Celiac and gallbladder. Related?

[Snackbasket]

Almost gluten free for a year and I developed gallstones. Within 3 months I had to get the gallbladder removed. Now dealing with extra GI issues from the gallbladder and going to the bathroom is always painful and exhausting. Colonoscopy was clean (pun intended) but lower GI pain and symptoms. 

[knitty kitty]

Welcome to the forum!

Gallbladder problems can occur in Celiac Disease.  Frequently gallbladder problems can be caused by low Thiamine Vitamin B 1.  There are eight essential B vitamins, thiamine is the one that we use the most of and run out of the quickest.  They all need each other to work properly together.

Constipation (and/or diarrhea) can also occur in low thiamine.  Thiamine is needed for the intestinal muscles to contract and push food through the gastrointestinal tract.  

Thiamine is also important in controlling bad bacteria in the digestive tract.  Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) can cause bloating and constipation.  Thiamine helps keep the bad bacteria from overgrowth.  

Benfotiamine, a form of Thiamine that gets into cells easily, has been shown to promote healing in the intestines.  

Have you discussed your current gluten free diet with a nutritionist?  We need to eat a nutritionally dense diet.  If you are substituting gluten free copycat foods for the gluten versions, you may not be getting enough of the essential B vitamins.  Gluten containing products are required to have vitamins added to them to replace the ones destroyed by processing.  Gluten free versions are not.  They are empty calories.  Better to buy your own vitamins.  Check for nutritional deficiencies first.  Once you start supplementing, tests will be measuring the vitamins from the supplements you took and you won't know if you're deficient.  

The eight B vitamins, magnesium and Vitamin D are frequently low in newly diagnosed Celiac people.  Correcting nutritional deficiencies is part of proper follow up care.  

Hope this helps!

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8533683/

And...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8451766/

[Scott Adams]

It's possible that this was unrelated to your celiac disease, but it's difficult to say for sure, as many nutrient deficiencies are caused by untreated celiac disease which can cause other issues.

The most common nutrient deficiencies associated with celiac disease that may lead to testing for the condition include iron, vitamin D, folate (vitamin B9), vitamin B12, calcium, zinc, and magnesium.  Unfortunately many doctors, including my own doctor at the time, don't do extensive follow up testing for a broad range of nutrient deficiencies, nor recommend that those just diagnosed with celiac disease take a broad spectrum vitamin/mineral supplement, which would greatly benefit most, if not all, newly diagnosed celiacs.

Because of this it took me decades to overcome a few long-standing issues I had that were associated with gluten ataxia, for example numbness and tingling in my feet, and muscle knots--especially in my shoulders an neck. Only long term extensive supplementation has helped me to resolve these issues.