How do I know if I've got coeliac disease?
This is SUCH a good question.
Coeliac disease has some common symptoms but they're not the same for everyone, which means many people go undiagnosed for years because they're not a "typical" coeliac.
Typical symptoms include:
* bloating
* vomiting
* diarrhoea
* tummy pain
* weight loss
* fatigue
But for all the people who experience some or all of the above, there are others who have:
* mouth ulcers
* anaemia
* get brain fog
* repeated miscarriages
* problems with tooth enamel
This is not an exhaustive list.
To make things even more fun, there are people who are 'silent' coeliacs who don't have any physical symptoms.
I had a contradictory mixture of symptoms when I was diagnosed. I got (ready for it?) bloating, diarrhoea and tummy pain but I wasn't underweight. If anything, I was about a stone overweight (I kept eating lots to comfort myself through the pain).
And there are still people reporting they were told by their doctors they couldn't have coeliac disease because they were too fat.
Yep, too fat.
It's not exactly the bedside manner you'd hope for, is it?
Thankfully, there are a lot of kind doctors out there who'll take the time to listen.
So if you're not sure whether you have coeliac disease, the most important thing is to go to your doctor for a blood test. If this comes back positive, you may* be sent for an endoscopy (a quick hospital procedure) to take a look at your gut lining.
* During covid, some doctors feel that a combination of a positive blood test and a range of typical symptoms is enough to confirm a diagnosis of coeliac disease.
WARNING: atever you do, don't try and diagnose yourself without getting the proper tests done.
It's vital you know what's really going on.
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