Celiac disease, anyone?

[ophelia33]

Hi,
My dr. gave me a lab slip to get a celiac spruce panel done to check for celiac disease. I have read online that it could cause a variety of symptoms and for some people there may even be no symptoms. :confused: Can anyone who has this shed some light on what their symptoms were? Today, I had couscous, chicken, zucchini, garic and rosemary and a pear. All from the safe foods list but I was in a lot of pain nearly an hour afterwards. The only thing I could possibly think of was from the wheat. I also got a headache and my mood took a nose dive (possibly from confusion over why I had pain). I have some abdominal bloating but nothing big and I had a little bit of gas but doesn't everyone every now and then?? I've always had stomach aches pretty often as a kid but I also found out later in life I was lactose intolerant and no one knew much about that when I was younger as everyone in my family can eat anything they want. I also have nut allergies and shellfish allergies. The food list seems to be getting smaller as I get older now w/ this IC mess. :confused:

Dr. said I didn't have to go get the lab work done right away but wouldn't it make sense?

Anyone with celiacs, I welcome your help.

hugs,
Ophelia:hi:

[kadi]

Some IC patients have trouble with garlic. And if a patient is allergic to something (wheat would be the likely culprit if that's the case), they can flare from that too.

I had allergy testing done when I first got IC. It confirmed some things I knew I was allergic to (like shellfish, fish, peanuts, peas) and I found out I am allergic to some more things (tree nuts, legumes, soy). I eliminated all the foods that tested allergic & I did get some slight IC improvement. Not as much as I hoped for though.

[ICNDonna]

I don't have celiac, but had a friend who did --- if he ate anything with wheat, it resulted in gastric distress and diarrhea.

Donna

[ophelia33]

Some IC patients have trouble with garlic. And if a patient is allergic to something (wheat would be the likely culprit if that's the case), they can flare from that too.

I had allergy testing done when I first got IC. It confirmed some things I knew I was allergic to (like shellfish, fish, peanuts, peas) and I found out I am allergic to some more things (tree nuts, legumes, soy). I eliminated all the foods that tested allergic & I did get some slight IC improvement. Not as much as I hoped for though.

Hi, Kadi,
Thanks Kadi, I had no idea that garlic could be a problem. :cussing: I've been trying to stick to the safe list and I even double checked that garlic was on it. I guess that's what is meant by "usually ok". Rats, I do like the taste of garlic too. It gave some pretty good flavor to ground beef. Oh, well, guess regular salt will do. I guess I'll leave the garlic alone for a bit.

I always sort of thought I had a problem w/ wheat but never really could put my finger on it. I don't want to jump the gun so I've decided to go for the celiac test tomorrow and get that out of the way. It wouldn't be a drastic thing to abstain from wheat but I hear that some medicines could contain wheat "based" preservatives/fillers. Good ness! Cross that bridge when I come to it, I suppose. Wow, you do have some allergy list. I have an allergist appointment scheduled for next week. I am concerned my no no list will expand but I won't know until I go.

This does get hard doesn't it?

hugs,
Ophelia:hi:

P.S. Is sea salt okay?? I just assumed so as I couldn't find it on the diet cheat sheet list.:loco:

[ophelia33]

I don't have celiac, but had a friend who did --- if he ate anything with wheat, it resulted in gastric distress and diarrhea.

Donna

Hi, Donna,
Yikes, I don't have those symptoms, that would be too noticable. That does sound similar to my tree nut allergy though except it also comes w/ anaphylactic shock. Yikes. No cheating on that one.

Does your friend have to be careful w/ medications too??

thanks and hugs,
Ophelia:hi:

[kadi]

Sea salt is usually ok:) So nice to be able to tell something we usually CAN eat!

Don't worry too much about the celiac, I think like any other chronic illness, there are mild & more severe cases. Obviously, if you're not having dramatic symptoms, that's a good sign. Hopefully you won't have celiac, just get the test done & go from there. You can also do an elmination diet on it, have rice, potatoes for your starches for a week, then reintroduce wheat (with no other experimental foods) & see what happens. If you find you feel better without the wheat, or you have a dramatic spike in symptoms when you reintroduce it, you'll know it's at least an IC trigger for you.

By the way, my long allergy list is not the norm, even for IC patients.

Hopefully, your list will be short & you will start finding out what works for you.
Just keep going, you have a very inquisitive mind, ask intelligent questions, & are going to figure this stuff out just fine!

[ophelia33]

Sea salt is usually ok:) So nice to be able to tell something we usually CAN eat!

Don't worry too much about the celiac, I think like any other chronic illness, there are mild & more severe cases. Obviously, if you're not having dramatic symptoms, that's a good sign. Hopefully you won't have celiac, just get the test done & go from there. You can also do an elmination diet on it, have rice, potatoes for your starches for a week, then reintroduce wheat (with no other experimental foods) & see what happens. If you find you feel better without the wheat, or you have a dramatic spike in symptoms when you reintroduce it, you'll know it's at least an IC trigger for you.

By the way, my long allergy list is not the norm, even for IC patients.

Hopefully, your list will be short & you will start finding out what works for you.
Just keep going, you have a very inquisitive mind, ask intelligent questions, & are going to figure this stuff out just fine!

Hi, Kadi,
Wow, what a quick response. We must both be online! Thanks for the sea salt thumbs up. I found some Nature's Promise canned green beans today w/ beans and sea salt so I picked them up and of course asked about it later. lol !!! I haven't eaten them yet but wanted to check in so I could be extra careful.

