Gluten challenge and financial trouble

[Emiandgabesmom]

A little over two years ago I started having symptoms that I now believe maybe celiac disease started with stomach irritation and then became vomiting and diarrhea. For over a year I couldn’t stop vomiting and couldn’t figure out why. it had gotten so bad at one point that I couldn’t even hold down water and decided to go to the emergency room and of course this is when the whole COVID-19 thing was getting big so they basically just testing me for the flu and sent me home with a very large emergency room bill which of course I could not afford to pay.Finally found a doctor that did a sliding fee schedule so that I could maybe get some help and he said you have to do the gluten challenge but my problem with that is that my symptoms when I do and just gluten have become so severe that I know I would be completely debilitated for no less than a month if I did that.Since that would eliminate me from being able to do my job for such a long period of time I would basically not be able to afford to support me and my children. I was wondering if anybody had any advice or if there was any help out there in situations such as mine to ensure that you can get your rent paid and other necessities to undergo this process to find out what’s going on with your body and hopefully be able to get healthy again

[knitty kitty]

@Emiandgabesmom,

Welcome to the forum!  

Would your doctor do a DNA test to see if you have any of the most common genes for Celiac?

A positive test for a Celiac gene and improvement on a gluten free diet is sometimes accepted as a basis for diagnosis.   

Few doctors have experienced Celiac Disease firsthand and don't understand the extent of pain and suffering a gluten challenge causes.  

Do get checked for vitamin deficiencies.  Vomiting for so long is a symptom of thiamine deficiency.  The eight B vitamins are water soluble and get depleted easily when you're vomiting constantly.   

Hope this helps! 

Keep us posted on your progress!

[CMCM]

7 hours ago, Emiandgabesmom said:

A little over two years ago I started having symptoms that I now believe maybe celiac disease started with stomach irritation and then became vomiting and diarrhea. For over a year I couldn’t stop vomiting and couldn’t figure out why. it had gotten so bad at one point that I couldn’t even hold down water and decided to go to the emergency room and of course this is when the whole COVID-19 thing was getting big so they basically just testing me for the flu and sent me home with a very large emergency room bill which of course I could not afford to pay.Finally found a doctor that did a sliding fee schedule so that I could maybe get some help and he said you have to do the gluten challenge but my problem with that is that my symptoms when I do and just gluten have become so severe that I know I would be completely debilitated for no less than a month if I did that.Since that would eliminate me from being able to do my job for such a long period of time I would basically not be able to afford to support me and my children. I was wondering if anybody had any advice or if there was any help out there in situations such as mine to ensure that you can get your rent paid and other necessities to undergo this process to find out what’s going on with your body and hopefully be able to get healthy again

Your suspicions about celiac disease have led you here, so I assume you have been researching this to some extent.  You COULD certainly spend a fortune trying to pin down a definitive diagnosis from doctors and expensive tests, but the "prescription"  solution would end up exactly the same if you have either celiac disease or merely gluten sensitivity:  you have to strictly avoid gluten to get better.  Do you want to spend a lot of $$$ to find out something you probably already realize?

You seem fairly certain that you react to gluten and you are reluctant to do a challenge because of that.  Have you been avoiding gluten recently?  If so, and it you've avoided it for a period time of perhaps a couple of weeks or more,  it would be harder to get a positive blood panel test to confirm celiac disease and then get a doctor to do a biopsy.  

If I were in your situation, and from the experience you have described, I would go 100% and strictly gluten free and see if your problems improve...sometimes people feel hugely better very quickly (a week or two), with others it can take a minimum of a few months to "recover", although during that time you will gradually get better.  If you do get noticeably  better on a gluten free diet, you have a large part of your answer right there without going down the road of gluten challenges and tests etc, to say nothing of the money you would spend.  If gluten obviously makes you sick, only avoiding gluten will stop that so your choice is crystal clear if you don't want to be sick any more. 

