Celiac and Overweight

Teresa · Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 1 Location: tampa

I am new to all of this. I have many of the symptoms of celiac and am working to get diagnosed. I am 46 and have had these problems for most of my life. I have moved a LOT (nearly 20 times in my adult life) and my medical care has been inconsistent at best. One of the reasons doctors have not pursued celiac disease is because I am now and have always been overweight. Are there others out there that have this same experience? It seems that what my body can't digest it stores. I am just confused and trying to find answers right now. How do you even begin to sort all this out? I just want to get on a GF diet for some relief. The times I avoid wheat soy and dairy are when I feel the best. Any suggestions on how to start?

Teresa

John · Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 70

If the doctors won't help you and the allergy diet does, I think the first thing you have to do is make a commitment to your health and quit worrying what the experts think. Learn to read the food labels and start taking the suspect foods out one by one. You want to find it, but you don't want to uneccesarily complicate your life or deprive yourself nutritional & tasty options. Smile

celiaclady · Joined: 23 Oct 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Ontario Canada

Hi Teresa, I am 48 years old and was diagnosed 7 years ago. As a child
and young adult and through pregnancys I was always overweight.
I did have symptons throughout the years and was always told
it was gastroantroitis, rumbling appendix, nerves etc....then after
a year of constant diahara each day...feeling so tired etc...I was
finally sent to an internist who diagnosed me with endoscopy.
I had lost weight rapidly that year, but as soon as I stopped having
the diaharia, I regained.....so I still have to diet and now with the
Celiac breads and treats, they are higher in sugar and fat content
then gluten products....oh well I feel good now anyway!
I would not go on a Gluten free diet until you are properly diagnosed
through endoscopy....as that is the only true test.
Susan

ostrich · Joined: 30 Mar 2006 Posts: 3718 Location: Nebraska

When you have CD but don't treat it your body gets very undernourished. So it stores everything it can, thinking it's a time of famine. This can lead to being overweight.

Some people have the opposite problem; they can't keep meat on their bones no matter what they eat. In both cases your body isn't getting the nourishment it needs.

If you feel better when off soy, wheat, and dairy then by all means do so. Smile

It's your body, you know how to listen to it the best. However, just remember that if you want to get tested you need to be on a normal diet for a few weeks before the test. Otherwise the results won't come out right.
_________________
Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of

aklap · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 7791 Location: WI, USA

jim · Joined: 20 Jan 2006 Posts: 167 Location: Duluth, Minnesota

Teresa,

I am overweight and was diagnosed with cd first by blood test then confirmed by endoscopy. Although, I was told the blood test is 98% accurate. If I remember corectly the 2% error was for a small percent of the population that have very low antibodies that they test for. The endoscopy is the gold standard for the DX. I think they say gold because it costs so much compared to the cheaper blood test. I am kidding here sort of. I have read a lot of CD patients are overweight. I was not exactly light when dxed with it, but feel a lot better now energywise. You will here many reasons to get the endoscpoy, but you wont be offered it until your blood test shows you should get it. At least I wasn't? Both were painless for me and the endoscopy set it in my mind that the blood test was correct. Making it harder to stray from the diet because the 2% error of the blood test:). The blood test I took was roughly 120 dollars before insurance and the endoscopy was roughly 3700 x 2 dollars before insurance covered their part. Others will tell you here even if you pass both tests you may still be gluten sensitive. I believe them, but a lot of docs don't. I wouldn't go off the gluten until tested as it throws off results. There are also many more blood tests avaliable then the one I was given, but docs standardize tests to cover the masses. And some people slip through. Good luck and look at Als advice he has helped me a ton with this disease.

Jim
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kreynolds · Joined: 05 Jan 2007 Posts: 37 Location: Baltimore Maryland

Hi Teresa, I also was just diagnosed with cd, I 45 years old and overweight. I also think that if you feel better when you are on a gluton free diet, then I would try to stay on it. It can't hurt. Good luck Smile

Ruamac · Joined: 06 Feb 2007 Posts: 7

Teresa, contrary to the opinion of many medical practitioners, a large minority of celiac patients are overweight. I've read studies carried out by gastroenterologist, Dr. W. Dickey, and his findings suggest that only 7% of CD sufferers are underweight, and approx. 43% are overweight.

I'm from Ireland and the pick-up rate of CD is much higher there that it is in the States. However, even there approximately 4 out of 5 sufferers remain undiagnosed. Fortunately my gastroenterologist is one of Dr. Dickey's colleagues, and therefore is up to date with modern research. He was quick to suspect CD when I had problems swallowing, due to a narrowing oesophagus, and carried out biopsies immediately.

However, the story with my MD is totally different. I'm hypothyroid and when attending for my bi-annual check he would always ask if I was constipated (a typical hypo symptom), but each time I told him I was never constipated and pretty much always had diarrohea, he never picked up on this. So I already had an auto-immune disease, which increased the chances of me having CD, I was presenting with symptoms typical of CD but not typical of hypo, and my doctor totally ignored this. Even when my gastroenterologist referred me for blood tests on the evidence of my biopsies my MD said I couldn't have CD as I was overweight. And that is where a lot of problems occur. Medical practitioners are still working on the assumption that all celiacs are underweight, so many people are not diagnosed because they don't display these "typical" symptoms.

All we can hope for is that medical practitioners' understanding will soon catch up with the facts.

Rua

Fifi · Joined: 01 Feb 2008 Posts: 129 Location: Wauconda, IL

I too am overwight and recently diagnosed. They only looked because I had the Big D for over 4 months. I was tired and couldn't stay awake. I have been GF for about 3 weeks now and want to know how long until I feel better?

cruelshoes · Joined: 23 Sep 2005 Posts: 2139 Location: Washington State

amazon · Joined: 07 Oct 2007 Posts: 36

I had always been overweight. Size 12 average. Until the big D kicked in then went to a size 4. Crazy. One day I was trying to lose weight and it seemed like the next trying to gain weight. Rolling Eyes

If you had diarrhea for 4 months and are now GF the Big D should be close to gone by know. But you lost a ton of vitamins and minerals. Make sure everything you eat has a lot of nutrients. No empty foods. Drink juices and vitamin packed waters. Refill your seriously depleted stores.
If you can't think of anything good in a food, ie. calcium, Vit C, B, E etc don't eat it. Just a waste of your bodies time and effort.
Also a GF vitamin would be good for you.