Celiac and Pregnancy, Crazy?
Ok where do I start. For about 2 weeks I was experiencing some brown blood which I assumed to be my period? I finally came online and saw sometimes is could mean pregnancy but it means it’s a tubal pregnancy or miscarriage. Thing is I had my period, just brown and occasionally only spots of red for almost three weeks! I let that go. I’ve been having sharp pains in my left and right sides and my stomach is hard as a rock and the area below the “gut” and above the vagina is hard(I’ve heard this is linked to pregnancy?) I’ve also had extreme bloating feelings and gas along with diarrhea. And as well as weird cravings and bursts of hunger, but when I eat about 15 min later prob not even I’m having sharp pains. These are all symptoms of pregnancy I’m sure we’ll all agree. I’ve also researched some blogs with people who had the extreme bloating and sharp pains and 98% of them were pregnant.
But, get this. My aunt was diagnosed with Celiac disease(gluten free diet, will eat away your small intestine)and it’s hereditary but she doesn’t even know who she could have got it from. Well let me just copy and paste symptoms I’ve found linked with it, I’ll mark it with * If I have it.
What are the symptoms of celiac disease?
Symptoms of celiac disease vary from person to person. Symptoms may occur in the digestive system or in other parts of the body. Digestive symptoms are more common in infants and young children and may include
abdominal bloating and pain *
chronic diarrhea *
vomiting *only just today but sick feelings I’ve ignored too
constipation *NO*
pale, foul-smelling, or fatty stool *NO*
weight loss *NO, weight gain thats why i’m leaning toward pregnancy
Adults are less likely to have digestive symptoms and may instead have one or more of the following:
unexplained iron-deficiency anemia *NO*
fatigue*NO*
bone or joint pain *
arthritis*NO*
bone loss or osteoporosis
depression or anxiety *OH YES*
tingling numbness in the hands and feet *NO*
seizures*NO*
missed menstrual periods *Not sure yet, last one was brown
infertility or recurrent miscarriage *Hope not
canker sores inside the mouth *NO!*
an itchy skin rash called dermatitis herpetiformis * NO*
People with celiac disease may have no symptoms but can still develop complications of the disease over time. Long-term complications include malnutrition—which can lead to anemia, osteoporosis, and miscarriage, among other problems—liver diseases, and cancers of the intestine.
Also, Celiac disease is both a disease of malabsorption—meaning nutrients are not absorbed properly—and an abnormal immune reaction to gluten. Celiac disease is also known as celiac sprue, non-tropical sprue, and gluten-sensitive enteropathy. Celiac disease is genetic, meaning it runs in families*MY AUNT*
Sometimes the disease is triggered—or becomes active for the first time—after surgery, pregnancy*wow it can become apparent during pregnancy*, childbirth, viral infection, or severe emotional stress*I’ve been crying excessively and have been real sensitive*
Forgot to also say something important. My period finally completely stopped yesterday but now, I’m having excessive urinating and just this morning i got morning sickness.
OK so my point of showing you all this was I’m thinking, would I be pregnant AND starting to react to Celiac?? PLease someone research this. I would go to the doctor but I just got insurance a few days ago and it’s not active til Jan 14. I just wanna research this so I can go into the doctor’s telling them exactly what is wrong. Question is though, should I go to the Gynecologist or my regular Physician???
I would see your regular doctor.
Try doing a early detection home pregnancy test.
If that is negative, then you have a fair indication of what it could be.
Go to your gp. They will do a blood test for pregnancy, and you will get your answer about that very soon.
Then, tell him or her that your aunt was diagnosed with celiac and you would like a screening test should your pregnancy test come back negative.
You can have active celiac with little to no symptoms. My symptoms were very, very mild anemia (low normal) and migraines with the occasional stomach ache. Pregnancy is probably what triggered my celiac.
Your Aunt got celiac from her mother and father, it is as simple as that. Her parents were carriers and gave her the genes, she had something trigger it, just like I did, just like everyone who has celiac has happen to them. Since it runs in your family, please be aware of the signs and symptoms of childhood celiac.
Good luck!
People sometimes have periods right the way through their pregnancy, which is why some people have a baby without ever realizing they are pregnant (rare, i know, but it happens).
I had periods for the first few months with my first child, and he was a normal pregnancy.
Best way is to get a pregnancy test. If that’s positive, forget about celiac for now – but my advice in view of your Aunt is to avoid gluten during your pregnancy, as some celiacs seem to “switch on” during pregnancy and if you don’t eat it, it makes it less likely. Also, you don’t want the gluten to go through the placenta and possibly make your child celiac – gluten free diet is bad enough for an adult, for a child it’s very hard to be “different” which makes it doubly hard for the parents to manage.
I agree with the others, you must see a doctor. However, I would just like to point out that I DID gain weight, a LOT of weight, with Celiac disease. Once I was diagnosed and stopped eating gluten, I lost all of the weight. So, weight gain is definitely a symptom; I also know others who gained weight with the disease as well!
Good luck!