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This is a subject of great interest to me because celiac (gluten intolerance) seems to run in my family and I began suspecting my own intolerance years ago. That prompted me to avoid wheat, most of all, but I'd eventually eat it again and then after a while get distress symptoms, including colic and diarrhea, and even after quitting I would not feel well, to the contrary I began feeling worse and only in the past few days I learned this is due to the body detoxing from what to some of us is like poison.
My last indulgence this year nearly took me to the ER, it had such severe consequences I have finally swore off gluten for good even though I have not been tested, but to me "the proof is the pudding". Besides, this tends to be hereditary and my father was officially diagnosed at an advanced age, and he died as a consequence of not staying gluten-free; his mother before him died in a similar way (but she was never diagnosed), and yesterday I found out that my only nephew, whose doctors had diagnosed him previously with "Crohn's Disease" (but I'd suspected for years that he really has celiac), was diagnosed as well.
This dis-ease, once thought to be rare, is now estimated to happen in 1 of every 133 people but the actual number could be much higher since many go undiagnosed for many years because celiac may not cause any symptoms for a long time and/or they can be mistaken for a number of other conditions. Even if you don't have this problem you never know if someone close to you could have it so I invite you to watch this video with Mark Hyman, M.D., who has been featured many times in specials on PBS.
I'm pretty sure gluten intolerance and celiac disease are different. They can test for celiac disease pretty easily, and those that have HAVE to stay away from gluten.
You're absolutely right, thanks for bringing that up, I became confused because in some articles celiac and gluten sensitivity/intolerance are used interchangeably, and I really had been wondering what the difference was, but precisely yesterday I found another video that clarifies all that, and I'm posting it here, however, the bottom line is that gluten sensitivity/intolerance can lead to celiac in genetically predisposed individuals.
This is a subject of great interest to me because celiac (gluten intolerance) seems to run in my family and I began suspecting my own intolerance years ago. That prompted me to avoid wheat, most of all, but I'd eventually eat it again and then after a while get distress symptoms, including colic and diarrhea, and even after quitting I would not feel well, to the contrary I began feeling worse and only in the past few days I learned this is due to the body detoxing from what to some of us is like poison.
My last indulgence this year nearly took me to the ER, it had such severe consequences I have finally swore off gluten for good even though I have not been tested, but to me "the proof is the pudding". Besides, this tends to be hereditary and my father was officially diagnosed at an advanced age, and he died as a consequence of not staying gluten-free; his mother before him died in a similar way (but she was never diagnosed), and yesterday I found out that my only nephew, whose doctors had diagnosed him previously with "Crohn's Disease" (but I'd suspected for years that he really has celiac), was diagnosed as well.
This dis-ease, once thought to be rare, is now estimated to happen in 1 of every 133 people but the actual number could be much higher since many go undiagnosed for many years because celiac may not cause any symptoms for a long time and/or they can be mistaken for a number of other conditions. Even if you don't have this problem you never know if someone close to you could have it so I invite you to watch this video with Mark Hyman, M.D., who has been featured many times in specials on PBS.
Just get the blood test & a biopsy and then you will know. You won't know whether you have Celiac disease unless you get the tests for Celiac. People with Celiac are more prone to have certain cancers and rheumatoid arthritis (since Celiac is an inflammatory disease). The posted video is very informative - thanks for posting that.
One quarter of a piece of wheat bread can cause damage to the upper intestine (of someone with Celiac) that will take up to 8 months to repair (assuming you stop eating any gluten at that point).
I urge you to start with a blood test for celiac so that you know what you are dealing with.
I saw what you posted before you edited it... You were asking why I would do "this" to myself... obviously because you know nothing about me. I didn't start this thread or post the video "for myself", but to try to raise awareness and maybe warn others to take it more seriously since I was in denial about my, let's call it gluten sensitivity, for years.
I guess it probably didn't occur to you that doctors often don't take patients seriously, so that's part of the reason I didn't get tested when I had insurance... 8 years ago.
At this point I don't even want to have the tests anymore because except for an accidental ingestion of a very small amount of wheat a few weeks ago (in canned soup), I'd been off wheat, rye, barley & oats for 6 months; my last "indulgence, which happened mainly out of need to save money back in February, has been greatly regretted, I felt so sick for several weeks that there's NO way in h*** that I'm going to touch that stuff to put on paper what I feel pretty sure of already. Besides, it doesn't matter whether I have celiac or just "gluten sensitivity" as there is no treatment for celiac other than staying away from gluten, so what's the difference?
At the time, I went to a clinic and filled out a health history questionnaire where I mentioned my father had had celiac... All going there did for me was to give me more stress and confirm that my thyroid and liver had been "acting up" again. The first doctor ordered the same tests that I've had repeatedly (blood panel, thyroid, liver/hepatitis), but the rest of my symptoms were ignored and when I went back the 2nd time all they were going to do for me was give me a generic T4 med for thyroid (worthless for me so I declined getting it filled) and an anti-hypertensive (because my b/p registered around between 150-160/100 when I was there) which I brought home but decided against it after reading that people with liver problems should not take it, obviously the 2nd doctor who saw me was not aware of that warning when he wrote the script... So I didn't go back. And now that I'm better my b/p is almost normal, last night I took a measurement at a pharmacy and it was 125/93, it had been gradually going down as I beqgan to feel better by treating myself with diet, supplements and gentle exercise.
I've read a lot about celiac, gluten, etc. since I began noticing my negative reactions to wheat (what I ate the most...) 12 years ago, and since my last "fallling off the wagon" I went back to Celiac Disease & Gluten-free Diet Information at Celiac.com and reactivated my forum account, so I know that it's autoimmune and it can bring about other AI illnesses (like my thyroid, adrenal and liver problems...), that it can cause certain types of cancer, etc, etc.
