The Weight Woes

[Zeko]

Hey ya'll,

I have been strictly gluten-free for two years since my celiac diagnosis and I have honestly never felt worse. I am a 5'9 male who weighs... 100 lbs... maybe. Not only am I obscenely underweight, I feel absolutely terrible day in and day out. I know I have an extremely sensitive form of celiac disease so I avoid gluten like the plague. If I get contaminated... well, we all know what that's like... So now comes my concern. I am 19 years old, and I CANNOT gain weight at all. I have worked with dieticians and bodybuilders, yet I find no results. I eat a balanced diet that is, first and foremost, healthy, high in protein, and high in calories. I have noticed that the more I eat, the more weight I lose. My thyroid is healthy, all other allergies are out of the picture, in fact all my blood work shows that I'm perfectly healthy. But that cannot be true. Since going to college, I have lost 20 lbs. Talk about a blow to my self-esteem. Furthermore, I have never been in so much pain or had so little energy. I have no idea who to turn to, or what I should do next.

 

Thank you for all your time. I hope I didn't go off too much.

[nvsmom]

That's gotta be frustrating.  What does a typical day's menu look like for you? Are you still consuming dairy? That can bother a lot of people, and a casein intolerance can lead to damaged villi and malnutrition issues just like in celiac disease. You are gluten-free right? You're not getting glutened  at all?

[flowerqueen]

Hey ya'll,

I have been strictly gluten-free for two years since my celiac diagnosis and I have honestly never felt worse. I am a 5'9 male who weighs... 100 lbs... maybe. Not only am I obscenely underweight, I feel absolutely terrible day in and day out. I know I have an extremely sensitive form of celiac disease so I avoid gluten like the plague. If I get contaminated... well, we all know what that's like... So now comes my concern. I am 19 years old, and I CANNOT gain weight at all. I have worked with dieticians and bodybuilders, yet I find no results. I eat a balanced diet that is, first and foremost, healthy, high in protein, and high in calories. I have noticed that the more I eat, the more weight I lose. My thyroid is healthy, all other allergies are out of the picture, in fact all my blood work shows that I'm perfectly healthy. But that cannot be true. Since going to college, I have lost 20 lbs. Talk about a blow to my self-esteem. Furthermore, I have never been in so much pain or had so little energy. I have no idea who to turn to, or what I should do next.

 

Thank you for all your time. I hope I didn't go off too much.

Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble. Have you had your vitamin and mineral levels checked? Also full blood count etc? Also, keeping a journal can help you spot things that may have crept into your diet that you should 'to be eating. I also agree with the previous post, that dairy can be a problem for Celiacs. I cannot touch dairy at all and I've been diagnosed with Celiacs over 2 years ago - I know some people eventually are able to tolerate it, but I haven't found that to be the case.

[Pauliewog]

I happened to see this article on the Mark's Daily Apple site. Maybe it will help:

 

Open Original Shared Link

[GF Lover]

Hi Zeco and welcome to the Forum.

 

Have you considered having the Celiac blood panel repeated to see if you have brought your numbers down.  It could tell you if you are still getting cc'd regularly enough to be producing antibodies.  If you are still producing antibodies you may not be absorbing nutrients from on-going damage. 

 

Colleen

[luvs2eat]

If you've never felt worse... something's not right. You said that all other allergies are out of the picture, but something's not making you feel good. I can only relate my youngest DD's celiac beginning. She was intolerant of seemingly EVERYTHING and spent more than a year eating exactly 5 foods... until her gut healed. She lost about 40-50 lbs. and had to force herself to eat her paltry food list to survive! A few years later, she can eat so many more foods but still has quite a list of intolerances.

 

Are there foods you eat that cause no problems? Focus on those. My daughter ate: apples, white rice, cauliflower, absolutely plain chicken, and eggs. That's it. It was terribly difficult for her but after working with doctors who pooh-poohed allergies, dieticians and nutritionists... it was her own extensive research that helped the most.

 

I hope it gets better!!

[Pegleg84]

Welcome to the Forum! We are here to help however we can.

Yeah, that is not a healthy weight for a guy your height, and if you still feel like crud, something is not right.

 

Aside from double checking everything in your kitchen/bathroom, and limiting yourself to your own kitchen/food prepared by your own hands for a while, then it sounds like you probably have another intolerance.

If you're still eating dairy, try cutting it out for a few weeks and see how you feel. Soy, corn, nightshades are other common intolerances among Celiacs. An intolerance is different from an allergy, and there's no testing for it other than seeing if you feel better without it. The can pop-up at any time, too (my dairy and soy intolerances didn't really kick in until a couple years after I went gluten-free). The jury's still out on what causes them, but if it makes you feel like crud, don't eat it. A food journal (everything you ate, what symptoms you get) can help you figure this out.

Checking your vitamin levels is also a good idea.

 

There will be more suggestions, I'm sure. Lots of information here on the Forum, and don't be afraid to vent. We get it.

Good luck!

[Zeko]

Thanks for the replies. As far as I know, I am not being glutened at all. I am extremely careful all the time and I mostly rely on my own food over my college's. As far as intolerances go, I do avoid dairy as most of you have mentioned, but I haven't even considered soy, casein, etc. I am on multiple vitamins/supplements which in theory should provide exactly what I need, but I'm beginning to think otherwise. I am actually going to be heading to my local hospital this weekend for more checkups and tests because I've lost another 5 lbs this week alone. I will insist on the tests you all listed above. I appreciate the support.

[flowerqueen]

Thanks for the replies. As far as I know, I am not being glutened at all. I am extremely careful all the time and I mostly rely on my own food over my college's. As far as intolerances go, I do avoid dairy as most of you have mentioned, but I haven't even considered soy, casein, etc. I am on multiple vitamins/supplements which in theory should provide exactly what I need, but I'm beginning to think otherwise. I am actually going to be heading to my local hospital this weekend for more checkups and tests because I've lost another 5 lbs this week alone. I will insist on the tests you all listed above. I appreciate the support.

I think that's wise, and hope you get some answers.  Good luck!