OT - Beginning to suspect Celiac

I know we have a forum for this but it is super slow (it's a newer forum) so I thought I would ask to see if any of you have Celiac disease?

I have a lot of weird symptoms that may or may not be explained from having Uc.  I just don't know to tell the truth.  I see my GI in a couple months so I am going to ask him to give me a blood test just for kicks and giggles to see if I have this.  From what I have been reading on the internet about the symptoms of Celiac, I have pretty much a lot of the symptoms (mind you, some of these I have had for years and some come and go) -

* bloating after eating

*extreme fatigue (no I'm not anemic) - especially after eating

*muscle weakness in my legs

*joint pain (no MRI or Xray can tell me why)

*still getting random blisters on my legs (thought they went away but they are still popping up at random)

*a lot of headaches (not sure if this is from my neck or the 6mp)

*sometimes pale stool

*more recent, sandy looking loose stool

For any of you who have Celiac, does this sound like it could be it?  I know I can always try to go gluten free to see if it helps but I don't even know WHERE to begin with diet.  It seems everything is made from gluten in one form or another and all the websites confused the hades out of me.

So any advice you can give me would help greatly!

I don't have celiac but have a friend who does. It's really not that hard to do the diet; so I would encourage you to start right away eliminating gluten from your diet. At least you will know if your symptoms improve that celiac, or just plain gluten intolerance, can be making you feel worse. I had gluten intolerance after my surgery and was easily able to transition to a gluten-free diet. If I can do it, you can do it!

Sue

My cousin has Celiac disease, and he started to improve within just a couple of days on a glute-free diet.  Most grocery stores now have a large assortment of gluten-free items.  I always shoop at meijjer, and they have a whole section dedicated to gluten-free items.   Just box up your normal food for a week, get a bunch of gluten-free items (try not to cheat!) and see if you start seeing any improvement in your symptoms.

Even if your doc DOES say that you have Celiac, you're just going to have to go gluten-free anyways, so what do you have to lose?  

I was diagnosed with it about 4 years ago primarily due to blood test results after having proctitis and UC for several years. The hematologist urged me to try a gluten free diet and it did make things alot better. The one bad thing is when I do mistakenly have a little gluten now I'm much more intolerant than I used to be. It's all so crazy!

I agree, get the test before you start cutting out gluten. If you're not eating it your body won't produce the antibodies against it, and it won't show up on a test.

My fiance's dad has celiac's disease and honestly the diet doesn't look too bad, with the exception of eating out. Just be sure to check things...the problem is usually gluten sneaking into things you don't expect, like soy sauce.

I'm not too familiar with the symptoms but for awhile I before I was diagnosed I was worried I had it (honestly I would trade my UC for celiac's any day of the week). But I do recall that the poop becomes rather odiferous.

Anyway good luck.

Also ewwwwwww wonderbread. That stuff is so tasteless, lol

Last night I posted an article from the Scientific American about celiac and other autoimmune diseases. Besides finding new avenues for treating autoimmune diseases the article said that they discovered a reliable new way to test for celiac antibodies. I am not sure if the new test is now commonly used. They said that the old ways of testing for gluten intolerance were not reliable. I know testing for food allergies was a complete waste for me, completely missing my allergy to shellfish. It should not be too hard to go gluten free for a couple of weeks to know for sure. I bet that many who are relieved by the SCD diet are really helped because SCD is gluten free.

I like Hillbilly bread. Or 12-grain from Aldi lol.

I've been getting stinky pale sandy poo too. But not the other stuff. I get phlegm in my throat after I eat. I agree to get the blood test first as long as nothing's unbearable. But check out the gluten-free stuff at the stores. Then you can have a gameplan.

well Sherry....all you can do is get tested. It might not be gluten, but maybe just wheat or something else.

Have you had a small bowel follow-through in the past? 

Have you had an allergy test for salicylates?  They're in foods, and considering you can't take mesalamine, maybe that's a possibility?

q

You need the prick-test...lol.

q

Doing a test is the easiest thing to do to discover if you are celiac.
Personally I was tested, I am NOT celiac, but I'm avoiding gluten because I feel it's difficult to digest during the flare, although I'm not so sure it's just the gluten or the yeast content of the breads and pizzas...