Wheat Allergy vs. Celiac Disease (colonoscopy, pain, blood pressure, diabetic)
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I have a lot of allergies.
I am allergic to dairy and shellfish, nickel, iodine, imaging contrast, trees, pollen, dust.
My diarrhea and gut pain have increased, so I eliminated all grains from my diet, because grains are grasses.
Everything, ALL OF THE SYMPTOMS, went away. The constant gut pain. The constant horrid diarrhea. The shaking. The fatigue. I felt like a million bucks. I told my doctor and he sent me to a gastroenterologist.
He said it can't be the wheat.
So I went back to eating wheat again, and within one hour of eating a hamburger bun, bingo, I am having problems again. After 3 days of wheat, I am so sick. 12 trips to the bathroom in one morning. Shaking. Cramps, feeling awful. It's ALL back.
The gastro wants to scope me both ends. How can this be cancer? Cancer isn't responsive to dietary changes like that. And, if I had cancer, I have had it for decades. I have had this gut problem for a long long time, and it got worse.
I don't think I am a celiac, because I don't look like one, they have malabsorption problems, and I am chunky. Besides, there are food allergies in my family, not celiac. Celiac disease is not an allergy, although it involves the immune system.
If I have other allergies, and my family has allergies, why won't he even go down that road?
( I work in medicine, so I don't want to hear any hokey stuff. I know docs order a lot of tests to keep their places at hospitals, but I don't think he is a bad doc. I just don't think they know allergies can be this bad...)
Should I cancel the invasive scoping and biopsies of my small and large bowels? (There is no known colon cancer in my family.)
Should I just take matters in my own hands, since I can't go to another doc without my insurance company approving and my family doc setting up another consult???
I have a lot of allergies.
I am allergic to dairy and shellfish, nickel, iodine, imaging contrast, trees, pollen, dust.
I am also allergic to nickel.
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Everything, ALL OF THE SYMPTOMS, went away. The constant gut pain. The constant horrid diarrhea. The shaking. The fatigue. I felt like a million bucks. I told my doctor and he sent me to a gastroenterologist.
that is good news.
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He said it can't be the wheat.
I see... Did he say why it couldn't be wheat? As a Pt. this is the type of question that you should ask.
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So I went back to eating wheat again, and within one hour of eating a hamburger bun, bingo, I am having problems again. After 3 days of wheat, I am so sick. 12 trips to the bathroom in one morning. Shaking. Cramps, feeling awful. It's ALL back.
So it sounds you have an allergy to wheat/gluten.
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The gastro wants to scope me both ends. How can this be cancer?
It could be cancer, because having years after year of allergic reactions can cause some problems for the constant exposure. Also there are many many other reason for the procedure not only cancer.
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Cancer isn't responsive to dietary changes like that. And, if I had cancer, I have had it for decades. I have had this gut problem for a long long time, and it got worse.
Is the long long time that is key of why he may want to do it. But also this are question that you should have asked, not just staying quiet. "Hey doc, how come you want to do this? could cancer produce this symptoms?" He will tell you all the information that you are requesting (at least he should, if he doesn't you should get a second opinion.)
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I don't think I am a celiac, because I don't look like one, they have malabsorption problems,
NO, you are not celiac, you would have this since you were born. The first signs of this would be with baby food and your parents would know about it.
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and I am chunky.
You can be chunky, you can be obese and still have malnutrition. One thing doesn't go with the other.
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Besides, there are food allergies in my family, not celiac. Celiac disease is not an allergy, although it involves the immune system.
Celiac disease IS in FACT an allergy, type IV.
Is not the normal allergy that everybody thinks about, but is still considered an allergy reaction, all types of hypersensitivity of a foreing object is ultimatly an allergy, but the COMMON use of the word allergy is used for the Type I hypersensitivity, that doesn't mean the other 3 types are not.
Is like the word theory, theory in science is one thing (proven) and theory in common use means hypothesis. (there is another thread where I have posted plenty of information on celiac and links, doctors dont recommend multivitamin.)
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If I have other allergies, and my family has allergies, why won't he even go down that road?
I don't know, he should.
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( I work in medicine, so I don't want to hear any hokey stuff. I know docs order a lot of tests to keep their places at hospitals, but I don't think he is a bad doc. I just don't think they know allergies can be this bad...)
Well I don't know, but I don't have a quota for test that I must do per day or month. And have never actually heard of it. Just because a doctor orders a test that doesn't mean the insurance is giong to pay for it. So a hospital can actually lose money.
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Should I cancel the invasive scoping and biopsies of my small and large bowels? (There is no known colon cancer in my family.)
