After Diagnosis: Is Your Stomach Generally Happy Or Does It Seem More Sensitive Than "normal" Stomachs?

[Yenni]

I am staring to wonder if I will ever be able to have a "normal" stomach. If it will always be more sensitive than people with no intolerances.

What is your stomach like after you stopped with gluten (and others stuff if you needed to)? Is it as well working as others or is it always a bit more sensitive and get "off" often?

[Guest j_mommy]

I think we will always have more sensitive stomachs!!!!

I'm not sure I even now what normal as far as digestive stuff is anymore......But i'm ok with it! I'm just happy to know whats going on!!!!

[darlindeb25]

I'm sorry, but I have to agree with akJenny. I think our stomachs will always be more sensitive, especially if tummy probs were part of the reason for your diagnosis. My tummy is a lot more sensitive than many people. Any stress in my life, my tummy reacts. Any illnesses effect it. I though, also have a lot of other intolerance's. My sister doesn't seem to have as many problems with her stomach as I do.

I'm sure some do much better than I have and some, probably worse. You will heal in the time your body needs too. Keep your chin up!

[Nancym]

Mine got better yet more sensitive. Meaning some things went away like the terrible cramping I had, but my bowels got techy. I recently read about small bowel overgrowth and my doctor put me on an antibiotic for that (rifamaxin) and since then things are MUCH BETTER! Yay! BTW: Celiac disease can cause SBO (small bowel overgrowth). Anyway, it is something to investigate. I told my doctor I didn't want to go through a lot of testing to treat it and he agree the antibiotics were easy to do, stay local to the bowel and it'd either work or not. I think it worked!

[Danno]

We're probably all different due to other sensitivities, but once I got away from gluten, no problems, an iron stomach!

[oceangirl]

Mine got better yet more sensitive. Meaning some things went away like the terrible cramping I had, but my bowels got techy. I recently read about small bowel overgrowth and my doctor put me on an antibiotic for that (rifamaxin) and since then things are MUCH BETTER! Yay! BTW: Celiac disease can cause SBO (small bowel overgrowth). Anyway, it is something to investigate. I told my doctor I didn't want to go through a lot of testing to treat it and he agree the antibiotics were easy to do, stay local to the bowel and it'd either work or not. I think it worked!

YES!!!!!!!

I am definitely more sensitive to things than most others I know! I am gluten, corn, soy, dairy and legume free and have been for almost a year and I still have "touchy" intestines. (for me, it's my intestines- my stomach is usually okay unless I really get nailed) BUT!!! I am MUCH better and have more good days, for the most part, than bad. I certainly can understand your abject frustration, however, because it can get a bit old at times! I am noticing that I at least have spates of time when I can introduce a new thing and do relatively well with it, so, that's exciting. I wish you good luck and encourage patience with this thing. It clearly seems to take time.

lisa

[jerseyangel]

My stomach is more sensitive now, since I've been gluten-free. For the first 6 months on the diet, things got much better, then other foods began to give me problems.

Once I identified the problem foods, and omitted them, things got better again, but I'm afraid I'll always have a touchy digestive system.

It dosen't take much to set it off--gluten cross contamination, illness, anxiety, other food intolerances, and sometimes it happens for no apparent reason. I have to say, though, that after 2 years--the vast majority of the time, I can track it back to something.

I am being tested next week to see if SIBO might be the cause of my ongoing issues. I think if these problems continue, it's a worthwhile thing to look into.

[Yenni]

What test do they do to find out if it is bacterial overgrowth?

Glad I am not the only one with a sensitive stomach.

[aikiducky]

My list of foods to avoid is kinda long - gluten, dairy, eggs, legumes, nightshades- but as long as I do avoid those, my stomach doesn't seem to be particularly sensitive to stress or such. I can eat raw veggies as much as I can for example and not have any trouble. I've been dairy free for a long time, gluten free for two and a half years and all the rest free for almost that long. Especially in the first hear my digestive system was much more sensitive.

Pauliina

[Ed-G]

I'm sorry, but I have to agree with akJenny. I think out stomachs will always be more sensitive, especially if tummy probs were part of the reason for your diagnosis.

