Going Gluten-Free How Bad What Is At First?

[Renegade]

I see people saying they felt relief and got better as soon as they started the diet and I see people still struggling 10 years down the road.

 

In my case, I can say that this is by far the worse I've ever felt in my entire life, just staying awake drains all the little energy I barely have, I can't do any physical activities anymore and I used to workout 3 to 4 times a day and could eat all I wanted and go on with barely any sleep, now I get 9 hours eat super healthy and can barely keep my eyes open.

 

So I'm wondering how it is was for you people.

[mommy2krj]

How long have you been gluten free? From what I hear/read the withdrawl can be a real pain. Keep pushing through and if it isn't getting any better in a week or two....I would go see a doctor.

Are you eating too much rice? I know that can spike your blood sugars and cause problems...though I'm not sure what kind or if your fatigue would be part of that.

I would maybe have your adrenal gland checked if you don't start having more energy in a week or two.

 

My 6 year old is weepy lately and I'm crabby and more on edge right now.....though, I'm quitting gluten and cigarettes so, I'm not actually as bad as I thought I would be. Of course....that may not be my response next week when I cut soda out too. We're only beginning our 3rd week being gluten free and for us it hasn't been nearly as bad as you're experiencing. I did have to lower my son's milk/dairy intake though as it was causing him extra tummy issues.
 

I know it's frustrating. Maybe the pot smoking is adding to it, though? I know it always just made me sleepy so that could be part of it too. Just a thought. Could also be part of why you're always hungry too. Who knows. It's all trial and error at this point. If you've cut out the tomato sauce because you may be reacting to nightshades....peppers are in the nightshade family too so that might be part of it.

[Renegade]

Been at it for a month with 2 times in the very early stages I got glutened and once last Friday. I'll be cutting nightshades after i finish my spaghetti sauce tonight, ya not dumping all that beef in the toilet... I eat about half a cup of rice every day so not too much imo, also no bread or cereal and not even rice noodle, which is all the stuff i love incredibly. I quit pot yesterday for good untill I feel better starting probiotic if I find a dairy free one in store and I also cut coffee since Tuesday.

 

Also free for milk, eggs seems good for me for now.

[mommy2krj]

Oh I wouldn't dump that much in the toilet either. What about freezing it though? Then when you're ready to try adding those things back into your diet....you don't have to go out and buy them you'll have them there already.

 

I don't know where you are but our Festival Foods has a wonderful selection (and is cheaper!) of gluten free and organic and everything in between. They have several different choices as far as probiotics go and so far as I have seen they are all dairy free.

 

Hopefully you're just going through withdrawl and your body starts getting back on track soon.

[BZBee]

I didn't start feeling better until 3 months gluten free and eating only whole foods. My iron levels improved and I began to have more energy. However, I'm still on the uphill battle to recovery. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of time.

[tarnalberry]

Have you had a sleep study done? 9 hours of sleep is useless if it is poor quality sleep.

[bartfull]

You're giving up a lot of things at once - gluten, dairy, weed, and coffee. (COFFEE!!???) Your body is in withdrawal from all four of those things. It's to be expected that you feel lousy right now. PLUS, you have gotten glutened three times in the past month and this early into the diet as far as withdrawal goes, you are starting at square one each time. Just bear with it and give it some more time. If you can avoid getting glutened, by this time in August you should be feeling LOTS better. I know that sounds like a long time but you can handle anything for three or four weeks.

 

Trust me.

[Renegade]

Believe me, stopping all of that at once wasn't out of pleasure but weed is necessarily as it makes me feel very ill now, and I been smoking for 2 years daily without problem until I got the gluten symptoms 3 months ago, I had coffee every day or so for 3 years. I am stopping it because I believe it will help my gut heal and I won't rely on it to feel normal in the long run (my new crappy normal). I wasn't a heavy user of dairy, I would have cow milk every day then switched to almond milk every months or so and so on for about another 2 years and enjoyed a yogurt every now and then, I been on almond milk for another 2 months.

 

I don't see those occasional glutening to be that bad, I had digestive issue for 3 hours after being glutened last week followed by a mid headache but later during that day I was fine.

[mommy2krj]

Oh and for a little help with the coffee quitting....the Water Joe caffeinated water works wonders for me when I'm working on quitting soda. I have a nasty mtn dew habit. Gives me the caffeine punch without all the sugar and crap attached. Then when I'm good from that....I wean myself off the water joe. It's easier for me that way.

