Crohn's and Celiac Disease?

Yesterday I got a call from my GI's office...my bloodwork came back, and it showed an allergy to wheat and egg whites.  I was supposed to have an appointmnt yesterday, but had two of my kids home sick, so i didn't make it, so a nurse called me with these results.....my GI told her it was too complicated to explain over the phone, so to just tell me to stop eating anything with wheat, no rice, no pasta, etc.  I know a bit about Celiac Disease, as she tested me for it years ago, and I followed a gluten-free diet for 2 weeks.  I can't believe something else has popped up now.  When I saw her two weeks ago, she decided to test me for food allergies, since she hadn't in a few years, and I had given birth since then....I guess my body changed.  Is it common to have both of these issues?  I mean, it's bad enough giving up so many things that you like to eat when you have Crohn's, and now I have to give up so much more....I live on pasta, and love eggs.  She said I could eat spelt products, which neither the nurse nor I know what that is.  I can also have soy.  Hopefully I can get in to see my GI on Monday, since I'm having shoulder surgery on Tuesday and won't be able to drive.  I'm so confused, I don't know what to eat or drink, I can't believe I have yet another issue.  Is there anyone else out there who has both Crohn's and Celiac Disease?  If so, do you have any good references?  Thank you all so much....I'm so disgusted with everything right now, I can't believe that there could be any more wrong with me.

I'm very curious about this. Are you "allergic" or "sensitive"? What kind of testing was done? I have had these tests done which show I have elevated "IGG" (a type of antibody) to several foods. This is different than "IGE" antibodies which include the life threatening ones (seafood, peanuts, etc although I guess you could also have IGE antibodies to the same things you can have IGG antibodies to- egg, wheat, etc) IGG don't kill but can make you sick in other ways. I am not an expert on this, just know how it affects me and what I can eat. This IGG stuff is not accepted by a lot of mainstream medicine.

If your tests show you are allergic to wheat and eggs you should be able to eat rice. Rice is considered to be safe for most people (the reason why they start babies on rice cereal and not wheat) However, you should NOT be able to eat spelt as that is related to wheat. There are many alternative pastas that are good but you must know about them already if you followed a gluten free diet. But since my tests show I am sensitive to gliadin (related to gluten) but not barley (celiacs can't have barley) perhaps your tests show you can eat spelt and not wheat.

My tests came back that show I have significant levels of IGG antibody to wheat and all related grains, egg whites and to a lesser degree yolks, cow's milk casein (the protein) but not as much to goat's milk products, corn syrup, and ginger. If I eat cow's milk products I get canker sores. If I eat water buffalo yogurt I don't. When I stopped eating wheat my blood pressure improved dramatically.

I agree, it is hard giving these foods up. I love dairy products. Those are the ones I miss the most. I lived on cottage cheese. I was also tested for celiac disease by biopsy and it was negative. I have to wonder if I were treated with an immunosuppressant like 6-MP if I would be able to eat these foods. I could put up with the canker sores occasionally but the blood pressure problem scares me (I was on two meds and my systolic pressure would still go over 200 at times) and I have to wonder what it is doing to my gut. So I follow the diet.

Your Crohn's disease should completely clear up after you completely eliminate wheat from your diet. I have been off wheat for 21 days and the diarrhea is gone along with most of my symptoms. Just have to wait for winter until I can try getting off the inhaled steroids for my asthma. It sometimes takes about a year until the intestines have calmed down, but for me, I had dramatic results after 3 weeks. Make sure you are completely off the wheat. Check the nutritional information on web sites to make sure they don't add some kind of wheat. Even a little can set it all off.

Good luck!!!

Spelt is a precursor to wheat; spelt is thought to be the oldest (or nearly so) of the triticum grains consumed by man. It is frequently touted as being consumable by celiacs; do not believe this. It is certainly not true, or if it is, it is true with a minority of individuals with gluten sensitivity.

Although frequently referred to as an autoimmune disease, celiac sprue is similar to an allergy (although it is not a true allergy). In the absence of this sensitivity, there is no autoimmune issue. In the absence of gluten, there is no autoimmune reaction. As the disorder relies upon exogenous proteins, it is dissimilar to true autoimmune disease.

There is an IgG/IgA blood test for celiac disease. Any lab can run the test- more precisely, any medical lab can draw the blood, and have the blood sent to a specialty lab that will run the test. Biopsy is generally considered the "gold standard," but from a practical standpoint the only thing that can truly rule in or out celiac sprue is absolute, total exclusion of offending proteins. This means no trace of wheat, barley, or rye in your diet- nor spelt. Oats are a contested matter; oats may be processed on machinery that is normally used for wheat, so contamination is common. Best to exclude oats until you can determine if you're getting better.

Metallichic, except for the egg part, what your GI might be heading towards (given the list of what you were told to eliminate) is the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). It is often very successful for managing Crohn's. Are you familiar with it? Just a thought here. If this is what your doc is recommending, don't fret! There is TONS of information out there--both on the internet and in cook books--on this diet.

http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/index.htm

Also, we have been told that the Celiac blood test and even the biopsy are not definitive (I used to have a great article bookmarked that explains this, but I can't find it! Yogaprof, do you have it?). So, as Osprey101 said, the only way to know 100% for sure is to exclude the grains. The SCD is gluten free.

Good luck to you! Hope you get your answers soon!

Thanks, miguelblanco! Celiac.com is the site I was looking for, and specifically this article:

http://www.celiac.com/articles/21596/1/Is-it-Time-to-Revise-the-Criteria-Used-to-Diagnose-Celiac-Disease/Page1.html