Recovery from stomach bug with Celiac

[Msteele]

My 15 year old with Celiac just came down with her first stomach bug since being diagnosed 5 years ago. Her Celiac has been well-controlled and we’re fairly certain this was a bug as others in the household were also sick, though not as affected as she was. It’s been 7 days since she first got sick and she’s still having symptoms—some nausea, diarrhea, sulfur burps—and I’m wondering if it just takes Celiac folks longer to recover from these bugs. Anyone have any thoughts or experiences? She’s feeling pretty hopeless and I’m feeling very anxious, so any thoughts and/or advice are appreciated!

[trents]

Has she been tested for COVID? We just learned recently that there can be a GI component to COVID and not just a respiratory one.

[cristiana]

2 hours ago, Msteele said:

My 15 year old with Celiac just came down with her first stomach bug since being diagnosed 5 years ago. Her Celiac has been well-controlled and we’re fairly certain this was a bug as others in the household were also sick, though not as affected as she was. It’s been 7 days since she first got sick and she’s still having symptoms—some nausea, diarrhea, sulfur burps—and I’m wondering if it just takes Celiac folks longer to recover from these bugs. Anyone have any thoughts or experiences? She’s feeling pretty hopeless and I’m feeling very anxious, so any thoughts and/or advice are appreciated!

I once took 2 weeks to recover from an episode of diarrhea caused I think by food poisoning before I was diagnosed with coeliac disease.  It was during my first pregnancy, around the time when I was beginning to get all sorts of strange symptoms which I now attribute to coeliac disease, such as mouth ulcers and aura migraines.  

Quite often, even now my coeliac disease is diagnosed and well controlled, I notice I take a little longer to bounce back from certain illnesses.  If Dr Google says on average it takes two weeks to recover from something, it might take me three (although I realise Dr Google isn't that reliable!). I worry sometimes about it but my husband has remarked, "Well you often take a bit longer than the rest of us to get over something."

I do have low blood iron and low vitamin D levels, and likely therefore other deficiencies, which could perhaps affect things.  Could it be your daughter is low on any particularly vitamins or minerals?  Maybe some sort of gluten-free supplement might help at the moment?

But I agree with @trents - it could be that it's COVID.  I know people who've had the gastric symptoms with it.

 

[Msteele]

3 hours ago, trents said:

Has she been tested for COVID? We just learned recently that there can be a GI component to COVID and not just a respiratory one.

We did an at-home test that was negative; not sure how accurate those are for the GI stuff, though. 

2 hours ago, cristiana said:

I once took 2 weeks to recover from an episode of diarrhea caused I think by food poisoning before I was diagnosed with coeliac disease.  It was during my first pregnancy, around the time when I was beginning to get all sorts of strange symptoms which I now attribute to coeliac disease, such as mouth ulcers and aura migraines.  

Quite often, even now my coeliac disease is diagnosed and well controlled, I notice I take a little longer to bounce back from certain illnesses.  If Dr Google says on average it takes two weeks to recover from something, it might take me three (although I realise Dr Google isn't that reliable!). I worry sometimes about it but my husband has remarked, "Well you often take a bit longer than the rest of us to get over something."

I do have low blood iron and low vitamin D levels, and likely therefore other deficiencies, which could perhaps affect things.  Could it be your daughter is low on any particularly vitamins or minerals?  Maybe some sort of gluten-free supplement might help at the moment?

But I agree with @trents - it could be that it's COVID.  I know people who've had the gastric symptoms with it.

 

She just had labs for iron and Vit D and all was normal. I’m sorry it takes you longer to get over bugs but it does reassure me a bit that maybe that’s the issue here. Thanks for the response!

[trents]

Make sure she gets plenty of fluids. Diarrhea can cause dehydration. Keep us posted.

[Msteele]

12 hours ago, trents said:

Make sure she gets plenty of fluids. Diarrhea can cause dehydration. Keep us posted.

