[Frondo]

I don't know. I never had any reason to think I did. I would have described my quality of life as very good before I stopped eating wheat--just better now.

I did just look over a couple of lists of symptoms for celiac disease, and the only ones (fatigue and joint pain) that I could relate to, even in a small way, would be on the adult symptoms checklist--none of the childhood symptoms fit me in any way.

But of those two, I wouldn't have described either one with any kind of severity, certainly nothing worth seeing a doctor about. I'm pretty active, and I usually chalked being tired up to that, and the joint pains just from sport/outdoor activities (and getting older). Now I'm a lot less tired and sore.

I was always under the impression of celiac as being pretty severe, like, you'd know something was wrong, even if you didn't know what was going on.

Is that not the case? Can you have "mild" celiac?

[dangero]

I think this is a common misconception. People have varying symptoms, but it's important to remember that those are symptoms and may not equate the the damage done to your system.

I was like you re:symptoms, but instead of going gluten free, I got an allergy panel done and celiac disease came back. I was actually still kind of disbelieving since my symptoms seemed light, so I followed it up with a stomach biopsy to confirm and I discovered I do have it.

[Frondo]

See, I wouldn't have even thought to seek out medical advice, I literally didn't think there was anything wrong except getting old.

The person who told me to cut wheat down wasn't a doctor nor a nutritionist, and the advice kind of came out of nowhere (not related to me complaining about my aching knee or anything).

I likely won't get tested at this point, because it sounds invasive, and I am (as before) happy with my quality of life, but you do raise an interesting point.

[Abraln]

An allergy test can be as simple as a doctor dipping a small plastic spike in some concentrated allergen, then poking you (lightly, not enough to break the skin, just enough to leave a mark that will fade in a few hours) with both that and a "control" spike, then comparing the redness after a short wait. Pain wise, it is no worse than an ant bite in my experience, and I was tested for the 50 most common allergies at once (we were trying to ID the source of some symptoms I was having).

IANAD though, so testing for celiac disease may require more.

[Frondo]

It was "stomach biopsy" that sounded more invasive than an allergen skin test. :)