Still Stomach Problems After 7months Gluten Free

[wendyb]

Hi I am a new member and would like to share my angst and get some advice. I was diagnosed with Coeliac disease in October. After being on the gluten free diet for 4 months, and also with no dairy, I began to feel better. I thought Yippee! And began quickly to reintroduce dairy and gluten-free flour products, cakes, bread biscuits. Over the following few weeks it seemed apparent that I wasn't handling this stuff and I was still getting bloated and feeling lousy. But, I so much wanted to have more variety in my diet that I put up with feeling lousy for a bit longer. Finally after travelling to another country, and possibly eating gluten, I began to feel consistently worse. So I now feel that I need to go back dairy free, flour free and I forgot to mention corn(I think is an issue for me as well!)

I feel depressed about this, and emotionally feel like I"m not coping. I feel out of control, in the sense that my health is out of control and I don't really know what to do about it. I am living in Cambodia (just to make matters worse) and for better or worse there are not health advisors in this area living here. But I suspect from what I have been reading that the specialists don't necessarily know how to advise about the process of healing for the stomach, as it seems a very individual thing, with some people having extra allergies and others not. And people's symptoms being so varied.

My concern is how to find out what is bothering me and what length of time I should give say for staying off dairy/gluten free flours/corn, in order to work out what is troubling me. I find it hard to impose a stricter diet on myself when there is no health professional to say, "this is what you ought to do!"

Sorry for the long story, but it is at a point where I"m not sure whether to return to Australia to get help and live there until I get better( but that is a decison that will effect the whole family, I have 2 children and a husband).

Would appreciate any help in the matter.

wendyb

[Ursa Major]

Hi Wendy, and welcome to this board. If you look at my signature (and check my links on lectins and salicylates), you will see that I can't tolerate a myriad of things, and don't have much left to eat.

My doctors were clueless, and I had to figure things out by myself. This is what I advise you to do: You will need to do an elimination diet. Obviously, you really know already what is bothering you (or at least some of the things that are likely culprits), you just don't like it! So, stop eating any of the likely foods that are bothering you, namely dairy and all grains (which actually includes rice and corn). There may be others, but those are good for starters. Stay off all those for about a month, and see if you feel better.

Next, you test those one at a time, at least a few days apart (one or two weeks apart is better), and note how they make you feel. Foods (especially dairy, grains and starches) can effect your stomach, but also your brain and the rest of your body. One of my husband's cousins doesn't get any stomach problems from dairy, but she will get severely depressed within a day of consuming it. So, you really need to record any changes in wellbeing, including mental ones (depression, brain fog, forgetfulness, aggression etc.).

You don't need a doctor to figure this out. If it makes you feel bad, you can't have it, period. At least not for the time being. It will take about a year for your villi to heal properly on a gluten-free diet. You can try the offending foods again after about a year (again, one at a time, noting any ill effects), to see if you have outgrown those intolerances. Some people can have dairy again, but not nearly everybody.

I hope this helps!

[evie]

Welcome to the b oard Wendy!! your advice was right on Ursula, I have certainly gotten good advice here from many posters. From what I have read australia is a very good country to be in when you are celiac, ahead of US in knowledgeable dr's and etc. sounds like would not be an easy move/ family but might be your health would benefit faster where you might have more guidance and possibly more food choices.

If that is not possible keep up/ this forum and you will get lots of help. Hang in there. evie

[ravenwoodglass]

First off welcome and ((((((((hugs))))))). All I can add is that Ursula gave you some great and very accurate advice. The one thing I want to add is that when you add back in a food item you should make it in as 'pure' of a form as possible. gluten-free baked goods, for example, should only be added back in after you know you don't react to the individual ingredients in them. It is a time consuming process as you should wait a week before adding anything new because of the delayed reaction time for intolerances. Also when you start the elimination diet if you do not have an allergist to guide you try to start with a colorful group of foods that you seldom eat. For example my beginning diet included only turkey, sweet potatoes, pineapple, peas and cranberry juice. No spices except salt and no beverages other than water and the juice. All foods I hated but after just a few days I felt much better and then it was time to start adding in foods. The reason they have you start with foods you seldom consume is because you are less likely to have formed an intolerance to them because you don't eat them often. I hope you feel better soon.