Is there something you can do to get rid of a mild allergy?

Gluten allergy????????

• I know this is long but please read it all - thanks. I am 14 male, and in the past 3 weeks or so I've started to have pains in my abdomen, my legs, my arms, and my back. The pains are in the muscles and bones but are very mild and not long lasting, they also come and go. But I had lower back pain for 2 weeks which was fairly constant, and now the same for a week with upper back pain. I have been feeling quite tired as well lately. When I eat a meal with foods containing gluten I usually feel quite bloated even if I had not eaten much, the pains mentioned above also seem more prevalent. Also when I was quite hungry, I had 50g of licorice and even that made me feel bloated for a short while, before feeling hungry again. Same thing happened with a small cup cake. I've also experienced some diarrhea with the licorice, the stools were very poorly formed and passed very quickly. When I ate a meal without gluten, I felt fine and the pains did not seem so prevalent. However it has only been the past few days that I have had these bloats, so this must mean that I am just starting to develop the allergy. One more thing I am experiencing, in the past week or so I have not been having as many erections, could this be due to anemia caused by the allergy? I am having some erections but they are not as hard and I also have not always been waking up with them. I still have sexual interest, but sometimes when I think of girls I can't get it up like I used to, and I still am having spontaneous erections. When I masturbate though I do get an erection much more easily. But when I just think of girls its not always the case, but when I am thinking of girls I also sometimes get a bit paranoid about not having an erection, since I'm worried about it could that actually be preventing me having an erection in the first place? Or could it be anemia related? I have heard that the allergy itself is in as many as 1/7 people (most of which are unaware as they tend to have very mild symptoms which they do not expect to be the allergy) so I would not be any different, and it also makes it seem more likely. I had a blood test about 6 weeks ago for something totally different (thats not important anymore, its also unrelated, no point me going through that now) and they didn't notice anything about a gluten allergy, I also wasn't having symptoms then, so could it just mean ive developed it recently? (However from the blood test they did say I had a slightly lower number of red blood cells, but I definately was not anemic according to them, they thought it was just my diet which usually wasn't very good. But recently I have changed that a bit). Also are all my symptoms related to this possible allergy? I am quite worried about the erection one, as that seems fairly unrelated. Any replies would be very helpful, thanks. Also: I'm also feeling like I'm having lactose intolerance too, having a bit of bloating after drinking milk. Is it possible that their both developing at the same time? Usually its not like this. Only when I drink milk do I feel a bit bloated, not other dairy products.

• Answer:

  Wow-you poor thing. I think you are thinking of gluten 'intolerance' or coeliac disease (not an allergy to gluten but an autoimmune condition.) The only way to diagnose this disease is by going to your Dr. and having some screening blood tests and then if they indicate there may be a problem having a gastroscopy to determine if the villi in your small bowel are flattened by damage from the gluten. Its silly to try and self diagnose-you will only be restricting your diet that may not be such a good thing in a 14 yo.-you may be taking foods out that you dont need to and leaving ones in that should be gone-bottom line is you need to be properly looked at by a DR. (no amount of internet advice will give you the correct answers-going on a gluten free diet is not something to be taken lightly and if you REALLY have colic disease then you need to be very strict about it and not cheat ever) Lactose intolerance is actually caused by a lack of an enzyme normally produced by the body-its something many people think they have but generally dont have it (because they self diagnose it) . go to the Dr, and have a good chat about all your worries-they maybe able to set your mind at ease. good luck caz