Gluten/Dairy Free But Still Feeling Sick?

[treeoflife06]

Hi guys!

I have been reading this message board for the past month, but never posting but its now my turn to post I guess.

I am a 27 year old female who woke up one day and just had diarrhea for almost a month straight 7-8 times a day. It was just water. I went to a GI doctor. My blood work came back completely normal and not even a chance of Celiac's. So he told me he thinks I am gluten intolerant. I stopped eating gluten and dairy (which i was allergic to) and its been since February 2nd. 
 

Having diarrhea every day stopped completely once i went gluten & dairy free..but still have been feeling off since then. I had gas really bad for a while that smelt absolutely disgusting and i couldnt help it. My doctor told me to get on a probiotic for that. That has kind of cleared, but every  day my stomach just feels funky. Like almost like you have to poop. And it rumbles, and I still have gas a LOT, just not as much. And I poop quite often but its not water anymore. Also, I have always drank wine, and now even when I have one or two glasses, the next day I poop a ton.

 

Can anyone tell me if this happened to them? Is my stomach just regulating itself? Is this normal? I asked my GI doctor again and he said "if you really want to do an endoscopy or colonoscopy we can, but its unlikely theres anything else wrong" I never had blood in my poop or anything like that. Please give me some advice here. I am feeling completely defeated. It is super frustrating, I just want my life back. I can't go out to eat with my boyfriend cause its always so complicated & now I cant go out and get a drink either? I have to worry about if I have to poop or not or if my stomach will hurt.

 

Side note: I have a naturopathic doctor appointment in two weeks which I am excited about..ive heard good things..anyone have experience with this also? SOrry for the long post, i just need to talk to people who get it! Thank you in advance. 

[Ennis-TX]

What do you typically eat?

This could be anything really, from a bad strain of bacteria in your gut, a food intolerance, parasite, allergy, ulcers, or a deficiency.

Start off with a food journal and write down everything your eat. Try removing one food at a time for a week and noting your you feel and any changes. You might find you have a intolerance to something, or a allergy could be causing inflammation in the intestines. 

What is your sugar/carb intake, if your on a gluten-free diet and eating a bunch of processed foods the issue could be your having too much starches, sugars, and carbs and your gut bacteria are just having a field day. In which case adjusting your ratios adding more fiber and fats will help.

It could be the wine as some people react to the sulfates and nitrates in it same wit the vinegar.

I would really suggest dropping all of your current staples and trying a whole foods only diet of simple stewed/baked/grilled meats, eggs. veggies, sweet potatoes, nuts, and small amounts of fruit. See how you feel on that kind of diet. From there do the elimination diet and try removing some and adding something for a week at a time keeping it simple.

Heck you might even have a gluten containg spice or glutened cookware and be getting yourself just a tad with gluten.

PS welcome to the fourm say you have been here for awhile but just going to post the basics introduction links anyway.

https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/91878-newbie-info-101/

https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/117090-gluten-free-food-alternatives-list/

 

[treeoflife06]

I scan everything i eat. So I know I am not eating gluten.

 

I have been good for like five to six days and then today I have dirreah again. It's super weird. The doctor told me IBS...but he doesnt seem concerned. I am wondering if I should switch doctors to someone who's going to be more apt to trying to find out what is wrong. My blood work is all normal and he doesnt seem to want to give me an endoscopy or colonoscopy cause he said it's "possible but probably not" something else.

[Ennis-TX]

10 minutes ago, treeoflife06 said:

I scan everything i eat. So I know I am not eating gluten.

 

I have been good for like five to six days and then today I have dirreah again. It's super weird. The doctor told me IBS...but he doesnt seem concerned. I am wondering if I should switch doctors to someone who's going to be more apt to trying to find out what is wrong. My blood work is all normal and he doesnt seem to want to give me an endoscopy or colonoscopy cause he said it's "possible but probably not" something else.

Might push for the scope just to be sure what it is. Especially if covered by insurance. Most of these autoimmune diseases have a particular diet and foods to avoid that help you to live a more normal life. Just got to nail down what you have.

Your still a bit early into the gluten-free diet also, can takes weeks if not months for your system to settle. Give it more time, and keep on being vigilant with ingredients, and safe prep in a gluten-free environment. Note gluten CC is a real pain first getting into the diet. You will make mistakes with old contaminated cookware, spices, condiments, crumbs in drawers/containers/toaster/oven/counter, getting a untrusted brand etc. Best to stick to whole foods only first few weeks of the diet to jump start your healing and make it simpler.

Start the food journal to see if you can nail down some culprits and get some data on what is causing the issues. You might be able to categorize a certain kind of food (Night shades, legumes, grains)  or a food in particular that is doing it.    Say it could be stuff like sugar carbs, soy, meats, or some random intolarenace you developed. It is very common to get them with this disease, and they can cause all kind of different symptoms.     

[cyclinglady]

Too bad , your lame-sounding doctor advised you to go gluten free without testing you for celiac disease.  Consider getting a new GI doctor who knows about celiac disease and get tested.  Actually any MD can test you.  The catch is you need to be on a gluten diet.  

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IBS really means "I Be Stumped."  You might not have celiac disease, but at least you can rule it out.