2 replies to this topic

[pogirl1786]

i've been gluten free for about 4 or 5 months, and although i've improved tremendously, i still have bad days. my stomach still hurts on some days, probably cause by stress, but mostly what is frustrating is how tired i get. i'm 17 and i used to be able to run around without feeling really tired. some days i wake up and i'm just physically tired, as if i had worked out a lot the day before, but of course i didn't do anything but go to school and come home. i was wondering if anyone else feels like this sometimes. i know that it takes time to heal and be completely better, but i just wonder how long this will take. my friends are really understanding about my sick days and my tired days, but i hate having to bail out on things when i don't feel well because i feel that since i've used my celiac disease as a reason for my not feeling well enough to go out on several different occasions, that i don't really have a legitimate excuse...i'm just tired of being tired and having to deal with all of this. does anyone else feel the same?

[travelthomas]

Hi Pogirl,

I’m almost 45 now and have been off of gluten for about a year and a half. Through my teenage surfing years in So. Cal., I had all kinds of on and off days. I did an awful lot of sleeping in the afternoons after school, and surfing.

When I got really sick, about two years ago, I was sleeping all the time. Now I’m much better after a year and a half of healing my intestines. I have very little fatigue. My biggest problem now, because I discovered this disease so late, is joint pain. It just makes it hard to do anything.

From my experience, it seems to take a while to feel better. I was told by a nutritionist with celiac disease, that it can take up to two years for the intestines to heal from the damage done by gluten. We’re lucky it heals at all, being we’re not like reptiles that can grow back new tissue.

Give it time, and stick to the diet. You are going to feel much better in a year.

[sharqua]

Pogirl,

It sounds like you may still have a source of gluten in your diet. If your intestines were still badly damaged, you'd be reacting all the time rather than having "some bad days." My suggestion is that it isn't stress; it's gluten causing the continued problems.

If you are taking vitamins or medication of any type, I'd look there to start. Even if the ingredient list doesn't show one of the triggers, it's STILL possible that flour is being used in the equipment.

Processed foods of any kind should be examined very, very closely with a tremendous amount of suspicion. You'd be shocked how many things have gluten hidden in them. It only takes a miniscule amount to knock an intolerant person completely for a loop.

If you aren't aiming for ZERO gluten, you are going to continue to poison yourself. This is a diet in which you simply cannot cheat. It's all or nothing.

Luck to you,

-Donna