Maybe, you should talk to your doctor to see what is he looking for, again, this procedure is not only for cancer.
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Should I just take matters in my own hands, since I can't go to another doc without my insurance company approving and my family doc setting up another consult???
HMM I hate HMOs.
You should try to call your doctor with a list of questions writen down, that way you won't forget or skip any.
All of this question you should have asked, also if you work in the medical field you should have known to ask this questions. But sometimes Pt. gets nervous and don't ask anything or are not thinking right. That is why I always try to explain everything as much as possible, especially when the number 1 prevention in malpractice suit are communication.
EGD (upper scope) and colonoscopy are not performed ONLY to rule out a cancer or find polyps. The EGD is also done to look for peptic ulcer disease, erosive gastritis etc. It is also the gold standard to diagnose celiac disease. That being said, first, your doctor should order a "celiac panel" - a blood test. It includes antigliadin IGG antibody, antigliadin IGA antibody, anti endomysial antibody and a tTG (tissue transglutaminase). If any are elevated, then an EGD (upper endoscopy) would be indicated to obtain a small biospy of the duodenum (a portion of the small bowel). The biospy, in celiac patients shows a distortion/flattening of the villi - the little ends of the intestine that are part of the absorbtion process.
A colonoscopy can also identify Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, microscopic colitis among many other things. (your symptoms do not sound like any of these).
Celiac patients lack the ability to metabolize gluten...which is in wheat products (breads, pastas, etc). It is also in chocolate and many other foods. You COULD try to go on a gluten free diet and see if it helps, however, if it did help and this WAS celiac disease, the dietary change may prevent an accurate small bowel biopsy (the bowel may improve dramatically in appearance/structure). Hope this helps. If this were me, I'd definitely get the blood test first! Abd, not all celiac patients are thin or look malnourished.
Oh, and to CJMA 79, it is absolutely not true that all celiac patients are diagnosed in infancy or childhood. Sometimes, it takes years for someone to be symptomatic. depending on the degree of architechtural distortion/flattening of the villi. I've worked in GI for many years and have several patients diagnosed at much later ages - one recently in their 20's, one in her 30s and yes (honestly) one man in his 70s who presented with several year history of chrinic post prandial abd pain!
Last edited by ljd1010; 07-04-2009 at 03:58 PM..
Reason: addtional info
I don't have an HMO, I have state health insurance. Medicaid.
They make you get approvals for a blood pressure check.
So the scopes are pre-approved. $$$$
I DID ask him questions. I work in medicine, and docs ask ME questions! I don't think he liked my questions, because he said, "Oh, you know a little about medicine..."
When I asked him why he thought it wasn't allergy, he said, "Oh, it can't be that." Nothing else.
So I have to make them some money and let them scope me before he or my family doctor will let me have a consult with an allergist or immunologist.
I am ready to give up. I feel like they are going down the wrong road here.
EGD (upper scope) and colonoscopy are not performed ONLY to rule out a cancer or find polyps. The EGD is also done to look for peptic ulcer disease, erosive gastritis etc. It is also the gold standard to diagnose celiac disease. That being said, first, your doctor whould order a "celiac panel" - a blood test. It includes antigliadin IGG antibody, antigliadin IGA antibody, anti endomysial antibody and a tTG (tissue transglutaminase). If any are elevated, then an EGD (upper endoscopy) would be indicated to obtain a small biospy of the duodenum (a portion of the small bowel). The biospy, in celiac patients shows a distortion/flattening of the villi - the little ends of the intesting that are part of the absorbtion process.
A colonoscopy can also identify Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, microscopic colitis among many other things.
Celiac patients lack the ability to metabolize gluten...which is in wheat products (breads, pastas, etc). It is also in chocolate and many other foods. You COULD try to go on a gluten free diet and see if it helps, however, it is did help and this WAS celiac disease, the dietary change may prevent an accurate small bowel biopsy (the bowel may improve dramatically in appearance/structure). Hope this helps. If this were me, I'd definitely get the blood test first! Abd, not all celiac patients are thin or look malnourished.
But I don't have celiac disease in my family. My family has wheat, egg, peanut, milk, and asthma.
I have dairy allergy.
It makes no sense to bark up the celiac tree first.
EGD (upper scope) and colonoscopy are not performed ONLY to rule out a cancer or find polyps. The EGD is also done to look for peptic ulcer disease, erosive gastritis etc. It is also the gold standard to diagnose celiac disease. That being said, first, your doctor whould order a "celiac panel" - a blood test. It includes antigliadin IGG antibody, antigliadin IGA antibody, anti endomysial antibody and a tTG (tissue transglutaminase). If any are elevated, then an EGD (upper endoscopy) would be indicated to obtain a small biospy of the duodenum (a portion of the small bowel). The biospy, in celiac patients shows a distortion/flattening of the villi - the little ends of the intesting that are part of the absorbtion process.
