Deficiency Questions

[newceliac]

As stated in an earlier post, I am a newly diagnosed celiac. I have been on the diet for about 1 1/2 weeks but I just don't seem to be feeling much better. I still have the stomach pains, bowel problems and joint and muscle pain.

I did have a severe vitamin d deficiency and osteoporosis diagnosed a few months ago. I took mega doses for 6 weeks but I am not sure if it helped because I had undiagnosed celiac at that time so I obviously have malabsorption problems. I have a follow up appt. with the endocrinologist in a couple of weeks. He doesn't know that I have been diagnosed with celiac.

I have been doing a lot of reading and researching since I am still not feeling any better. Could part of the problem for the continued symptoms be a result of deficiencies. Could it be possible that I may still have a vitamin d deficiency and maybe also a vitamin b12 deficiency.

If so, could these hinder the healing process of celiac?

What about pancreatic insufficiency? Did anyone have a problem with that?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[mamabear]

  newceliac said:

As stated in an earlier post, I am a newly diagnosed celiac. I have been on the diet for about 1 1/2 weeks but I just don't seem to be feeling much better. I still have the stomach pains, bowel problems and joint and muscle pain.

I did have a severe vitamin d deficiency and osteoporosis diagnosed a few months ago. I took mega doses for 6 weeks but I am not sure if it helped because I had undiagnosed celiac at that time so I obviously have malabsorption problems. I have a follow up appt. with the endocrinologist in a couple of weeks. He doesn't know that I have been diagnosed with celiac.

I have been doing a lot of reading and researching since I am still not feeling any better. Could part of the problem for the continued symptoms be a result of deficiencies. Could it be possible that I may still have a vitamin d deficiency and maybe also a vitamin b12 deficiency.

If so, could these hinder the healing process of celiac?

What about pancreatic insufficiency? Did anyone have a problem with that?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

It will take awhile(weeks to a couple of months) to heal ;and in the meanwhile ,it most likely will take mega- megadoses of your vitamins and supplements to be enough to be assimilated. I haven't read your other post yet, so I'm not aware of who you have to help you, medically speaking. If you have a GP, Internal Medicine doctor, GI,etc. I'd suggest asking for testing of Vit B12,Folate,Iron,Ferritin, chemistry profile to include magnesium,thyroid(TSH,thyroid antibody profile,free T4) and CBC(red cells,white cells, platelets). Pancreatic insufficiency may be secondary or primary, and pancreatic enzymes may certainly help. There will be others on the board who may have suggestions for non-Rx meds for this.

[ravenwoodglass]

A week and a half is not long enough on the diet to heal you yet. It took years for you to get as damaged as you are and it will take a bit for you to heal gluten free. It is a good idea to get the levels checked that were mentioned if you can. For one thing after 6 months to a year it is beneficial to recheck levels to see if you are absorbing properly again. Meanwhile it is a good idea to supplement with gluten-free and if possible CF and SF vitamins. You will greatly benefit from a sublingual B12, it will be directly deposited into your bloodstream bypassing the gut. Be sure to tell your doctor what supplements you are on and if possible get the blood test done before you start the B12, not because excessive amounts are harmful, they are not, but because the supplement could give a false high level on the blood test.

As to the pancreas support, I took pancreatin by twinlab for a while after an antibiotic gave my pancreas a good whap. I did this because all food I ate was coming out looking like it went in. I was not digesting anything, it was much worse than even at my worst prediagnosis. I had never seen totally undiagested food even with 24 hour D. It helped very quickly and I was able to stop taking it after a month. I am not a big fan of taking things that I do not for sure need and IMHO unless you are sure you need something like that you should wait until you have been on the diet for at least a couple of months before you take something like pancreatin. Give the diet a good chance and make sure you are aware of nonfood sources of gluten like your shampoos, cosmetics, art and craft supplies, things like drywall and the compound, CC in the household etc. To heal the quickest go with single ingredient fresh unprocessed foods for now, that will benefit you the most and cut the risk of CC. I hope you get some relief soon.