Should I Try?

[Guest zoomom]

I recently found this board and hope to find some knowledgable people who may have some insight as to what is happening to me.

I woke up one Saturday morning in April 06 with lower back pain and a bloated tummy. Well, my regular doctor thought it was due to my radical diet change in January 06 of the basic Southbeach plan. When the pain/bloat did not subside, the regular doc sent me to a neuro doc thinking I was having spasms. Well the neuro doc gave me Baclofen 40mg daily. This doesn't do much for me though.

So, back to regular doc and she puts me on Hyoscyamine with little to no help. Off I went to a GI doc two weeks ago and he had me do a CT-scan. The results from that was negative, although, there was a fair amount of stool in my intestines despite the fact I "go" daily.

My symptoms are left and/or right side pain, lower back pain and bloat. The pain can radiate to my thighs as well. The pain/bloat is consent. I have a normal appetite, normal daily bowel movement, no vomiting or nausia and because of my healthier eating habits I've lost 20lbs.

Living with this daily pain/bloat is awful! I have to admit, it is very depressing as well. The GI doc has now put me on Citalopram Open Original Shared Link to hopefully re-set my gut. It takes 3 to 6 weeks to become effective, and I've only be on it a week so only time will tell. Has anyone ever tried this med before?

Based on my symptoms, should I try a gluten free diet? If so, how long does it take to notice a change? Any insight would be great appreciated!

Robin

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Hi, zoomom, and welcome aboard!

Just to clarify--in Jan of '06, did you go ON the South Beach diet, or OFF it?

And what are you eating these days?

[spunky]

Since you're under a doctor's care and following his instructions, it might be a good idea to mention to him you are wondering if the initial dietary change that seemed to instigate all of this might have triggered a gluten intolerance or some other intolerance. Maybe he will give you a blood test for celiac and then you could go on from there.

If it shows celiac, you've got your answer. If it turns out to be negative, I don't kow, there might be other avenues to explore, but it still COULD be gluten-related. I never went to any doctors, I just went ahead and put myself on a gluten free diet, hoping that was it. Luckily, it was, and I knew for a fact in about 6 months of gluten free. Doing it yourself, though, from stuff I've read, would rule out getting tester later, if you decided to, because going gluten free would mess up the test sensitivity. If you have to wait for 6 months gluten free before you can actually see that you're better, like I did (I understand some people get faster results), it seems like forever before you have your answer, and that 6 months is very trying and difficult.

I would press the doctor for real answers, not just drugs. A celiac test would be a starting point (just the blood test, not the biopsy...I would NOT do that test, myself). I would want to know what it takes to be well again, not just reliant on drugs. That's just one opinion, of course; I'm no expert.

[Guhlia]

Have you mentioned your suspicions to the doctor? Was he unwilling to do the test? I would start with talking to your doctor. If he refuses to do the blood testing, I would try going gluten free and see if it helps. Even if you get a negative restult on the blood test, if they can't figure out what's going on, I would try going gluten free anyway, just to see if it helps. Many people benefit from a gluten-free diet, not just Celiacs. Perhaps you just have a gluten intolerance OR an allergy...

[Guest zoomom]

Hi, zoomom, and welcome aboard!

Just to clarify--in Jan of '06, did you go ON the South Beach diet, or OFF it?

And what are you eating these days?

I went ON the South Beach diet in Jan.

I eat a variety of healthy foods. A typical day might look like this:

Breakfast = Oatmeal w/milk and artifical sweetner and an apple. Hot tea w/artifical sweetner.

Lunch = Green salad w/tuna and a vinergar dressing. Hot tea w/artifical sweetner.

Snack = A plum and bottled water.

Dinner = Grilled chicken breast, steamed veggies w/brown rice. Hot tea w/artifical sweetner.

Snack = Fat Free Sugar Free 1/2 cup ie cream.

Have you mentioned your suspicions to the doctor? Was he unwilling to do the test? I would start with talking to your doctor. If he refuses to do the blood testing, I would try going gluten free and see if it helps. Even if you get a negative restult on the blood test, if they can't figure out what's going on, I would try going gluten free anyway, just to see if it helps. Many people benefit from a gluten-free diet, not just Celiacs. Perhaps you just have a gluten intolerance OR an allergy...

I did not mention my thoughts about diet as it has recently only occured to me that in may be the food I am eating. I did tell the doctor about the timeline of my symptoms, but I did not ask if the diet change could have triggered an intolerance.

