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Hi folks.

I have allergies to wheat, rice, oats, eggs, milk proteins, and other foods.

I also don't feel well when I eat oats or rye, so my primary grain is corn.
I eat soy, tofu, chicken, potatoes, mixed vegetables, etc.  I occasionally
eat millet, and occasionally eat prepared foods (most of the time I eat a
simple diet, cooked from scratch).  I have a number of foods I feel
comfortable with (Better than Milk drinks, etc.)  that I eat or drink
regularly.  I have been on this diet about eight years.

For about three years starting six years ago I had disabling pain from gas
and constipation.  I would be doubled over and unable to stand up from the
pain of the excess gas and bloating.  When I first went in, they thought
maybe it was appendicitis or some other more serious illness.  As it was, I
was able to relieve the emergency situation with enemas, and then had to take
smooth muscle relaxants I put under my tongue for the serious pain when it
occurred.  I was unable to get any real relief - I just resolved each episode
as it came up.  I was diagnosed with irritable bowel.  (I was drinking milk
at that time, but was off all other allergens).

Then, during my pregnancy with my son, my symptoms dramatically subsided.  I
had stopped drinking milk (perhaps there is a relation?)  and I have had
relatively few episodes or problems until recently.

At Thanksgiving (Nov.  28) I had a five day bout of diarrhea, and was having
problems with nausea.  I didn't take anything except electrolyte-drinks,
since I was (and am still) nursing my daughter who is now five months old.  I
had another bout of diarrhea on December 13 which lasted four days.  I had a
third on the 22 of December, another mid-January and another ending
yesterday.

In January, my primary care doctor gave me Immodium, and they are testing me
for infectious diesease, parasites, and all the obvious stuff.  The Immodium
helped the January episode.  It didn't help the one that just ended.  It made
it stop for a day, and then it returned the next morning.  I didn't take more
of it since it just stopped the symptoms, and I really don't want to take too
much since my daughter is not eating any solids - just my milk.

Each episode leaves me feeling weak and makes it hard for me to function.  I
figured out that in the last 65 days, about 18 of them have been spent in
this state - about a fourth of the time.  When I can eat, I eat milder foods
during the episodes.  Some days I eat little since I feel very nauseous.

I haven't started any new foods that I am aware of, and I have been taking
the same vitamins I have been on for 4 years (Twinlab Prenatals and
Nature-Made Calcium- Magnesium-Zinc.)

My primary care physician is referring me to a GI, and I am not certain what
I should tell him/her.  I was tested by skin test and also symptoms for the
wheat and other foods, so I do have a real allergy.  Am I celiac?  I don't
know.  I certainly feel better when I avoid gluten.

Do you have any suggestions on what could be causing my most recent symptoms
and/or whether I should pursue requesting celiac testing?

Thank you in advance for your help and advice.  I know from what I have seen
in the past, you have been very helpful for other listmembers.

Jenny Rackley
Hailing from Woodinville, WA (Just northeast of Seattle!)