And btw, I was already familiar with your nickname because during a search the other day I found a thread opened by Stepka about the book "Wheat Belly" (which I'd just read about in the celiac forum) and I read the entire very long thing so I saw where you'd posted a few times about the 8 month "thing".
I've just started learning about the impact of gluten and saw this thread. The video's were good, btw. I'm trying a gluten free diet to see if my abdominal pains/bloating could be due to gluten. I screwed up yesterday though when I ate breakfast. I ate a sausage and only afterwards did I realize I didn't check the packaging. The ingredients had gluten as the first damn one. I forgot I had some veggie sausages in the frig. I've been bloated and nauseous since but I'm back on track and will check every label unless it's a one ingredient food like vegetables or fruit.
What I'm wondering is seeing how so many doctors mis-diagnose CD or gluten sensitivity is it really necessary to go to a dr. to get a diagnosis? If I find that my belly issues go away on a gluten free diet then a dr. visit isn't necessary imo. Am I missing any link as to why someone would go to a dr. to get a diagnosis? Thanks for any input
There's no gluten in oats. Gluten is present naturally only in certain grasses, such as wheat, barley, and rye (which you are right to avoid, if you have any sensitivity to gluten). There is a -chance- that a batch of milled oats might have come in contact with wheat, or other foods containing gluten (such as, maybe if the oats were cut in the same room as a cookie manufacturer, and there was some cross-contamination). But oats don't come with gluten in them, nor is gluten ever added intentionally to them.
If you are merely "intolerant" or "sensitive" to gluten, you wouldn't get sick eating oats. If you have celiac disease, and you consume oats that have been cross-contaminated, then you will experience damage to your digestive system, however small. The damage will repair itself over time when you stop eating it.
I've just started learning about the impact of gluten and saw this thread. The video's were good, btw. I'm trying a gluten free diet to see if my abdominal pains/bloating could be due to gluten. I screwed up yesterday though when I ate breakfast. I ate a sausage and only afterwards did I realize I didn't check the packaging. The ingredients had gluten as the first damn one. I forgot I had some veggie sausages in the frig. I've been bloated and nauseous since but I'm back on track and will check every label unless it's a one ingredient food like vegetables or fruit.
What I'm wondering is seeing how so many doctors mis-diagnose CD or gluten sensitivity is it really necessary to go to a dr. to get a diagnosis? If I find that my belly issues go away on a gluten free diet then a dr. visit isn't necessary imo. Am I missing any link as to why someone would go to a dr. to get a diagnosis? Thanks for any input
It's easy to make a mistake when going gluten-free. Several months ago after I'd been avoiding it for 3 or 4 months I ate a canned soup that had wheat in it and I had not bothered to read the label, I might've eaten other "traces" of gluten too because I had a serious bout of fatigue not too long after that lasted more than a month.
If you choose to go to a doctor you have to ask for the right tests as some doctors might not be very familiar with them and if he wants to do a biopsy of your intestinal lining than you have to go back to eating gluten before the test. If you're only given the blood test it may or may not come back positive, but even the biopsy may come back negative if the section of your intestine where the sample was taken was not yet affected. Myself, since I don't even have insurance I didn't think of getting tested, the evidence was more than enough for me, and anyway, there's no way I'm going to eat gluten again and make myself sick again just to get an "official" diagnosis, to me this is not about being labeled but about how I feel.
Whether you just have a "sensitivity" or more, I suggest that you visit to the forums at: Celiac.com Celiac Disease & Gluten-Free Diet Forum There's lots of very helpful people there who can answer any questions you might have. You might want to do searches there and look at past threads first as many of the your questions may have already been answered quite a few times.
I've just started learning about the impact of gluten and saw this thread. The video's were good, btw. I'm trying a gluten free diet to see if my abdominal pains/bloating could be due to gluten. I screwed up yesterday though when I ate breakfast. I ate a sausage and only afterwards did I realize I didn't check the packaging. The ingredients had gluten as the first damn one. I forgot I had some veggie sausages in the frig. I've been bloated and nauseous since but I'm back on track and will check every label unless it's a one ingredient food like vegetables or fruit.
What I'm wondering is seeing how so many doctors mis-diagnose CD or gluten sensitivity is it really necessary to go to a dr. to get a diagnosis? If I find that my belly issues go away on a gluten free diet then a dr. visit isn't necessary imo. Am I missing any link as to why someone would go to a dr. to get a diagnosis? Thanks for any input
I don't think you're missing a link, at all! Look, if you go to a GOOD doctor and tell him/her, "I think I might have a gluten sensitivity." He/she will most likely ask, "Have you tried eliminating gluten from your diet and if so, did it make a difference?"
If you answer yes to their question, maybe.....just MAYBE, if they have some literature on hand, they'll give you some. Seems like a helluva price to pay for something you'd already figured out on your own.
Trust me, I've worked with doctors. When people walk out the door, having answered their (have you tried eliminating gluten) question with a "NO", THAT'S when they get annoyed with self-diagnoses! Seriously, GOOD doctors and health care practitioners WANT people to learn more about their bodies. Good physicians WANT people to be more proactive with their healthcare.
Why should you spend a fortune, just to get your "educated suspicion" verified? It's YOUR body. You know what you're feeling. You know what you're eating (or you should). You are the one who is going to pay for not taking care of that body. A GOOD doctor really cares about people and wants them to learn how to take care of themselves. A good doctor truly respects people who DO take care of themselves and who does NOT come running to them for insignificant, silly things, that they could have figured out on their own.
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So I didn't go back. And now that I'm better my b/p is almost normal, last night I took a measurement at a pharmacy and it was 125/93, it had been gradually going down as I beqgan to feel better by treating myself with diet, supplements and gentle exercise.
