Celiac and Life.....

[Sergio Astorino]

I've been having some stomach issues since September 2017.  Went to see my doctor who told me I was depressed and stressed was causing this.  He gave me pills for anxiety which I never took.  A month later, I went to see him again as I continued to feel bothered.  He told me I was lactose intolerant and I should stop dairy.  No testing was done so I took his advice and stopped dairy.  A month after, I went to see him saying it is still not right.  He decided to do a body scan to test for crohn's.  All was normal but my blood levels showed possible gluten intolerance.  I went to specialist who performed an endoscopy and meeting him on September 17 for my results.  He told me he saw traces of celiac and I should stop eating gluten.  Now I am struggling as I am losing weight and constantly weigh myself and stress.  How can I get through this and stop worrying so much?  I feel like the stress is getting the best of me and making me sick.    

[cyclinglady]

1 hour ago, Sergio Astorino said:

I've been having some stomach issues since September 2017.  Went to see my doctor who told me I was depressed and stressed was causing this.  He gave me pills for anxiety which I never took.  A month later, I went to see him again as I continued to feel bothered.  He told me I was lactose intolerant and I should stop dairy.  No testing was done so I took his advice and stopped dairy.  A month after, I went to see him saying it is still not right.  He decided to do a body scan to test for crohn's.  All was normal but my blood levels showed possible gluten intolerance.  I went to specialist who performed an endoscopy and meeting him on September 17 for my results.  He told me he saw traces of celiac and I should stop eating gluten.  Now I am struggling as I am losing weight and constantly weigh myself and stress.  How can I get through this and stop worrying so much?  I feel like the stress is getting the best of me and making me sick.    

Welcome!  

I get the stress and anxiety!  It is a common symptom of celiac disease which is systemic.  It can definitely impact your brain.  So what to do?  Learn a few coping skills and try to reduce some stress in your life.  Focus on healing and let some things go.  Ask for others to help you temporarily.    As you heal,  your anxiety will diminish.  

Losing weight is common.  Is your doctor concerned?  You are probably not eating enough either because it is painful (hard to digest anything) or you are cautiously navigating the gluten free world.  Talk a few minutes to plan menus and prepare snacks to keep with you.  For example, I always carry a gluten-free snack bar and a tube of applesauce in my purse for emergencies.  I often take a cooler and leave it in my car in hot days.  I have learned to stop at a market to grab a banana or yogurt (yes, I got dairy back after I healed!) to eat instead of stopping at a restaurant where cross contamination could be possible.  Avoid eating out until you see improvement.  

Read the Newbie 101 thread pinned at the top of the forum’s “Coping” section.  It has great tips.  

You will get this!  You will feel better, but it takes some time.  

[Ennis-TX]

Thing about this disease, it your damaged intestines and blunted villi do not digest, breakdown, and absorb enough nutrients. So your body is often deficient of a full spectrum of B-vitamins, Magnesium, vitamin D  etc. And without these in the right amounts stress, anxiety are major issues, along with various other thing. Do take time to look up deficiencies in these. As you heal it really does improve. Mean time you can supplement in them like Liquid Health Energy & Stress, and Neurological support 1tbsp each 3 times a day, a dropper full of their D3 twice a day, and see about magnesium which will vary on your bowel habits as to what you need. IE if you have loose stools take magnesium glycinate, if you do not go once a day then you have constipation and need magnesium citrate via Magnesium Calm and dose to tolerance (I can walk you though this)

Weight loss, your body has not been getting certain key nutrients....it is in constant hoard mode. As you heal and eat whole unprocessed meals, less processed junk, etc. You will start taking on nutrients and some of the weight might shed off. You will feel better, be able to work out more, have more energy, and all in all will do better. 6 years ago I weighed 200+lbs and was a 37" waist. I am now 132 and 28" trying to body build and put on muscle now. Bit of some inspiration for you.

Look at a whole foods only diet, take up a new hobby, I found cooking food from scratch 100% safe ingredients to make me feel better. I in fact started a gluten free bakery and do catering, chef jobs, and looking at starting a gluten free food truck now.

Here are some links to look over to make sure your doing everything right, it takes time and 6months before you really might start seeing major changes, and up to 2 years for your intestines to fully heal. It took time to damage your intestines and it will take time to heal.
https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/91878-newbie-info-101/
 

 

[pikakegirl]

I wish when I was diagnosed I had demanded a full vitamin panel to start. This shows the level of malnutrition and malabsorption so you can pinpoint supplements to help you while your gi heals. All the processed food is enriched with vitamins so it is a big change to eat natural clean food. Eventually when I lucked into good doctors I found some typical issues with low folic acid, D3, K2 and even normal B12 was not enough for Celiac.  Because of food intollerences I take minimal ingredient vitamin supplements I find on Amazon or Drugs.com. I get them individually. Multivitamins tend to add other herbs and binders. Even 11 years of healing later I need the methyl form of vitamins because my body wont convert the common multivitimin types. The genetic test for MTHFR can tell you this. I also go for natural forms if I can. Its a lot of experimenting and research. I even found D3 is usually made from lanolin(wool) so I switched to Blue Bonnet fish and feel much better. Hey, it is normal to feel stress and anxiety when trying to heal and save your own life but add the fact that your vegus nerve is involved means all kjnds of adrenal bursts and depression. I was over druged at first with benzodiazepines and became physically addicted. It was the worst thing i ever experienced and took 3 years to withdraw off them. I found books gave me lots of relaxation tools which i keep in a list with me. Check out breathing techniques, reflexology, visualization of safe space and I even made recordings to myself when i was positive to listen to when I would spin out. Psyc doctors did nothing for me. Sending you healing wishes.

[Sergio Astorino]

Thank you all for your replies.  I appreciate all the feedback.  I wish you all very safe healing as well and I appreciate the new friendships and people I am meeting because of this.  It could be worse so thank you for making me see things in a positive way.  I appreciate you all.  Thank You

[RyanPercival]

It's really disturbing. Hope you recover soon.