6 ms·

Thanks rksprst. Aren't Celiac Disease sufferers usually thin, unable to gain weight? That's not me.

Vivtek 16y ago
Not necessarily - it just seems that way because wheat figures so heavily in the Western diet. I don't think Celiac is likely, but you can just not eat wheat for a week and see if it makes a difference. (Read every label if you're trying that.)
- solost 16y ago
  Thinness is not an issue, since sugar is not off limits. A week won't do it on the diet change, I had to go nearly 3 months before my system got back to normal. Amd Vivtek is right if you want to test this just read every label and do some research for example soy sauce is out, but it just isn't obvious. As far as this being a possibility, it doesn't sound right, but since it is pretty easy to test for the next tiem you have a blood test you can have them check it if you want.
  - tyweir 16y ago
    > Thinness is not an issue, since sugar is not off limits. Paleo eating excludes refined sugars completely, and asks you to reduce fruit. Meat and veg, nuts and seeds, some fruit, no grains, no dairy. > A week won't do it on the diet change, Totally agree here. And switching from a traditional high-carb, low-fat diet to paleo leads to 2 or 3 weeks of feeling like crap. We're 5 weeks into our Paleo Challenge at the gym I own, and most people are feeling like a million bucks. We do our best to impress upon them that the first 2-3 weeks will be difficult.
    - jerf 16y ago
      I did a low-carb diet long before I knew I had celiac, but it still affected me (and in fact I was frustrated when the low-carb promise of energy did not materialize; in hindsight I now know it was because it was dominated by the celiac-induced problems). The problem is that a low-carb dieter may not feel bad about having small quantities of wheat in their diet (very lightly breaded meats, or any of the other numerous otherwise-fairly-low-carb items that have a fine dusting of flour in them), and it only takes small quantities to still be affected. I eat to manage my glycemic index now, but I unfortunately can't honestly split what is that part and what is getting off of gluten, I just know both have proved necessary to me. But of the two, for someone with celiac getting off the gluten is by far the more important.
  - jerf 16y ago
    I am pleased to announce that soy sauce does not have to be out: http://surefoodsliving.com/2007/05/kikkoman-soy-sauce-claims-its-ok/ http://surefoodsliving.com/2007/05/kikkoman-soy-sauce-claims... If you are hypersensitive it may be a problem, but it works for me. I have now consumed quite substantial quantities of soy sauce in the past few months with no effect at all. I do stick to the Kikkoman name brand, but this turns out to be easy, it's the golden standard. Usually if it's not Kikkoman, it's fake soy sauce anyhow which is also safe.
  - alttab 16y ago
    Despite other comments this has been my wife's experience as well - soy sauce does contain gluten and it effects her as much as a pizza.
petercooper 16y ago
FWIW, my father has reasonably serious celiac disease and has not experienced those two (admittedly common) symptoms.
jerf 16y ago
I wasn't. Celiac is a really wild disease, in that it can cause an enormous variety of symptoms due to the nutritional deficiencies it can cause, and also can fail to cause them just depending on your own body. Consequently, it is really difficult to diagnose. My primary symptom was iron-deficiency anemia, for instance, but the traditional answers that start with that symptom would have been wrong. Also, despite malnutrition, I was also obese. (Not "clinically obese", but obese no matter how you slice it.) There are two things going for this diagnosis (even as I tip my head to the "don't trust internet diagnoses" crowd). First, per chasingsparks' excellent point, you shouldn't look for something rare when something common may explain it. In fact, Celiac is not a rare disease; estimates are now hovering around the 1 out of 133 people in the general US population, which is not really a "rare disease". The odds of at least one other person reading this message having Celiac without knowing it is actually virtually 100%, because of the second thing: It is known to be underdiagnosed due to the difficulty of diagnosing it correctly. It appears to match everything you've described, up to and including a known correlation between Celiac and other autoimmune diseases (especially when left untreated) and raised IgA. Testing for IgA is a standard first step of a screening: http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/conditions/celiac-2.html http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/conditions/celia... With this you should be able to find a doctor who can help you confirm or deny this diagnosis, assuming you have not yet tried a gastroenterologist. If there are money issues, the "don't eat gluten" test rksprst mentions is actually as good as the medical tests, if not better. Stop eating gluten for two weeks, or preferably three. If you feel better after that, then you may be on the right track, but wait, it might be placebo. To be really sure, have yourself a big ol' bowl of pasta or pizza. In about 5-7 hours or so, if you're suffering from Celiac... you'll know. And I apologize for that night. But at least you'll know after that. Be aware you can not do both. Celiac tests only pick up "in progress" Celiac, if you cut out the gluten for three weeks, then go to the doctor, you will quite likely test negative even if you have it. At your age, full recovery could take 3-4 years, but you'll start feeling better right away. I feel your pain. My father was diagnosed in the nick of time for me to figure out what my problem was. I too was starting to lose enough cognitive power that I fear I would have lost my job. Edit: Also, if this does turn out to be the problem, start taking a multivitamin. Many people say that multivitamins are not helpful for normal people. This may be true, I honestly don't know. Celiac is not "normal people" and I've found it helpful well beyond what "placebo" would cover. You may be able to stop when recovered, I'm just barely getting to "recovered" myself. And yes, this could be me having a hammer and seeing a nail. Still, it does fit, right down to the difficulty of getting it properly diagnosed.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
alttab 16y ago
CELIACS IS EXTREMELY POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS VERY SAME THING HAPPENED TO MY WIFE. My wife is gluten intolerant. It took doctors 21 years to figure it out. When she eats gluten she gets so confused she can't even respond to me. She forgets periods of time, she gets very sick. If you are constantly depressed or down (your symptoms overlap depression), have vitamin deficiencies (you said you have), or have been balanced with Synthroid, you could be on your way to osteopenia. The gluten intolerance actually prevents your organs from working correctly. My wife has experienced all of this. You may not an immediate or acute reaction to the gluten. This is why it is so deceiving. When my wife eats gluten, I can tell because she almost gets "addicted" to it and eats a lot of it. Now that she has her gluten under control she is 15 pounds lighter. GAINING weight was her issue. Almost all processed food has gluten in it. Wheat flour or powder-mixes all contain trace amounts of gluten. My wife can't even have something prepared on something with the same surface. We can still make gluten free pizza, pasta, burgers etc (she uses large mushroom tops for a bun!) so we eat very well now that we know how to cook around it. Stop eating gluten for a week or two. Within a couple of days you should feel better. First, you won't be as tired, and you'll be able to do more during the day without getting confused. Your mind will clear up as the week goes on and you'll slowly be able to grasp more of reality and manage daily tasks. Gluten intolerance is severely under-diagnosed because all of the symptoms occur by proxy, as the allergy effects bodily function in a more pervasive manner. I strongly encourage you to investigate this avenue further. I described your situation to my wife and she says that fits her to a T. She has muscle pain, numbness. Hell, sometimes her toes dislocate for no reason. If you have any questions please contact me and I can hook you up with some wonderful recipes. STOP EATING PROCESSED FOOD. You will feel better, I promise you.

