Getting sick much more often

[Jordan Carlson]

Hello everyone, I am wondering if anyone has experienced the same thing as me. Literally ever since I went 100% gluten free and started eating the cleanest I have ever ate in my life, I get sick WAY more often than I ever did prior to my diagnosis and being gluten free. I almost dont rememebr ever getting sick before. Now the last 3 ish years I have been sick more than I ever have been in my life. Could it be my immune system was so tired/fatigued prior to diagnosis that it just wouldnt turn on anymore? And now that my stress and inflammation is down its functioning stronger? Really interested to see if anyone has any insight on this. Thank you!

[Sanna King]

New to celiacs but noticed until I began having the symptoms that drove me to the doctor & investigation that led to diagnosis, I did not get sick really at all. Now it’s non-stop. And I have at least one flair up about every two weeks. Admittedly probably due to learning the ropes on cross contamination and pot label reading skills, but to go from no symptoms to a near constant battle is perplexing. Will be following this convo to see what conclusions are drawn. 

[Jordan Carlson]

Hi there @Sanna King! I am talking about contracting colds/flu, not gluten reactions. Sorry if I did not make that clear. My stomach symptoms have improved vastly since changing my diet. But I contract colds way more often than I ever had before.

[trents]

Reply to Sanna King: As you have withdrawn gluten from your diet you have lost all tolerance to it that you had when consuming it on a regular basis. This is normal. Not everyone experiences it but it is common. It has been my experience as well. When I was consuming gluten every meal every day for years after the onset of celiac disease but before diagnosis I would experience mild GI symptoms like a little occasional diarrhea. After being gluten free for a significant time, any major exposure to gluten would make me violently ill. Hours of severe cramps and vomiting followed by hours of diarrhea. Like when my wife made me gluten-free biscuits and made herself wheat flour biscuits and I got them mixed up and ate a couple. I am not a super sensitive celiac in the sense of being made ill by small amounts of cross contamination but if I get a significant exposure like I just described it is awful. 

Edited April 25, 2025 by trents

[Jordan Carlson]

Hey there @trents. I wish I could edit my original post. I am talking about getting a cold way more often, not gluten poisoning.

[trents]

Jordan Carlson,

Wheat flour is fortified with vitamins ("enriched") where as gluten free facsimile flours are not. So when you eliminate wheat flour from your diet you may lose a significant source of nutrition. At the same time, gluten-free prepackaged foods are practically devoid of vitamins and minerals, consisting mostly of highly processed high carbohydrate grain substitutes. Lots of rice flour and tapioca. Have you compensated by adding in some high quality gluten free vitamin and mineral supplements? We typically recommend this for new celiacs, especially at the front end of recovery before there has been very much healing of the small bowel villous lining and nutritional absorption is still poor.

Edit: I edited my other post to direct it to Sanna King's post.

Edited April 25, 2025 by trents

[Jordan Carlson]

@trents I do take all the recommended vitamins and excersize regularly. Basically do all things labeled as a healthy lifestyle haha. Thats why I was thinking more this is my immune system now having the energy to fight viruses rather than being too stressed out as I have heard that it is a common thing when your body is over stressed due to underlying autoimmune diseases

[knitty kitty]

Hello there!

@Jordan Carlson , you said "Now the last 3 ish years I have been sick more than I ever have been in my life. Could it be my immune system was so tired/fatigued prior to diagnosis that it just wouldnt turn on anymore? And now that my stress and inflammation is down its functioning stronger?"

I think you may have that backwards.  Your immune system was running in high gear with undiagnosed Celiac Disease, and therefore fighting infections like colds and viruses before you had any symptoms.  Now that you've gone gluten free, your immune system may be depressed and not able to mount a strong immune response to colds and viruses because it is running low in essential vitamins and minerals needed for that immune response.  Hence you have more infections and worse symptoms now.  

For strong immune responses, our bodies need vitamins and minerals that may be lacking on the gluten free diet.  Supplementing with essential nutrients boosts our ability to absorb the vitamins and minerals while our intestinal villi are healing in the first few years of recovery.  

Many are low in vitamins and minerals that help our immune system, like Vitamin D, Vitamin C, zinc, iron, the eight B vitamins, especially Thiamine, selenium, and magnesium.  

Have you talked to your doctor and nutritionist about supplementing with vitamins and minerals?   Correcting nutritional deficiencies is frequently overlooked after diagnosis.  

