I just wondered if any of this lovely community were diagnosed with Coeliac’s ?
My neurologist’s appointment looms today and I want to be able to ask the right questions.
I see how Coeliac’s can mimic ms in so many ways. I just wondered if anyone here has this too?
Hi Cathy,
Ever since the days of Roger McDougall and his amazing recovery from MS; http://www.direct-ms.org/rogermcdougall.html has there been interest in excluding gluten from your diet that I believe is the problem with Coeliac sufferers. His diet regime went much further though.
Having been a rather large youngster; 16 stone at 12 years old; and at puberty realised young Ladies were not attracted to fat men slimed down to 10 stone. So a strict diet did not worry me but even I found Mr McDougall’s diet very restrictive; and the vitamins he recommended rather expensive.
If you’re thinking however on giving up gluten alone give it a go for say a year.
Good luck
George
Hi Cathy, I have coeliac and also hypothyroidism, I’m currently waiting for an MRI for MS, to my knowledge the symptoms are all very similar. I had none of the ‘classic’ signs of coeliac before diagnosis, it may be worth asking to be tested to rule it out. I hope you get some answers.
If you think you might have coeliac disease, then it would surely make sense to get tested, starting with your GP. As I understand it, it is important to do this BEFORE you try excluding gluten from your diet. The tests work better that way.
Alison
Meant to say … if you turn out to not have coeliac disease, then you can of course exclude gluten to your heart’s content if you think that might help - as many people choose to do. The important thing is not to screw up the coeliac tests by excluding gluten before you get tested.
Alison
Alison is absolutely correct. If you are being tested for Coeliac Disease, you should definitely not exclude gluten before the test. If you have CD but you’ve excluded gluten then the signs of Coeliac will not appear and you’ll risk not being diagnosed. Coeliac Disease is much more serious than it seems when you see hordes of people giving up gluten because they’ve self diagnosed themselves with a ‘gluten intolerance’. And there is gluten in many more foods than you realise at first.
Hopefully you’ll be tested and not have Coeliac.
Sue
Thank you so much for these helpful replies. I’m to see my GP this week and shall discuss issues with him.