Not necessarily - it just seems that way because wheat figures so heavily in the Western diet. I don't think Celiac is likely, but you can just not eat wheat for a week and see if it makes a difference. (Read every label if you're trying that.)

solost 16y ago
Thinness is not an issue, since sugar is not off limits. A week won't do it on the diet change, I had to go nearly 3 months before my system got back to normal. Amd Vivtek is right if you want to test this just read every label and do some research for example soy sauce is out, but it just isn't obvious. As far as this being a possibility, it doesn't sound right, but since it is pretty easy to test for the next tiem you have a blood test you can have them check it if you want.
- tyweir 16y ago
  > Thinness is not an issue, since sugar is not off limits. Paleo eating excludes refined sugars completely, and asks you to reduce fruit. Meat and veg, nuts and seeds, some fruit, no grains, no dairy. > A week won't do it on the diet change, Totally agree here. And switching from a traditional high-carb, low-fat diet to paleo leads to 2 or 3 weeks of feeling like crap. We're 5 weeks into our Paleo Challenge at the gym I own, and most people are feeling like a million bucks. We do our best to impress upon them that the first 2-3 weeks will be difficult.
  - jerf 16y ago
    I did a low-carb diet long before I knew I had celiac, but it still affected me (and in fact I was frustrated when the low-carb promise of energy did not materialize; in hindsight I now know it was because it was dominated by the celiac-induced problems). The problem is that a low-carb dieter may not feel bad about having small quantities of wheat in their diet (very lightly breaded meats, or any of the other numerous otherwise-fairly-low-carb items that have a fine dusting of flour in them), and it only takes small quantities to still be affected. I eat to manage my glycemic index now, but I unfortunately can't honestly split what is that part and what is getting off of gluten, I just know both have proved necessary to me. But of the two, for someone with celiac getting off the gluten is by far the more important.
- jerf 16y ago
  I am pleased to announce that soy sauce does not have to be out: http://surefoodsliving.com/2007/05/kikkoman-soy-sauce-claims-its-ok/ http://surefoodsliving.com/2007/05/kikkoman-soy-sauce-claims... If you are hypersensitive it may be a problem, but it works for me. I have now consumed quite substantial quantities of soy sauce in the past few months with no effect at all. I do stick to the Kikkoman name brand, but this turns out to be easy, it's the golden standard. Usually if it's not Kikkoman, it's fake soy sauce anyhow which is also safe.
- alttab 16y ago
  Despite other comments this has been my wife's experience as well - soy sauce does contain gluten and it effects her as much as a pizza.