I'm working on finding something good for me that I can replace the soda with...that I'll want to keep drinking like soda! That's my downfall...water....for whatever reason seems to just sit and slosh around in my stomach if I drink too much of it and it makes me feel sick. But I'm still thirsty and wanting something to drink. I was replacing it with an occasional chocolate milk...but now I'm scared of milk since the last time I drank it I got sick like I do with ice cream. :/

[Renegade]

Oh and for my sleep, I go to bed at the exact same time every day except on weekend where I allow myself to sleep 10-14hours I take 10mg of melatonin 1h before and another 10mg right when I step in bed, when I do that I feel so lethargic that I actually fall asleep every time. Otherwise without melatonin I would stay awake most likely and get only like 6 hours. I do wake up at a minimum of 5 times per night, either cause I gotta pee or THINK I gotta pee or just wake up from a dream.

 

Yet I sleep rather well despite waking up so often again thanks to melatonin.

[bartfull]

If gluten were just an irritant to your digestive system an occasional glutening wouldn't be that bad, but each time you get glutened it sets off an immune response. It's like the difference between sneezing from sniffing pepper and sneezing because you have a virus. The pepper irritates your sinuses and so does the virus, but the virus also makes your whole body sick. You may FEEL like the effects don't last more than a few hours, but it takes a lot longer than that for your immune system to go back to normal.

[Renegade]

If gluten were just an irritant to your digestive system an occasional glutening wouldn't be that bad, but each time you get glutened it sets off an immune response. It's like the difference between sneezing from sniffing pepper and sneezing because you have a virus. The pepper irritates your sinuses and so does the virus, but the virus also makes your whole body sick. You may FEEL like the effects don't last more than a few hours, but it takes a lot longer than that for your immune system to go back to normal.

Well then hopefully I'm not getting cross contamination then, like almonds and stuff, for instance I buy the more expensive ones that say may content other nuts and tree nuts which are twice the price as the one that say may have been in contact with wheat, yet they both come from California.

[tarnalberry]

Oh and for my sleep, I go to bed at the exact same time every day except on weekend where I allow myself to sleep 10-14hours I take 10mg of melatonin 1h before and another 10mg right when I step in bed, when I do that I feel so lethargic that I actually fall asleep every time. Otherwise without melatonin I would stay awake most likely and get only like 6 hours. I do wake up at a minimum of 5 times per night, either cause I gotta pee or THINK I gotta pee or just wake up from a dream.

 

Yet I sleep rather well despite waking up so often again thanks to melatonin.

 

You seem to have an answer for everything, so I don't know that you'll listen to this, but no, you don't sleep well. And, all efforts aside, your BS'ing yourself if you think that your getting good quality sleep.  Chronic sleep deprivation can occur even when you get a large enough quantity of sleep, if the quality is low.  You've spoken nothing to the quality (how deeply into rest did your brain go?).  But you have spoken about the continuity of sleep (you don't have it), which is one of many things that prevents you from getting into the deeper stages of sleep.  Those deeper stages of sleep are necessary to repair the body and brain and to feel fully rested.  (I've gotten to do plenty of research on the topic as well as first hand experience as I have a kid who took nearly two years to let me get more than three consecutive hours of sleep.)  It is feasible that the poor sleep alone is causing the fatigue (though I'd bet other things are going on too).

 

I would encourage you to work on getting off melatonin (it has its place, but it is a known side effect that it can leave you tired.  But I would also work on adjusting your body so that you don't have to pee so much (alter when you drink, alter what you drink, adjust the temperature (sleeping cold encourages more peeing), and so on - possibly even talking to your doctor about whether or not you think you have bladder irritation that is causing this).

 

I don't see those occasional glutening to be that bad, I had digestive issue for 3 hours after being glutened last week followed by a mid headache but later during that day I was fine.

 

Again, BS.  The auto-immune reaction when exposed to gluten is self-sustaining for up to two weeks.  If you're getting glutened three times a month, your body is *never* in a state where it's fully devoted to recovering.

[Renegade]

You seem to have an answer for everything, so I don't know that you'll listen to this, but no, you don't sleep well. And, all efforts aside, your BS'ing yourself if you think that your getting good quality sleep.  Chronic sleep deprivation can occur even when you get a large enough quantity of sleep, if the quality is low.  You've spoken nothing to the quality (how deeply into rest did your brain go?).  But you have spoken about the continuity of sleep (you don't have it), which is one of many things that prevents you from getting into the deeper stages of sleep.  Those deeper stages of sleep are necessary to repair the body and brain and to feel fully rested.  (I've gotten to do plenty of research on the topic as well as first hand experience as I have a kid who took nearly two years to let me get more than three consecutive hours of sleep.)  It is feasible that the poor sleep alone is causing the fatigue (though I'd bet other things are going on too).

