I think I might have coeliac disease?

Question

Have tried my own method of elimination and can see that bread, and biscuits (it takes more than a couple) give me flatulence which can go on for days until in the end it is ended with diarrohoea or stopping bread and biscuits. Will go to Doctor but in the meantime would appreciate some feedback again (have asked similar on this site before).

Answer 1

If it takes more than a couple of biscuits and a bit of bread to cause these symptoms, then it is unlikely you have coeliacs. You may just have a mild gluten intolerance which can obviously be avoided by not eating too much gluten (ie wheat based products, like normal off the shelf bread and buscuits). There are many gluten free products available these days in your local supermarket.

To have a good idea of what might be going on, consult a naturopath - they will do a thorough assessment of your diet and give you tips on eliminating your symptoms.

Answer 2

Hi, Good for you recognizing that certain foods are causing you issues.

Your best course is to ask for a t-TG blood test to check for the gluten antibodies. If they come back positive, then you certainly have celiac. You may also have other food intolerances or allergies as well, medical testing will help clear that up.

Glad you are going to the Dr. about it. Please do not totally eliminate gluten from your diet until after the testing is done, lack of villi damage and antibodies due to being on gluten free diets for months before the testing have rendered many people negative test results although they are really celiacs.

(Most docs want their patients to consume a rather significant amount of gluten, about 1 slice of bread per day for about 3 months before testing, by the way. But since you are symptomatic, you probably are fine to get tested asap!)

Good luck!

p.s. to raya, I get symptoms if I eat even a CRUMB of gluten! Being glutened sends me into a health tailspin for about a week or so and yes I will get the "big D" within hours of ingesting tiny amounts gluten. A slice of bread is considered to be a significant amount of gluten by ALL gastroenterologists, so I am not sure why that is not good enough for you! All celiacs have different levels of tolerance, I happen to be very sensitive. Please educate yourself about celiac before your advice leads one of your patients down a wrong path or you cause someone harm with your ignorance!

Answer 3

Best way to find out if you have celiac sprue is to eliminate all gluten from your diet and see if that stops your problem. Understand though that this is an inherited syndrome and not something that you can "catch". People that are born with it may have it crop up as a child (as I did) and have it plague them mildly to moderately for the rest of their lives, or it might crop up later in life. But if you have it, you were born with it and you can pass it on.