[Jordan Carlson]

Hey there @knitty kitty! I am very into health/fitness so I always made sure I was supplementing everything correctly even prior to diagnosis. Thats why I figured I would poke around on the forum with my question because to me it doesn't really make sense LOL. You’d think that eating clean and going gluten free would cause less colds and illnesses. I have blood work dine regularly and everything has been in check. But maybe you are spot on as my immune system was going 24/7 prior and I was stressed to the max and now I am just not used to it functioning normally. 

[knitty kitty]

What were/are you supplementing?  

What sort of bloodwork?  Testing for vitamin and mineral deficiencies?

[Jordan Carlson]

@knitty kittyExtra strength multivitamin, B complex, magnesium, Vitamin D, vitamin C and electrolytes first thing in the AM and in the evening. Blood work was always full pannel. Only thing off thats reoccurring in my blood work is that my b12 level is always sitting around 750-830 and has not moved from prior to diagnosis to now. 

[knitty kitty]

Have you tried adding in additional thiamine in the form called Benfotiamine?  Athletes need extra thiamine.  We need more thiamine when we're physically ill and also when we're emotionally stressed.

 A regular B Complex or multivitamin probably doesn't have enough thiamine.  Check the label for which type of thiamine is in your vitamins.   Thiamine Mononitrate is not desirable.  Benfotiamine has been shown to improve athletic performance and stamina, as well as improve recovery time.  

[trents]

Zinc is also a very important supplement when it comes to infection resistance.

[DebJ14]

I had the exact opposite thing happen.  Prior to my diagnosis and introduction of the gluten-free diet, I was sick all the time.  My file at the ENT was so thick because it was one upper respiratory infection, one sinus infection, one ear infection after another.  Year after year after year.  I have only been sick once in 18 years and I know exactly who gave me the infection back in 2012.  It was a coronavirus cold.  I was sick for 6 weeks and lost my sense of smell and taste for over 2 years.  I had every test in the book and took boatloads of prescriptions to try to get it back.  It was not until my chiropractor suggested I take zinc that my senses started coming back.  I have been exposed to lab confirmed flu, norovirus, covid and a host of other illnesses over the past 13 years and have not caught anything,  Not even a sniffle.  My GI doctor said that once I stopped poisoning my system with gluten that my immune system was able to fight off all these other infections.  I also had extensive tests for nutritional deficiencies (every 6 months for 5 years) and took large doses of targeted supplements until my levels finally came back to normal, or it was determined that I have a genetic mutation, making me a lifetime consumer of high dose Vitamin D, B 12 and multiple antioxidants.  Amazing that now at 72 I am healthier than I was in my all through early adulthood.  I was 54 when finally diagnosed with Celiac Disease, and it has been pretty much smooth sailing ever since, but I am a fanatic about my gluten-free diet because the alternative is not pretty.

[knitty kitty]

Yes, zinc is very important to immune system and health.  

@Sanna King, how are you doing?  I got really frustrated reading labels!  On the Autoimmune Protocol Diet I don't have to.  The AIP diet includes meat and veggies and some fruit.  No processed foods.  No dairy, no nuts, no nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant).  The AIP diet has been shown to promote intestinal healing.  It gets the inflammation down really quickly, so the intestines can heal.  But the AIP diet can be lacking in essential nutrients, so supplementing is important.  Remember, you're no longer eating gluten breads that are enriched or fortified with vitamin supplements already.  

It's important to get checked for deficiencies before you start taking supplements. Otherwise the tests will give false results.  Have you been checked for nutritional deficiencies?   

Talk to your doctor and nutritionist about supplementing while you're healing.  

Keep us posted on your progress.  

[Sanna King]

7 minutes ago, knitty kitty said:

Yes, zinc is very important to immune system and health.  

@Sanna King, how are you doing?  I got really frustrated reading labels!  On the Autoimmune Protocol Diet I don't have to.  The AIP diet includes meat and veggies and some fruit.  No processed foods.  No dairy, no nuts, no nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant).  The AIP diet has been shown to promote intestinal healing.  It gets the inflammation down really quickly, so the intestines can heal.  But the AIP diet can be lacking in essential nutrients, so supplementing is important.  Remember, you're no longer eating gluten breads that are enriched or fortified with vitamin supplements already.  

It's important to get checked for deficiencies before you start taking supplements. Otherwise the tests will give false results.  Have you been checked for nutritional deficiencies?   

Talk to your doctor and nutritionist about supplementing while you're healing.  

Keep us posted on your progress.  

 

[Sanna King]

I’m doing OK except for an instance of cross contamination that knocked me for a loop over the weekend. Feeling much better today with still a little fatigue. Picking up tips on how to avoid future such incidents and becoming aware of just how sensitive I am. Looking forward to better days with more hope for improved health than prior to diagnosis.