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adjustment during gluten challenge? (And insomnia as a symptom?)

DandelionH

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DandelionH Apprentice
DandelionH
Posted

Hi all!

I'm not expecting a big response to this post and I know it's all personal etc. anyway but I was diagnosed through blood tests (and family history just over a year ago and have been gluten-free and happy as Larry but now have to do another gluten challenge because some of the tests at the doctor were found to be errors etc.  (I know... shocking... but whatever... moving on...)!

I started 2 days ago and was THRILLED to find I didn't react to wheat protein as a tiny bit of a vegie burger I'd been craving (and I've been eating meat since diagnosis but miss vegetarianism. If Coeliac I may return to it anyway but it's definitely a lot easier with wheat so I took the challenge as a thumbs up to go back to vegetarianism and that was more exciting than the idea of gluten again! But I digress...).
Last night I had one of my favourite old pies which is sourdough wholewheat. And for the first time in 6 months I woke at 2am and didn't go back to sleep (which was my life pre-diagnosis but I always thought it was just stress). But my stomach was ok.
This morning I have the whole loose bowels thing happening (but still not THAT bad) which is unusual for me.

My questions are (sorry, underslept... hard not to ramble):

-If you did a gluten challenge but were not found to be Coeliac, did you still find you had adjustment issues that could simply be your stomach reacting to a new protein after not having it for a while? Seems both logical because bodies are sensitive and also not because people don't react when they try rye bread for the first time or something, right?

-Can insomnia be a symptom? Not because of RLS (which I've only been getting since going gluten-free actually and is the only reason I ever and rarely stay awake at night) or pain but just...awakeness?

-And how long do your symptoms take to really kick in (but I'm sure that one has been answered in other threads and I look forward to reading a ton on here over my next week!).

 

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Jmg Mentor
Jmg
Posted
10 minutes ago, DandelionH said:

 
-If you did a gluten challenge but were not found to be Coeliac, did you still find you had adjustment issues that could simply be your stomach reacting to a new protein after not having it for a while? Seems both logical because bodies are sensitive and also not because people don't react when they try rye bread for the first time or something, right?

I did the challenge and had a negative biopsy. Digestive issues aren't my biggest immediate gluten symptom, but they did start pretty soon (within 2-3 hours from memory) after the challenge began.  I've never noticed a reaction to a new protein like that, but I can't say I ever used to notice such things until I became more aware of my body and my digestion. 

Within a couple of days I started to get more symptoms with different things becoming noticeable over the next weeks. Interestingly I never got the full level of symptoms I'd been experiencing  before going gluten free for the first time, so maybe I actually needed a longer challenge than I dared undertake. 

I don't think insomnia has been a gluten issue for me, but its difficult to say for sure. I used to get very sleepy after a meal, that changed with the diet. So I've generally been far more awake since gluten-free.

Perhaps I'm in some ways lucky however. You sound like you'd be happy to add wheat back into your diet if you get a negative test result?It's something I couldn't even contemplate. There were too many correlations when I undertook the challenge, too many disparate conditions which either fully or partially resolved. So I had no problem permanently eliminating gluten biopsy notwithstanding. The challenge, along with a subsequent glutening  by a food I'd erroneously thought was gluten-free gave me sufficient correlation to embrace the diet. 

Good luck in finding answers!

DandelionH Apprentice
DandelionH
Posted
  • Author

Hello!
Thanks for the reply and such thoughtful info. Sounds like it's been quite a journey for you but you're sure of where you stand. I can't wait to feel that way!

Yes, I'd be glad to add gluten back, because I feel better as a vegetarian than eating meat and vegetarianism is more difficult without gluten (doable but difficult) and I've just reintroduced dairy for the first time in 2 decades (I stopped eating it before I became vego because it gave me stomach cramps. It doesn't anymore, it seems, but does TOTALLY knock me out. Like...10 hour sleeps and that isn't my style and like pulling over to the side of the road after lunch. But then again, before going gluten-free everything used to do that. Which is sort of why I'm confused that now when I eat it I'm totally wired!). It would simplify things.
That said, I'm ok without it and would never have thought to add it back if they hadn't called me with such weird news suggesting it was worth rechecking.

Bleurgh.

I was liking being sorted one way or another...

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