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Airchee

By Airchee
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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Airchee Rookie
Airchee
Posted

I was just diagnosed a week ago. I was feeling positive and ready to make changes to get my health back. On Friday I was watching "Home Alone" with my son when a familiar icy cold spread down my neck and arms. Panic attack. I have had two episodes of clinical depression and anxiety disorder in my life, both pregnancy related. They both started exactly this way. Since then I have been fighting through every minute of the day. I dread waking up in the morning. Is this detox? Is this because I haven't been absorbing my regular medication? I had a major GI attack the day after Thanksgiving and have had water diarrhea 12x/day since then. Going gluten free is overwhelming and I'm sure contributed to the trigger but it just feels like something more than that. Called my GI saying I need help and she said she had never heard of gluten detox so call my psychiatrist. I feel so trapped in a broken body and mind. 

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GFinDC Veteran
GFinDC
Posted

Hello Airchee,

First off, are you gluten-free and have you been tested for celiac disease?  If you just went gluten-free recently then it can take a while for symptoms to improve.

Ok, sorry, I see you are diagnosed already.  Many of your symptoms may be related to celiac disease effects.  Damage to the gut lining (villi) impairs the ability to absorb nutrients (malabsorption).  So we can be low on critical vitamins and minerals that our bodies need for, oh, everything!

After the immune attack subsides your gut should be able to absorb better.   In the meantime you may get some benefit from taking extra B vitamins and a good multi-vitamin.

Simple foods are your friend to help the healing process along.  Not much spicy food (irritating) and not much in the way of processed foods.  Simple whole foods are less burdensome on your body and easier to digest.  Dairy may give you problems for a while too.  It's not a bad idea to avoid all dairy for a while to see if it helps.

Welcome to the forum Airchee! :)

cyclinglady Grand Master
cyclinglady
Posted

Welcome!  Anxiety and depression are some of the many symptoms of celiac disease.  With healing you may see some improvement.  Many who go gluten free  do experience withdrawl-like symptom for the first few weeks.  

Remember celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder flares-up (attacks the body) and the trigger is gluten (unlike other AI disorders like lupus, thyroiditis, etc where the trigger is unknown.  Once a flare-up occurs (antibodies increasing), it can last for days, weeks or months.  

You are  just learning to be gluten free.  It takes time.  You will make mistakes and learn from them.  Check out our Newbie 101 tips located under the Coping section of the forum (pinned).  I would suggest not going out to eat for a while and focus on whole naturally gluten-free foods to eat to speed healing (meat, fish, veggies, fruit, nuts, dairy (if you are not lactose intolerant).  

Soon, you will feel better.  As you heal, your medications may need to be adjusted.  Make sure they are gluten free by calling the manufacturer or check this gluten-free med list that is reputable:

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  • 2 weeks later...
gluten-free girl 67 Apprentice
gluten-free girl 67
Posted

Hi and welcome. So sorry to hear about your feelings. These days, going gluten free is really easy. Just try to eat mostly at home, you will feel so much better mentally and physically going gluten free! Trust me. I was diagnosed 6 years ago. Changing the way you eat can be hard, but remember how much better you will feel!!

Yuliya Newbie
Yuliya
Posted

Hi, I am Yuliya,  I have a question, if anybody ever had face tightening and headache symptoms after eating food with gluten? I have mentioned to several doctors about those symptoms, however they never relate it to my stomach problem. I have searched online about symptoms of celiac disease, however there nothing mention about face tightening. 

cyclinglady Grand Master
cyclinglady
Posted
1 hour ago, Yuliya said:

Hi, I am Yuliya,  I have a question, if anybody ever had face tightening and headache symptoms after eating food with gluten? I have mentioned to several doctors about those symptoms, however they never relate it to my stomach problem. I have searched online about symptoms of celiac disease, however there nothing mention about face tightening. 

Welcome!

 There are over 300 symptoms for celiac.  The only way to know is to get tested.  Here are the tests as listed on the University of Chicago celiac website (one of the easiest to read):

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I wish you well.  

ironictruth Proficient
ironictruth
Posted

 I'm a little concerned that you're having that much diarrhea for 3 weeks straight.  Basic electrolyte imbalances, especially magnesium, can make you feel really bad and contribute to anxiety. Can your doctor draw some basic blood work for you? In the meantime, maybe supplement with magnesium and drink coconut water in addition to regular water.

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Yuliya Newbie
Yuliya
Posted

Thank you for the reply, I m going to check the link 

egs1707 Enthusiast
egs1707
Posted
21 hours ago, Yuliya said:

Hi, I am Yuliya,  I have a question, if anybody ever had face tightening and headache symptoms after eating food with gluten? I have mentioned to several doctors about those symptoms, however they never relate it to my stomach problem. I have searched online about symptoms of celiac disease, however there nothing mention about face tightening. 

Hi Yuliya,

Yes I get the headache sensation, feels like something is pulling my scalp tightly at the top. My doctors had no idea about it either (although they didn't have much clue about celiac generally so it's not unusual).

Sometimes also around the cheeks too. In the last few days I think too much dairy may also be giving similar effects so watch out for that too.

Ennis-TX Grand Master
Ennis-TX
Posted

MY first symptoms are the lymph nodes under my neck and around my throat swelling and tightening up (feels like my jaw line pulling tight and hurting with a bit of a issue swallowing), in most cases, if it is a decent amount the next symptoms for me are vomiting, followed regardless by intestinal pains, numbness in hands and feet, brain fog, and finishing it up with D. For me it depends on the amount and what form it is in for the seriousness of each symptom. I have had it bad enough that the numbness went to full motor control loss and just collapsed in my door way vomiting (Last June, ate out at a restaurant got it bad).   Symptoms vary from person to person, as our immune systems react differently and seem to go after different areas more predominantly. For me it seems my intestines and nervous system are the unfortunate targets of my immune system, it has caused nerve and brain damage.

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