'twould Now Seem...

[JerryK]

It seems like perhaps Lactose Intolerance is causing more of my gastro symptoms than gluten. I eliminated all sources of lactose and boink, all my gastro symptoms went away, in fact I'm a little bit constipated.

At the risk of sounding like I'm changing my story, it seems like I get some dramatic extra-intestinal manifestations of gluten intolerance....fatigue, lethargy, depression, numbness, but it makes me a bit constipated. When I stopped eating bread, I started eating more chocolate, to you know....comfort myself....and I think this might have caused some of my symptoms. I think perhaps the history of switching back and forth between diarrhea and constipation is a manifestation of both gluten and lactose intolerance. Weird stuff. Does this sound plausible or do I need to create a poll:)

Did I mention that I

[LisaJ]

Sounds very plausible to me! I continued having gasto problems after I went gluten free until I got rid of the lactose too.

Have a great time on your cruise!! My hubby and I just got back from Belize and it was great. It was so nice to be warm

[CarlaB]

Oh, I think another silly poll would be fun!

It sounds to me like they both bother you, and that's very common.

Have a great time in Mexico!!

[ArtGirl]

With me it was corn. It's in so many gluten-free bread stuffs, and I just loved Bob's Red Mill chocolate cake (contains corn meal). I was really puzzled because I knew I was gluten-free, but still had ups and downs with GI issues. And then, there was the heartburn. Turns out the corn was contributing to the D and heartburn, the casein to the itchy skin. All have now resolved by eliminating these other foods.

Have fun on your cruise.

How's your brother and mother doing?

[CarlaB]

I started eating more chocolate, to you know....comfort myself....

You need to discover Tropical Source chocolate bars -- no gluten, no casein!!!

Also, Enjoy Life chocolate chips, and Namaste brownies (I use coconut oil instead of butter).

[Nantzie]

Makes complete sense to me, Jerry.

Nancy

[Flor]

I'd like to know how many people made up for the lack of gluten food by eating more chocolate!

I was never a big chocolate eater UNTIL I had to cut out dairy and gluten -- and then gradually I became a dark chocolate fiend.

Now I'm wondering if the soy lecithin or sugar in the chocolate is causing problems.

Would love to hear other people's experiences/thoughts with this.

[Guhlia]

Jerry, I know your blood tests showed negative, but... Consider this... Lactose is processed on the ends of the villi in the intestine. If your villi are blunted, damaged, or flattened this could easily cause temporary lactose intolerance. This leads me to believe that you most likely actually HAVE Celiac with typical Celiac damage (damaged villi). Now, I know your tests were negative, but we all know that false negatives in Celiac testing are a dime a dozen. Perhaps you should remove lactose AND gluten for a bit and see how you feel. Hopefully this will resolve your symptoms. Then, in a few months, try reintroducing lactose and see what happens. If I'm correct, once your villi have healed (which could take longer than a few months) then you should be able to process lactose again, effectively eliminating your lactose intolerance.

Does that all make sense? Just my opinion, obviously I'm not a doctor. It just makes all too much sense to me after following your journey to a gluten free lifestyle. Hopefully this post was coherent enough to create some food for thought. My apologies if it's rather jumbled, pregnancy and sleepiness don't go well together and I'm exceptionally foggy tonight.

[tarnalberry]

Gluten doesn't give everyone diahreah - it gives many people constipation. It can definitely be both, particularly now, as you heal.