If a gluten free diet starts to make you definitely better, it would then be well worth your money to get a celiac gene test to confirm if you have a celiac gene, or only gluten sensitivity pattern genes ( or possibly neither one....in which case you would need to pursue things further with doctors to figure out what other possibility might be making you sick.)  But if your gene test reveals a celiac gene or even a gluten sensitivity gene or perhaps both, that information together with the knowledge of how sick you were when eating gluten and how you are now better without gluten.....that is very confirming information and many doctors would find that pretty conclusive (my doctor did, and she said don't bother with further  tests).  This is what I'm doing right now (gluten free), and to me, the result is obvious and I'm not about to go after "official" diagnosis via challenges, blood tests, biopsies etc.  No need to.  I've been feeling much better every week, by the way.  After about 2 months I was so much better, but not completely so.  I'm at 3 months now and feel really really good at this point.  I have dairy issues (casein protein in dairy is the culprit, and this sensitivity is often found with gluten sensitivity), and I had to also eliminate dairy to really get better. 

Think about this:  with a positive blood panel and a positive biopsy after lots of $$$ spent to find that out, what will the doctor then advise you to do?  He'll say "You must never eat gluten again."

By the way, a gene test can be requested online and might be cheaper than going through a doctor and lab .  They send a little kit to do a cheek swab, you send it back for them to analyze, they email results and there you are....you know your two genes.  One online site I looked at sells the test for $149.  That's far less than probably even the celiac blood panel, and definitely less than a biopsy.

Edited April 11, 2021 by CMCM

[Scott Adams]

If I’m not mistaken, and perhaps @knitty kitty or @Posterboy can recall, but someone posted a link to research that showed that thiamine deficiency can cause such bouts of extreme nausea. My brother had this very symptom for many years, and it was his primary symptom.

[CMCM]

I had extreme nausea, also rather a lot of vomiting in my first several weeks of gluten free.  Through recommendations of taking the Benfotiamine (form of thiamine) that I got HERE on this forum, I've been taking it daily and no more nausea!  That makes me think I was probably very deficient in thiamine.

[Kate333]

The TTG-IGA gluten antibody blood test is relatively cheap out of pocket (about $50 without insurance), and some labs offer home test kits but you DO have to be eating G in order to get an accurate reading.

Others on this site recommend genetic testing.  But I would totally skip that, esp. if you are strapped for cash, because it's not an accurate, reliable predictor of whether (or not) you currently have active, full-blown celiac disease, and it's very expensive (can cost thousands of dollars).   I read somewhere that a huge percent of the population carry a dormant genetic predisposition to celiac disease (40%, I believe), including a large majority (75% of gene carriers) who never even develop active celiac disease in their lifetimes.  So, simply knowing you are a dormant celiac disease gene carrier without further testing will not really help diagnose celiac disease or allay your concerns about your symptoms.

Best of luck.     

[knitty kitty]

7 hours ago, Scott Adams said:

If I’m not mistaken, and perhaps @knitty kitty or @Posterboy can recall, but someone posted a link to research that showed that thiamine deficiency can cause such bouts of extreme nausea. My brother had this very symptom for many years, and it was his primary symptom.

 

Here's the case studies and articles...

"Gastrointestinal beriberi: a forme fruste of Wernicke’s encephalopathy?"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6040496/

 

And...

"Elevated Lactate Secondary to Gastrointestinal Beriberi"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4699997/

 

And a variety of thiamine articles here....

https://www.hormonesmatter.com/?s=Gastrointestinal+beriberi

 

[CMCM]

1 hour ago, Kate333 said:

The TTG-IGA gluten antibody blood test is relatively cheap out of pocket (about $50 without insurance), and some labs offer home test kits but you DO have to be eating G in order to get an accurate reading.

Others on this site recommend genetic testing.  But I would totally skip that, esp. if you are strapped for cash, because it's not an accurate, reliable predictor of whether (or not) you currently have active, full-blown celiac disease, and it's very expensive (can cost thousands of dollars).   I read somewhere that a huge percent of the population carry a dormant genetic predisposition to celiac disease (40%, I believe), including a large majority (75% of gene carriers) who never even develop active celiac disease in their lifetimes.  So, simply knowing you are a dormant celiac disease gene carrier without further testing will not really help diagnose celiac disease or allay your concerns about your symptoms.

