Timeline For Progress On gluten-free Diet

[KevinG]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for a resource that describes the timeline of progress on a diagnostic gluten-free diet; one that describes how many weeks/months it takes to see change in GI symptoms vs. change in central nervous symptoms, and how much longer it takes someone who has had minimal damage vs. someone who has had long-term damage form gluten.

I'm also wondering how eating gluten intermittently affects the timeline for the diet -- i.e. if I'm on the gluten-free diet for a month, then eat some gluten in one meal, how far am I set back? Do I start the clock from zero again, or am I effectively at two, three, four weeks, or something else?

I tested negative for celiac, by the way, but am trying the gluten-free diet because a family member has celiac and I have another health condition that I think could result from gluten intolerance. I just finished month 1 of the gluten-free diet.

Thanks!

[tracey*]

I don't think I've ever seen a timeline before, but I'm sure someone else can point you in the right direction.

I've kept a blog about what I'm going through, but it's not necessarily a 'timeline'. I haven't be diagnosed celiac, I am following a gluten free, yeast free diet. I've also had gluten by mistake a couple of times. In my public entries, I keep it quite real but I've held back alot of detail because I often thought I was being a hypocondriac .. sad huh?

My advice is to not worry about how much time it takes to heal, unless it's for actual research and study, as it varies from person to person. Just stay with it.

If you read the message board, you will come across alot of stories from people that have been glutened and how long it took them to recover.

Good luck

[Kaycee]

Kevin,

I don't think it would be possible to come up with a timeline or resource for our progress. We are all different, we all have different health problems that may not necessary be related to gluten, as in other tolerances and diseases. And dare I say, when we start the diet, we are bound to make mistakes by thinking something has not got gluten in only to discover it has. In a perfect world a timeline could be made, but there are so many different variables.

But I did find within a week of being gluten free there was progress in my symptoms, but then for a long time after the initial progress things just stayed the same. I think the last few weeks I have seen an improvement in me myself. as in how I feel about the world around me and I am not so inward looking, but looking at other things and people. I am going to embrace life again with open arms, and try to forget I have coeliac (only until the next meal that is)

I think a lot of the healing process has to do with who we are and how we are emotionally and physically as well as our age, and of course our responses to coeliac.

For a long time there I blamed my lingering symptoms on being glutened accidently. Then I thought it was other intolerances, but now I realise it was neither, as I can eat soy and drink milk, etc, but not peanuts, so I am thinking it is probably stress that was doing a number on my system. Or it could be just healing taking it's time. It has been quite difficult getting to here, it has taken a total of about 9 months. But I feel my biggest problem was the emotional stuff that goes with finding out that my life will never be the same again.