How Do You Know What's Working With Silent Symptoms?

[HumanDecency]

So I'm a bit confused. I feel a bit put off by my doctor when I take his advice and contrast it with reading of a lot of the testimonies on this forum. He tells me to go strictly non-gluten for 6 months. I am fine with that. I'm well into my 4th week. I still have symptoms here and there so it's frustrating, but I am working on it and wiping out potential cross contamination with the more I learn.

 

Yet if you have silent symptoms (as I am reading so many do) how do you know when other food items are impacting you? Gluten has hit me hard all my life but I really didn't know it. I don't violently throw up and I only recently just starting getting bad fatigue and nausea. I felt bad before but could not pin it down on anything until after another surgery. I feel for others greatly impacted by these ailments.

 

I asked about other tests and my doctor said that I didn't need them at this time. That's fine, but should I get a second opinion? I don't want to waste time not healing if I have other issues. I've already cut out dairy as a personal choice.

 

Would I know if I have a problem with soy, corn or any other grains? Sorry if this is confusing... because it confuses me.

 

Jesse 

[1desperateladysaved]

I am a little confused.  If you have fatigue and nausea those could be indications of taking in gluten for you.  If you have it all of the time now, you may be experiencing withdrawal symptoms or continuous mistakes.  I hope you do feel some symptoms when glutened so that you will be able to catch your mistakes.  Also, as you recover, your body, hopefully, will be able to complain even louder. 

 

Other foods can cause a similar reaction for some people.  I knew of some of my problems before I went gluten free.  Keep a written food diary, or at least a mental diary and try to pinpoint causes for any extra symptoms that show up.  IF you are very concerned you may want to look into a rotational diet.  You can plan out your meals a couple of months and follow it.  This could help you to realize which foods could give you issues.  With a rotational diet you eat from different food families for each day of 4 days.  You don't repeat foods more frequently then that.  If you are interested in this, many places on the internet give examples.

 

I hope this helps.

Diana

[mushroom]

One month gluten free is a bit early to start suspecting other intolerances; you are barely beyond gluten withdrawal.  Stay the course for a good three months and then you have a better chance of seeing a pattern to your reactions if you are still having them, and a food and symptom diary would be helpful.  In the beginning symptoms and reactions tend to be a bit up and down, and you are still refining your gluten free techniques.

[HumanDecency]

Thanks! I appreciate it. 

 

I'm looking into the rotational diet now.

 

So you would suggest that I only give up gluten during these three months and stay the course with other items? 

[mushroom]

I think it is a good idea that you have eliminated dairy to start with because its digestion is affected by the damage done by gluten in the small intestine. 

 

When people say they are silent celiacs, some of them mean that they do have absolutely no symptoms.  Others recognize that they have been having symptoms which they always thought were 'normal' until they no longer have them.  Most can identify at least something that improves with the removal of gluten (besides the damage to the small intestine, that is). 

 

It is important while you potentially have what is known as leaky gut that you do not eat the same thing over and over, because leaky guts allow partially digested foods into the blood stream and then your body can start making antibodies to them too.  This is why a rotational diet is often recommended.  Rather than being obsessive about it to start with (life is hard enough learning the diet) I would strive for as much variety of food as you can.  Now that you have given up gluten you can experiment with some of those vegetables from the produce section that you never quite knew what to do with -- a quick google with its name and gluten free recipe will give you ideas on how to prepare it.   You will find new favorite foods in the process.

 

You may or may not develop additional intolerances.  This is not the time to go looking for them!  It is time to learn the diet and explore new foods.  Try not to use too many gluten substitute processed foods which will contain grains you will not be used to digesting and often contain more fats and sugar than their gluten counterparts.  Have fun experimenting with your cooking.  You will need some gluten free pasta, bread, and baking mix.  I usually recommend Tinkyada, Udi's and Pamela's for beginners.  And you can expand your repetoire from there.

 

I would not eliminate corn or soy right off the bat, unless it starts becoming obvious that they are a problem.  I would hold off on oats for now, even certified gluten free oats, because some celiacs are known not to tolerate them either.  After about three months it should be pretty obvious if  you have additional intolerances and that's where the food and symptom diary come in.     This is just my suggested timeline.