 

I would encourage you to work on getting off melatonin (it has its place, but it is a known side effect that it can leave you tired.  But I would also work on adjusting your body so that you don't have to pee so much (alter when you drink, alter what you drink, adjust the temperature (sleeping cold encourages more peeing), and so on - possibly even talking to your doctor about whether or not you think you have bladder irritation that is causing this).

 

 

Again, BS.  The auto-immune reaction when exposed to gluten is self-sustaining for up to two weeks.  If you're getting glutened three times a month, your body is *never* in a state where it's fully devoted to recovering.

I don't have an answer for everything, but I try to have one, I am not saying I am right, I am new to all of this and this is why I ask so many questions. You are probably right with the glutening lasting for so long, my understanding is that for some it might not be as bad as others, depending if it is celiac or just gluten intolerance.

 

In any case for the sleeping thing, well I could try sleeping without melatonin but then I fear it will take a while to fix itself and probably cause more harm then good at first and I get so tired already that not sleeping those 2-3hours would make me unable to work. When I first wake up, I get very sleepy and tired but I realized that after about 4 to 5 hours I can actually function to a decent amount, I wake up at 6am and by 11am I can think straight for more then 30seconds.

 

I find it odd that I only get the peeing thing at night and it doesn't seen to matter rather I drank or not before sleeping as I can get the urge to pee many hours after having fallen asleep.

[mommy2krj]

I would definitely suggest a sleep study. My husband has sleep apnea...that was scary and he had no idea. He's actually had multiple surgeries to fix a deviated septum, had his rather large tonsils out, they shocked his tongue because it was too loose...all sorts of stuff. Helped for a while until he put on more weight. He can't use the c-pap machine because it actually ends up completely cutting off his airway.

I had a friend who had even more severe sleep apnea than my husband....which is REALLY bad. When she wore her c-pap mask she would wake up feeling refreshed and like she slept but if she didn't she slept more and woke up feeling like she hadn't slept at all. I never did understand why she wouldn't then wear that mask every night....but I imagine it isn't the most comfortable thing either. She also had Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis....it's been 2 years since we lost her. And having to travel down this path of gluten free and gaining all this knowledge...I wish she were still around so we could do it together. Today would have been her 35th birthday....sorry she's been pretty strongly on my mind today.

[Renegade]

I would definitely suggest a sleep study. My husband has sleep apnea...that was scary and he had no idea. He's actually had multiple surgeries to fix a deviated septum, had his rather large tonsils out, they shocked his tongue because it was too loose...all sorts of stuff. Helped for a while until he put on more weight. He can't use the c-pap machine because it actually ends up completely cutting off his airway.

I had a friend who had even more severe sleep apnea than my husband....which is REALLY bad. When she wore her c-pap mask she would wake up feeling refreshed and like she slept but if she didn't she slept more and woke up feeling like she hadn't slept at all. I never did understand why she wouldn't then wear that mask every night....but I imagine it isn't the most comfortable thing either. She also had Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis....it's been 2 years since we lost her. And having to travel down this path of gluten free and gaining all this knowledge...I wish she were still around so we could do it together. Today would have been her 35th birthday....sorry she's been pretty strongly on my mind today.

Very interesting, how do I go about doing this, is there a type of specialist I need to google for?

[mommy2krj]

Yes...you would probably need a referral from your regular doctor depending on how things work by you. But you would need to see a sleep specialist or an ENT (ear, nose, throat doctor). My husband's ENT just happened to also be his allergist so the doc had a pretty good grasp on what my husband was dealing with. He has some pretty nasty seasonal allergies and allergies to cats and dogs and dust and oh yeah....the stuff that's in beer! I can't remember if it's the wheat, the barley or the hops. Oy. He still drinks it though and then wonders why he is so stuffed up all the time. It obviously isn't a severe allergy.

My oldest son also has sleep apnea....we got a referral (finally after about 5 years of me asking for one!!!) through the pediatrician. I'm going to have to have another one for him. He had his tonsils out too....and that helped for a while. We need to do another one to make sure the tonsil removal worked. Though, given his size and family history....I doubt it.

