Recurring stomach pain?? Celiac or Ulcer?

[Mermaid's Mom]

I am trying to tease out what is going on with my daughter: 

We went Gluten/Dairy Free March 1 and she steadily got better but looking back through the journal tummy aches were still randomly occurring on a semi reg basis.  But she was improving so much that my focus was mainly on the improvements.

Then we brought back dairy and it all went down hill and she went right back to all her symptoms and tummy aches prob got lost in the fact that she now had so many other worse symptoms like headaches, fatigue etc.   The we went to the Naturopath and stripped her diet back to Paleo.  She is now NOT eating: Wheat, barley, rye, oats, corn, rice, quinoa, millet, etc.  Zero grains (though we do allow a trace amount of cornstarch that is in just a half dozen things she eats) and no dairy.  It is as hard as hell but it has really reduced the concerns about cross contamination.  She is not eating anything that could be problematic.  And again she is getting better.  But again the stomach aches keep hanging on.  They usually come at night.  They must be painful as she just shuts down and needs a heat pad etc.  She also has a lot of nausea about food.  Too nauseas too eat.  Or becomes nauseous WHILE eating.   

 It has only been 2 weeks of grain free so maybe I am just being impatient but I am worried that this is not just normal celiac healing??  She says it is stabbing pain and in the areas above the belly button below sternum.  Severe heartburn?   Anyone who is familiar with Ulcers doesn't think it is ulcers.  What are your thoughts?  Does this sound like the early stages of healing?

[ravenwoodglass]

Have you contacted the GI who diagnosed her celiac? If not that would be a good idea so you can make sure nothing else is going on. In addition if she is taking a lot of different supplements you may want to stop all for a few days and see if the pain resolves. If it does then add them back in one at a time a week apart to see if she is adversly reacting to something in one of them. Hope she feels better soon.

[Estes]

I have ulcers in my stomach.  I get nausea but I have never needed a heating pad.  That sounds like cramps?

[GFinDC]

So, she is eating 6 foods with corn starch?  Try making that zero foods with corn starch and see if she improves.  The simpler her diet is the better.  Whole foods are the best way to go to start the gluten-free diet.  Maybe she can have hard boiled eggs for snacks?  Or deviled eggs?  Planter's nuts are labeled if they contain gluten.  So their plain cocktail peanuts are a good snack.  Jif natural peanut butter is good with celery sticks or baby carrots.  Bacon is handy too.

It really does take time to heal.  But healing also goes faster on a simple, basic diet with no or very little processed foods.

[Victoria1234]

I totally forgot this, but I used to get these same symptoms! It's been since 2008 that I've been gluten-free! So personally those symptoms went away eventually with the gluten-free diet. I had these problems, especially the belly button area pain, since I was a child. I also have a hernia there that they say is not a problem. But I'd feel like an imaginary belt buckle was stabbing me! Hope this helps a little.

[Mermaid's Mom]

Thanks everyone!!

I think I have noticed a pattern...she is in pain and it is resolved as soon as she has a bowel movement.  I could be wrong but it appears to the be the case.  Will keep an eye on it.

The naturopath told us to "work towards" a grain free/Paleo diet and my daughter committed 100% and stripped away everything.  But after 7 days she asked if she could on occasion consume this handful of items that have scant amt of cornstarch.    We see the naturopath today so we will see what she says.  My daughter is kick ass so if she says to strip them away also I suspect she just will LOL!

As a mom I have to tread carefully.  Sometimes its better to have someone else suggest it! 

 

[pikakegirl]

I just spent a year with sharp pain to the right of my belly button. I have been diagnosed Celiac gluten free 10 years, no dairy, corn, gluten, on a 12 food elimination diet. I had dry stomach with gastritis and could barely eat. This was from ppi and antihistamine.?...from misdiagnosis other thyroid control problem confused with allergy. Anyway seems it is caused by foods I had added trying to increase variety. Culprits for now are  almonds, Turkey, sunflower seeds. Have gone back to brown rice, red and sweet potato, eggs, fish, green beans, peas, snap peas, apples, raisins, cantelope, dates, many sparingly. Also follow FODMAP. Also pain above belly button sounds like gallbladder. Before diagnosis Celiac I had billiard diskenisia not stones. Took a year of tests to finally get a had as an to show it was not emptying. I hurt no matter what I ate. Had it removed. If it is stomach I cured mine by drinking ginger tea after each Mel for years and really chewing my food down. My elimination diet keeps my vitamin panel up and I use a few supplements. Wish you answers soon.

[pikakegirl]

Sorry typos. Correction. Biliary Diskenisia and a Hidascan.

[Mermaid's Mom]

You're right that area is gallbladder!

Well we just saw the Naturopath - she was puzzled by the recurring stomach aches also but allows for the fact that it COULD just be healing - she did have that gluten exposure that I mentioned 2 weeks ago.  But she decided to start her on a digestive enzyme.  We shall see.

[Pocah]

I used to get frequent intestinal pains due to gluten and the way it worked was always the same. The consumption of gluten eventually resulted in intestinal ulcers which can be in all sorts of strange places, but in my case they were very specific point pains. Twinges are a pre-cursor, a sharp stabbing pain is an ulcer. I gather that some people, though, report no pain at all, but for me the ulcer was very painful, and noticeable by how precisely located it was ~ I could point to exactly where it is within an inch. Peoples intestines ( large and small ) are everywhere (!) so damage from gluten can appear in the most odd places.  But also, the places that ulcerated or nearly ulcerated became somewhat sensitive to acids and spicy foods and so pain can continue, to a lesser extent, even after you have stopped eating gluten. In my case the pain is slow to build and slow to disappear, but normally will build through the day resulting in pain in the evenings that disappears overnight. This is simply as the food is passing through the intestines which starts five or so hours after you have eaten. Pain can also be activated by simple exercise because you are literally disturbing areas of the gut that are sensitive because they have been damaged.