DucksnPucks

Great idea on the lists, I've often thought about doing that as well.

I find that as the day goes on the fatigue tends to go away a bit and I feel a little better, especially after I eat. But usually by the late afternoon I'm so tired that I can barely walk. Then i get a small second wind later at night.

Question for everyone, does getting more than 8 hours of sleep help any?

BMs welcome here!
Sounds great if they are more normal, seems to happen for quite a few of us.

Tiredness along with insomnia are the slowest to improve for me.

I am 3 months gluten-free now and definitely was up and down to start. A few weeks in I felt better than I had for maybe 7 years. Maybe 80%. I got glutened and dropped from that, but I would say I regularly am at 60% now with regular higher peaks. I used to be about 40 to 50%.

I don't get all over muscle problems, but I have had huge improvement to hand arm neck and back pain and plantar fasciitis (foot pain under heel).

I wasn't sure if it was real until I got glutened and the foot pain came back.

I don't know if it would be helpful for you, but I wrote out a list of symptoms I used to have, and then every few weeks I go back and revisit. I have found it useful to see the progress, especially if I am a bit down.

I have also added to my original list as I find symptoms I didn't even realize weren't normal and remembered things from the last 20 odd years and that people have mentioned here.

I gave these lists to my GI and he found it very helpful in giving me a diagnosis of NCGI cannot rule out celiac (I was unable to complete a gluten challenge).

Your enthusiasm comes through, it is great to see you have improvements

I'm done with the cheating. In fact, as I told my wife this morning, there are so many great alternatives out there now that I almost don't have to. For example, we had lunch at red Robin and I had a burger with a Gluten free bun. Yum! Also, since I've kicked the gluten completely, I've stopped craving processed foods like I used to and I "feel" thinner (if that makes any sense?). I'm not constantly bloated.

I know I'm going stumble along the way, but I just can't function doing what I've been doing all these years. The toughest part is knowing which products have gluten and which don't. I'm being 100 times more careful than I was before, and can feel the difference all ready. I hope to be able to go back to the gym and gradually begin light workouts again in a couple weeks.

I could give you a lecture about cheating, but I think deep down I know the only reason that I don't cheat is because I couldn't get away with it. I got some cc at my inlaws house for TG and have been racked (wracked?) with pain for days. I've also been sitting on a heating pad constantly. But it sounds like you're ready. Once you get over the hump and truly start feeling better I don't think you'll be tempted to cheat anymore.
The one thing that still gets me all these 2 1/2 years later is that I still have bad days and like now, bad periods of time where I am just sick...can't get anything done, and it bums me out. So, expect those days, and a possibly slow recovery, but embrace the good days...they are there for you if you are diligent. Good luck.

Thanks for sharing the links Karen, really appreciate the help! =)

Sorry but posts like this make me very sad. Kids do notice things like Dad having to take extra naps or not having energy to play. Mine did. I just hope you now can realize the seriousness of this disease and that it affects the family, not just you.


This site has easy to read and understand info about Celiac disease for you and your wife to read:


http://www.cureceliacdisease.org/

We have a newbie thread with some info too.

http://www.celiac.co...ewbie-info-101/

It will take a while (maybe years) for all those years of damage to heal. All the vitamin deficiencies caused by intestines that can't absorb them cause problems,too.. When you start feeling better and go back to eating gluten, it will continue.

Not much to say to you if you aren't ready to take your disease seriously. Not a very good example you are setting for your kids. Celiac is genetic, so they may have it someday, too. So many awful things those poor kids will learn from a father that doesn't care about his health.

This isn't meant to be unfriendly. Its just disheartening for me to see this.

Karen, I can't say that I've treated my body well over the past several years, but it hasn't been on purpose. I think it's easy to see that there has been a bit of denial on my part, especially since the symptoms would disappear for months on end. I could get away with eating whatever I wanted because there were no consequences. The other part of was lack of education. While I was "trying" to eat gluten free, I didn't fully understand the foods and chemicals I needed to stray away from and thought that an occasional cheat wasn't a bad. I blame myself for this.

But I do have to say one thing, respectfully, you don't know me, or my kids, or what kind of parent I am. I take offense to you being critical of me and the example I set for my kids without knowing a thing about me. This is not meant to be unfriendly, but my wife and I are great parents and do the best we can to raise our children as best we can. We probably won't win any parent of the year awards, but we provide a loving home with morals, respect and always try to set good examples.

I understand the mistakes I have made and the position I have put myself into. And I am doing everything I can to correct those things to allow myself to get healthy and remain healthy for a long time to come. I'm educating myself, eating right, and doing the right things for a change. I came here to get support, find people who I can identify with, and possible help others who are going through the same thing, not be torn back down and criticised.

Thanks for posting this. I'm just 10 days off gluten, so no words of wisdom from me, but I appreciate what you're going through. It seems unfair that some people go off gluten and seem to feel better immediately, and other people take forever.

But you're healing and every week you'll get a little better. In the meantime, please come back here to rant if you need to. There's always someone here also going through it and who wants to listen.

(Argh--I took my hot water bottle to the movies today for back pain.)

Thanks Amelia. Everyday is a battle right now, just looking forward to the little victories that keep me going to the next the day. I'd give anything just to be "normal" for a day, you know what I mean.

BTW - Love the hot water bottle idea, I might have to try that one! lol =)