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I have GI problems whenever I eat pasta or bagels, or large amounts of
bread or crackers, and I've had the problem for years. My husband calls
it "pasta belly." Belly pain, evil diarrhea, gas... I stopped eating
wheat for a few weeks and my "IBS" magically disappeared and I felt
better than I had in years. I have never had vitamin deficiencies
except some transient anemia every great once in a while. My doctor ran
some labs - which, I don't know, but he said they were to test for
celiac. Negative, but I think I'd only had more than a tiny amount of
wheat maybe once in the 2 months before the test. He is skeptical that
it could be celiac since he thinks it's much more rare than I've been
led to believe.
To complicate matters a little, I've had weight loss surgery. The
low-carb diet eliminates most wheat, improving my symptoms, but
physicians are quick to blame any GI problem on the surgery, despite the
fact that even after surgery, if I stay totally away from wheat I am
fine, but a handful of crackers makes me very ill.
So I'm wondering about pursuing a diagnosis, to see if I really need to
completely eliminate gluten or if it's just a sensitivity. On one hand,
it seems pretty clear that, to feel healthy, I can't eat wheat. On the
other, I'm not willing to completely avoid it if it's not going to
damage my health, only make me feel a little sick on occasion.
I'd appreciate advice and also information about how much gluten/how
long one has to be eating it for it to show up on labs. I would also
appreciate help finding an experienced physician in southeast Michigan.
TIA,
Cat
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