Best of luck.     

Genetic testing is NOT going to diagnose anything.  However, it's good knowledge to have if you have determined that gluten makes you sick and not eating it makes you better.  However, it's a real rabbit hole and can be a money pit trying to get a diagnosis such as was "required" in the past (i.e. positive blood panel followed by a positive biopsy).  Sometimes the stars line up to get such a diagnosis, but a lot of the time they don't.   Examples:  Some people are deficient in TTG-IGA and can't produce it.  Somewhere around 30% will test negative when they are really positive.  If you get as far as a biopsy, the sample sites can totally miss signs of villous atrophy, which tends to occur in patches.   I've read that even 5 biopsy sites can miss it!  Eventually you wind up with no definite diagnosis, yet you have determined that gluten makes you sick.  THAT is the time to get a gene test to find out if celiac and/or gluten sensitivity could be a factor.  If you don't have any of the genes, you must pursue other avenues to figure out what might be wrong.  If you do have certain predisposing genes, and you already know that eliminating gluten makes you better, the gene test can be more of a confirming factor that EITHER celiac OR gluten sensitivity in general is behind your problems.  From what I've read recently, researchers and knowledgeable doctors are learning more in this direction now—symptoms from eating gluten, disappearance of symptoms from being gluten free, and a gene test.  After all, if removing gluten is the key to feeling better, then that's the one solution at the end of all this whether you get "official" confirmation or not.

As one who has NEVER been able to get a positive enough celiac panel, I can't explain why.  Perhaps I didn't eat enough gluten to get a positive.  Enterolab suggested that not enough damage was done (yet) to put antibodies into the blood, thus leading to a negative test.  Not having a positive blood test means I wouldn't be able to get a biopsy anyway.  BUT....eliminating gluten is the key for me.  I found the gene test I got very confirming of why I should do the gluten-free diet.  I don't think I need more than that.   

Edited April 12, 2021 by CMCM

[knitty kitty]

I agree with @CMCM that getting a genetic test should be a big part of the diagnostic process for Celiac Disease.

Granted, not everyone who has the genes for Celiac Disease actually gets Celiac, but for those that are having symptoms and seeking medical assistance, those should be tested.  A positive result for one of the most common Celiac genes with a simple noninvasive test at the beginning of illness can save years of suffering and increasing health problems.

Too many of us have been unceremoniously misdiagnosed as IBS or GERD or mentally ill, and prescribed a variety of pharmaceuticals, only to watch our health decline, when a simple cheek swab genetic test could help doctors prescribe the proper course of treatment earlier and improving our quality of life.  

If a person hurts themselves by drinking too much, they can go to rehab and get medical attention.  If a person hurts themselves by becoming addicted to drugs, they can go to rehab and get medical attention.  If a person hurts themselves by self harming behavior, they can get medical and mental health attention.  But Celiacs are told to hurt themselves for weeks to months consuming gluten to get a diagnosis?  Now that's crazy!  

Definitely genetic testing should be done. Definitely.  

 

[Posterboy]

On 4/11/2021 at 12:38 PM, Scott Adams said:

If I’m not mistaken, and perhaps @knitty kitty or @Posterboy can recall, but someone posted a link to research that showed that thiamine deficiency can cause such bouts of extreme nausea. My brother had this very symptom for many years, and it was his primary symptom.

 

On 4/10/2021 at 6:02 PM, Emiandgabesmom said:

A little over two years ago I started having symptoms that I now believe maybe celiac disease started with stomach irritation and then became vomiting and diarrhea. For over a year I couldn’t stop vomiting and couldn’t figure out why. it had gotten so bad at one point that I couldn’t even hold down water and decided to go to the emergency room and of course this is when the whole COVID-19 thing was getting big so they basically just testing me for the flu and sent me home with a very large emergency room bill which of course I could not afford to pay.

