excess. Two doctors specifically told me that low triglycerides were nothing to worry about, meanwhile the internet says that it's a sign of malabsorption.
Also, last year I also decided to start taking large doses of B12 because of low, but not low by Canadian standards, b12 levels in my blood. But if I lived in Japan I would have been prescribed B12 injections. And I definitely felt better for taking them. But I'd have had no idea without seeing the test results for myself.

[Vanilla Mnm]

Originally Posted by Cavernio

I wouldn't be happy if I found out I had IBS because they don't even know what causes it...it's better than not having any diagnosis, but not by much. Like, it seems like that's what doctors diagnose when they've run out of ideas regarding digestive problems. I hope that the gastroenterologist at least told you what you didn't have and what he tested you for...

That's one good thing about not having a family doctor; whichever doc I saw would give me my own copy of tests, which I could then look over. For instance, I wouldn't even have thought about celiac disease as a possibility for me, and therefore would not have been tested for it, had I not seen for myself seen that my blood triglycerides were lower than acceptable levels despite me drinking and eating in excess. Two doctors specifically told me that low triglycerides were nothing to worry about, meanwhile the internet says that it's a sign of malabsorption.
Also, last year I also decided to start taking large doses of B12 because of low, but not low by Canadian standards, b12 levels in my blood. But if I lived in Japan I would have been prescribed B12 injections. And I definitely felt better for taking them. But I'd have had no idea without seeing the test results for myself.

Yeah he did tell me what it wasn't. And yeah, they ran so many tests on me and couldn't find anything and basically told me I have every symptom of IBS and that's what they concluded it was.

[psychoangel691]

My brother was diagnosed with Celiac disease so we were gluten free for a while. It wasn't too bad. But then they found out they were wrong in the diagnosis :/

[Cavernio]

o really...that's...unsettling. I thought false positives of whatever blood work was done is very unlikely. grrrr Oh well, I'm getting follow-up now with my family doctor, we'll be able to tell for certain.