Celiac sprue?!
Question: Celiac sprue!?
I think I have celiac disease!. I will be 29 next month!. I have all the symptoms including lactose intolerance, unexplained weight loss, malabsorption and weakness, and of course all the abdominal symtoms!. I have an appointment with a family doc next week!. I have no primary doc yet as we are new to this city!. I'm an RN and my husband is a family doc and we think it's a strong possibility!. Anyone with any experience with this disease and can advise me on what battery of tests I will need and what lifestyle changes to expect, your advice is greatly appreciated!. Thanks!Www@Answer-Health@Com
Answers:
Hi,first you will be getting the screening bloodwork!. go here:
http://www!.labtestsonline!.org/understand!.!.!.
If that comes back positive they will then get MORE bloodwork to check for anemia, vitamin deficiencies, etc!.
Then a bone scan to check for osteoporosis!.
Then a pneumococcal vaccine as celiacs seem to be at a higher risk for this that the average person!.
Then maybe an endoscopy, depending on what your doctor prefers!. My tt-g was literally off the charts and I improved drastically on the gf diet, so I only had an endo after a year to check healing!.
The degree of lifestyle change really depends on how you are living now!. I am a whole foods freak that makes everything fresh and prefers raw food over cooked, so it was really not that big of a deal for me!. I had also been lactose free for almost 20 years before my diagnosis, so I am sure my ability to adapt and not feel too restricted had a lot to do with it!.
Many foods are easily replaceable with gf foods, so that isn't such a big deal!. The hardest part!? Keeping up with what manufacturers do, the ingredients in your fav gf food can change suddenly and without warning, so you have to get used to reading labels!.
Even when you read labels, you have to be on your toes!. For example: A bottle of Wegman's vitamins had "no gluten ingredients" on it!. However there was barley grass in it! There is no possible way those were gf (although barley grass does not have the grain in it, there is no way to avoid cross contam as far as I see it!. If oatmeal is cross contaminated, barley grass for sure is!)!. Then I got some olives that a big box company listed milk as the only allergen for my hubby!. Well, the olives were stuffed with blue cheese!. Blue cheese is usually grown on a wheat medium, ergo they probably had wheat!. I also contacted a local organic company about a dressing they made!. It had 100% organic soy sauce listed, but no wheat claimed on the label!. When I called to check, yep, undeclared wheat!. They had to change their labels! Wine (which should be fine) is sometimes have their barrels sealed with a flour paste!. And then it is glutened and you can't drink it!. Go here for the full story:
http://www!.glutenfreekitchen!.org/GFAlcoh!.!.!.
So, the biggest pain is learning what you can and can not eat, finding hidden gluten where you least expect it, going out to eat can be a nightmare at times! Learning how to cook all over again was a but annoying, but fine!. And then getting our families to not accidently gluten us can also be a sharp learning curve for them as well!. My home is totally gluten free, and the rest of my family goes out to eat twice a week to get their gluten fix (pizza, lol)!.
If you do come back positive, then here is a great link that you must explore! Order the gf shopping guides, they make life so much easier!
http://www!.celiac!.com/
my other favs!? Glutenfreegirl, and the glutenfreegoddess!. The madatory cookbooks are anything by Bette Hagmann, and even the "for dummies" series are pretty darn good!
Hope this helps, and I hope you get your diagnosis soon!. My hubby is also a Dr!. and he diagnosed me as well, lol! As far as auto-immune diseases go, if you have to have one, this is the one you would pick! it is not the end of the world!
Blessings! and Happy healing!Www@Answer-Health@Com
http://www!.labtestsonline!.org/understand!.!.!.
If that comes back positive they will then get MORE bloodwork to check for anemia, vitamin deficiencies, etc!.
Then a bone scan to check for osteoporosis!.
Then a pneumococcal vaccine as celiacs seem to be at a higher risk for this that the average person!.
Then maybe an endoscopy, depending on what your doctor prefers!. My tt-g was literally off the charts and I improved drastically on the gf diet, so I only had an endo after a year to check healing!.
The degree of lifestyle change really depends on how you are living now!. I am a whole foods freak that makes everything fresh and prefers raw food over cooked, so it was really not that big of a deal for me!. I had also been lactose free for almost 20 years before my diagnosis, so I am sure my ability to adapt and not feel too restricted had a lot to do with it!.
Many foods are easily replaceable with gf foods, so that isn't such a big deal!. The hardest part!? Keeping up with what manufacturers do, the ingredients in your fav gf food can change suddenly and without warning, so you have to get used to reading labels!.
