SEVERE GLUTEN WITDRAWAL

[Missingbeer]

Hello  in new to the forum and am 3 days in to my gluten free diet - and I have never felt worse. 

Persistant nausea

anxiety

headache

sore stomach 

muscle pain

indigestion

please let me know if this is normal !!

 

thanks so much 

[Milscarl]

Hi I am new too, but the symptoms you are explaining sounds like I felt when eating gluten! But after 3 weeks of being off it I can't believe how much better I am feeling. So keep going and hopefully you will feel much better soon! 

[GFinDC]

Hi Missing,

I don't think your symptoms are anything to worry about.  They may be unpleasant but should dissipate after a few weeks.  Unfortunately they may come back from time to time as you are learning the gluten-free diet and your body is healing.  It seems like recovery from celiac damage is not a straight-line process for many people.  We may get better for a while and then get sicker for a while and then better etc, etc.  A roller coaster is a good analogy.  The overall trend should be improvement though.

The less gluten you get in your system the better for healing.  That's why I recommend eating whole foods you prepare yourself, rather than processed foods, even gluten-free ones.  Your diet should be mostly meat, veggies, nuts, eggs, fruit for several months, maybe 6.  Avoid restaurants also.

The immune system produces antibodies to protect us from pathogens.  It's really good at that and won't stop for a while as it just doesn't seem to trust the little buglies.  So any ingestion of gluten can kick off a month or more of immune system attack on the body.  The other thing causes discomfort is the upset to our gut bacteria colonies and excess gas they produce.  (Plus of course gut damage hurts).  So it's real helpful to avoid sugar and carbs during the healing process to reduce the gas production pipeline.

Another gotcha is the fact that gut damage inhibits absorption of nutrients that our bodies need to heal and maintain tissues.  As time goes on and your gut heals you can absorb better, and healing can proceed faster.  Easy to digest foods are helpful there, well cooked veggies may be less irritating.

There are gluten-free beers available but they an be kind of pricey.  Wines are generally safe though.

Welcome to the forum!