Scott et al,

Here is a nice overview article on how a Thiamine deficiency can present as Nausea and Vomiting...

https://healthprep.com/articles/fitness-nutrition/guide-symptoms-thiamine-deficiency/#:~:text=Weight loss may occur in a thiamine deficiency,individuals called AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) becomes impaired

quoting from their last paragraph on the early symptom's of a Thiamine deficiency often overlooked today including Nausea and Vomiting.

Nausea and Vomiting

...."The mechanism behind the occurrence of this symptom is similar to what adversely affects the reflexes. A build-up of lactic acid and pyruvic acid in the blood can cause inflammation in the fibers of a nerve the brain uses to communicate with the digestive tract. This nerve is called the vagus nerve, and it is responsible for the stimulation of involuntary movements in the stomach, esophagus, and most of the intestines. These movements help food travel through the gastrointestinal tract. When the vagus nerve becomes inflamed and swollen, it can cause abnormalities in the transmission of signals between the brain and muscles that produce these movements in the stomach and esophagus. When these abnormalities include a spasmodic misfiring of nerve impulses, the esophagus and or stomach can move too much. This abnormal movement can cause the patient to feel nauseated and or vomit as a result of their thiamine deficiency."

Here are more technical research articles on it.

Entitled "Early recognition of thiamine deficiency: ocular motor deficits in a patient with nutritional deprivation due to persistent antibiotic-related nausea"

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s15010-019-01363-w

This one entitled "Thiamine deficiency induces anorexia by inhibiting hypothalamic AMPK"

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24607345/

This entitled "Missing the early signs of thiamine deficiency. A case associated with a liquid-only diet" of someone admitted to the ER for Nausea and Vomiting treated with Thiamine!

quoting from the research article...

"A detailed medical history revealed that during the past 3 months she had been following a liquid-only diet and had lost about 30 kg. During that time, she had visited the emergency department on multiple occasions due to fatigue, nausea, and vomiting.

Conclusion: A high level of suspicion is required by physicians to recognize that fatigue, nausea, and vomiting may represent early signs of thiamine deficiency in patients at risk for nutritional deficiencies. Empirical thiamine supplementation may be reasonable in such cases."

Here is research I know I  shared with Knitty Kitty but I don't know if I quoted it here or not...

It is a classic case by the Mayo Clinic.

Entitled "Metabolic Acidosis and Thiamine Deficiency" it is 20+ years old and the doctor's don't associate Nausea and Vomiting with a Thiamine deficiency to this day!

https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(11)63862-7/pdf

And finally it should be noted being low in Riboflavin can also lead to cyclic vomiting....

See this recent study on Riboflavin aka Vitamin B2 leading to cyclic vomiting.

Entitled "Riboflavin in cyclic vomiting syndrome: efficacy in three children"

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26226892/

Usually you will become low in Thiamine FIRST Then you become low in Riboflavin.

But Thiamine should always be taken with Magnesium (as Magnesium Glycinate or Magnesium Citrate) with meals in the fat soluble Vitamin B1 (Benfotiamine) or Lipothiamine or Allithiamine forms for best effect.

I say  the "No Formula combination" of a B-complex, Benfotiamine and Magnesium Glycinate/Citrate with meals will help most nausea in 4 to 6 weeks IF this is your underlying problem because we get in B-Vitamins quickly due to stress or high energy needs by the body.

Anything that puts our body in shock will quickly burn through our B-Vitamin reserves with a deficiency showing up in 2 to 3 weeks for most people.....

This is when many heartburn shows up because we burn through our stomach acid....and our B-Vitamins like B1, B2, and B3 which are important for a strong stomach acid.

See this research about it entitled "The effect of life stress on symptoms of heartburn"

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15184707/

First comes the stress then the low B-Vitamins and then the heartburn and nausea!

I hope this is helpful but it is not medical advice.

Posterboy,

 

[Emiandgabesmom]

On 4/10/2021 at 8:02 PM, knitty kitty said:

@Emiandgabesmom,

Welcome to the forum!  

Would your doctor do a DNA test to see if you have any of the most common genes for Celiac?

