Celiac

I have been reading up on Celiac a little bit - it is interesting. I agree with you Emily, how do you diagnose a syndrome? In the case of IBS, I am convinced that that is what doctors call random digestive issues that they can't explain otherwise - or it isn't worth the effort to identify. So - IBS can be caused by a spastic colon, a food intolerence, imbalance in you digestive flora, a permanent virus, or whatever. So in the case of your friend her IBS probably IS her Celiac. I wouldn't give up the communion wafer if I were her (unless she HAS shown an improvement). As I am sure she knows gluten is found in weird places; spices, bath products, etc.

When I say I was "attempting" gluten free, I didn't voluntarily eat gluten for about 7 months. But I also didn't change my spice rack, or require people having parties to have something I could eat. I managed just fine. Gluten wasn't that hard to remove from my diet once I did work at it. I only faced it with dinner side dishes (we switched to rice or GF pastas) and my one piece of toast with breakfast. Since it was after I did that that I began having problems with my blood I concluded that the benefits from "enriched" bread products outweighed the disadvantages of the gluten.

However, my digestive problems have gone on since I was in the 7th grade. My freshman year in college I lost a ton of weight because everytime I ate I followed it up with being sick. I called it "natural bulemia." I wonder why I didn't think that there was something off at the time? That lasted all through college in fact - off and on. Which is why I weighed 40 pounds less when I finished than when I started.

Barbara Ball tested me for Celiac before and it was negative - however, she said it was a slow developing disease and might not have shown up then. The symptoms are vague enough that I can say that they all apply to me - but as Sarah said - lists of symptoms can apply to LOTS of categories. She took the thyroid symptoms and called it "Indications that you MAY have an autistic child. Chronic Fatigue, Waking Frequently During the Night, Anxiety, Depression, etc." Here is a list of the Celiac Symptoms:

Adults are less likely to have digestive symptoms and may instead have one or more of the following:

• unexplained iron-deficiency anemia
• fatigue
• bone or joint pain
• arthritis
• bone loss or osteoporosis
• depression or anxiety
• tingling numbness in the hands and feet
• seizures
• missed menstrual periods
• infertility or recurrent miscarriage
• canker sores inside the mouth
• an itchy skin rash called dermatitis herpetiformis

People with celiac disease may have no symptoms but can still develop complications of the disease over time. Long-term complications include malnutrition—which can lead to anemia, osteoporosis, and miscarriage, among other problems—liver diseases, and cancers of the intestine.

I don't have artritis, missed menstrual periods, seizures (although, I do regularly have phantom smells, light flashes and sounds - which I heard actually ARE seizures on a small scale - I heard it on NPR on one of those doctor commentary things...), I have never had a miscarriage, and my infertility is caused by something else entirely - namely the lack of the other half of the equasion. Otherwise this list is very like the list I gave my doctor the other day. However, if I am malnurished, it isn't showing up in weight LOSS. Sigh.