Withdrawal Symptoms?

[elaine33]

Tuesday night I had a killer headache which I rarely get. I felt really good yesterday.

Today I feel weak and shaky and kind of diarrhish/faintish, just icky. I have been eating REALLY well... tuna, chicken or flounder for breakfast with rice or sweet potato and sometimes aspargaus, lunch hb without the bun, gluten-free fries or potato, veggie, fruits as snacks, something similar for dinner. I have lost about 4 pounds since Sunday which is not in the least what I care about but I'm wondering if this is why I feel weak today?

It could be coincidental, too, as I am having PMS symptoms, but it feels stronger than that. I am almost wanting to breakdown and have some gluten. I am not craving it at all, though, which is weird.

Does this sound like it could be normal?

[eleep]

That sounds a lot like the symptoms of withdrawal. I also had this weird angry energy for a while despite the fact that I felt so lousy.

eleep

[Budew]

Oh yes. I have gone through this exactly.

I never had headaches until I cut out gluten. Not long ago I realized that corn and soy might be triggering migranes. I had increased the amounts of soy, corn and rice as gluten substitutes. Okay for many but bad for me.

The other thing I noticed was that you are using white potato. You might want to look into eliminating night shades (white potato, tomato, eggplant, peppers) It made a big difference for me too.

I just read an article on lectins. All of theses foods are linked on the lectin page. I now see that rice might be the last piece of the puzzle.

I am so excited to be feeling better. Hope you do too.

I think we all go through wondering if we have to go 100% and are tempted to have something on the don't eat list. It took me a while to realize that I feel so much better without these foods that it is totally worth it!

[Sweetfudge]

I don't remember my first few days gluten-free, cuz I was so sick. But my cousin said every time she's tried "quitting wheat" she goes through withdrawals. So that is definitely possible. Make sure you are eating food that is easy to digest and absorb, so your body doesn't have to work so hard. I hope you get feeling better!

[elaine33]

eleep, yes I have the weird energy, especially yesterday. Then I've been exhausted. My heart rate has been up (which is an issue for me). I feel better today but am wondering how long this can go on and why would I feel so bad eating so healthy?

Bud- I don't think white potatoes are a problem for me but I'll keep an eye on it. If anything, I think corn chips might be an issue.

I am supposed to be spending the day with my husband today as he took off and I feel crappy.

Fudge, I ate really bland white fish and some chicken with some asparagus and chips for the most part all day, and applesauce. I do feel a bit better today so I will try to keep it as light as possible.

Thanks!

[eleep]

On top of what you're already doing, drinking lots of water and getting exercise are good ways to speed up any withdrawal process. As for how long it will take, I may not be the best example because my withdrawal symptoms lasted at least three months -- possibly more. This was, in part, because it took me that long to fully eliminate all the gluten from my life -- I balked for a while because it took the Enterolab results for me to fully realize that this was serious and real -- and I didn't get those until May despite having stopped eating gluten intentionally in February.

So, I think I went through progressive stages of withdrawal -- I would recommend being scupulous about checking all your vitamins, medications and personal toiletries and such as soon as possible. This isn't what I did and I definitely suffered quite a bit because my vitamins were clearly labeled as having gluten and I kept taking them through mid-May. I also realized, somewhat later, that I had panic attacks after getting my shampoo in my mouth.

Again -- I knew all this stuff could be an issue, but I was going through some pretty intense personal stuff at the time and had a lot of trouble distinguishing between what was illness and what was genuine emotional reactiveness -- I also had no idea that there was a withdrawal process involved.

On the positive side -- you do get through it and things feel a whole lot better once you have!

eleep

[Guest cassidy]

It took me two weeks after going gluten-free to feel better at all. All sorts of weird things happened during that time but by the end of two weeks I could definitely tell when I glutened myself because I was having periods of feeling good for the first time ever.

Like others, I would recommend a simple diet hopefully you will be feeling better soon.

[Nantzie]

Also keep in mind that Pamprin, Midol, etc, all (I'm pretty sure it's all..) have gluten in them. So if you're taking anything like that, you're getting glutened.

Nancy

[Audiori J]

I've been off gluten or trying to be for the last week, I am yawning, tired, sore, I have a headache, and my skin feels like its burning like a slight sunburn feeling even though I have no sunburn. Thats my experience.

[Looking for answers]

Hi,

If it becomes too ovewhelming, you may want to refer to a book called The Diet Cure by Julia Ross. I read it when I was going through withdrawals, and the supplements she recommended helped me tremendously.

Good luck!