[b]HI
I am new to this, I have never posted anything. I am 22 and have a 7month old son and am nursing. I have been dealing with a stomache issue for most of my life. I do not to this day know what it is, although I feel I am getting closer to finding it out by all this information I have been looking at the past two years. I was told by a naturapathic doctor about a year ago that I have a sensitivity to wheat, and dairy...since then I stayed away for it all through my pregnancy, cheated here and there...I notice when I do eat wheat that I get bloated, painful, and gassy. My bowel movements are very inconsistant, constipated one time, and then in the same day get D. I get acid reflux as well...I have not been to a doctor for all this, I don't like them. Instead I went and saw a ayervedic nutritionist...I also was vegan in the past, and not a big meat eater...I told this nutritionist about my questioning wheat and stuff. He told me to eat it and see how I felt, well I got so sick! The past two weeks I felt like I was four months pregnant again! He had said if wheat made me sick to try spelt...well I did, and was still sick...then i found out that spelt is just another form of wheat...anyways, I am just so confused on what to do at this point. In my family I have an aunt with lupus, my mom had colitis, and my grandma has pancreatitis...i guess i just don't know where to go from here. My son gets a rash on the back of his legs when I do eat wheat...I can't afford to go through the testing... the next two weeks I decided to go wheat free and see what happens...i have been able to eat yogurt and moderate amounts of cheese....as i read all these posts i see that people are allergic to even more than just wheat though, which kinda freaks me out...and I just was wondering what all the different ways to get tested are for all this stuff...i cant' be sick anymore with having to take care of my son all day while the hubby is at work, and I am nervous about him being allergic to it as well...i dunno just so confused...any advice on where i should go from here??? I feel like i've changed my diet around so much in the past ten years i dunno which end is up....sometimes i feel like just giving up eating!! Lately I've just put my trust in the Lord and asked Him to protect me...but if these symptoms sound like anyone else's and you have any knowledge for me that would be great. Thank you.

It really sounds like you may have celiac disease to me. I never had an official diagnoses, but had borderline blood tests. There is a blood panel for celiac disease and if you could get a GI doctor to test you that would be great, but if you are already into natural stuff, etc. then you could just completely eliminate wheat, barley, rye and Oats. This includes many forms of hidden gluten. THere is a list on the board here where you can see what names wheat may be hidden under. Modified food starch is one and natural flavoring, malt, etc to name a few. You will have to get your own toaster oven. Gluten can make you sick from putting your toast in a regular toaster that others use.
THere are many of us here that have sort of self diagnosed ourselves, so you wouldn't be alone. Once you aren't eating wheat then your blood work would change and say you didn't have celiac, even though you may, so you have to be eating gluten at the time of testing. Also they recommend usually you have a biopsy of your small intestine to see how much damage there is or if there is any.
So that is it. You sound alot like I did when I found out I had it. I found out about celiac, because my 14 month old son had it too. Your son could have it too if you do and you should watch him for symptoms. My son had diarhea really bad, didn't eat well, etc.
I am vegetarian, but I haven't had to give up dairy. I was vegetarian my whole life. My symptoms were almost exactly like yours as far as the Constipation then the D. I had heartburn, nausea, bruising, anemia, etc. and my tests came back borderline for celiac. I didn't have the biopsy, because I had already been gluten free for two months and didn't want to make myself sick by eating gluten again.
Most people here find that they get very sick once they remove gluten and then reintroduce it, so be sure you don't want the blood tests or biopsy before you remove it. If you are content to just try not eating wheat for a month or so and see how you feel, then go for it. Just make sure you have fully eliminated ALL sources of gluten. Hangout here for awhile and you will learn alot.
Hope you start feeling better soon!
Monica

thank you Monica! Wow, I also had the anemia, and you mentioned bruising..that is interesting becuase i constantly have bruises on my legs, i mean they can be big too! I always am wondering where i am getting them from! That is a symptom? or is that the anemia thing? There is so much to learn about all this..how did you find out your son had it? you got him officially tested? I dont' know if i want to go for the tests, i guess there is a lot of false stuff to i've heard of, a friend of mines husband had a few tests, and some came back positive, but not for celiac and then a few years later it was worse and they tested him again and said oh yeah it looks like you do have it...so I think i will just stay away from it, i have to like you said find out what the other ingreadients are that have gluten in them...i didn't know modified corn starch did! I also take a supplement called juice plus....it is dehydrated veggies and fruits (two seperate on fruit pill, one veggie) The stuff is supposed to be so so good for you...i just read the i ngredients though and in the veggie one there is ley and oat bran....do you think even that much of it would be bad? Thanks again for all your help
Monique

Monique--Welcome to the board! Your symptoms certainly point towards a gluten intolerance. There are two ways you could go here--before you go gluten-free, you could choose to see a Gastroentrologist, preferibly one who treats other Celiacs. Ask that he do a complete Celiac blood panel. If that is positive, you may deceide to have a biopsy done, or not. The other way to go would be to just go gluten-free yourself. It has to be 100% for it to work. Try it for a month or so and see how you and your baby feels. I suspect that you will see a big, positive difference! 100% means everything you put in your mouth and on your body. Foods, shampoo, conditioner, lotions, medications, vitamins, everything. It is important to go thru your kitchen and replace your collander, wooden cutting boards and utensils and any scratched teflon pans you may have. A cast iron pan which previously cooked gluten, you would also want to replace as well as your toaster. You can do searches on here and ask any questions about anything that you aren't sure about. If you do deceide to go to the doctor and be tested, do not go off gluten, as that will skew the results. BTW--I had the awful bruising, too. I was anemic for years and the only thing that finally cleared it was the gluten-free diet. After 6 months, my numbers were normal for the first time in many years. One other thought--you have autoimmune issues in your family--Celiac is an autoimmune disease and these tend to run in families.

Oh my gosh i didn't know EVERYTHING had to be gluten free...i thought just a little bit wouldnt' matter...so i am now wondering if that is why my face is breaking out...i looked up my makeup and some of the products i use and they have wheat germ oil in them....is that a possibility? and if so what do you guys use for make-up and moisturizer? wow this is intense

Yes--you do have to be concerned with make-up, especially lip products for obvious reasons. Really, anything that has a chance of getting into your mouth should be checked for gluten. I use Bare Escentuals make-up. Their make-up line is mostly gluten-free. (their skincare line is not) Neutrogena has a lot of gluten-free products--you can do searches here for the list of them..Don't panic--you can take this one step at a time. Reading the labels is a great start. Anything that has wheat or oats in it should be tossed or given away--really, even a tiny bit of gluten getting into your system will start the autoimmune process. Since it is a chemical process, a microscopic amount can keep you from healing. This is NOT to scare you, or make you crazy--I just want to give you the facts so you can make these decisions for yourself. It takes time to become proficient in all of this. We can help--you can also PM me anytime.

thanks...what does pm someone mean? Sorry i know nothing about this stuff...has anyone heard of Dr. Mercola's no grain diet,or new book total health program?

PM=Personal Message. You can email or send a personal message to other people on the board. Just click on the username of the person you wish to contact. When their profile comes up, click 'send a personal message'.