I have been having gastrointestinal problems all my life. Either going to the bathroom too much, or constipated, my stomach swells up to where I look like I'm 7 months pregnant, and a lot of pain. Sometimes with chest pain and tightness. They have ruled out Celiac, and IBS, I had a colonoscopy with abnormal cells sent for biopsy, they thought I had Chrones until they just recently realized the symptoms weren't a true fit, and treatment did not help.

I was just thinking tho, I am lactose intolerant, I have allergies to kiwi, and sulfites, most recently I had allergic reactions to quinoa, and chia seeds. And my dr's suspect there might be a wheat allergy, although I don't seem to do well with any grains. So I am thinking, could this really all be allergies?

Does anyone else have a similar experience? I have never had allergy testing done. I am also have a lot of environmental allergies, pets, and am photosensitive, I have asthma as well. I have been know to have outbreak of giant hives, or half my face swelling up that never got figured out. I'm in Canada, I'm not sure how you go about getting tested, and a bit confused that it was never offered.

I have been seeing dr's and specialists on and off for this since I was a child, I would love to get to the bottom of it all.

I should also note that the stomach problems run in cycles, I also have clusters of headaches that also run in cycles, as well as major joint pain~ all joints (to the point of getting shots of steroids to regain mobility of my shoulder) , again in cycles. But there is no joint damage, just inflamation. I just know there has to be an answer somewhere.

At this point I am open to any and all ideas, anything to ask my dr. about.

[Umbral_Seraph]

Was your biopsy negative for everything?

Allergies can really do some strange things to you, so it is entirely possible. An allergy test is a good place start, however, much of the work falls on you. The best thing is an elimination diet. What you know you have problems with can give you a clue as what else may give you problems. Since you had a problem with quinoa, you may also have a cross-allergy with spinach or beets. Likewise, with the chia, you probably have problems with all the other grains, since they're all grasses, though amaranth is an herb, so could try that. Other common allegies are soy, nuts and eggs. Now, you may not have an allergy to anything, just intolerances, which will cause an allergy test to come up negative.

[googley]

How was celiac ruled out? Did you have blood tests and a biopsy? If the blood tests were positive then you have celiac regardless of if the biopsy came back negative. The damage in celiac can be spotty and it is often missed during biopsy. The other problem is that the blood tests have a lot of false negatives. So the testing isn't the best. Good luck in finding what is causing your problems.

Thanks both of you.

I had three negative blood tests for celiac. I know the tests can have false reading. I did a gluten free diet for 8 months and had no improvements. I was also super vigilant about what I ate, sterilized kitchen and aware of cross contamination. Maybe it wasn't long enough, or maybe I wasn't vigilant enough. They didn't do a biopsy for celiac. Although I also have anemia and at times am deficient of vit k and others. I have other symptoms of celiac as well including dental enamel defects, stunted growth ect. I think my dr re did the blood test so many times because he was sure this was it. Why he didn't do a biopsy, I don't know ~ to save money maybe.

All the internist told me about the biopsies done was that they were free from cancer and looked like things were pointing towards chrones. I was put on a strict diet for chrones and zero improvement. Also chrones doesn't really seem to fit.

More troubling to me is my children are having the exact same problems. They are always having tummy trouble, are failing to thrive, they are all very small for their age. And the dr's just seem stumped.

I guess one thing to try is doing the gluten free again but include the kids this time and see how they respond. Maybe it just takes more time. And with kids, yikes. I didn't include them the first time because I wanted to see how I responded and work out the diet before attempting to restrict theirs.

One of the problems is that the dr's want to treat all the symptoms as separate things instead of looking at a possible bigger picture. Not to mention that my dr's are starting to treat me like it's all in my head, I guess my mental health issues do not help.

I was thinking allergies maybe because it seems like we've tried to rule out everything else.

[googley]

You might want to check out www.celiac.com. A lot of people on that board have gone through a lot of different digestive problems and different diagnosis. They may be able to give you some suggestions. Have you looked at colitis? Did they do all the celiac blood work when you were eating gluten? If not it would be negative. Good luck on finding out what is wrong.

[Umbral_Seraph]

Yes, the blood test for celiacs looks for antibodies, and if you are not eating gluten when the test is done, there won't be any antibodies to count and will get a negative regardless of whether or not you have celiacs. Like I mentioned, if you had a problem with chia you will likely have a problem with all the other grass cereals, which includes corn and rice. Everything really does sound like you have an allergy to something to keep eating, and the more your intestines get stripped out the greater your deficiencies will get, and any medications taken orally will be absorbed less and less.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) ... ?

[googley]

Originally Posted by Umbral_Seraph

Yes, the blood test for celiacs looks for antibodies, and if you are not eating gluten when the test is done, there won't be any antibodies to count and will get a negative regardless of whether or not you have celiacs. Like I mentioned, if you had a problem with chia you will likely have a problem with all the other grass cereals, which includes corn and rice. Everything really does sound like you have an allergy to something to keep eating, and the more your intestines get stripped out the greater your deficiencies will get, and any medications taken orally will be absorbed less and less.

Thanks for explaining that for me. I'm sick and my brain is a little dead so I'm missing steps.

[yellowted]

sounds very similar to me, loads of allergies..dairy, soy, gluten, tomato seeds and skin, celery, all types of pollens, dust, perfumes, sticking plasters, even some allergy tablets! I too have had gastro problems (megga heartburn/indigestion, bloody stols, runs and constipation in the same day) for years and have asthma, eczema and hyperhydrosiS.
sorry i can't give you any answers as my GP is unwilling to contemplate a link of all the symptoms to one diagnosis so treats each as a different one. though i do know there is no typical chrones, the symptoms vary depending on where the irritation /fissures are, the individuals intollerances and what has been eaten. some chrones suffer weight loss where some undiagnosed ones actually put on lots of weight. it can even effect your walking in some cases. a camera up your bum and down your throat (preferably not the same one!) will show fissures if you have chrones.
What i can give you is the reassurance you are certainly not alone.

[healed84]

Have you ever had a RAST test or scartch test for allergies? When people think of food allergies they generally think of the hives, swelling, throat closing, etc.. However, sometimes it can be stomach issues as well. I would find an allergest or ask one of your doctors to throw a RAST test which is just a blood draw, for maybe start with the top 8 allergens (wheat, egg, dairy, soy, peanut, treenuts, fish, and shellfish) then go from there. I hope you find some answers!! Both my kids have food allergies, so I have learned alot over the last two years about food allergies.

[Umbral_Seraph]

Artificial sweeteners are also a pretty major cause of GI problems. I'm so sensative that I can't even put a Tic-Tac in my mouth without cramping up for several hours.

[Christina86]

Honestly, go to a good allergist. They can do scratch tests for a lot of things. You could also do an elimination diet to figure out what you may be reacting to. You spend a few days to a week eating only things you're SURE you're not allergic to, then slowly add one or two things per few days/week and if you get a reaction during the time you've added something else new - you have a better idea about what it could be.

I have multiple allergies to many different random things and it's very annoying but seeing a good allergist can help you figure stuff out.

As another Canadian, since you asked...

Go to your GP (regular doctor) and ask for a referral to an allergist. It's covered under OHIP here in Ontario, so I assume it's covered under provincial insurance in other provinces as well.