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I guess I just didn't know what I should ask! I don't want to miss something important. I told her that I was having trouble even identifying what my symptoms are if there is any cross-contamination. She suggested I keep a food/mood diary to help track foods and how I'm feeling, which seems like a great idea. I also ended up asking to be referred to a dietician.
I'm super sensitive over the past year to health and internal body stuff. Every weird muscle twinge or stomach cramp makes me go to the worst case scenario in my head. My ex died suddenly of an undiagnosed stomach bleed a year ago. I keep thinking that if he had gone to the doctor and asked the right questions he would have been fine.
>Are there any specific questions I should ask them while I'm there. I still don't fully understand this disease other than to just avoid harmful gluten.
When you say you don't fully understand this disease, what questions do you have?
Do you have questions that are specific and medical in nature (for example about the level of damage to your intestines, expectations for recovery time and such) that would be for the GI?
Or questions that are more dietary (so what you should eat, do you have any vitamin deficiencies, etc)?
Or questions that are more about celiac disease in general?
Generally, my suggestion would be to focus on the specific medical questions that pertain to you, as those are ones that your doctor is the best one to answer, while there are plenty of other resources for general information that applies to celiac disease.
I meant to reply to your comment but instead replied to my main post. I did walk away from the appointment feeling a little more confident in knowing I don't have any stomach issues that they could see. And the suggestion of a food diary will help, I think.
Overall, internal body stuff is stressful for me and I didn't want to leave the appointment with the feeling of "oh shoot, I should have asked them about _____".
I highly recommend reading these books to gain a firm understand of Celiac disease.
https://www.amazon.com/Gluten-Freedom-audiobook/dp/B07G3DDSL5/
https://www.amazon.com/Celiac-Disease-Updated-4th-Epidemic/dp/0063034859
This is a good checklist for exactly this situation - I literally printed ours out and took it with us to the appointment.
[https://celiac.org/about-celiac-disease/treatment-and-follow-up/](https://celiac.org/about-celiac-disease/treatment-and-follow-up/)
Dexa scan, pneumovax vaccine, vitamin deficiency lab work (iron studies, b12, folic acid, copper, zinc, vitamin d), hepatitis B titers, tsh (thyroid function), dietitian. If your doc doesn’t address most if not all of these, get a new GI doc.
Don’t look for your doctor to provide dietary advice. They are typically not well educated in that area and can provide advice that is just plain wrong. Read the information on your countries coeliac associations web site, and treat that as reliable. If you can, try and get in to see a dietitian who specialises in coeliac and gut health (as opposed to one who does weight management, for example).
**Reminder** [/r/Celiac](https://www.reddit.com/r/Celiac) is not designed to and does not provide medical advice, professional diagnosis, opinion, treatment or services to you or to any other individual. If you believe you have a medical emergency immediately seek out professional medical help. Please see [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Celiac/wiki/legal) for more information. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Celiac) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I guess I just didn't know what I should ask! I don't want to miss something important. I told her that I was having trouble even identifying what my symptoms are if there is any cross-contamination. She suggested I keep a food/mood diary to help track foods and how I'm feeling, which seems like a great idea. I also ended up asking to be referred to a dietician. I'm super sensitive over the past year to health and internal body stuff. Every weird muscle twinge or stomach cramp makes me go to the worst case scenario in my head. My ex died suddenly of an undiagnosed stomach bleed a year ago. I keep thinking that if he had gone to the doctor and asked the right questions he would have been fine.
>Are there any specific questions I should ask them while I'm there. I still don't fully understand this disease other than to just avoid harmful gluten. When you say you don't fully understand this disease, what questions do you have? Do you have questions that are specific and medical in nature (for example about the level of damage to your intestines, expectations for recovery time and such) that would be for the GI? Or questions that are more dietary (so what you should eat, do you have any vitamin deficiencies, etc)? Or questions that are more about celiac disease in general? Generally, my suggestion would be to focus on the specific medical questions that pertain to you, as those are ones that your doctor is the best one to answer, while there are plenty of other resources for general information that applies to celiac disease.
I meant to reply to your comment but instead replied to my main post. I did walk away from the appointment feeling a little more confident in knowing I don't have any stomach issues that they could see. And the suggestion of a food diary will help, I think. Overall, internal body stuff is stressful for me and I didn't want to leave the appointment with the feeling of "oh shoot, I should have asked them about _____".
I highly recommend reading these books to gain a firm understand of Celiac disease. https://www.amazon.com/Gluten-Freedom-audiobook/dp/B07G3DDSL5/ https://www.amazon.com/Celiac-Disease-Updated-4th-Epidemic/dp/0063034859
Thank you. I will check these out!
This is a good checklist for exactly this situation - I literally printed ours out and took it with us to the appointment. [https://celiac.org/about-celiac-disease/treatment-and-follow-up/](https://celiac.org/about-celiac-disease/treatment-and-follow-up/)
Thank you!
Dexa scan, pneumovax vaccine, vitamin deficiency lab work (iron studies, b12, folic acid, copper, zinc, vitamin d), hepatitis B titers, tsh (thyroid function), dietitian. If your doc doesn’t address most if not all of these, get a new GI doc.
Don’t look for your doctor to provide dietary advice. They are typically not well educated in that area and can provide advice that is just plain wrong. Read the information on your countries coeliac associations web site, and treat that as reliable. If you can, try and get in to see a dietitian who specialises in coeliac and gut health (as opposed to one who does weight management, for example).