Indigestion And Other Awful Symtoms

[rutland]

Ive been dealing with the most awful indigestion symptoms whenever I eat anything. What happens is I get hungry, I sit down and eat, then afterward I feel that the food just sits there and doesnt process. Then I get the chills, nausea, tired, and pain in my back?

All I had today was a bowl of veg soup and apple sauce and that just sat in my stomach and made me feel sick. Then I start to get irritable, depressed, moody, anxius, and I cant think straight. I dont get this. Sometimes when I eat dinner it will sit in my stomach all night and then I wake up around 3:00 in the morning with nightsweats, nausea, and a racy heart, and racing mind. I feel that Im doing everything to help myself heal but I must be missing something. I have an appt. with the doc on Mon. so hopefully he can investigate further.

What I want to know is, is this a normal part of healing from celiac, Ive been gluten-free for four months, Does it take longer than that to heal? Also does anyone else go through this and if so what do you take to get through. I mean... can anyone give any suggestions as to the enhancement of digestion, product brands? What about things like pepto bismol or alka seltzer? Are they gluten free? I need a remedy!!!!!

Steph

[Rachel--24]

I experienced those same symptoms. Chills, nightsweats, brainfog, joint pain, confusion, etc. I havent experienced the symptoms as severely as I used to....mainly because I'm extremely careful of what I eat. I dont eat processed foods (except one kind of ice cream) and I only eat organic foods.

My list of foods that dont cause too much grief is very small...I only eat 5 foods for now. I'm going through treatments to calm my immune system down so that I can eat alot more foods. I also have environmental intolerances....my immune system just went haywire.

Prior to this I never had a sensitivity to anything my entire life.

I dont believe that those symptoms are caused by gluten if you are 100% gluten-free.

You may be intolerant to other foods, you may have candida, you may have something else going on.

For me it turned out to be Lyme Disease.....I wasnt aware of the infection until it took me down. Other things piled on top of that, gluten intolerance, candida, multiple chemical/food sensitivities, etc. If you're not improving on the diet there very well could be something else going on.

I hope you feel better soon.

[Guest cassidy]

Have you tried digestive enzymes? In the beginning I was still not feeling well, but I was better than I was when I was on gluten. I started drinking aloe which calms and heals your stomach lining and taking digestive enzymes which help you break down food and probiotics which help your intestines get a good balance of bacteria. All those things help me. Now, if I get a stomachache I take a digestive enzyme and it really helps.

Your system may still be healing, and as Rachel suggested, staying away from processed foods and keeping a food diary may help. After going gluten-free I discovered that lots of other things bother me - chocolate, citrus, strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, potatoes, tomatoes, green peppers, etc. It took a while to figure all that out, but I'm doing much better now. I can have a few bites of the above and I'm fine - just not a bunch.

Hopefully, your doctor can help, but if he/she isn't very open minded and doesn't understand celiac well, they may not be a big help. I would not recommend taking prescription antacids like aciphex. I take apple cider vinegar pills for heartburn - it is much safer and works better.

[key]

Stef,

I deal with this almost same thing. I feel as if my food doesn't digest, nausea and my heart racing. You may want to look into reflux? I was having it and I am doing better. I do take digestive enzymes. Also pepto-bismol if it is real bad. I find I have this after being gluttened alot. Also dramamine helps me with nausea.

Are you on any drugs? I was taking Lexapro and I swear it was giving me nausea and indigestion. I didn't know it, but it is a side effect. Also I think the heart palpitations were from that.

I can relate to feeling the same way. It stinks to feel as if you are already being extremely careful and not eating anything processed, not eating out, etc. and then still having problems.

I know for a fact that being gluttened makes my food not digest. I also try and limit my dairy intake.

Right now I am taking Prilosec for a few weeks.

Hope you feel better soon,

Monica

[Marlene]

Hi Steph,

Gluten intolerance/ Celiac affects the duodenum area which is where a lot of enzyme production takes place. It can also affect your pancreas, gall bladder, and bile ducts. When this happens, you will have difficulty digesting your food. (If you still have your gall bladder, do whatever it takes to keep it. I had mine out and my symptoms became much worse.) There is a hormone called CCK (not sure what that stands for) which is produced in the duodenum. This hormone tells your body when to start digesting food, sending through enzymes, and releasing bile. Celiac disease affects CCK, causing a lot of problems with indigestion. You might want to try taking a very good digestive enzyme, L-glutamine, and a probiotic. If you can stay away from things like Losec (acid inhibitors), I would. After awhile of taking those, your stomach will not produce enough acid and then you will really not be able to digest your food at all.

I am not a doctor but have learned all the above through research and my own miserable problems with indigestion, malfunctioning gall bladder, and gluten intolerance. I just can't figure out how it is that people like us can learn all of this but most doctors (including Gastro specialists) don't know anything other than "IBS".

Hope you find relief and start feeling better soon. Don't forget that an adult can take up to 2 years to heal completely.

Marlene

[rutland]

Thank you for all the info. This has been really helpful.

I just bought a really reputable and good digestive enzyme and already I notice a difference. It seems that I must be severely deficient in certain enzymes my body needs to digest the food I eat. It literally felt like my body didnt know what to do with the food that was in my stomach and then a cascade of miserable symptoms would follow.

Marlene, I wasnt aware of what celiac can do to the gallbladder and other digestive organs but it makes so much sense to me now. For the longest time I had a chronic pain in my liver/gallbladder area and I do believe that there is healing to do in that region as well. Thankfully I found a good digestive enzyme by Enzymedica that seems to be helping me a lot.

Can anyone reccomend an excelllent probiotic. I just ordered one from enzymedica. dont know if its the best though.

I believe that there is a huge difference in brands of products out there. For digestion I need to be on the best.

[grannynanny]

Can anyone reccomend an excelllent probiotic. I just ordered one from enzymedica. dont know if its the best though.

Hi Steph,

I'm taking Three-Lac, sold by Global Health Traxx. I believe it's considered a probiotic, but it's definitely touted as helping to control the candida overgrowth which our celiac symptoms have created over the years.

Sue