Seriously, any doctor who has a patient with otherwise unexplained GI problems should order a test for Celiac. I have Celiac, my brother has to take meds with breakfast to keep food done, has to take vitamin injections because his body doesn’t absorb nutrients properly but his doctor didn’t test him because “the gluten free diet is too hard”. Gluten free is a fad for some and literally a life saver for others.
The testing does check for the body’s reaction to gluten so testing should come first, then the gluten free diet.
Word. I feel even worse, since it’s my kid that mayormaynot have gluten intollerance, so now I’m one of “those moms” - all I know is that she wasn’t growing and was sick all the time, and then we took her off gluten (not knowing at the time that you shouldn’t do that before testing) and then she started growing and not being sick, and then she ate some crackers and got sick again. I’m not willing to make her sick for a test.
But here’s what’s wrong with that, especially for kids: many people with gluten intolerance have a “honeymoon period” during adolescence when they can eat gluten without getting sick. We have no idea why. But their risk for diabetes and cancer and other autoimmune disease is the same as an untreated Celiac if they eat gluten. The internal damage is still apparently happening if they eat gluten, they just don’t always have cramping nausea vomiting and diarrhea.
So I’m re-reconsidering my decision not to test her. Once upon a time, it was, “well, if she’s positive, we keep her off gluten, and if she’s negative, we’ll assume the test was wrong (as so many of them are) and keep her off gluten.” Now it’s more like, “What if she starts eating wheat in high school and it doesn’t make her sick? She’ll think Mom was crazy and then end up with diabetes and Lupus.”
Any thoughts? Do I make the 7 year old sick on the off chance that she’ll test positive and then we’ll know for sure? There’s still that high false negative rate…
I always thought I had trouble with tomato sauces. Or cheese. Or pork. Or…oh, hell, pick one because I sure as hell couldn’t. Sometimes I could eat something, and the next time, it tore up my stomach for days. Finally, on a fluke, I gave up gluten and seriously all my stomach issues went away (including the joint aches and severe exhaustion I’d suffered through for as long as I can remember).
I didn’t get tested, but I avoid gluten like the plague. It’s not been that long (about four months now), and the only thing I’ve done differently is eliminate gluten from my diet, but I have more energy, no more digestive issues, and I’ve started losing weight. Oh, and all those foods I thought I couldn’t eat? It appears I don’t have a problem eating them after all (as long as they’re not covering or containing gluten).
You could pretend to be wealthy, you could pretend to be a CEO or pilot, you could pretend to have a foot long dick, who would choose to pretend to have chronic diarrhea?
Um, about that, I actually…oh, nevermind. You’re right. It’s like “duh”, what was I thinking? Thanks for putting it in such a clear perspective for me.
And if you have IBS and diabetes, have the doctor check whether your “IBS-like symptoms” are listed as a frequent (over 10% of patients) secondary effect for your diabetes medication. My mother’s IBS was miraculously cured when her gastroenterologist gave her a note for the GP to change the diabetes meds :smack: I quote: “I’m up to HERE of telling them not to send people for “IBS” who are on this, damnit! Change the diabetes med first, send them only if that does not help!”
And who would stop eating cookies, cake, bread, pizza, soy sauce, pasta, and jelly donuts if it didn’t help? Because while there are substitute products, they are expensive and universally not great (and sometimes downright lousy). If I could have a slice of deep dish pizza without needing to run to the bathroom, I would.
This isn’t like "I’m ‘allergic’ to brussel sprouts’ - most people like the things that are made of wheat, and wheat is a critical component of Western diets - its a pain in the butt to give it up.
