I Really Need Some Help I Am Scared

[mommy2ky]

Hi everyone. I am new here and really need some advice. I will try to make this short. I have been ill for a year after having my son and my thyroid is hypothyroid right now and showing antibodies. I also have Very low iron (ferritin) so I am now on meds for both. I actually started feeling so much better then a year of being scared. MY mom has celiac disease and I did have a blood test but it was negative. My mom went through thyroid problems and a ton of issues before being diagnosed now she is healthy as ever. I have went gluten free to test my body itself because I am desperate to get better. I actually had more gluten then I have had in a long time this week because I was starving and I am also 9 weeks pregnant. It didnt seem to affect me and then yesterday after months of feeling better all my symptoms came back and this is what is happening. I get a burning sensation that runs through my arms and legs mostly, I sweat like I am having hot flashes and feel like I may pass out. I am nauseous and just really unwell. I am not sure if this is my body reacting to the gluten?? I am really worried now and dont know what to do. The only thing I have done different is eat gluten this week and so I am trying to figure out if that maybe was the problem and my body is reacting badly. I am going on the second day of feeling like this. I am scared to do anything because The hot flashes and almost fainting is VEry scarey. I am still not feeling well today. ANy advice or thoughts on this I would really appreciate. I am so lost and dont know what to do. Thank you for reading.

[Nantzie]

Have you talked to your ob/gyn about it? You should let her know what is happening just in case it's pregnancy related. You should also let her know that you may have celiac disease, and that it runs in your family. If you're not eating gluten, or eating very little gluten, at the time of the blood test for celiac, you can get a false negative. There are also a lot of us on here, myself included, that don't have classic celiac, but have gluten intolerance, which is just as miserable to live with if you're not being gluten-free, but in different ways than classic celiac. So, if your body doesn't like gluten, don't eat it. You can figure out the details of whether or not you have classic celiac after your pregnancy. I haven't been pregnant while knowing I had gluten intolerance, so hopefully some of the more experienced women here will give you some advice.

Nancy

[mommy2ky]

Have you talked to your ob/gyn about it? You should let her know what is happening just in case it's pregnancy related. You should also let her know that you may have celiac disease, and that it runs in your family. If you're not eating gluten, or eating very little gluten, at the time of the blood test for celiac, you can get a false negative. There are also a lot of us on here, myself included, that don't have classic celiac, but have gluten intolerance, which is just as miserable to live with if you're not being gluten-free, but in different ways than classic celiac. So, if your body doesn't like gluten, don't eat it. You can figure out the details of whether or not you have classic celiac after your pregnancy. I haven't been pregnant while knowing I had gluten intolerance, so hopefully some of the more experienced women here will give you some advice.

Nancy

Thanks for your reply. I would think possibly it is pregnancy but I have been pregnant before and not felt like this. Not only that these symptoms were happening last summer and winter and I wasnt pregnant. I have been told it is so many things and for a while I thought it was my thyroid but the docs kept telling me not thyroid symptoms. I have been feeling a bit better for the past 3 months and now all of a sudden the week I eat more wheat then I have in a long time I am getting the burning through my body, weakness and passing out feeling. I just start to sweat in the face and it is horrible. I really dont know. NOw I have pain in my back that is constant no matter how I sit. My husband says it is just sore muscles but I seem to panic about everything lately.

[Jnkmnky]

Going gluten free is not a medical situation. You can chose to live Gluten free for a variety of reasons just like you can choose to be vegan, vegetarian, low carb, low sodium... There are great gluten free foods out there. No starving, pregnant or not. You said you chose to eat gluten containing foods because you were hungry.... Being gluten free doesn't mean you're hungry. Are you aware of all that you CAN eat on a gluten free diet? Do you shop at Kinnikinnick.com? You're fear may be motivated a lot by the fact that you're pregnant and responsible for your growing baby. It's day two of feeling miserable, right? Call your obgyn and tell her that you'd been gluten free, suspecting gluten intolerance due to your mom's dx, and that you ate gluten and are terriby sick and as a result, scared. Being stressed during pregnancy is NOT good for your baby.

I'd say don't even look for a "proper dx of celiac" at this point. You're pregnant. You felt better being gluten free. That's dx enough that gluten doesn't agree with your body. I'm neg even for Gluten sensitivity. If I went by the current testing, I'd be eating gluten... but you know what??? My body reacts to gluten no matter what the tests say about my body reacting to gluten. My son has celiac disease. I have my whole family on a gluten free diet and no one... not the 11 year old, not the 9 year old, not the almost 8 year old or me are starving. There are great foods out there. What were you eating? What did you feel deprived of? Let us know, and we'll direct you towards some good foods.

[Carolita]

Hello Mommy2ky,

Hope you are feeling better today. I agree, you should talk to your OB/GYN. All pregancies are different. Your pregnancy is still very recent so I don't recommend making dietary changes that will affect your system. If being gluten free makes you feel better then don't eat gluten. If eating gluten makes you sick it can also remove the nutrients your baby needs to develop. Talk to your OB/GYN and tell her about your dient and celiac. Hope you feel better soon.

Carol

[Ursa Major]

I don't want to scare you, but if you have Celiac disease and eat gluten, it can cause a miscarriage. Miscarriages are a recognized symptom of celiac disease. I know, I had eight, because I wasn't diagnosed until I was already 52.

Your symptoms are very much like what I used to experience, especially when pregnant. My advice is to stop eating gluten immediately. Your glutened symptoms could last another week, and hopefully you'll feel much better within a few days.

In order to be diagnosed with celiac disease at this point, you'd have to do a gluten challenge, meaning you would have to eat a lot of gluten for months. That wouldn't be safe for you or your baby. Your only real choice is to go back onto a gluten free diet. Not just wheat free, but gluten free. And you don't need a doctor's permission to do so, it's your choice.

Eating gluten free is healthy, and you can absolutely get all the nutrients you need from that diet. NOBODY needs ANY grains to be healthy. If you want to read an excellent book on the subject, read 'Dangerous Grains', it is a real eye opener.

If you need advice on the diet, you've come to the right place. Ask away, and I'm sure many people will be eager to help and to give you great recipes, even. I am not the one to ask about all that, because I am intolerant to a million things, and my diet is so restricted, that I have to make up my own recipes.

So, don't be scared, stop the gluten, and I'm sure you and the baby will be just fine!

[CMCM]

The human body does NOT need gluten to be healthy. In fact, in my opinion, our bodies were not designed to digest grains and that's why so many people have problems with them.

It would not possibly impact your pregnancy to be gluten free....just be sure to eat healthy vegetables, fruits and protein sources and you'lll be fine. And Ursula is right.....if you do have celiac, and you continue to eat gluten, THAT could endanger your pregnancy.

Just go on a gluten free diet....then see how you feel. The one great thing about celiac disease or even gluten sensitivity is that treating it is so safe and healthy, and involves no drug at all! In this fact, we are lucky to have this instead of other things we might have!

Another thing I've read lately....that when pregnant and also when nursing, it is far better that the mother eats NO gluten, particularly if the baby has inherited one of the celiac/gluten genes!