Refractory Sprue

[sillyyak]

I was diagnosed with sprue last November. Initially, I started to get better but then this past week has been horrible with nauseau, vomiting, diarrhea and sever abdominal pain. How do I know this could be an indictation or refractory sprue or not? I am very upset and worried that I was getting better and now seem to be not getting better. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks

[lovegrov]

Refractory sprue is very, very rare. It's much more likely that you are making mistakes, that you aren't healed yet (you probably aren't; two months isn't much time), or even that you have bacterial overgrowth (try some probiotics).

richard

[tarnalberry]

or a separate infection - viral or bacterial. has the flu been going around your area?

[happygirl]

or is there any chance that you have had minor, minor amounts of gluten (i.e., through cross contamination, etc?) the only time I get symptoms is if I have been 'glutened.'

Hope you feel better!

[LLCoolJD]

I'll tell you straight up - don't worry about refractory sprue. You can spend hours and hours online looking up horrible complications of Celiac Disease (refractory sprue, intestinal t-cell lymphoma, etc.), but it will just lead to unnecessary worrying and will be time wasted.

From what you're describing, you have probably caught a nasty virus, or eaten something that doesn't agree with your system. As someone else mentioned, the more dangerous complications like refractory sprue are very rare. Keep yourself well-fed, well-hydrated, and hang in there. It'll get better.

[julie5914]

I worry about it too because my blood numbers will not get down. It is still early for me too though - just 6 months - and I am not very malnourished or too thin. I wasn't sure if you meant Nov of 2004 or 2005. If you meant 2005, it isn't anything to worry about yet. If you are talking about 2004 and this keeps up, it may be worth getting a endoscopy to see what's going on if you are really concerned.