Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Hi LittleMinnie! I just couldn't help but respond to your post, as I was put through the ringer about celiac last year. To make a very long and complicated story short, my IBS had gotten worse and I felt sick all of the time. I went to my doc, they did a blood test for celiac, and it was positive. (I was shocked...since crackers and white bread always helped when I had a tummy ache). Anyway, he said I had celiac disease and to avoid wheat. He scheduled a biopsy for a week later. I stopped eating gluten and the biopsy (a week into the diet) showed no signs of celiac. Now, my doctor said that was because I was off wheat for the week and that the gluten free diet was still needed. For one whole year I suffered through the frustrating diet. Not one little ounce of gluten passed my lips. I continuted to be sick very often, missing a lot of work.
Fed up with my doctor's response every time I called of "you gotta watch that diet", I gave up.
I went home for a week to my parents house to recover. My mom suggested I go to my family doc. He said IBS comes and goes in big waves, and this probably just was a bad time for me. (graduated college, starting working..etc...)
He also sent me for a HIDA scan to check my gallbladder.
It came back that it was functioning at 6%.
I had my gallbladder removed.
The surgeon then told me something incredibly important:
If any organs or glands or anything are swollen in your body, the celiac test can become false positives. Therefore, my swollen and non-functioning gallbladder gave me that result.
Now, how this might relate to you-- those tests do not seem to be too accurate. I've read about PLENTY of false positives and negatives while trying to figure my own situation out. I know this doesn't help you too much, but I wanted to share my situation. Gluten is so difficult to avoid, but it is possible. I give you a big thumbs up for trusting yourself and trying to cut it out to see what happens...
All of the best to you!
Aly

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IBS-A

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