Celiac disease????

I forgot to mention that when I saw my doctor in January, I told her about my stomach ache after eating the chicken fried steak in November and wondered if I might have celiac disease. Her response was: That would explain it! I realized she wasn't talking about the stomach ache but the anemia I had been dealing with for years.

In 2006 when I had my first hip replaced, I had difficulty donating enough blood for myself because my hematocrits were too low. I was told to take supplements, eat beef, broccoli, and liver in order to build up my iron. I did so, and finally was able to donate a second pint. However, after having the procedure--where they used both pints of blood--the doctor was concerned that my hematocrits were still too low, so they gave me a third pint from an unknown donor.

Over the past several years my doctor has been convinced that I was having some kind of internal bleeding, and that was the cause of my anemia. She had me undergo endoscopic examination of my alimentary canal from both ends, and submit fecal samples for further tests. Everything came back negative for any internal bleeding.

I took iron supplements, ate beef, liver, broccoli, and still tested as being anemic.

When I had my second hip replaced two years ago, the standard for what is an acceptable hematocrit level had been raised. It took three attempts to donate blood over the course of three weeks before they could take any. I was only able to donate one pint,so the second pint had to come from an unknown donor.

This whole thing has been very stressful: what was causing the anemia? Why wasn't my iron level rising after eating well and taking supplements?

When I read that phytates hinder the absorption of iron, I started thinking that there was a connection between eating grains and my anemia; perhaps I had celiac disease because one of the symptoms of celiac disease is anemia.

My doctor told me there is a test that can confirm this diagnosis, but that I would have to eat gluten before taking the test. I thought to myself, no thank you, I'll just continue to avoid grains and legumes in my diet.

That's what I have been doing.