How Long Till Symptoms Are Alleviated

[nikheil]

I "officially" diagnosed with celiac last week. I'm 22 years old. I've known for a couple of years that I was sensitive to gluten and dairy, and have been trying to remove them from my diet, however I didn't do this 100 % (ie cross contamination in restaurants etc). The reason I went to get tested is that reducing my gluten to miniscule levels didn't help my symptoms at all, so I knew I was dealing with more than just a "sensitivity"

Anway, I have been eating 100% gluten free for 5 days now. My worst syptoms (which I've had since childhood are:

- Severe bloating of the stomach - it goes up and down but I usually look like I'm 5 months pregnant:(

- Sharp cramps after I eat most meals

- Joint pain - the place varies, but I get it every day

- Water retention and imflammation in my hands and feet (always)

- Chronic fatigue (it's a battle to stay awake all day, and I can only manage working 3 days a week)

-Mood swings

- Nausea and constantly feeling like I have the flu

- Headaches and migraines

So my question is, how quickly after becoming gluten-free have you started to feel better? Which of the symptoms got better first? I'm a bit down, looking for encouragement

[Guest j_mommy]

Hang in there

It varies for everyone! I started to feel better within a week......not 100% more like 10% better. But it felt good not have to go to the poddy all day long! That and my fatigue started to get better first! I'm 4 1/2 months gluten-free and I feel about 30% better...I still have some bad days if I get CC'd and I think I have some other things going on, I'm seeing a alergist next week!

Some people take a long time and other it's right away....it took awhile to do the damage and it will take awhile for your body to heal!

[alamaz]

Stick to the diet 100% and you should start to see results in a month. When I was first diagnosed I really noticed small changes at first - like more energy, better sleeping patterns, skin looking better etc. The big changes are slower to come by and after 5 months I'm seeing more consistent results overall. Depending on how sick you were also depends on how long it takes to heal. I have to say I was fairly ill at diagnosis and five months has gone by really fast but I'm really feeling a lot better now than I was at three months. Also, have you cut out dairy? A lot of people recommend cutting out dairy at first to speed the healing process since diary is hard for your system to digest when it's damaged.

Good luck! I hope you start feeling better soon!