Disappointed in my allergist

jus_in_bello

I was surprised at my allergist's response since I figured she'd be the one that would see the possible connection. However, her response (via her nurse's voicemail) was that "food sensitivity would not cause joint pain"!!!!! She didn't think the ALCAT test was reliable either so has anyone done it?

She be cray-cray. My joint pain has improved drastically since going GF, now only extreme changes in weather or storms bother my joints, and it's not nearly as bad as it used to be. See a new doc/allergist, obviously yours hasn't done the research or stayed up to date with it. I always doubt docs who say things like that, gluten intolerance or other allergies/sensitivities don't require medication, the docs don't make money from the pharmacies and I think that's why they test for everything else first, they get more money that way. I sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I can't tell you how many people I know were wrongly diagnosed for years and on medication for IBS, RA, or some other issue when cutting a food group would have be the appropriate method of dealing with an issue. Maybe see a holistic doc.

Best of luck!

origwvgirl

Thanks to everyone for their posts. They're enlightening and sometimes entertaining I wish everyone well on their journey to being symptom free!

anglyn1

I live in a rural area where celiac disease is not well known. I was having rashes, vitamin deficiencies, joint pains, and my immune system was shot. I had 5 outbreaks of shingles, mono, the flu, numerous strep infections...all within a year! I was having really bad stomach aches so they ordered an EGD...but he didn't biopsy for celiac. He just looked for an ulcer. I was diagnosed with gastritis, esophagitis, and duodenitis! Basically my entire digestive tract was inflamed! I was lucky that my cousin was a nurse for a GI doctor at the University of Maryland and she told him of my issues and he agreed to look at my medical records. Once he saw the EGD report he immediately said to stop eating gluten and that I'd probably get better! I've had such improvement since then!

I will say I did have residual joint pain until a new doctor advised me to avoid artificial sweeteners. Surprisingly that did the trick!

origwvgirl

I live in a rural area where celiac disease is not well known. I was having rashes, vitamin deficiencies, joint pains, and my immune system was shot. I had 5 outbreaks of shingles, mono, the flu, numerous strep infections...all within a year! I was having really bad stomach aches so they ordered an EGD...but he didn't biopsy for celiac. He just looked for an ulcer. I was diagnosed with gastritis, esophagitis, and duodenitis! Basically my entire digestive tract was inflamed! I was lucky that my cousin was a nurse for a GI doctor at the University of Maryland and she told him of my issues and he agreed to look at my medical records. Once he saw the EGD report he immediately said to stop eating gluten and that I'd probably get better! I've had such improvement since then!

I will say I did have residual joint pain until a new doctor advised me to avoid artificial sweeteners. Surprisingly that did the trick!

Wow, sounds like you went through a lot. I'm glad someone finally figured it to. I'll have to see about the artificial sweeteners. I do use Splenda but there's probably more hiding in other foods.