Have I got CD confused?

[saabx30]

Hi I was labelled as having IBS but have been struggling to control it for a year. Went back to my GP's to ask for further test 1 being to test for CD.

The result of various blood test's show ive small red blood cells....low in iron again and a positive marker for CD.

Now the GP wants to send me for a endoscopy to do a biopsy

Have I got CD and why the need for a biopsy?

and can you have IBS as well.?

and I seem to struggle when I have warm milk at night.......any ideas?

Thankyou

[Regalbirdy]

Hi,

I'm a bit confused by your post. You say you have iron anaemia. Are you suggesting that this is a positive marker for CD or did you also have the Ttg/IgA coeliac blood test? If you did have the CD test and it was positive, then it is likely that you have a gluten sensitivity.

Coeliac disease usually is not formally diagnosed in adults until they have the results of the endoscopy, although I believe young children can be diagnosed by blood test alone. The endoscopy takes samples of the gut for analysis because gluten causes damage to the intestines due to setting off an auto immune response in the body.

Unfortunately you must continue to eat gluten foods for the time being - just until the endoscopy has been completed. This is so you get accurate test/endoscopy results.

It does sound like you may have a lactose intolerance. It is quite a common thing to have. You can normally stop eating dairy foods any time you like and this may resolve some of your symptoms. Have you thought of switching to another type of milk at bedtime? I love to warm up a cup of Alpro's hazelnut milk instead of regular milk. I think it is rather tasty!

Good luck!

[Liana]

Yes. It's possible to have lots of medical problems at the same time. I'm gluten intolerant, have the genetic marker for CD, have IBS and a whole host of autoimmune diseases...

[Hidden]

Hi there, this all sounds reasonable to me, firstly you have had a positive blood test and the next step is an endoscopy to take a sample of your villi, for biopsy. Having CD is an autoimmune disease that makes our immune system attack our own villi, hence the collapsed villi.

Many coeliac are diagnosed because they are anaemic, this is because our villi is collapsed and we do not absorb nutrients from the food that we eat.

The enzyme lactase that breaks down the lactose in milk dairy products is produced at the tips of our villi.

Now what is very important is that you keep eating foods with gluten in them to get a positive biopsy result so do not cut out gluten yet! As for trying Alpro soy milk this sounds like a good idea to me.

So good luck with the endoscopy and try not to worry as you are in the system now. But do wait until after the biopsy before going gluten free.

Jerry

[lucysen in reply to Hidden]

Oh Jerry! Id never heard about the lactose and coeliac link because of the villi- Im currently awaiting my blood test results and am lactose intolerant so thats a further reason for me to think (and hope because then I have answers) that I may be coeliac. Thank you!

Lucy

[Jacks in reply to lucysen]

Apparently half the world's adult population are lactose intolerant. We lose the ability to digest milk sugars at weaning. If you can still digest milk products as an adult then you are really lucky but (and this is quoting my gastroenterologist) EVERYONE has some level of intolerance and it could just be that last milky drink of the day that tips the scales as being too much.

As Jerry says in CD the villi tips have gone so some of us end up having zero tolerance.