I'm going to have the celiac done and then I'll abstain from the wheat and do the elimination diet like you suggest. I am working on expanding my veggies and proteins before trying the wheat again. I don't want to be too deprived on an elimination diet that I end up blowing it. That wouldn't help at all.

I do think I'm okay w/ dried dates. I didn't notice anything horrendous after them. Just thought I'd pass this on...Sunsweet makes a dried date that contains no preservatives. They come in a round yellow container w/ the other dried fruits. I found them in a routine grocery store which may help someone on a budget (like me!). The ingredients just say: california pitted dates. No preservatives listed. I saw dates are on the "usually ok" list. I'll try them again tomorrow just to be sure as I had to try the honey dew melon a couple days to figure out I don't think its a good choice for me--rats!!

thanks for the help and compliments. hugs,
Ophelia:hi:

P.S. It probably doesn't help w/ food manufacturing and cross-contaminating. I know for me growing up, they didn't have those allergy labels but as I got older it was astounding how many foods are manufactured in the same facilities. I can't imagine how many times I must "accidentally" have eaten something I was allergic to! I'm sure you experienced the same thing.

[kadi]

Hi there,
Yup, I'm lurking here quite a bit lately.
Dried dates are quite tasty on top of oatmeal:) They're also nice on a salad of baby greens with a little pear juice mixed with canola oil as dressing
Always happy to be able to add something to the list of "ok" foods!
Cheers,

[ICNDonna]

My close friend with celiac passed away several years ago with cancer. He was a close friend of husband Terry and me and we miss him.

Donna

[ophelia33]

My close friend with celiac passed away several years ago with cancer. He was a close friend of husband Terry and me and we miss him.

Donna

Donna,
I'm sorry to hear about your friend's passing. I always like to think that the people we are missing are in a better place and in peace and we will see them again soon someday.:angel:

my condolences, sending hugs,
Ophelia:hi:

[ophelia33]

Hi there,
Yup, I'm lurking here quite a bit lately.
Dried dates are quite tasty on top of oatmeal:) They're also nice on a salad of baby greens with a little pear juice mixed with canola oil as dressing
Always happy to be able to add something to the list of "ok" foods!
Cheers,

Hi, Kadi,
I'm off of wheat for the time being and went for the blood work today. Will find out by Friday or next week.

What brand of pear juice do you use? I heard of Looza brand but I cannot find that in the store. Its also hard to find it w/o vitamin C added.

A little off topic, but thought I'd ask!

hugs,
Ophelia:hi:

[mlzippy7]

Hi...I have celiac disease. If I can help please let me know!
Best of luck to you!

[kadi]

I have a juicer, so I can make my own pear juice. But, if I don't feel like doing that (and washing the juicer's many parts), I buy a can of pears packed in pear juice & use the juice from the can.

[ophelia33]

Hi...I have celiac disease. If I can help please let me know!
Best of luck to you!

Hi, mlzippy7,
I am putting off calling my family doc for the results from the lab work. They aren't friendly to say the least and they give very scant info. They just give a yes or no w/ no other explanations. Urgh!

Is there a range of results that blood work should be in? Any info on how I should ask about the results would help at this point.

If there is a range and I'm slightly under does that mean I do not have it or does it mean I'm slightly sensitive. This is all very new to me.

Would you also be willing to share some of your symptoms? I don't get anything extreme but for some reason my dr. wants to see if I have this b/c I have "mood issues" that aren't being helped w/ traditional psych meds. :confused: I think IC tends to cause "mood issues" by itself.

I also notice you have some other gastro-intestinal issues. I get constipation often and just learned from PT that straining to have a BM is very bad (never knew it) so I'm avoiding that but w/ the little fiber I get in my diet from veggies, I don't seem to have a lot of luck w/ regular BMs. I ordered the acacia fiber from ICN. Have you ever tried that w/ luck? What do you take for regularity as I've been staying away from high fiber whole wheat.

I've tried to make sense of some of the things on the celiac website but there is a lot there. Did you have any mood disturbances while eating wheat? It may be, like Kadi suggested that I am just wheat sensitive.

I know I should just call to get the lab results but I'm fragile emotionally today w/ the IC and I seem to recognize when I can't handle anything else at the moment.

thanks for any insight/info you can provide. I am sorry you have all those illnesses listed.

many hugs,
Ophelia:hi:

P.S. I am interested in getting an IC ribbon magnet for my car. I will email you.

[deedle]

Hi Ophelia,
I was tested for celiac which turned out to be negative, however, I did find out through food elimination testing that I am sensitive to wheat. My doctor said that people can be sensitive to foods without being allergic to them.

I had a lot of pain which I thought was related to my IC. I then read an article that is on this forum somewhere that the pain centers for the colon and the bladder are very close to each other. So colon pain could be mistaken for bladder pain and vice versa.

About the same time I went on the South Beach Diet which eliminates grains for the first two weeks. Miraculously my pain went away and I felt the best I had felt in months! Since then I've eliminated all wheat and wheat products (flour, pasta, etc.) and now only have (that) pain when I cheat and eat something with wheat in it. I still have bladder pain from the IC if I don't watch what I eat or drink, however, the colon pain is gone.

I also experience awful diarrhea when I eat wheat. I experiment with different foods to determine what causes a problem and what is OK. The challenge is that sometimes the "reaction" is not immediate. It can sometimes take 24-48 hours to show up. So, I'll eat something I'm experimenting with, wait for a couple days and if I have no problems, I add the food to my OK list.

Hope this helps! Private message me if you have other questions.