Breakouts After Fasting and Low Carb Diet

[Foosball Is The Devil]

I have been on a nearly gluten free diet for 7 years - a bit of breading or a bite of cookie here and there - with virtually no DH breakouts.  A week ago I completed a 72 hour water fast and started a low carb diet.  Since then my breakouts have gotten progressively worse and I'm now almost back to the bad old days before I was diagnosed.  The only modification to my existing diet was to cut things out (chips, potatoes, gluten-free bread, etc.)  Nothing new has been added. 

Would the fast have triggered a drastic increase in my body's sensitivity to any residual gluten?  The only other thing that makes sense is if the antibodies (IgA) were somehow stored in the fat I'm burning and are being released.  Is that possible?

Has anyone had something similar happen to them? 

 

A little more background:  I was diagnosed with DH back in 1995.  Increasing levels of Dapsone (up to 100mg) controlled my breakouts for the most part, but I was decidedly not gluten free and put on an extra 25 pounds.  In 2011, I finally went gluten free, stopped taking Dapsone altogether, and I have had virtually no breakouts until last week at the end of my fast. 

[kareng]

3 minutes ago, Foosball Is The Devil said:

I have been on a nearly gluten free diet for 7 years - a bit of breading or a bite of cookie here and there - with virtually no DH breakouts.  A week ago I completed a 72 hour water fast and started a low carb diet.  Since then my breakouts have gotten progressively worse and I'm now almost back to the bad old days before I was diagnosed.  The only modification to my existing diet was to cut things out (chips, potatoes, gluten-free bread, etc.)  Nothing new has been added. 

Would the fast have triggered a drastic increase in my body's sensitivity to any residual gluten?  The only other thing that makes sense is if the antibodies (IgA) were somehow stored in the fat I'm burning and are being released.  Is that possible?

Has anyone had something similar happen to them? 

 

A little more background:  I was diagnosed with DH back in 1995.  Increasing levels of Dapsone (up to 100mg) controlled my breakouts for the most part, but I was decidedly not gluten free and put on an extra 25 pounds.  In 2011, I finally went gluten free, stopped taking Dapsone altogether, and I have had virtually no breakouts until last week at the end of my fast. 

gluten and antibodies are not stored in fat.  Perhaps you are having issues with your Celiac disease because you aren't especially gluten free? 

[Ennis-TX]

Shocks to our body and immune system to indeed cause our system to be more on guard and react more violently to even trace amounts of gluten, also with this disease a further shock to the system can cause food intolerance and allergies to come out as our already confused immune system might go a bit wacky. I myself consume a keto/low carb diet to work with my other AI disease. Now my thoughts are perhaps you got contamination from something, keep a food diary and go back to only whole foods check your seasonings and sauces also. If this is DH in many cases consuming higher levels of iodine from dairy, salts, sea plants etc can trigger a DH outbreak (seen this recently from others, I do not have the DH aspect of the disease)

[Foosball Is The Devil]

That makes sense as my iodine intake has definitely increased markedly.  I'll try to reduce my intake to see if my body will settle down. 

Thanks!

[squirmingitch]

Your problem is that you have never been gluten free! Never! Gluten free means gluten free, not a little bit gluten free, not mostly gluten free, not a bit of breading or a bite of cookie here & there. 

So from diagnosis in 1995 until 2011, you were not gluten free at all. You just continued to eat gluten as if you had no dx of celiac disease. You took dapsone to control the dh & kept eating gluten. That's not the way it works. The dapsone is only supposed to be taken to control the dh UNTIL THE ANTIBODIES HAVE GOTTEN OUT OF YOUR SKIN but in order for those antibodies to get out of your skin, YOU MUST BE COMPLETELY, TOTALLY, ABSOLUTELY gluten free. NO cheating!

So for 6 years you kept eating gluten & dh antibodies were being deposited under your skin. And then, even when you say you went gluten free in 2011, you still cheated on the diet. So, that resulted in dh antibodies continuing to be deposited under your skin until now. 

So for 22 years, you have dx'd celiac & for 22 years you have continued to eat gluten. Wow. Did your doctor not tell you that you had to eat gluten free?

For 22 years, you have continued to do damage to your small intestine because dh is not just about the skin; dh IS celiac disease and that includes the damage to the villi. 

This outbreak has nothing to do with your fasting & low carb diet -- nothing at all. this outbreak is simply the culmination of 22 years of continued gluten exposure & continued antibody deposits under your skin & they have decided to rear their ugly heads & make you pay. 

 

[ravenwoodglass]

I do hope your doctor was checking your liver function frequently while you were on the dapsone. I agree with previous poster that you have never been gluten free. If your doctor didn't tell you to go strictly gluten free the doctor was not only an idiot but also very negligent. You need a new doctor.  All the while you were simply taking the drug to control the DH gluten was attacking the rest of your body and nervous system. You need to get off gluten strictly NOW. It would also be a good idea to limit your intake of iodized salt until you skin has been well healed for a month or two. Some have to avoid high iodine foods also but not everyone does. I had severe DH and only had to switch to non-iodized salt. I was fine with dairy etc.

When you get to the new doctor be sure to have them run a full blood work up on you including vitamin and mineral panels.

We can help you get truely gluten free so ask any questions you need to and feel free to vent if the need arises.