Wheat intolerance or something else? Worth investigating?

[GoodyGoodyGumdrops]

I know that I don't tolerate wheat very well. It generates masses of wind and causes me to reflux. I also get itchy. No visible skin reaction, other than very dry knees, elbows and knuckles, but I'm constantly scratching.

When I eat low carb, and cut out wheat completely, within a week or two all these symptoms disappear completely. (The itching stops, though the dry skin takes longer to heal.) I'm rarely completely wheat-free, but I seem to tolerate small amounts, say gravy made with flour or the occasional biscuit.

Is this something worth investigating, or a waste of the GP's time?

I'll start by saying that I'm 70, so I think my similar problems are probably age related. I've had digestive problems for at least 5 years, which gradually worsened until I had awful bloating, acid reflux and stomach cramps. After doing some reading, I adopted a low-carb highish fat diet 18 months ago, which had a miraculous effect on these symptoms, and the added benefit of (much needed) steady weight loss, about 19 lbs altogether.
However, I still had gastric problems, and had various tests done over the summer. These included blood tests - mainly to rule out diabetes, stool tests to rule out celiac disease and H. pylori, an ultrasound to rule out gall bladder issues (all these tests came back negative), and finally a CT scan to rule out pancreatic cancer - which it did, but did show some "fatty atrophy" of the pancreas, which may have a bearing on my symptoms, in my opinion, but not supported by the HCPs.
For me, it's all high carb food - including potatoes, rice, pasta and obviously wheat products, I feel much better for cutting those from my diet, although I do cheat occasionally and put up with the resulting discomfort. As an example, today I had Portobello mushrooms, stilton and bacon on a slice of garlic bread for lunch, and it has left me feeling "buzzy", jittery and has raised my heart rate.
As we age, we often develop insulin resistance, which can lead to diabetes, hence is used to be called the "old man's disease", and I feel that is my problem. One of my blood tests was to test for diabetes - the HbA1c test, which takes a "snapshot" of the last 3 months of your blood glucose. If the numbers come between 42-47 then that indicates pre-diabetes, over 48 IS diabetes, mine (taken shortly after I started low-carbing), was 39, so in the safe zone, and is probably lower now.
I know I don't tolerate high carb foods well - they make me feel unwell, and I get a heat rash under my breasts (intertrigo) and an itchy rash between my fingers, so I think your itchy rash and dry skin is definitely related to your blood glucose levels - it's a well-known symptom.
So, after this long essay, I would suggest it would be a good idea to have the HbA1c blood test done to check your blood glucose levels in case they are on the high side, and to continue with low carb.
HTH!

Interesting about itchy dry skin and diabetes. I'm in my 50s, and wouldn't be surprised if I was developing insulin resistance - which could explain why I feel so much better eating LCHF. Developing skin tags, especially on the upper torso, is also a symptom of insulin resistance. LCHF = no more new tags for me, and most of the tiny new ones drop off.

I had a finger prick test recently, about an hour after eating, which gave blood sugar reading of 5.4, which they said was fine.

I first noticed that wheat was sometimes problematic for me over 20y ago, but it wasn't bad enough to make me change my eating habits. I also cannot tolerate soya (in its Western form, the fermented Far Eastern forms are fine) and may be lactose-intolerant. Plus I have skin allergies.

Oh, it's good that your finger prick test was normal, so you can probably rule out diabetes. I think as we get older, our bodies slow down and don't process foods so well, leading to acid reflux etc. You only have to look on Gransnet to see how many sufferers there are!
Looks as though low carb is the way to go for both of us!