I must be the strange one. I've always had a cast iron stomach. It's the rest of my digestive system that's crap.

Ed in MD

[JNBunnie1]

Actually, the best thing to take for bacterial overgowth is probiotics, not antibiotics. When you take antibiotics, you kill all the good bugs in your system as well as the bad, and as soon as you stop taking them, the bad ones come back even worse because you've now killed the good bugs that help control them.

I've always been pretty solid with my stomach, I only had GI Celiac symptoms for about six months, before I figured it out. Since then, the only thing that's bothered my stomach has been stress, never food.

[DingoGirl]

We're probably all different due to other sensitivities, but once I got away from gluten, no problems, an iron stomach!

Sadly, I am the opposite....had an iron stomach all my life, until the three or four years preceding diagnosis (and still, it wasn't that bad and I didn't really care or notice it).....but once I went off gluten, I realized, there was no longer that constant, dull ache that had been with me, that I hadn't quite realized how much it hurt until it was gone.

Having said that......

My stomach is more sensitive now, since I've been gluten-free. For the first 6 months on the diet, things got much better, then other foods began to give me problems.

Once I identified the problem foods, and omitted them, things got better again, but I'm afraid I'll always have a touchy digestive system.

It dosen't take much to set it off--gluten cross contamination, illness, anxiety, other food intolerances, and sometimes it happens for no apparent reason. I have to say, though, that after 2 years--the vast majority of the time, I can track it back to something.

I am being tested next week to see if SIBO might be the cause of my ongoing issues. I think if these problems continue, it's a worthwhile thing to look into.

.....I agree with everything Patti wrote. And, I am ONLY gluten-intolerant, don't have Patti's sensitivities, but, if I consume gluten (or processed food - anything with MSG, which I avoid like the plague), I am in DEEP pain, stuck near the bathroom and with horrible consequences. And stressful situations now affect my stomach and gut, also.....unlike before.

[sfm]

I am staring to wonder if I will ever be able to have a "normal" stomach. If it will always be more sensitive than people with no intolerances.

What is your stomach like after you stopped with gluten (and others stuff if you needed to)? Is it as well working as others or is it always a bit more sensitive and get "off" often?

I think my stomach will always be more sensitive that most people's. I have also been finding that I notice more when things do bother me, than I did when my stomach was such a mess that anything I ate bothered me.

Or maybe others just think their symptoms are just 'normal' for them! (I know I did for a long time )

I always remind myself that there are worse things that could be wrong with me - this one is something I can live with. My mother, sister and father have all sorts of health issues which are probably related to undiagnosed gluten intolerance. In a way, I'm the lucky one - I'm hoping that I caught on early enough to avoid some of what they are going through.

Sheryll

[rsm]

My stomach is much more sensitive, gluten free for 12 weeks, I can now tell a problem food within an hour of eating. Dairy and certain oils are a problem, like cottonseed oil used to fry certain chips, is a real problem. I can now weed out the offenders more easily because they show up right away. Before going gluten free I could eat just about anything because my stomach always hurt anyway. It wasn't until going gluten free I actually found out how much it did hurt, I just got used to it. A simple diet means a happy digestive system. Hopefully in a year or so I can start to add things back in, like real cheese!

[grey]

My stomach seems hyper-sensitive; I assume it calms down a little eventually. I was just thinking though about how amazing it is that I never noticed that food bothered me. How could I not have noticed?

rsm & sfm;s post made me think about this some more - I used to think I pretty much had an iron stomach with the exception of crab and avoiding certain foods as migraine triggers.

Now that I'm paying attention, I see that actually my stomach/GI reacts differently to different things and pretty much hurts all the time. Still blows my mind that you (we?) can get used our food beating us up so much!

[Kaycee]

I must be the strange one. I've always had a cast iron stomach. It's the rest of my digestive system that's crap.

Ed in MD

Ed, you are not alone.

I was brought up in a family of cast iron stomachs.

But like you, my stomach is fine, it is after what I have ingested goes further down, that is when I get the problems.

Cathy