A positive test for a Celiac gene and improvement on a gluten free diet is sometimes accepted as a basis for diagnosis.   

Few doctors have experienced Celiac Disease firsthand and don't understand the extent of pain and suffering a gluten challenge causes.  

Do get checked for vitamin deficiencies.  Vomiting for so long is a symptom of thiamine deficiency.  The eight B vitamins are water soluble and get depleted easily when you're vomiting constantly.   

Hope this helps! 

Keep us posted on your progress!

The only option my doctor gave me was the gluten challenge and I had gotten to about the 6 month mark from when I was able to cease the vomiting finally.  He only did a blood test recently to check for deficiencies and everything was normal, except that my platelets were bordering on being low. But I’ve been supplementing and such. He thought a deficiency would explain my overwhelming fatigue

[Emiandgabesmom]

On 4/11/2021 at 12:29 AM, CMCM said:

Your suspicions about celiac disease have led you here, so I assume you have been researching this to some extent.  You COULD certainly spend a fortune trying to pin down a definitive diagnosis from doctors and expensive tests, but the "prescription"  solution would end up exactly the same if you have either celiac disease or merely gluten sensitivity:  you have to strictly avoid gluten to get better.  Do you want to spend a lot of $$$ to find out something you probably already realize?

You seem fairly certain that you react to gluten and you are reluctant to do a challenge because of that.  Have you been avoiding gluten recently?  If so, and it you've avoided it for a period time of perhaps a couple of weeks or more,  it would be harder to get a positive blood panel test to confirm celiac disease and then get a doctor to do a biopsy.  

If I were in your situation, and from the experience you have described, I would go 100% and strictly gluten free and see if your problems improve...sometimes people feel hugely better very quickly (a week or two), with others it can take a minimum of a few months to "recover", although during that time you will gradually get better.  If you do get noticeably  better on a gluten free diet, you have a large part of your answer right there without going down the road of gluten challenges and tests etc, to say nothing of the money you would spend.  If gluten obviously makes you sick, only avoiding gluten will stop that so your choice is crystal clear if you don't want to be sick any more. 

If a gluten free diet starts to make you definitely better, it would then be well worth your money to get a celiac gene test to confirm if you have a celiac gene, or only gluten sensitivity pattern genes ( or possibly neither one....in which case you would need to pursue things further with doctors to figure out what other possibility might be making you sick.)  But if your gene test reveals a celiac gene or even a gluten sensitivity gene or perhaps both, that information together with the knowledge of how sick you were when eating gluten and how you are now better without gluten.....that is very confirming information and many doctors would find that pretty conclusive (my doctor did, and she said don't bother with further  tests).  This is what I'm doing right now (gluten free), and to me, the result is obvious and I'm not about to go after "official" diagnosis via challenges, blood tests, biopsies etc.  No need to.  I've been feeling much better every week, by the way.  After about 2 months I was so much better, but not completely so.  I'm at 3 months now and feel really really good at this point.  I have dairy issues (casein protein in dairy is the culprit, and this sensitivity is often found with gluten sensitivity), and I had to also eliminate dairy to really get better. 

Think about this:  with a positive blood panel and a positive biopsy after lots of $$$ spent to find that out, what will the doctor then advise you to do?  He'll say "You must never eat gluten again."

By the way, a gene test can be requested online and might be cheaper than going through a doctor and lab .  They send a little kit to do a cheek swab, you send it back for them to analyze, they email results and there you are....you know your two genes.  One online site I looked at sells the test for $149.  That's far less than probably even the celiac blood panel, and definitely less than a biopsy.

I guess my fear, and only reason for wanting the proof is that I’m afraid of other health issues that may arise out of this situation, and I’m not sure if there are certain things I should be watching for in my health now. My stomach has become so sensitive now that I cannot take ibuprofen and I’m really struggling with my weight which won’t come back. The protein shakes aren’t working and the vitamins started making me I’ll probably because I could have had too much of one type I’m thinking

[knitty kitty]

@Emiandgabesmom,

Celiac is genetic.  Emi and Gabe need to be tested as well.  

