Newbie Questions Re Elimination Diet

[kathy2005]

Hi,

I am new to this forum and this is my first post. I have been reading the forum for the past several days. I am a 44 year old female.

Last week I had one of my episodes of abdominal pain/bloating/gas and head ache a couple of hours after eating a croissant and two chocolate chip cookies. This episode was a revelation to me that I need to finally try a gluten free elimination diet. I have had these episodes intermittently my entire adult life except for the time I was doing the Atkins diet. At one time in my 20s I had a severe episode and continued to have abdominal pain. I went to the doctor and he said that I probably had an ulcer and put me on Tagamet. I was on Tagamet and antacids for at least a year (it took at least a year for my gut to get better). I have had some problems with iron deficiency anemia that I need to take extra iron for. I have also had problems with intermittent fatigue for as long as I can remember. I have bone loss in my mouth and my bone density in my hips is very low normal (normal in my spine). I have a problem with my calcium magnesium supplements causing morning diarrhea. If I stop or reduce my calcium/magnesium my diarrhea will go away. A few months ago I started natural hormone replacement. I feel much better with the hormones but still have problems with afternoon fatigue. When I am anemic my fatigue starts as soon as I wake up. Atkins helped me tremendously with stabilizing my blood sugar; I have reactive hypoglycemia when I eat too many carbs.

The last couple of months I have not been feeling as well as I think I should be feeling (fatigue and viral like episodes that included abdominal pain). After the episode with the croissant it occurred to me that I have gotten lazy with my diet and started eating pasta, sprouted grain bread, oatmeal, thin crust pizza, crackers and other gluten containing foods. I believe that at the very least I am gluten intolerant. I decided to eliminate all gluten containing foods from my diet.

Early this week I saw my hormone doctor and discussed my theory with him. He suggested that I eliminate all grains and potatoes until I feel better and then gradually add back the foods that I believe that I do not have a problem with.

I have been gluten free for five days. I am not having a problem with gas and diarrhea but I am still having a nagging irritation in my abdomen. Yesterday I had a nagging headache for the entire day. Since my stomach is still feeling ill I am wondering if I should possibly eliminate casein and eggs from my diet as well. It is easy for me to give up bread products because I know they are bad for me. I do not know if milk products and eggs cause me trouble though and I am having a hard time figuring out what I will eat if I cut out whey protein/cheese/eggs. I know I have lactose intolerance with plain white milk but in the past I do not ever recall having a problem with eggs/whey protein/cheese/yogurt. I was eating those foods on my Atkins diet and I do not recall having a problem then.

Does anyone have any advice for me and my elimination diet? Did my doctor give me good advice to cut out all grains and potatoes until I feel better? (I ate potatoes this morning to hopefully prevent the headache I had yesterday.) Do you think it would be beneficial to eliminate eggs and casein now as well? If so how long before I can try them again? (I do not plan to ever eat gluten again.) This all seems so complicated; maybe it would be better to just get tested??? I am just having a hard time deciding to spend the money for the stool tests right now.

Thanks for your help!

Kathy

[Nancym]

Well, there's two ways to do this. Eliminate some things and see if you stablize. If you do, great, you've narrowed down the field. If you don't, you gotta throw something else out.

Or, you can start with a bare-bones diet (Meat, fruit and veggies). Let your gut stabilize and slowly start trying new foods.

Nothing to eat? How did mankind survive before argriculture? I'm sensitive to casein. I couldn't tell until I gave it up. I lived with low level gas, bloating, cramping and diarrhea and constipation until I gave it up. My last day of casein I had 3 ice cream cones and got the worst gas from that.

Or you could get tested by Enterolab and they can test for quite a few things at once. (Soy, eggs, milk, nuts)

[kathy2005]

Well, there's two ways to do this. Eliminate some things and see if you stablize. If you do, great, you've narrowed down the field. If you don't, you gotta throw something else out.

Or, you can start with a bare-bones diet (Meat, fruit and veggies). Let your gut stabilize and slowly start trying new foods.

Nothing to eat? How did mankind survive before argriculture? I'm sensitive to casein. I couldn't tell until I gave it up. I lived with low level gas, bloating, cramping and diarrhea and constipation until I gave it up. My last day of casein I had 3 ice cream cones and got the worst gas from that.

Or you could get tested by Enterolab and they can test for quite a few things at once. (Soy, eggs, milk, nuts)

Nancy,

Thank you for the information. This morning I had chicken and fruit for breakfast and my gut actually feels good. I am going to take you advice and do a bare-bones diet for a wile and then test myself with whey protein and cheese because those are the two foods that I would miss the most. I feel no need to test myself for gluten because I am absolutely sure that it causes a problem for me. If I get any irritation back I think I will have to do the Enterolab test. I went grocery shopping and stocked up on meat, fruit, and veggies so it will be much easier for me now that I actually have the right food in the house.

Yesterday I had two whey protein smoothies and some cheese/cream/butter (in rice). I did not have any overt symptoms like gas/bloating/diarrhea/headache/extreme fatigue but I did have that nagging gut irritation that I have had for a week but it seemed to diminish as the day went on. I am hoping that the irritation was just from the healing process and not from the casein. I am hoping for the best but I am willing to eliminate any food that makes me ill.

Thank you for you help!

Kathy

[SAR99]

I'm waiting on my bloodwork now to see for sure if I'm celiac disease. My 11-year old son is being tested as well. I already know that I need to keep him away from gluten and casein.

How do you begin the "choosing food that you can eat" stage with celiac disease? Did you go to a health food store to get your food or just learn to read labels at the grocery?

[Nancym]

Personally I'm trying (and soon trying harder) to eliminate things from my diet that are processed and packaged and have long lists of ingredients. I've got a nasty autoimmune disease and I'm reacting to something in my diet still. When you have an ingredient list as long as your arm how can you really trust what is in that thing?

Whey protein... I think the one people are usually reacting to is casein. I've been avoiding Whey protein too because I have no idea how much casein finds its way to the whey.

[marciab]

I eliminated gluten, eggs, dairy, corn and soy all at once. And anything else that I suspected hurt my stomach (coffee, tea, etc.). My stomach was killing me though.

I found it easier to go down to the bare bones diet. Whole fresh fruits and veggies and hormone free meat.

And I still feel better if I eat this way.

I tried reading the labels and found myself spending entirely too much time on each aisle. I was much too tired and hungry to have the patience for that.

My stomach recouperated in a few months and since I have been adding foods back in. Usually just one at a time, so I know if I can handle it.

Marcia

[kathy2005]

I decided to go ahead and order the Enterolab tests. I ordered the complete Gluten Sensitivity Panel and the Egg/Soy/Yeast panel. I did not see any tests for nuts. I had a good day on Friday but had problems over the weekend. I am finding it hard to eleminate milk products so I decided that the testing was my best option for now. I can't wait to get my results back; I think my diet will be much easier to follow when I know for sure what I should not be eating.

Kathy