Felt Great Going gluten-free, Now Bad Again?

[Try2LiveHealthy]

I never had any bloodwork done but had an EGD biopsy which came back negative for celiac. My grandmother had celiac and I was so miserable I went ahead and decided to do a gluten free test. This has been close to 3 weeks now that I have been gluten free. I would say the first week I felt a huge improvement!! I had felt:

Extremely bloated, more so than at 9 months pregnant with my children

Constipated

Random sharp stomach pains all over

Heaviness in upper stomach

Headaches

Back pain

Always tired

Terrible hives

I've also got hypothyroid and bad anxiety/depression

Within days all the stomach problems cleared up, my body wasn't aching, I had more energy, my hives were better, I stopped getting the headaches I have been getting every day for years!! My anxiety was much less and I felt happier all around. Basically, diagnosis or not, I was determined never to touch gluten again.

Now the past week some of these symptoms have been sneaking back in. I can't figure out what I'm doing so wrong? Does that mean the problem isn't gluten after all? I hate that I felt so good right at first

And now it is gone. Is there something I am missing?

[dilettantesteph]

The same thing happened to me.  At first I felt completely healed from just eliminating bread and Cheerios.  The longer I was gluten free the more sensitive I got to gluten.  I had to educate myself more about the diet.  I was still eating gluten in unexpected places.  It was quite a long process for me.  Be patient.  It is worth all the effort.  I feel so much better now.

[nvsmom]

Gluten could have snuck back into your diet somewhere. I did that a few months ago - I nibbled on some fries that had gluten every few days and felt poorly for a month or so. It was mainly intestinal and headaches that came back for me.

 

I think the symptoms like pain and fatigue are harder to get rid of and tend to keep cropping up for months, or even years, after going gluten-free. When I had been gluten-free for three months, I had a bad autoimmune flare-up of some sort with symptoms that included deep fatigue, arthralgias that were affecting my everyday movements, and increased hairloss. I though something else must be wrong with me but my doctors seem to think it is still my body healing from years of gluten caused injury. Apparently it can take a loooong time to get rid of all symptoms for some people.

 

It could also be your hypothyroidism acting up, or even healing on gluten, which could alter your thyroid medication needs.

 

It could be other food sensitivities too. dairy is a common offender for many celiacs in the first few months. It is possible something else is not agreeing with you. I have discovered something in my Vegan protein powder that makes me react with bloat and stomach pain but it appears to be gluten-free, and I don't eat enough processed foods to pin point which ingredient was doing it to me. A food journal with symptoms might help you figure out which foods are causing problems or if gluten is in your diet.

 

good luck!  I hope you feel good again soon.

[Try2LiveHealthy]

Thank you, I definitely plan to stick with it as I know something must have been helping. I just hate that I can't figure out what changed. Tonight I know that everything I cooked was gluten free and my stomach still hurts. How big of a deal is cross contamination? I haven't replaced any mixing bowls, pots/pans , etc but pretty much everything has been run through the dishwasher.

[dilettantesteph]

It depends on how sensitive you are.  Pots and pans that aren't scratched up should clean up in the dishwasher.  What are you eating?  Do you have gluten in the house that could be causing cc?  It can take a couple of weeks for me to heal from a glutening with my safe diet.  Could you be healing from an earlier mistake?