#15- It's not difficult to look your symptoms up online and realize that you have a serious issue and schedule yourself an appointment with a professional. No, she should not have attempted to diagnose herself, but really, diagnosing herself would be impossible without testing materials. Research doesn't hurt anyone. It definitely should not have taken a year for her to go to the doctor.

I was diagnosed with Coeliac disease last year. At first it seems like it's going to be awful, but the difference it makes to your life and how you feel far outweighs not being able to eat some things. Some of the comments here are a bit ridiculous. People get all sorts of different reactions to gluten with coeliac, and working backwards I now know I must have had since I was about five or six, but it took me till I was eighteen for anyone to diagnose it. And if you learn to read properly she wasn't getting sick when she ate bread, she was using it to try and stop the pain. Coeliac can be really hard to diagnose because of the wide ranging symptoms. I find eating out the only thing that is really hard. This website is awesome, you can search for anywhere in the world and find restaurants, hotels ect. which cater for those with coeliac. http://glutenfreeonthego.com/default.asp And basic advice, if you ask them if they have anything gluten free and they look a bit puzzled, don't risk it! Most likely they will pretend they know what they're doing and poison you with gluten. Watch out for soya sauce, most soya sauce contains gluten. Licorice is a no no, beer and larger, lots of crisps, some chocolate, oats contaminated with gluten can catch you out too. Be prepared to read the label on EVERYTHING you eat. Trips to the supermarket now take at least twice as long haha. To all the people who clicked YDI, be thankful you don't get stabbing pains in your stomach for hours just for eating a crumb of bread.

i feel your pain. It's genetic too, so one of your parents has to have it as well. Not to mention aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, siblings etc. There are now a lot of things that you can't eat and drink. Beer, bread, pasta, cereal, hot-dogs, etc. and a lot of people won't understand. don't torture yourself trying to eat things they give you. It's seriously not worth the pain. the positive thing is that you feel a LOT better when you start eating food that you're not allergic to. Did you have the blood test or the GI test? when you first find out you feel like there's nothing that you can eat, but there's a lot more main-stream foods nowadays than there were a few years ago. i highly recommend kinick kinick pizza crusts, they are delicious! their corn based loaf bread is also good. gluten free pantry has a lot of baking mixes, including brownies and muffin mix that you can usually find at walmart.

this sounds a LOT like me. My mom hypothesized that I had Celiac disease but after going abroad and having to take acidophilus pills 2x every day for 3 weeks, my stomach didn't upset me anymore.

Check out this website. It has a ton of foods you never thought you would be able to eat again. All Gluten free. http://www.ceceliasmarketplace.com/gluten-free

Hey, at least it's not lupus.

I'm the one who wrote the FML. I'll clear some things up for those of you who think I deserved it. The FMLs have to be short so I couldn't write the whole story. My main symptoms were severe joint and muscle pain along with cramping and headaches. The stomach pain was constant, not just when I ate bread. I had a hard time even digesting vegetables. I went to doctors practically every week and scoured the internet. I was finally "diagnosed" with fibromyalgia and IBS. My first Celiac blood test came back negative, but finally my gastroenterologist figured it out. I'm now gluten-free, and I'm feeling much better (although hungry). And I'm a pre-med student, so I'm not an idiot. I saw at least 5 different doctors and specialists. I even went to Mayo Clinic. Celiac can be a very difficult diagnosis as the symptoms are often non-specific. Thanks for all the tips on gluten-free food. It's time for me to start cooking!

My friend has Celiac disease. It seems like it really sucks, he can't consume a lot of delicious things like beer and oreos. But there's a lot of restaurants who have gluten-free options. Pei Wei is one of them, you should check it out if you have one in your area. PF Chang's owns them. :)

Hope you are feeling better now that you have stopped setting off you reactions xD

( this is the author again ) @ #70 - I was tested for Lupus.. scary stuff! I was also treated for Lyme, but that did nothing to help me of course. Celiac is no joke though. It can cause colon cancer, and the muscle and joint pain is so excruciating (in some cases: i.e. mine) that even walking around the mall is torturous. I was a ballerina for 17 years, but I had to quit because of the severity of the pain. NOT FUN and not a joke.