I see him again in a month, so I will talk to him then.

Robin

Since you're under a doctor's care and following his instructions, it might be a good idea to mention to him you are wondering if the initial dietary change that seemed to instigate all of this might have triggered a gluten intolerance or some other intolerance. Maybe he will give you a blood test for celiac and then you could go on from there.

Is it actually possible for a diet change to trigger an intolerance?

Robin

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Hmmm, you are making an excellent effort at healthy eating!!!

A lot of celiacs react to oatmeal for a couple of reasons: 1)cross contamination (they are processed on the same steels as wheat) and 2) the protein in oats is molecularly very similar to gluten.

What screams at me most though, is your heavy use of artificial sweeteners. I know a lot of people who have bad tummy reactions to them, I've read a lot of info that indicates that they are a major health risk, and father of my best friend was one of the scientists who developed aspartame--and he would never let his family touch it. He said that it was improperly tested and that he was sure it wa carcinogenic. His words were: better to have the sugar, at least you can lose weight, you can't lose cancer.

If you really don't want to add the sugar to your tea (I could understand that!), you might try Jasmine tea, which is Jasmine and tea leaves, and naturally quite sweet . Some herbal teas, like licorice are also very sweet.

thanks for putting your typical day's diet out there for us. I am inspired by your discipline!

[Ursa Major]

Robin, I agree with Fiddle-Faddle, it could be the artificial sweetener that is causing the trouble. Also, you are not getting enough fat. The fats nobody should eat is trans-fat (partially hydrogenated oil) and hydrogenated oils, as those are deadly. But saturated fats are NEEDED for the body to function, every cell is dependent on them (as well as essential fatty acids). In fact, our brains are mostly fat. It is carbohydrates (especially sugar and white flour) that are causing weight gain, not fat. And low fat diets cause more heart attacks than ones that are too high in fat (and of course, as with everything, you can have too much of a good thing).

[Mango04]

I agree that the artificial sweetner might be a problem as well. Whenever I've eaten anything with that stuff in it, I've suffered horrible symptoms including bloating and stomach aches. I like honey in my tea...and small amounts of raw sugar once in a while.

Couldn't hurt to try a gluten-free diet either . The good news your typical diet will make that easy for you, since you alreay eat quite a bit of naturally gluten-free food. I hope you find something that works for you

[jnclelland]

I went ON the South Beach diet in Jan.

Did you start experiencing these symptoms during Phase 1 or Phase 2 of South Beach? What happens for some people is that Phase 1 of South Beach is the first time that they've ever been totally OFF gluten. This gives the body a little bit of time to recover, and as many on this board will tell you, re-introducing gluten after a period OFF gluten can result in new and/or more severe symptoms as your body sort of says, "Hey, I feel better WITHOUT this stuff!" So it's not uncommon for people to discover a problem with gluten when they re-introduce grains in Phase 2. If that's when your symptoms started, I'd say gluten is a likely cause. If not, then maybe it's more likely to be something else.

Jeanne, South Beachin' it since May

[Looking for answers]

I agree with others that artifical sweetners have caused nasty symptoms for me, including muscle cramps, eye pain and bloating. I still crave diet cokes like a crack addict, so there's something mighty potent in them! I would eliminate their use for a few months and see if you feel better. Remember, they're nothing but chemicals, so they don't do a darn good thing for your body, that's for sure! I hope you don't experience the same withdrawals I did. Hope you feel better soon!

By the way, everytime I eat oatmeal, I get bloated and feel like I have a brick in my stomach all day. May want to eliminate it too for a while and use rice bran as an alternative.

[Guest zoomom]

I want to THANK EVERYONE for being so kind and supportive! This is the first board I joined that members were so friendly and helpful to the newbie.

I think eveyone is right regarding the artifical sweetner and I am making steps to eliminate it from my diet. I'll swtiched to Stevia as it is a truely all natural sweetner. Also, I am going to eliminate dairy and gluten from my diet. Then if I begin seeing improvement, I'll slowly try to reintroduce dairy. I am not sure dairy is a problem for me, but it is a very common cause of gas and I figure it can't hurt to remove it for now.

I was reading through the symptoms of GI and discovered that "tingling numbness in the legs" is a common symptom! OMGosh, my legs have been driving me nuts the past month or so! I was think, oh great now what. I plan to tell the doctor obout my legs as the tingling is getting worse, but if I am GI, maybe this is why.

Robin