petercooper 16y ago

FWIW, my father has reasonably serious celiac disease and has not experienced those two (admittedly common) symptoms.

jerf 16y ago

I wasn't. Celiac is a really wild disease, in that it can cause an enormous variety of symptoms due to the nutritional deficiencies it can cause, and also can fail to cause them just depending on your own body. Consequently, it is really difficult to diagnose. My primary symptom was iron-deficiency anemia, for instance, but the traditional answers that start with that symptom would have been wrong. Also, despite malnutrition, I was also obese. (Not "clinically obese", but obese no matter how you slice it.) There are two things going for this diagnosis (even as I tip my head to the "don't trust internet diagnoses" crowd). First, per chasingsparks' excellent point, you shouldn't look for something rare when something common may explain it. In fact, Celiac is not a rare disease; estimates are now hovering around the 1 out of 133 people in the general US population, which is not really a "rare disease". The odds of at least one other person reading this message having Celiac without knowing it is actually virtually 100%, because of the second thing: It is known to be underdiagnosed due to the difficulty of diagnosing it correctly. It appears to match everything you've described, up to and including a known correlation between Celiac and other autoimmune diseases (especially when left untreated) and raised IgA. Testing for IgA is a standard first step of a screening: http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/conditions/celiac-2.html http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/conditions/celia... With this you should be able to find a doctor who can help you confirm or deny this diagnosis, assuming you have not yet tried a gastroenterologist. If there are money issues, the "don't eat gluten" test rksprst mentions is actually as good as the medical tests, if not better. Stop eating gluten for two weeks, or preferably three. If you feel better after that, then you may be on the right track, but wait, it might be placebo. To be really sure, have yourself a big ol' bowl of pasta or pizza. In about 5-7 hours or so, if you're suffering from Celiac... you'll know. And I apologize for that night. But at least you'll know after that. Be aware you can not do both. Celiac tests only pick up "in progress" Celiac, if you cut out the gluten for three weeks, then go to the doctor, you will quite likely test negative even if you have it. At your age, full recovery could take 3-4 years, but you'll start feeling better right away. I feel your pain. My father was diagnosed in the nick of time for me to figure out what my problem was. I too was starting to lose enough cognitive power that I fear I would have lost my job. Edit: Also, if this does turn out to be the problem, start taking a multivitamin. Many people say that multivitamins are not helpful for normal people. This may be true, I honestly don't know. Celiac is not "normal people" and I've found it helpful well beyond what "placebo" would cover. You may be able to stop when recovered, I'm just barely getting to "recovered" myself. And yes, this could be me having a hammer and seeing a nail. Still, it does fit, right down to the difficulty of getting it properly diagnosed.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

alttab 16y ago

CELIACS IS EXTREMELY POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS VERY SAME THING HAPPENED TO MY WIFE. My wife is gluten intolerant. It took doctors 21 years to figure it out. When she eats gluten she gets so confused she can't even respond to me. She forgets periods of time, she gets very sick. If you are constantly depressed or down (your symptoms overlap depression), have vitamin deficiencies (you said you have), or have been balanced with Synthroid, you could be on your way to osteopenia. The gluten intolerance actually prevents your organs from working correctly. My wife has experienced all of this. You may not an immediate or acute reaction to the gluten. This is why it is so deceiving. When my wife eats gluten, I can tell because she almost gets "addicted" to it and eats a lot of it. Now that she has her gluten under control she is 15 pounds lighter. GAINING weight was her issue. Almost all processed food has gluten in it. Wheat flour or powder-mixes all contain trace amounts of gluten. My wife can't even have something prepared on something with the same surface. We can still make gluten free pizza, pasta, burgers etc (she uses large mushroom tops for a bun!) so we eat very well now that we know how to cook around it. Stop eating gluten for a week or two. Within a couple of days you should feel better. First, you won't be as tired, and you'll be able to do more during the day without getting confused. Your mind will clear up as the week goes on and you'll slowly be able to grasp more of reality and manage daily tasks. Gluten intolerance is severely under-diagnosed because all of the symptoms occur by proxy, as the allergy effects bodily function in a more pervasive manner. I strongly encourage you to investigate this avenue further. I described your situation to my wife and she says that fits her to a T. She has muscle pain, numbness. Hell, sometimes her toes dislocate for no reason. If you have any questions please contact me and I can hook you up with some wonderful recipes. STOP EATING PROCESSED FOOD. You will feel better, I promise you.