Gluten Sensitivity?

Everyone has experienced a moment of stomach upset, knowing what you recently ate isn't agreeing with you, waiting for the consequences. My moment started 20 years ago... and my stomach and/or intestines haven't worked right since. I experienced a barrage of tests and procedures and xrays and questions and prescriptions. My final gastroenterologist just threw his hands in the air and called it IBS. 

A few years later, I began discovering my food allergies; I already knew about my banana and avocado allergies, at this time I discovered I was allergic to milk, a few years after that I developed an allergy to almonds and ultimately just called it tree nuts, then pumpkin seeds.

A couple months ago, my initial symptom of upper right abdominal pain hit me hard, bringing along nausea, lack of appetite (turning into an aversion to eating when my symptoms are really bad), diarrhea, abdominal swelling and bloating, headaches, extra fatigue. Let me be clear, these symptoms are normal for me, just not this bad. I went to the ER a couple times because I felt a lot like I did last year when I got admitted with my liver enzymes off the charts. This time, everything was working fine, so they brought up ulcers (they always bring up ulcers) and gluten.

20 years ago, I was asked if I'd ever tried a gluten free diet. I said I did and they didn't ask further, but knowing what I know now says I did not try a gluten free diet. They never tested for celiac or gluten allergy. Last week, I had an endoscopy and the results came back negative for celiac (my allergist said she's happy to test for the allergy if I want her to). It's comforting to know I haven't essentially been poisoning myself for 20 years, but still upsetting in now actually going gluten free and doing much better.. saying I at least have a gluten sensitivity. Researching gluten now says even with the IBS diagnosis, they should have told me to go gluten free or at least suggested I minimize my exposure. 

I can't say wether or not this is another developed allergy or something I've been fighting since college and it just got worse. I just find there's so many things that could have been prevented if I had been given proper information during the first round. Or even the second. Makes me even more worried about my joint/muscular problems.

Final-ish Report on my Cervical MRI

This summer, I practically demanded a new cervical MRI due to increasing problems that have been ignored for three years when I got my last MRI at a visit to the ER because I couldn't feel my hand. I was continually told that my hand was still functional so no one was concerned; it's become less functional with lack of grip, lack of feeling, and lack of pain sensation. And I finally got everyone's attention.

Orthopedic offered up surgery, Neurology did some extra tests and had the MRI re-read by one of his colleagues. I spoke to Neurology today for the new report and there is a problem, confirming that's the reason for the problems in my neck, shoulder, arm, and hand; he offered up injections. I'm not pursuing surgery or the injections because they would only possibly help the pain. The pain isn't my main concern because Pain Management and my Chiropractor have that pretty well under control.

I pointed out that the concerns I want figured out are the muscle weakness, muscle tightness leading to spasms, and my balance and gait problems. They haven't been concerned about the muscle weakness because my EMG is always normal and I'm still pretty strong, but I have been fighting for at least two years to hold onto the strength I have.. I refused to give up on my arm like I did with my leg. In the last year, the muscle tightness has gotten worse and started causing spasms to the point of muscles contracting randomly, and my leg looking like it's being electrocuted, especially after workouts. My balance problems really got started a couple years ago.. even though I was able to ditch the crutches pretty fast, I tend to run my hand along the walls so I don't run into them. And my gait has been fun for a long time. My gait and balance have come more into focus with my push to walk more. All of this has been complicated by the hyper mobility that is getting worse because of the muscle problems.

Luckily, pointing all this out all at once has my Neurologist on board without the fight I thought I would have to put up. He's bringing me in for a full exam to see what he can figure out, and if he doesn't come up any ideas he'll refer me to another colleague. It's nice to finally feel like he's on my side rather than just going through the motions.