Help with gluten withdrawl

[Karlyrenee31]

Hi I'm Karly, I'm 19 and have been recently diagnosed with Celiac disease. About 3 weeks ago I stopped eating gluten, and have been fine up until last week. I have been extremely tired all the time, no energy, mood swings, brain fog(the worst of the symptoms), and nausea. I was wondering if anyone had found anything to help with these symptoms. I have a concert to go to this weekend and I don't want to be nauseous and have brain fog, and I also don't want to be exhausted, it's a 3 day concert. There's no way I'm not going to the concert, I just need some tips, anything that's helped anyone would be great, to help me get through this. Thank you so much. 

[kareng]

You may want to make sure your gluten-free diet has enough protein, fiber, etc.  sometimes,  when we eliminate gluten, we eliminate foods we need . For example, if I ate PB on toast every morning for breakfast.... now I went gluten-free and just ate a banana.... I am not getting the protein I was.

[Ennis-TX]

You might find as kareng mentioned your not getting the nutrients you needed take a step back and make sure your getting a full rounded diet. Many of us with celiac also have to supplement for various reasons 1. being gluten free foods are often not fortified. 2. Damaged intestines are not as effective or do not absorb the nutrients we need, the common ones for these are b-vitamins, magnesium, iron, vitamins D  among others, folate. etc. Many of which will cause brain fog, constipation, confusion, numbness, etc if we do get enough. Talk to a dietician about supplements for these I will give a link of what I take for various ones at the end of this.

If heading out for a even simplify your diet to non processed foods a few days before, baked sweet potato, rice, green veggies, eggs, simple unprocessed meats, etc. 1-3 ingredient foods and avoid spices condiments that might have contaminated jars (get new ones), and sauces. This way your extra careful not to poison yourself. And when you head out take some certified gluten-free meal pars, bags of nuts. fresh fruit, maybe a jar of nut butter with you so you have safe snacks. Might suggest fixing food in new microwave prep ware from like nordic ware to make sure your not using anything contaminated. And freezer paper on prep surfaces is a life saver for making a clean safe works surface and easy clean up.

Further note check the 101 link here for basic info, you need to be sure your gluten is not sneaking into your diet, check everything, make sure you cleaned out your pantry, gotten rid of crumbs in drawers, thrown out crumby jelly and butter jars, thrown out scratched pots pans, utensils, Tupperware, etc. Avoid processed foods for the first few months eating a whole foods only diet if you can. Will help boost your healing.

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

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

https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/116482-supplement-and-foods-you-take/https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/116482-supplement-and-foods-you-take/

 

[Jmg]

7 hours ago, Karlyrenee31 said:

Hi I'm Karly, I'm 19 and have been recently diagnosed with Celiac disease. About 3 weeks ago I stopped eating gluten, and have been fine up until last week. I have been extremely tired all the time, no energy, mood swings, brain fog(the worst of the symptoms), and nausea. I was wondering if anyone had found anything to help with these symptoms. I have a concert to go to this weekend and I don't want to be nauseous and have brain fog, and I also don't want to be exhausted, it's a 3 day concert. There's no way I'm not going to the concert, I just need some tips, anything that's helped anyone would be great, to help me get through this. Thank you so much. 

I found the first weeks gluten free very up and down. One thing which helped immensely was focussing on a good diet, in particular breakfast and lunch. I started eating an omelette every morning, with different fillings each day, including onions, kale, spinach, mushrooms, bacon, tomatoes, (bell) peppers etc etc. This set me up for the day, with a green salad at lunch with plenty of olive oil, cider vinegar and maybe some oily fish as well. but with a good breakfast I stopped feeling weak and irritable and by avoiding sugary cereals etc I stopped having that mid morning sugar crash too 

like Karen says, protein is really important. Fats are important also. You have probably been suffering celiac malnutrition for some time and although going gluten free will begin the healing process it won't be instantaneous. You can help it along by eating really well, giving yOur body all the ammunition it needs to win the war and you can also take some multivitamin supplements to ensure your getting all the nutrients you need.

best of luck