My youngest had his tonsils and adenoids out as well right in between his father's and his brother's surgeries. It was good fun in our house! He definitely recovered the quickest....joys of being a little kid! But his tonsils were huge and he had sleep apnea at the age of 3 and he is no where near overweight. (A lot of people think only overweight people can have sleep apnea...not true!!!)

Anyway...hope that helps!

[bartfull]

I'm going to say this again:

 

You're giving up a lot of things at once - gluten, dairy, weed, and coffee. (COFFEE!!???) Your body is in withdrawal from all four of those things. It's to be expected that you feel lousy right now. PLUS, you have gotten glutened three times in the past month and this early into the diet as far as withdrawal goes, you are starting at square one each time. Just bear with it and give it some more time. If you can avoid getting glutened, by this time in August you should be feeling LOTS better. I know that sounds like a long time but you can handle anything for three or four weeks.

 

Trust me.

 

What you are suffering from is withdrawal, plain and simple. If you can get through the next three or four weeks without being glutened, you will be fine. If you keep looking for other reasons for your problems and cutting out other foods and thinking that getting glutened isn't doing THAT much harm, you are just going to prolong your suffering. Withdrawal is common - most of us have gone through EXACTLY what you are going through. After a few weeks we were fine and so will you be.

[Renegade]

I'm going to say this again:

 

You're giving up a lot of things at once - gluten, dairy, weed, and coffee. (COFFEE!!???) Your body is in withdrawal from all four of those things. It's to be expected that you feel lousy right now. PLUS, you have gotten glutened three times in the past month and this early into the diet as far as withdrawal goes, you are starting at square one each time. Just bear with it and give it some more time. If you can avoid getting glutened, by this time in August you should be feeling LOTS better. I know that sounds like a long time but you can handle anything for three or four weeks.

 

Trust me.

 

What you are suffering from is withdrawal, plain and simple. If you can get through the next three or four weeks without being glutened, you will be fine. If you keep looking for other reasons for your problems and cutting out other foods and thinking that getting glutened isn't doing THAT much harm, you are just going to prolong your suffering. Withdrawal is common - most of us have gone through EXACTLY what you are going through. After a few weeks we were fine and so will you be.

Hopefully so, I am going to continue to keep what I cut out away though, see now I was going to cut out melatonin, should I not?

[bartfull]

It's your choice but I will tell you that I had had insomnia most of my life, went gluten-free and it got even worse for about three weeks or so, then resolved. I now sleep like a baby. I never used melatonin or any other sleep-aids so I can't advise you on that.

[AlwaysLearning]

Presume that spaghetti sauce contains gluten unless it is actually marked as gluten free on the label. It is often an ingredient in the tomato paste. So don't blame nightshades right off the bat if you haven't found a premade sauce that is made more carefully.

I've heard anecdotal stories of coffee becoming bothersome for those who go gluten free. Curious as to why, I found an article about how a protein in coffee may be similar enough to that in gluten to be confused by the body. I don't drink coffee so I don't have personal experience.

Sleep apnea is one of the symptoms of gluten allergies so if you do have an apnea, you can expect that they would improve after going and staying completely gluten free. Insomnia is also a symptom of a gluten allergy so going gluten free helps with that too. But I wouldn't start scheduling appointments for a sleep study just yet. You have already admitted that your attempt to go gluten free has had plenty of hiccups so getting glutened could still be the cause of your fatigue. Don't underestimate how debilitating the "brain fog" can be.

If you have had repeated glutenings since going gluten free, you should completely expect to feel awful. You would not only be going through the reactions but also the withdrawals over and over again - pretty much the worst thing you can do to your body. Each glutening takes days to recover from, or even weeks, and they become more noticeable the longer you have been gluten free, becoming more sensitive to even microscopic amounts.

Until you have completely decontaminated your kitchen, replacing cutting boards, non-stick pots and pans, colanders, toasters, and any sort of plastic utensils, presume that they are still sources of gluten.

Until you have researched every ingredient in every processed food that was previously in your cupboard, presume that they either contain an ingredient that has gluten in it, or may have been processed in a facility that is contaminated with gluten. 

But I wouldn't beat myself up too badly for making mistakes or not wanting to believe that gluten can be so hard to rid from our homes. I'd make a bet that every single person who has ever gone gluten free has made dozens of mistakes or had some remaining wishful thinking, especially at the beginning.

Once you do manage to truly eat gluten free, you should expect that many odd little things that you had been living with forever and didn't ever realize were caused by gluten will disappear and many of them will only take a day or two. Other problems will persist or even get worse in which case some other vitamin or mineral deficiency is likely to be to blame.