Blood tests are not accurate for vitamin deficiencies.  While blood levels may show normal levels, tissues and organs are deficient, giving their vitamin stores to the blood to supply the brain. 

Nsaids can cause continuing damage to your digestive system.  

Thiamine and other vitamin deficiencies can explain your fatigue.  

https://www.hormonesmatter.com/energy-thiamine/

[Posterboy]

On 4/13/2021 at 11:32 AM, Emiandgabesmom said:

He only did a blood test recently to check for deficiencies and everything was normal, except that my platelets were bordering on being low. But I’ve been supplementing and such. He thought a deficiency would explain my overwhelming fatigue

EmiandGabesMom,

Thiamine is best taken with Magnesium.

Benfotiamine (easiest fat soluble B1 form to find) and Magnesium Glycinate with meals will help your Fatigue!

It will probably help your low Platelet levels too!

See this research in adults about it.

https://casereports.bmj.com/content/2018/bcr-2018-225035

I have used up all my time for tonight.....but if  you want to read more about how to help your low platelet levels see this thread.

I explain it in more detail here!

I hope this is helpful but it is not medical advice.

Posterboy,

[Posterboy]

On 4/10/2021 at 6:02 PM, Emiandgabesmom said:

A little over two years ago I started having symptoms that I now believe maybe celiac disease started with stomach irritation and then became vomiting and diarrhea. For over a year I couldn’t stop vomiting and couldn’t figure out why. it had gotten so bad at one point that I couldn’t even hold down water and decided to go to the emergency room and of course this is when the whole COVID-19 thing was getting big so they basically just testing me for the flu and sent me home with a very large emergency room bill which of course I could not afford to pay

Emiandgabesmom,

Here is the one I wanted to quote but couldn't find at the time....I lost a few of my old files and missed placed it.  I call it the  Hawaii Study.

Entitled "Rare Presentation of Thiamine Deficiency as Gastrointestinal Syndrome"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4175961/

….IF Beri Beri doesn’t show up in Head (Psychosis form drinking) or in your heart (Wet Beri Beri) IE enlarged heart the doctor’s just can’t see it….

It is not as rare as doctor's think....think Chronic Fatigue for example can be from low Thiamine levels etc..

Quoting form the Hawaii study they noted....

“The following report illustrates the case of a 30-year-old man with intractable nausea and vomiting, leukocytosis, transaminitis, and lactic acidosis that resolved rapidly after thiamine  (treatment) infusion.”

See this one on a Thiamine deficiency in IBS leading to Chronic Fatigue!

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23379830/

Taking a Fat Soluble B-1 like Thiamine with Magnesium Glycinate and/or Magnesium Citrate with meals will help your Nausea and Vomiting IMHO.

It sure beats a trip back to the ER.

I hope this is helpful but it is not medical advice.

Let us know how to do on the Benfotiamine.....it does really seem to help!

Posterboy,

[Wheatwacked]

On 4/10/2021 at 7:02 PM, Emiandgabesmom said:

he said you have to do the gluten challenge but my problem with that is that my symptoms when I do and just gluten have become so severe that I know I would be completely debilitated for no less than a month if I did that.

You are living the gluten challenge already. You have given a best effort but you don't need a doctor's validation to tell you that. There are more than 200 known celiac disease symptoms which may occur and doctors will tend to treat you for them first. Most of the nutrition benefits of gluten is in the added vitamins and minerals mandated by law. In 1970, the Nobel Prize was awarded for creating modern wheat. It got a Nobel Prize so it must be good for you. Right? If you avoid processed foods (including gluten free processed food) you will feel better and save money on groceries, doctors and prescriptions. After a while gluten free, while paying close attention to replenishing the vitamins and minerals you are lacking, your doctors can more accurately diagnose any other remaining issues. Once you are comfortable you can look forward to treats like Gluten Free Oreos.

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are rampant in the American Standard Diet. Just look at the increasing rate of obesity and metabolic diseases. Even more so with Celiac Disease because not only are you not getting enough in your diet, but you don't absorb enough of what you do eat.