Even when you read labels, you have to be on your toes!. For example: A bottle of Wegman's vitamins had "no gluten ingredients" on it!. However there was barley grass in it! There is no possible way those were gf (although barley grass does not have the grain in it, there is no way to avoid cross contam as far as I see it!. If oatmeal is cross contaminated, barley grass for sure is!)!. Then I got some olives that a big box company listed milk as the only allergen for my hubby!. Well, the olives were stuffed with blue cheese!. Blue cheese is usually grown on a wheat medium, ergo they probably had wheat!. I also contacted a local organic company about a dressing they made!. It had 100% organic soy sauce listed, but no wheat claimed on the label!. When I called to check, yep, undeclared wheat!. They had to change their labels! Wine (which should be fine) is sometimes have their barrels sealed with a flour paste!. And then it is glutened and you can't drink it!. Go here for the full story:
http://www!.glutenfreekitchen!.org/GFAlcoh!.!.!.
So, the biggest pain is learning what you can and can not eat, finding hidden gluten where you least expect it, going out to eat can be a nightmare at times! Learning how to cook all over again was a but annoying, but fine!. And then getting our families to not accidently gluten us can also be a sharp learning curve for them as well!. My home is totally gluten free, and the rest of my family goes out to eat twice a week to get their gluten fix (pizza, lol)!.
If you do come back positive, then here is a great link that you must explore! Order the gf shopping guides, they make life so much easier!
http://www!.celiac!.com/
my other favs!? Glutenfreegirl, and the glutenfreegoddess!. The madatory cookbooks are anything by Bette Hagmann, and even the "for dummies" series are pretty darn good!
Hope this helps, and I hope you get your diagnosis soon!. My hubby is also a Dr!. and he diagnosed me as well, lol! As far as auto-immune diseases go, if you have to have one, this is the one you would pick! it is not the end of the world!
Blessings! and Happy healing!Www@Answer-Health@Com
I do not have this, but when i was younger my mom thought that I may have it!. I was about 15 at the time so I wasn't too young and I definitely knew what was happening!. Before we went to the doctors she tried to diagnose it at home by eliminating all the food that someone with that disease could not eat!. This meant nooooo gluten!. Pretty much all organic stuff!. The only place that we seemed to be able to find a variety of food was Wegman's (don't know if you have them or not) but I'm sure there are many other stores out there!. The diet is extremely strict and in some cases even things like orange colored cheeses are not allowed because of the gluten content!. In the end I went for the test where they stick the camera down your throat (endoscopy!?) but it just showed I was only lactose intolerant which we already knew!. But hey if you are looking to lose more weight the gluten free diet is great for that!. I hope you don't have it, it's a challenge to eat anywhere but not impossible!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
My sis was diagnosed with this and went on the diet for it until she was then told she didn't actually have it!. She just now is lactose intolerant and also IBS!. With the diet you have to eat "gluten-free" stuff!. She had some tests/procedures done where they looked into her colon and all!.
You have to be careful cause some foods and cereals, for example dont seem to have wheat in them (like Cornflakes), but are made on the same belt as wheat products, and may contain "trace amounts" of wheat, and if you're highly sensitive, even that could cause trouble!. It's not always easy to find foods that are g-f, but they're around, Whole Foods has alot, and many health food stores, and there also restaurants in some places that are especially for people who need g-f foods!. You might want to try drinking "Ensure Plus" which is a drink meant to help gain/maintain weight and it says right on the bottle that it's Lactose-free and Gluten-free!. It's 350 calories, has vitamins and healthy stuff in it so this would be a good backup kinda supplement for you (at least for now) since if you have celiac, you are probably lacking in nutrients and vitamins!. I drink it cause i'm kinda thin and it's not bad tasting, i like the vanilla flavor the best!. For breads, there are a couple I know of, my sis had ound one that tasted decent!. If you don't mind cooking, you might wanna try recipes for g-f foods since it might taste better than ones in the store!. Good luck and just make sure you get diagnosed correctly, cause it's symptoms could be many things!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
You have to be careful cause some foods and cereals, for example dont seem to have wheat in them (like Cornflakes), but are made on the same belt as wheat products, and may contain "trace amounts" of wheat, and if you're highly sensitive, even that could cause trouble!. It's not always easy to find foods that are g-f, but they're around, Whole Foods has alot, and many health food stores, and there also restaurants in some places that are especially for people who need g-f foods!. You might want to try drinking "Ensure Plus" which is a drink meant to help gain/maintain weight and it says right on the bottle that it's Lactose-free and Gluten-free!. It's 350 calories, has vitamins and healthy stuff in it so this would be a good backup kinda supplement for you (at least for now) since if you have celiac, you are probably lacking in nutrients and vitamins!. I drink it cause i'm kinda thin and it's not bad tasting, i like the vanilla flavor the best!. For breads, there are a couple I know of, my sis had ound one that tasted decent!. If you don't mind cooking, you might wanna try recipes for g-f foods since it might taste better than ones in the store!. Good luck and just make sure you get diagnosed correctly, cause it's symptoms could be many things!.Www@Answer-Health@Com