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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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