Stomach pain after almost anything?

[diabetichero]

I've been eating gluten free for just over a year now after being diagnosed with celiac disease and T1 diabetes. I had just started to feel "normal" right around the 1 year mark, meaning I felt little to no pain and my stool didn't seem too out of the ordinary. Yay, finally some healing! However, the past few days I've started to feel that pain after eating, and I don't know if this is because I recently ate something contaminated and my body is healing from, or if something I'm eating is too hard to digest, or if I'm still just healing from the damage done 1 year ago!! It seems like there are so many factors when it comes to keeping gluten out of my food in my shared household (did I wash my hands? what if my soap has gluten in it? was the plate/utensil clean and not contaminated? did one of my family members accidentally put their glutened hand in my bag of chips?) and even then, what if the issue is within the food I'm eating itself?

I find myself almost paranoid and feeling like no matter how many times the food package says "gluten free", my stomach is going to hurt from eating it. Does anyone else feel this way? I feel like it might be I'm eating too many processed things made with food that's hard to digest, but I don't want to limit my diet any further, though I will cut back. I was just so hopeful during those couple of weeks I was having no symptoms that I was actually finally healing!! But now I'm back to the pain. It's been putting me down pretty hard and I've been neglecting my blood sugars and insulin because of it, so that's not helping.

Does anyone have any suggestions to how I can figure out what I'm eating that's hurting me? Should I catalog everything I eat and record my reactions to it? Will this pain just go away in time and this is a part of healing from mini-glutenings I get from accidental contamination?

Thank you for your help. I definitely feel a LOT better than I did when I was eating gluten, but it's so frustrating to still be in pain after eating gluten free for what feels like a long time.

[pikakegirl]

I had stomach pain for years at first even on an elimination diet. I had a dry gastritis not acid. Found drnking ginger tea after each meal stopped the pain but was also careful with my portions. All better now but it took 6 years. Wedderspoon makes a manuka honey ginger lozenge i use now once in a while. Hang in there. I found a food diary helped make some sense of the sensitivites i was having.

[Jmg]

6 hours ago, diabetichero said:

oes anyone have any suggestions to how I can figure out what I'm eating that's hurting me? Should I catalog everything I eat and record my reactions to it? Will this pain just go away in time and this is a part of healing from mini-glutenings I get from

As pikakegirl says above a food diary is a good place to start. Just carry a small notebook, or use a smartphone note app to jot down what you eat, when, and how you feel. 

You can try simplifying yr diet and then gradually adding foods one at a time and monitoring yr body's reactions.   Maybe you will identify some trigger foods which disagree with you and from that be able to craft a diet that works for you in both reducing symptoms and ensuring your getting all the nutrients you need. Obviously the t1 diabetes also needs to be an integral part of this process.  There are some good threads on doing this on this site and people with more experience in this who can guide you better than I can.

i know exactly what you mean about the food paranoia by the way, this is one of the unexpected things you have to deal with after you find out that a staple part of the standard western diet is actually causing you major problems. I like to look at it as an extreme manifestation of a natural and useful caution which is essentiall to living on the gluten-free diet. It's important to be vigilant, check yr foods, read labels, know your brands, be careful in food prep and storage etc, so caution is a good thing. However it's also important to enjoy your life, go out, enjoy food and drink with friends and colleagues, feel like a 'normal' person and someone with choices and freedom.

It's a balancing act in other words, time, research, preparation and educated risk taking will take you to the right balance for your lifestyle and surroundings.  I know you are 1 year in, but my own experience is that it will continue to get better over time and the paranoia etc lessens the better you understand your own body and the risks/rewards in your environment.

best of luck!

 

[Ennis-TX]

The points above are good, food dairy is essential for tracking down culprits to making you feel like crap. I suggest a bit further knocking meals down to fewer ingredients, and trying to avoid condiments/spices/sauces.  Try eating suspected foods on a rotation removing them from you diet for a few days to see how you do. 

In a shared house I always suggest you have you own area for your food, dedicated condiment jars, utensils, cookware. Simple ways of managing it are having a separate area with a fold out table, for fixing stuff, Using butcher/freezer paper on your prep surface for easy clean up and safe area. Getting microwave cook ware on a budget for making omelettes, steaming foods etc. check out nordicware for this. Have a few dedicated appliances helps like a small microwave, a combo rice cooker/crock pot/steamer/pressure cooker and using liners in it for easy clean up and avoiding contamination. 
 

Avoiding processed foods can really help out sticking to a whole foods diet especially having potentially messing up will help you get right back on track. Also with the diabetes you can manage it better using whole foods.

 

[Jmg]

42 minutes ago, Ennis_TX said:

dairy is essential

 I never thought I'd see the day!  Who are you and what have you done with Ennis?