Thank you! I took her to the doctor this morning; they said it's likely still the virus, and that the GI bug they're seeing this year really hangs on :(. We'll keep up on the Pedialyte and hope that it passes soon!

[Aaron2018]

Sometimes it can take other people longer to recover from being sick compared to others regardless of being celiac or not. 1 tip I can give you is make sure all pills and medicines they take are gluten free . When I was first diagnosed with celiac disease I had no idea gluten could even be in medicine, but it can, what I thought was longer than normal sick symptoms from me being sick was actually also celiac symptoms because of gluten in some of the headache pills I was taking at the time. I Hope they feel better soon. 

[knitty kitty]

@Msteele,

Whether your daughter is fighting Covid or another bug, vitamins like Thiamine B 1, Vitamin C and Vitamin D helps us fight infections.  

Vitamin D helps regulate the immune system when the  level is greater than 32 ng/mL (80 nmol/L).

Thiamine in the form called Benfotiamine has been shown to improve gastrointestinal symptoms.  Patients with low thiamine often have more severe symptoms and take longer to recuperate.  

Of course, Thiamine works with the other B vitamins, so a B Complex supplement is beneficial.

Gluten free diets can be low in vitamins and minerals, especially if processed gluten free facsimile foods are consumed.  Gluten free facsimile foods are not required to be enriched with vitamins and minerals lost in processing.  While gluten containing products are required by law to be enriched with vitamins and minerals, these are often cheap, shelf stable versions of vitamins that are not readily absorbed and utilized by the body.  When the gluten free diet is implemented, vitamin supplementation should be started to enhance absorption and replenish vitamins stored in the cells and organs of the body.  

 

References:

Be well: A potential role for vitamin B in COVID-19

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7428453/

Therapeutic potential of vitamin B1 derivative benfotiamine from diabetes to COVID-19

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35535731/

 

Controlling Chronic Diseases and Acute Infections with Vitamin D Sufficiency

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10459179/

[Msteele]

21 hours ago, Aaron2018 said:

Sometimes it can take other people longer to recover from being sick compared to others regardless of being celiac or not. 1 tip I can give you is make sure all pills and medicines they take are gluten free . When I was first diagnosed with celiac disease I had no idea gluten could even be in medicine, but it can, what I thought was longer than normal sick symptoms from me being sick was actually also celiac symptoms because of gluten in some of the headache pills I was taking at the time. I Hope they feel better soon. 

Yes--I did go through all her meds to double check that everything was gluten-free. It's hard to keep on top of all of this sometimes! And thank you--I think she's finally improving.

20 hours ago, knitty kitty said:

@Msteele,

Whether your daughter is fighting Covid or another bug, vitamins like Thiamine B 1, Vitamin C and Vitamin D helps us fight infections.  

Vitamin D helps regulate the immune system when the  level is greater than 32 ng/mL (80 nmol/L).

Thiamine in the form called Benfotiamine has been shown to improve gastrointestinal symptoms.  Patients with low thiamine often have more severe symptoms and take longer to recuperate.  

Of course, Thiamine works with the other B vitamins, so a B Complex supplement is beneficial.

Gluten free diets can be low in vitamins and minerals, especially if processed gluten free facsimile foods are consumed.  Gluten free facsimile foods are not required to be enriched with vitamins and minerals lost in processing.  While gluten containing products are required by law to be enriched with vitamins and minerals, these are often cheap, shelf stable versions of vitamins that are not readily absorbed and utilized by the body.  When the gluten free diet is implemented, vitamin supplementation should be started to enhance absorption and replenish vitamins stored in the cells and organs of the body.  

 

References:

Be well: A potential role for vitamin B in COVID-19

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7428453/

Therapeutic potential of vitamin B1 derivative benfotiamine from diabetes to COVID-19

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35535731/

 

Controlling Chronic Diseases and Acute Infections with Vitamin D Sufficiency

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10459179/

Thanks for this, and for all the links--I appreciate it. She does take Vit D, but I think we need to add B Complex and Thiamine. Good tips!