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Celiac (Sprue) Disease Community
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Can giardia cause celiac? Still ill after 1 year
by carsie252, Nov 06, 2008 08:53AM
Hi. I have been ill for a year now since visiting Peru/Bolivia where I picked up a parasite (most probably giardia), and had diarrhoea for 2 weeks. Since then I have suffered continually from chronic fatigue, voracious appetite, depression, low haemoglobin, and numerous GI issues - constipation, bloating, occasional vomitting after meals (where the food comes back into my throat and I have to expel it), mucous in stools etc.
I have had many tests including a biopsy, which found nothing but an ulcer - no parasites/ h pylori/celiac. BUT I had not been eating gluten for about 4 weeks previous. Doc says this doesn't matter and won't do another, but I have heard it does matter. He has offered a TTG blood test but I have been on and off gluten many times (doubts about whether it is causing problems or not) and am not currently eating it. I thought this was best as I also had a food intolerance test done online via YorkTest which came up with 37 foods(!) which wasn't v helpful.
So, my questions are -
1. Does this all suggest possible coeliac or is it a coincidence/significant in any way that I have been ill since picking up this parasite?
2. Can parasites trigger celiac?
3. Could If I have continued malabsorbtion due to gluten INTOLERANCE, or does this only occur in celiac disease? And how long being gluten-free should malabsorbtion be cured if intolerant rather than celiac?
4. How much gluten/how often would I need to eat it before having the TTG antibody blood test? Would it still be accurate after say, 2/3 weeks gluten-free?
5. I am due an h. pylori blood test. Could this be the cause of ALL my symptoms?
If anyone could shed some light on any of the above questions I would be most grateful. Thankyou.
Rich.
I have had many tests including a biopsy, which found nothing but an ulcer - no parasites/ h pylori/celiac. BUT I had not been eating gluten for about 4 weeks previous. Doc says this doesn't matter and won't do another, but I have heard it does matter. He has offered a TTG blood test but I have been on and off gluten many times (doubts about whether it is causing problems or not) and am not currently eating it. I thought this was best as I also had a food intolerance test done online via YorkTest which came up with 37 foods(!) which wasn't v helpful.
So, my questions are -
1. Does this all suggest possible coeliac or is it a coincidence/significant in any way that I have been ill since picking up this parasite?
2. Can parasites trigger celiac?
3. Could If I have continued malabsorbtion due to gluten INTOLERANCE, or does this only occur in celiac disease? And how long being gluten-free should malabsorbtion be cured if intolerant rather than celiac?
4. How much gluten/how often would I need to eat it before having the TTG antibody blood test? Would it still be accurate after say, 2/3 weeks gluten-free?
5. I am due an h. pylori blood test. Could this be the cause of ALL my symptoms?
If anyone could shed some light on any of the above questions I would be most grateful. Thankyou.
Rich.
The worst symptoms are inability to stop eating until I feel I have eaten too much, and fatigue particularly after meals. May be the symptom of an ulcer? Don't ulcers get better by themselves?
Any sort of damage to the digestive tract can cause something called MINDD--Metabolic, Immune, Neurologic, Digestive Disorders. Celiac is classified as MINDD. With any MINND illness it is essential that you gut heals completely otherwise you will not get better. All MINDD illnesses result in varying degrees of malabsorption. If you have malabsorption, antacids can sometimes be a bad choice or even the cause. If you have an acidic stomach try my recipe for banana milk on my profile page.
To heal your gut, try the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. It is a diet that excludes all grains, seeds and beans. I eat this diet in combination with the Raw Vegan Diet which excludes dairy, meat and eggs. This is a restrictive diet and most likely not a good choice long term, but the SCDiet promises that you will eventually be able to eat more foods when your gut heals, (and unfortunately I cannot currently digest eggs, meat or dairy anyway so why eat them?)
The purpose of eating a RAW foods diet is to improve the digestion of all foods and to select primarily the foods that are known to be easier to digest in general. (Raw foods contain enzymes that aid in digestion. Enzymes are destroyed if heated beyond 117 degrees farenheit).
As for the veggies, nuts and fruits, try eating them on a rotation diet. Eat a different one (or few) each day and rotate each food so that there is at least 5 days between each time you eat it. Try blending (in the blender) fruits that are troublesome for you to digest and soaking nuts at least four hours and then blending them with water to make them more digestible. With the right spices you can make a dip/spread out of the nuts. Only avoid the nuts/fruits/veggies that make you feel sick or give you hives in spite of the rotation and blending.
Also, sometimes sensitivity to fruits and veggies is due to either oxalates or phenols/salicylates (substances within certain foods). Fresh squeezed lime juice (made into limeade with honey) has helped me with my oxalate problem (mix the honey really well with the lime juice before you add the water because honey does not dissolve easily into cool liquids. The extra liquid makes it more difficult). (Also, you can get a hand juicer for citrus fruits very inexpensively). Epsom salt footbaths (every 2 days) has helped with my phenol/salicylate problem.
Specific Carobohydrate Diet
http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/
The Raw Vegan Diet ("raw food real world" is a good book. It has good info even if you do not use the recipes. The Carol Alt book is good too):
http://www.oneluckyduck.com/category-list.php?id=3
Epsom salt footbaths:
http://www.enzymestuff.com/epsomsalts.htm
I have celiac and it didn't really get to be an active nuisance until 14 years ago when I suddenly found I couldn't tolerate dairy anymore. It turns out celiac damadges the villi, little projections on the small intestine lining that absorb nutrients. The villi also produce enzymes to help digestion, like lactase enzyme. It has taken a full year for me to start to be able to eat dairy again after going gluten free. It can take some time for the guts to heal.
You can be tested for the celiac genes and for immune responses to gluten also. They can do a test called the celiac panel. It is not a 100% accurate test, and may not show anything if you haven't been eating gluten for a while. Many celiacs are vitamin deficient and take vitamin D and liquid (sub-lingual) B-vitamins. Some people even get vitamin shots at the beginning when while they wait for their guts to heal.
when i was alot younger, i woke up once in the middle of the night because my stomach was flipping out over cheese i'd eaten, and ever since then i couldn't tolerate dairy.
is weight loss always a symptom of celiac? i'm not losing any weight but the problems i have are kind of erratic, but sometimes they do flare up after i have something gluteny, like over thanksgiving i had a Tofurky, and now i'm sick.
but this whole "cycle" started shortly after i ate something with tofu, and as far as i know, that doesn't have gluten in it