Symptoms Reappearing

[codyf]

Hello,

Around 2 months ago, I was diagnosed with Celiac. After a couple weeks of eating gluten-free, I began to feel better than I had ever before. My symptoms mostly went away, and I had a bigger appetite than I'd ever had in my life before. However, after around 2 weeks of little no to no symptoms, my indigestion and acid reflux has come back without me changing my diet at all. This has lasted for a week now, and I haven't see any improvement. I can still eat, but it is a struggle to get it down without throwing up and I can't eat nearly as much as I could before. I'm eating the same foods I did when I was feeling healthy, and I have been very careful to avoid any cross-contamination. I was wondering if anyone else has had symptoms flare up for a whole week after being recently diagnosed without eating any gluten? Thanks for the help.

Cody

[GFinDC]

Hi Cody,

It takes longer than 2 weeks for the immune response to settle down IMHO.  That doesn't mean you won't begin feeling better, but it does mean the immune system is ready to attack.  Also, the gut may not be healed and the bacterial flora may not be restored to a healthy balance that quickly.  And people sometimes report feeling more sensitive to gluten after going gluten-free than they were before going gluten-free.  So much lesser contamination can seemingly kick off symptoms.

I think it's common for people to have a continuing adjustment period for up to 6 months.  And people  may find they are reacting to foods besides just gluten (wheat, rye, barley), like dairy and oats.  Or any other food for that matter.

Something that can cause GI upset at first is sugar and carbs.  Bacteria thrive on sugar and carbs are turned into sugars.  So taking it easy on sugar and carbs can be helpful.  Avoiding dairy for a few months may help too.

One study a few years back found that some young people's GI system hadn't completely healed after 18 months on the gluten-free diet.  So getting back to a healthy gut environment can take a while.

[Scott Adams]

The average time to heal is 2 years. Is there any chance you've gotten any cross-contamination? If you eat out regularly, this possibility is high.