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Kate writes this after a few email exchanges: “Dear Dr Ford, yes, by all means you may publish my story on your website. If it saves anyone the problems and searching that I spent weeks/months/years enduring, through "not knowing", then I would be only too happy to have it shared. I wish I had found the answers earlier. I'm very thankful to have found them now!” “Thank you so much for such a prompt response! I really appreciate your time and efforts. The vast reduction of gluten in my diet was not a conscious 'go gluten free' effort on my count, but a fortunate 'side effect' of a decision to trial the Atkins style low carbohydrate dieting. It was a desperate bid to try and get both my weight/size and depression better under control.” “I'd never felt it was 'the' total answer but it did vastly improve the bloating issue, the extreme tiredness and I felt better in myself than I had in a long time - clean, rather than bloated and bogged down, sluggish all the time.”
“Recently, I read your recent article in the "HealthWise" magazine. Suddenly there was a list of symptoms that described 'me on gluten' to a tee. I could easily tick off over half the symptoms listed. Last weekend I decided to try eating gluten (pasta salad and two slices of bread) with my tea, and the effect was really quite devastating. After about an hour, the extreme fatigue was back in full force and I'd gained 10cms in belly-bloat. “I slept for three hours after tea which I haven't done since I changed my diet. I'm only just starting to feel 'normal' again. Yes, I would like to get an "official" set of blood tests for confirmation, but I am unsure whether I'm prepared to go through the breakdown in my health again to accomplish that though... I wish I'd read your article months ago! Thank you for enlightening me… and for taking the time to reply to my query. I really do appreciate it. Kate.” These are the first questions that Kate asked: “How do I get “officially” diagnosed as being gluten intolerant?” “I have hugely reduced the amount of gluten in my diet and feel remarkably better off for doing so. However I want to get the blood testing done to officially 'confirm or deny' whether I am in fact intolerant to gluten. How long do I need to re-include gluten in my diet before I can go and get testing done and be confident of an accurate result? Any advice you can give me would be appreciated. Thank You. Kate”. My Answers: This is one of the most common questions that I get asked. There are several strands to this question 1 – This hinges on the difference between celiac disease and gluten-sensitivity. Celiac disease is currently the only “official medical diagnosis” for gluten reactions. To formally make this diagnosis, you need to be on gluten, have the tissue damage antibody tests (tTG or EMA) and have a positive small bowel biopsy by endoscopy. About 1 in 100 people have celiac disease – most still not diagnosed. 2 – The gluten-sensitivity diagnosis can be made by looking at the gluten antibodies and your clinical response to going gluten-free. You feel heaps better off gluten, so you are gluten-sensitive. It would have been best to get blood tests BEFORE going gluten-free. That is what I recommend. 3 – If you are off gluten for over 6 months, then the blood tests will be getting normal and it is a waste of time doing them. You can try back on gluten for a few weeks and then get tested – this stimulates the antibody production again. 4 – The bottom line is that if you feel a lot better off gluten, then it is best for you to stay off gluten and be happy with your new found health. I hope that this helps. Rodney Ford |