My personal experience was that probiotics weren't needed. My digestive system was already in balance from that point of view though I don't avoid things like yogurt or raw foods that would add them to my diet naturally. 

But I do suspect that many people feel considerably better right away because they start taking gluten-free multi vitamins as recommended - and if you do have any deficiencies, you could feel the effects of supplements within minutes. 

Don't forget that gluten allergies cause malabsorption/malnutrition and this will continue to be a problem until the damage done to your digestive system has had an opportunity to heal. And until you are 100% gluten free and manage to stay that way long term, you're still not healing and damage is still being done.

 

And though many people actually do suffer from milk, soy, and corn allergies in addition to gluten, this is not the same for everyone and not to be presumed. If you're having problems just going gluten free, you might try eliminating them one at a time. Keeping a food diary seems like a good idea if you suspect that you have additional allergies. 

If you don't have grocery stores in your area that carry a wide variety of gluten-free products, you may need to seek out one that specializes in organic and natural foods in order to find premade foods and vitamins that are gluten free. Your other options are to shop online, have your local grocery store make special orders for you, or to make your own. And no doubt, if you post any sort of question on this forum asking others for thoughts about their favorite gluten-free alternatives, you'll get a response. 

[Renegade]

Presume that spaghetti sauce contains gluten unless it is actually marked as gluten free on the label. It is often an ingredient in the tomato paste. So don't blame nightshades right off the bat if you haven't found a premade sauce that is made more carefully.

I've heard anecdotal stories of coffee becoming bothersome for those who go gluten free. Curious as to why, I found an article about how a protein in coffee may be similar enough to that in gluten to be confused by the body. I don't drink coffee so I don't have personal experience.

Sleep apnea is one of the symptoms of gluten allergies so if you do have an apnea, you can expect that they would improve after going and staying completely gluten free. Insomnia is also a symptom of a gluten allergy so going gluten free helps with that too. But I wouldn't start scheduling appointments for a sleep study just yet. You have already admitted that your attempt to go gluten free has had plenty of hiccups so getting glutened could still be the cause of your fatigue. Don't underestimate how debilitating the "brain fog" can be.

If you have had repeated glutenings since going gluten free, you should completely expect to feel awful. You would not only be going through the reactions but also the withdrawals over and over again - pretty much the worst thing you can do to your body. Each glutening takes days to recover from, or even weeks, and they become more noticeable the longer you have been gluten free, becoming more sensitive to even microscopic amounts.

Until you have completely decontaminated your kitchen, replacing cutting boards, non-stick pots and pans, colanders, toasters, and any sort of plastic utensils, presume that they are still sources of gluten.

Until you have researched every ingredient in every processed food that was previously in your cupboard, presume that they either contain an ingredient that has gluten in it, or may have been processed in a facility that is contaminated with gluten. 

But I wouldn't beat myself up too badly for making mistakes or not wanting to believe that gluten can be so hard to rid from our homes. I'd make a bet that every single person who has ever gone gluten free has made dozens of mistakes or had some remaining wishful thinking, especially at the beginning.

Once you do manage to truly eat gluten free, you should expect that many odd little things that you had been living with forever and didn't ever realize were caused by gluten will disappear and many of them will only take a day or two. Other problems will persist or even get worse in which case some other vitamin or mineral deficiency is likely to be to blame.

My personal experience was that probiotics weren't needed. My digestive system was already in balance from that point of view though I don't avoid things like yogurt or raw foods that would add them to my diet naturally. 

But I do suspect that many people feel considerably better right away because they start taking gluten-free multi vitamins as recommended - and if you do have any deficiencies, you could feel the effects of supplements within minutes. 

Don't forget that gluten allergies cause malabsorption/malnutrition and this will continue to be a problem until the damage done to your digestive system has had an opportunity to heal. And until you are 100% gluten free and manage to stay that way long term, you're still not healing and damage is still being done.

 

And though many people actually do suffer from milk, soy, and corn allergies in addition to gluten, this is not the same for everyone and not to be presumed. If you're having problems just going gluten free, you might try eliminating them one at a time. Keeping a food diary seems like a good idea if you suspect that you have additional allergies. 

If you don't have grocery stores in your area that carry a wide variety of gluten-free products, you may need to seek out one that specializes in organic and natural foods in order to find premade foods and vitamins that are gluten free. Your other options are to shop online, have your local grocery store make special orders for you, or to make your own. And no doubt, if you post any sort of question on this forum asking others for thoughts about their favorite gluten-free alternatives, you'll get a response. 

