New To Celiac/Pain

[Rebecca A.]

Hello, I'm new to this forum. I'm 39 years old and after a year of severe stomach issues, just found out that it is celiac. I've been researching celiac, diet and food recipes for a gluten free diet. Thankfully I live in a hippy town where we have lots of health food stores with lots of gluten free options and organic foods. The problem I'm having is the stomach pain and bloating. I've only been gluten free for about a week. But I still have major stomach pain, bloating and nausea. How do you deal with that? I know it'll take months maybe even a year before my stomach starts to feel better. But is there anything to help with the pain and bloating? It's so bad that I'm missing work some days. My stomach feels like there's a huge rock in it. I was told to try some light exercise, but I can't even get up to do that some days. Just walking hurts. Any tips would be appreciated on how to help manage the pain. 

[GFinDC]

Hi Rebecca,

Welcome to the forum!

It sounds like you are having quite a time of it.

You are right, one week is not enough to get by the pain of celiac damage.  Some things that can help though are:

Stay away from anything with sugar or carby foods like rice and potatoes.  Bacteria like carbs and our damaged digestive system can't break them down properly.  So the bacteria go nuts with all the carbs and sugar and produce lots of gas that can cause pain in a damaged/irritated gut.  To prevent that don't feed the bacteria easy to digest foods.   Make them live on protein (meats) and veggies.

It can also help to avoid all dairy for a few months until your gut heals some.  The damage from celiac stops our villi from making an enzyme that digests dairy sugar.  So the bacteria go crazy with all that dairy sugar to eat.

Even gluten-free processed foods are a problem as they usually contain even higher amounts of sugar and carbs than regular gluteny foods.

Pepto Bismol may help with gut pain and peppermint Altoids with stomach pain.  Peppermint relaxes smooth muscle and makes it easier to get gas out of the stomach.

I hope you feel better soon.

Edited July 25, 2018 by GFinDC