A colonoscopy can also identify Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, microscopic colitis among many other things.
Celiac patients lack the ability to metabolize gluten...which is in wheat products (breads, pastas, etc). It is also in chocolate and many other foods. You COULD try to go on a gluten free diet and see if it helps, however, it is did help and this WAS celiac disease, the dietary change may prevent an accurate small bowel biopsy (the bowel may improve dramatically in appearance/structure). Hope this helps. If this were me, I'd definitely get the blood test first! Abd, not all celiac patients are thin or look malnourished.
Yeah I agree, but the odds that this Pt has celiac with no symptoms as a baby since baby food have gluten, most baby food have cereal, would be unlikely. People are born with it, so he should have this problem since birth.
EGD (upper scope) and colonoscopy are not performed ONLY to rule out a cancer or find polyps. The EGD is also done to look for peptic ulcer disease, erosive gastritis etc. It is also the gold standard to diagnose celiac disease. That being said, first, your doctor whould order a "celiac panel" - a blood test. It includes antigliadin IGG antibody, antigliadin IGA antibody, anti endomysial antibody and a tTG (tissue transglutaminase). If any are elevated, then an EGD (upper endoscopy) would be indicated to obtain a small biospy of the duodenum (a portion of the small bowel). The biospy, in celiac patients shows a distortion/flattening of the villi - the little ends of the intesting that are part of the absorbtion process.
A colonoscopy can also identify Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, microscopic colitis among many other things.
Celiac patients lack the ability to metabolize gluten...which is in wheat products (breads, pastas, etc). It is also in chocolate and many other foods. You COULD try to go on a gluten free diet and see if it helps, however, it is did help and this WAS celiac disease, the dietary change may prevent an accurate small bowel biopsy (the bowel may improve dramatically in appearance/structure). Hope this helps. If this were me, I'd definitely get the blood test first! Abd, not all celiac patients are thin or look malnourished.
Oh, and I DID go on a gluten free diet, and I told the gastroenterologist this. ALL of my horrid symptoms were gone in 2 days.
He said it can't be the wheat, so I started eating wheat again. Within an hour of eating a hamburger bun, I got sick again. The severe diarrhea lasting hours, the gut pain, the shaking, the fatigue, the nausea...
He wants to rule out all of those other things, then maybe take my claim of allergy seriously?
As someone who works in medicine, I think that's backward.
Yeah I agree, but the odds that this Pt has celiac with no symptoms as a baby since baby food have gluten, most baby food have cereal, would be unlikely. People are born with it, so he should have this problem since birth.
I have had a sensitive gut as long as I remember. It has gotten worse as I have aged. When I became a diabetic and they put me on Metformin, it ravaged my bowels. I had accidents, let's put it that way. It was so bad, I was doubled in pain. I think that really made my gut worse.
It seems like it all got worse after that, and that's when I decided not to live with this anymore and go to a doctor.
I don't have an HMO, I have state health insurance. Medicaid.
Ok, if you have Medicaid, you could have an HMO. A few medicaid are actually HMOs.
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They make you get approvals for a blood pressure check.
Then it is an HMO.
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So the scopes are pre-approved. $$$$
that is good to know, if is pre-approved and you don't have to pay anything or very little I would do it. You never know what they can find, a lot of times we do a test and find something completely unrelated but important.
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I DID ask him questions. I work in medicine, and docs ask ME questions! I don't think he liked my questions, because he said, "Oh, you know a little about medicine..."
Then you should have told him, yes, and because I know little about medicine is why I am asking. Usually this would turn his defenses down and explain..
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When I asked him why he thought it wasn't allergy, he said, "Oh, it can't be that." Nothing else.
Ok, you could have push more on the subject.
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So I have to make them some money and let them scope me before he or my family doctor will let me have a consult with an allergist or immunologist.
Then I am almost 100% sure you have an HMO,
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I am ready to give up. I feel like they are going down the wrong road here.
Once he notices he has gone the wrong road, he will back track and find the right road.
I have had a sensitive gut as long as I remember. It has gotten worse as I have aged. When I became a diabetic and they put me on Metformin, it ravaged my bowels. I had accidents, let's put it that way. It was so bad, I was doubled in pain. I think that really made my gut worse.
It seems like it all got worse after that, and that's when I decided not to live with this anymore and go to a doctor.
Buy stock in toilet paper...
Well then maybe you do have celiac (if you are telling me you had this all of your life.)
Then there is more reason to order this test.
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