Early gluten-free Recovery, What Is It Like?

[mftnchn]

Hello, everyone.

After being gluten-free and milk free for 2 weeks, I seem to be better and than worse repeatedly. For example, three days with normal a.m. stool, then a day of fatigue, bloating, then fatty stool.

Has anyone had this without being glutened unknowingly or being allergic to other things? I.e.--can this be a normal pattern of recovery on gluten-free diet?

Actually I was prepared to wait a long time to see results, so was pleasantly surprised by the three days of normal stool (usually constipated and stool every 2-5 days).

I've seen many posts about discovering people sensitive to additional things, just wondering if the up and down pattern could get better if I just stick to this for now.

Thanks!

[aikiducky]

It seems to be fairly normal to have ups and downs in the beginning. I'd just keep going for a while, and if it seems like you have too many downs, have another look at everything you eat, how careful you are being about cross contamination, and if that doesn't help, consider leaving out dairy for a while. Temporary lactose intolerance is very common even when you aren't actually permanently intolerant to anything else but gluten.

And keep reading the board.

Pauliina

[Kaycee]

Yes it is normal to have ups and downs. I know I did. But like the previous poster says, keep at it.

It might pay to have a food diary where you write down everything you eat and drink, brand names etc, and by doing this you might be able to see a pattern and might be able to pinpoint what has been giving you problems.

It could be other intolerances or allergies, but it could still be your stomach settling down. It took a while for you to reach this stage health wise, so it might take a while to come right. For me, it was a big learning curve, and after 9 months the ups and downs dissappeared completely. I have not discovered any major intolerances to other foods, but I admit I steer clear of highly processed foods with too many additives. This might only be me, but I feel better for it.

Good luck, and I hope you are feeling better soon, and the downs become further apart.

Cathy

[mftnchn]

Thanks for your help; I guess I will just stick with the current regimen of gluten-free and milk free and hope that things will even out over time. My body does feel like it is shifting and adjusting.

Its helpful to hear that it is normal to have ups and downs even without additional food intolerances.

[aikiducky]

In my case, whenever I accidentally ingest just some little crumb of gluten, I only start to feel completely "normal" after three weeks. And if you've just started the diet obviously you have a lot more recovery to do. So I'd expect it to take a while.

When I first went gluten free I really noticed a bump in my recovery at eight months or so, where I started to feel significantly better more consistently. Just to give you some idea of the time scale you can expect. Although everybody is different.

Pauliina

[mftnchn]

Looks like I need to be very patient!

[blueeyedmanda]

I have to agree the first few weeks are a roller coaster ride, you have a few good than a bad day. It is nice to see some type of results in the beginning because I know when I started having normal movements within days of starting the diet, this was a flag for me to keep working at it and not to give up, this was working.

Good Luck.

[mftnchn]

I have to agree the first few weeks are a roller coaster ride, you have a few good than a bad day. It is nice to see some type of results in the beginning because I know when I started having normal movements within days of starting the diet, this was a flag for me to keep working at it and not to give up, this was working.

Good Luck.

Yeah, me too, it is a real encouragement to see a bit of change. How long until you felt better consistently?

[andreagrant]

I have also been wondering about this. I went gluten free on 3 March, and was feeling progressively better. After about a month I actually had a normal stool (although it had been so long since I saw one I actually had to look it up on the internet to see what one was!!). I was feeling great for a week or two, and then I was traveling and not quite as careful as when I am at home. I also reintroduced dairy at this point, mostly just to make travelling a bit easier to deal with. After a few days I felt worse--alternating normal with D. Then I got home and was having continuous D, and started to get gas and bloating again. Friday of last week I suddenly was really sick and must have gone to the toilet 20 times Friday and Sat--I would have told you I had food poisoning. Now I'm having D but its bright green (indicates bile since I haven't eaten anything green in a while) and has pieces of undigested food and I've been ultra strict (no gluten/dairy) for about 4 days. I assume I glutened myself at some point, and the dairy wasn't helping anything, but it seems like an awfully severe reaction. I'm worse off than before I went gluten-free, actually. Is this 'normal'?

Andrea

[mftnchn]

Hi Andrea,

There's another thread posted about do things get worse before they get better? You might read that one too.

I didn't do something like travel or reintroduce milk, though I have been broadening my diet with making gluten free goodies like cake and bread, and peanut butter cookies.

I have had an occasional good day, but the bad days are getting worse than before starting the diet.

The only thing I can figure out is either cross contamination or I am allergic to other things like the xanthan gum I just started to us.

Sherry

[aikiducky]

One thing that happens after you start the diet is that after your body has had a break from the constant gluten bombardment it had to endure earlier, now that it doesn't have to deal with gluten all the time, it gets more sensitive to it. So after going gluten free you can expect to have a more severe reaction to minute amounts of gluten. That's why people have to be so strict with things like cross contamination and little trace amounts of gluten.

Pauliina

[mftnchn]

One thing that happens after you start the diet is that after your body has had a break from the constant gluten bombardment it had to endure earlier, now that it doesn't have to deal with gluten all the time, it gets more sensitive to it. So after going gluten free you can expect to have a more severe reaction to minute amounts of gluten. That's why people have to be so strict with things like cross contamination and little trace amounts of gluten.

Pauliina

Thanks. I was just reading the thread on increased sensitivity, this makes sense.