Can celiac disease be misdiagnosed as anorexia?

my sister-in-law was recently diagnosed with "stressed induced anorexia" and i was watching a show about celiac disease and it kind of sounded like that could be what she has. I think this because her not eating as much didn't start out until she got really skinny. before that she had a lot of bowel movement problems. so i looked up some stuff and i read that in some adults who has this disease it may not show up until you are stressed and depressed. and the passed year or so thats whats been wrong with her. i was wondering if anyone has had this happen to them or thinks it could be celiac disease. i would really appreciate it becasue she is really going through a rough time and her marriage is falling apart...HELP!!!

well at first she wasn't as skinny as she was..and she did eat normally and she always had bad diarreah. i guess now from being sick she barely eats. and its not like she thinks she is fat or that she doesn't want to eat...she does. just sometimes food makes her feel sick so she doesn't eat.

It's possible if they only looked at the weight loss aspect and didn't consider other factors. You say she had bowel problems...that could explain weight loss...could be other things not coeliac, like Irritable Bowel Syndrome...does she eat? If she eats normally, she can't be anorexic. An easy way to tell is to make sure she eats no wheat for a few weeks. Then things should improve, if she does have coeliac disease. No bread, pasta, cake, anything with flour or gluten. Other than that she might like to see a doctor.

In America, Celiac is misdiagnosed about 97% of the time. For the 3% who do get diagnosed, it takes on average 11 years from the onset of symptoms.

I was eating maybe 1 meal a day and throwing up constantly for years. I heard it all: Stress, depression, IBS, hypochrondria, chronic fatigue etc.

The thing is, Celiac has so many variable symptoms. Some people lose weight, some people are overweight. Some people have diarrhea, some people have constipation - or no digestive symptoms at all.

An elimination diet could help, but the best bet would probably to get the Celiac Panel blood tests. Its really hard to put the time and research into a gluten-free diet when you're unsure it will even help. Avoiding wheat isn't enough, you have to avoid rye, barley, and oats as well as anything that may have been processed on the same equipment that had those ingredients. Eating out is nearly impossible aside from a few returaunts (P.F. Changs and Outback rock) and it could take many weeks or even months for the diet to start showing an effect. At least with a blood test, you get a pretty good idea if the diet will help or not - just keep an eye out for test results in the 'high normal' range - IMO it should be an indicator of developing Celiac but often times if its under the established threshold they will ignore it even if there's proof the body is creating antibodies to fight the protein.