I take 13 different vitamins/minerals, plus a Geritol Multivitamin each day, because I don't get enough of them in my diet even though I make healthy choices. Just last Monday, my doctor said to keep it up. 100% of the RDA as listed on nutrition labels is only the minimum for good health. 100% is not enough for recovery. If you get 100% RDA Potassium (4700 milligrams) in 2000 calories, you will be close on most of the others.

[Emiandgabesmom]

6 hours ago, Wheatwacked said:

You are living the gluten challenge already. You have given a best effort but you don't need a doctor's validation to tell you that. There are more than 200 known celiac disease symptoms which may occur and doctors will tend to treat you for them first. Most of the nutrition benefits of gluten is in the added vitamins and minerals mandated by law. In 1970, the Nobel Prize was awarded for creating modern wheat. It got a Nobel Prize so it must be good for you. Right? If you avoid processed foods (including gluten free processed food) you will feel better and save money on groceries, doctors and prescriptions. After a while gluten free, while paying close attention to replenishing the vitamins and minerals you are lacking, your doctors can more accurately diagnose any other remaining issues. Once you are comfortable you can look forward to treats like Gluten Free Oreos.

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are rampant in the American Standard Diet. Just look at the increasing rate of obesity and metabolic diseases. Even more so with Celiac Disease because not only are you not getting enough in your diet, but you don't absorb enough of what you do eat.

I take 13 different vitamins/minerals, plus a Geritol Multivitamin each day, because I don't get enough of them in my diet even though I make healthy choices. Just last Monday, my doctor said to keep it up. 100% of the RDA as listed on nutrition labels is only the minimum for good health. 100% is not enough for recovery. If you get 100% RDA Potassium (4700 milligrams) in 2000 calories, you will be close on most of the others.

Any advice as far as vitamins go? I started taking several different ones that were supposed to be gluten free so when my stomach got sick everyday after taking them I wasn’t sure if they were truly safe or if my body was telling me I was getting too much of a particular vitamin. Not sure how to determine which ones I should focus on. My blood test didn’t show any deficiencies but I’m bruising like crazy

[Wheatwacked]

This is my current list:

[Posterboy]

5 hours ago, Wheatwacked said:

This is my current list:

Wheatwacked,

You should add Benfotiamine or other Fat Soluble B-1 to your regimen.

The B-1 in B-Complex has a very low availability and it is not helping your the way you think it might be...

This article explains it well....

Entitled  "Thiamine Deficiency and Diabetic Polyneuropathy Compelling evidence for an interrelationship"

https://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/journal/2018-11/thiamine-deficiency-and-diabetic-polyneuropathy

quoting relevant paragraphs from the article so you won't have to read it all..

"Thiamine is water-soluble.26 Absorption from the gut takes place mainly from the proximal small intestine primarily via an energy-dependent active transport system.28 Only about 5% of ingested thiamine is absorbed.29"

By taking a Fat Soluble B-1 like Benfotiamine you can really start to see a "Major Improvement" in your health.

quoting again from the article linking a thiamine deficiency to Neuropathy in Diabetics...

"The group ingesting benfotiamine had maximum plasma thiamine levels that were 6.7 times higher than the group ingesting thiamine mononitrate.32"

Which is a common form found in many B-Complex or Thiamine supplements...

A similar benefit has been found over the ThiamineHCL (another form common in B-complex's)...commonly found in many B-Complex or B-1 (thiamine) supplements.

See this research entitled

"Pharmacokinetic study of benfotiamine and the bioavailability assessment compared to thiamine hydrochloride" aka ThiamineHCL

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24399744/

Fat Soluble forms of B-1 (aka Thiamine) is best taken with meals for maximum absorption.

I was taking it (Benfotiamine) for Creatine in my kidneys but it helped my elevated Cholesterol levels as well.

The take away here is find a Fat Soluble B-1 like Benfotamine and it will have a much higher bio-availability and you will end up being helped much better than the water soluble B-1s....

I hope this is helpful but it is not medical advice.

Posterboy,