Well I was making my own spaghetti sauce, and would buy tomato sauce and paste, garlic beef, spices and pepper. I wouldn't get any already made spaghetti sauce.

 

I suspect my almonds to be cross contaminated even thought it doesn't say it may contain wheat, the other day i had them in a considerable amount and I had all my spasm and bloating come back, but so did I the day prior from hemp protein, smoking weed and just anything really. I'll have to call and make sure the are safe.

[mommy2krj]

Presume that spaghetti sauce contains gluten unless it is actually marked as gluten free on the label. It is often an ingredient in the tomato paste. So don't blame nightshades right off the bat if you haven't found a premade sauce that is made more carefully.

I've heard anecdotal stories of coffee becoming bothersome for those who go gluten free. Curious as to why, I found an article about how a protein in coffee may be similar enough to that in gluten to be confused by the body. I don't drink coffee so I don't have personal experience.

Sleep apnea is one of the symptoms of gluten allergies so if you do have an apnea, you can expect that they would improve after going and staying completely gluten free. Insomnia is also a symptom of a gluten allergy so going gluten free helps with that too. But I wouldn't start scheduling appointments for a sleep study just yet. You have already admitted that your attempt to go gluten free has had plenty of hiccups so getting glutened could still be the cause of your fatigue. Don't underestimate how debilitating the "brain fog" can be.

If you have had repeated glutenings since going gluten free, you should completely expect to feel awful. You would not only be going through the reactions but also the withdrawals over and over again - pretty much the worst thing you can do to your body. Each glutening takes days to recover from, or even weeks, and they become more noticeable the longer you have been gluten free, becoming more sensitive to even microscopic amounts.

Until you have completely decontaminated your kitchen, replacing cutting boards, non-stick pots and pans, colanders, toasters, and any sort of plastic utensils, presume that they are still sources of gluten.

Until you have researched every ingredient in every processed food that was previously in your cupboard, presume that they either contain an ingredient that has gluten in it, or may have been processed in a facility that is contaminated with gluten. 

But I wouldn't beat myself up too badly for making mistakes or not wanting to believe that gluten can be so hard to rid from our homes. I'd make a bet that every single person who has ever gone gluten free has made dozens of mistakes or had some remaining wishful thinking, especially at the beginning.

Once you do manage to truly eat gluten free, you should expect that many odd little things that you had been living with forever and didn't ever realize were caused by gluten will disappear and many of them will only take a day or two. Other problems will persist or even get worse in which case some other vitamin or mineral deficiency is likely to be to blame.

My personal experience was that probiotics weren't needed. My digestive system was already in balance from that point of view though I don't avoid things like yogurt or raw foods that would add them to my diet naturally. 

But I do suspect that many people feel considerably better right away because they start taking gluten-free multi vitamins as recommended - and if you do have any deficiencies, you could feel the effects of supplements within minutes. 

Don't forget that gluten allergies cause malabsorption/malnutrition and this will continue to be a problem until the damage done to your digestive system has had an opportunity to heal. And until you are 100% gluten free and manage to stay that way long term, you're still not healing and damage is still being done.

 

And though many people actually do suffer from milk, soy, and corn allergies in addition to gluten, this is not the same for everyone and not to be presumed. If you're having problems just going gluten free, you might try eliminating them one at a time. Keeping a food diary seems like a good idea if you suspect that you have additional allergies. 

If you don't have grocery stores in your area that carry a wide variety of gluten-free products, you may need to seek out one that specializes in organic and natural foods in order to find premade foods and vitamins that are gluten free. Your other options are to shop online, have your local grocery store make special orders for you, or to make your own. And no doubt, if you post any sort of question on this forum asking others for thoughts about their favorite gluten-free alternatives, you'll get a response. 

I didn't realize that sleep apnea was also a symptom of gluten allergies. So far as my husband goes, at least, his were all very physical very non-allergy related issues. They had to take cartilage from his ear to help rebuild his nose. Now, now it could be that and/or a weight issue as he has gained a good chunk of weight since that surgery and that hasn't helped any.

 

I could, now, easily believe that gluten issues could have been the culprit with my sons.

[tommysmommy]

Consider vitamins, and if already taking, adjust/increase. The body struggles w/ vitamin-nutrient absorption as you heal. B12 is a wonder drug for me (try to ones tgat melt under your tongue for best absorption) - you may find you have a deficiency in some things. Also, be sure any supplements you take a gluten-free, often a hidden source of gluten