My fight with bread and celiacs

So it's been suggested to me by a naturopath that I might have celiacs.  All these years of stomach pain and my doctor from way back kept telling me it was all lactose intolerance.  So next week I'm back to my GP to talk to him about this.  My neice has celiacs and was told its hereditary and as far as she can figure out nobody on either side of her family has it.  I'll be doing reading on this on my lunch today.  It would sure explain a lot.

My daughter is celiac.  There is a simple test you can get at the pharmacy that will see if you have it as well, cost was less than $100 (maybe around $50, but I don't really remember).  I didn't test positive, and neither does my husband. 

Lactose intolerance and Celiac disease often go hand in hand - my daughter has almost as much trouble with dairy as she does with gluten.  Good luck!  There is no question that dietary change really helped make her day to day life soooo much better.

Claire

Thank you for this info - I have notice less pain since my surgery, but didn't clue into the fact that it's because I just don't eat the carbs.  And every time I tried bread, it was horrible.  You can get this test at the pharmacy? I don't have to wait for the doctor's?

The only DEFINITIVE way to test for celiac disease is with a very small biopsy from your small intestine, that they take via endoscopy.  Basically the little vilae (I think of the as hairs) that line your intestine (and help with nutritional absorption) retreat into the bowel wall when you are celiac.  This is what the Doctors look for.  Once you eliminate gluten, they come out again and start doing their job. 

This blood test (or maybe urine - I don't really remember / sorry) is a great indicator, but the only 100% sure way to tell is with a biopsy done while you are still eating gluten (ie while the vilae are still unhappy).  My daughter never went this route - didn't want the procedure done - but has been gluten and lactose free now for 4 years.

Claire

and that was what my neice went thru - first the blood test to determine the likelihood and then a scope to verify - she was told to continue eating the gluten so the test would be accurate.  She just couldn't figure out why she has it, so now if it turns out I have it, at least she'll know.

One last thing Sue - if you want to claim "higher food expenses" as a medical item through Revenue Canada, you have to go the biopsy route.  But, because you've been off bread for a while I gather, your system may not show the problem if they were to do the biopsy now.  To get an accurate reading, they told my daughter she would need to eat gluten regularly for a month pre-endoscopy.   She did not want to get sick again, so declined.  One thing she has noticed though, is now that she's gluten free, when she does make a mistake she's much sicker than she used to be.  This might be what you're experiencing with your occasional bread tries post WLS.

Claire

Then I"ll do the blood test and see what the outcome is - thanks

My doc sent me for blood work to rule it out.  It wasn't covered by OHIP but I wanted to know for sure.  Well worth the money to find out.

I'll check and see if it's covered by my group health - ours is excellent.  Thanks

My group health covers all blood work not covered by OHIP so yours may as well.