ARGH - No answers!!

[DDH]

Have you been tested for Coeliac disease or glutten intolerance?

Here are a list of the symptoms for that. I have a friend who's son has this problem. He cannot eat anything with gluten in it.

What is coeliac disease?

Coeliac disease (also known as gluten-sensitive enteropathy or coeliac sprue) is a condition of the small intestine.

Gluten, a substance found in wheat, barley and rye, reacts with the small bowel, causing damage by activating the immune system to attack the delicate lining of the bowel, which is responsible for absorbing nutrients and vitamins.

In adults the symptoms may be similar, including weight loss with pale, offensive diarrhoea, or constipation and abdominal bloating with 'wind'.

Half of adults with coeliac disease do not have any symptoms from the bowel. They approach their doctor because of extreme tiredness, psychological problems like depression, bone pain and sometimes even fractures (due to thinning of the bones), ulcers in the mouth or a blistering, itchy skin rash mostly on the elbows and knees (called dermatitis herpetiformis).

[LBTC]

Thank you Knotted and DDH.

When I see the GI specialist, it will be on my list of what could this be....along with, could it still be my gallbladder, could I have had strep throat this spring and it was misdiagnosed by the walk-in clinic doctor and it's caused this problem, could I have chronic hepatitis C, could I have chronic appendicitis...

if anyone thinks of anything else to add to the list, please let me know! I want to go in with loads of questions. I'll also sit down and finally write down as best as I can recollect what all of my symptoms have been over time, and do my best to identify how frequently and how long etc.

I am hoping it's not celiac, but if it is it is very comforting to know that you great ladies are here to help support me through it! Thank you!!

Hugs and butterflies,
~Teresa~