Jump to content
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.




  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):



    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):


  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Abdominal Pain - Worse In Morning


KerriAnne

Recommended Posts

KerriAnne Rookie

Has anyone else ever had bad abdominal pain, particularly in the morning? Over my 3.5y on a gluten-free diet since being diagnosed, occasionally I have these spells where, even though I cannot easily identify any dietary changes, I feel horrible again...and then the symptoms resolve almost as suddenly as they came on. One particular symptom is abdominal pain - and I don't mean gas pain.

Pain is so hard to describe but I'll do my best... it's the worst in the morning but doesn't necessarily ever go away during these "spells", it gets worse with pressure (like if you suck in your stomach or press into your stomach), and it doesn't get better or worse with eating. Sometimes just taking a deep breath makes me feel the pain sharply. I have often wondered whether this is an indication of intestinal damage - do you think the damage caused by gluten is painful? For the most part I've done very well on the diet, so it's hard to imagine that these sick spells that may be caused by a mysterious source of gluten would cause enough damage to cause pain... but it's just a thought. I've had severe gas pain before - I'm fairly certain this pain is due to something else.... I just don't know what!

Let me know if you have ever felt this way or know what causes it.

Thanks.

Kerri


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



Guest kivmom3

Kerri

Just so you don't feel alone in your stomach pain....

I too have horrible stomach pain. It's about the same as you described. I am going to the GI celiac specialist tomorrow to see if he can figure out what is causing this horrible pain!!!

I can get back to you if he finds anything so that you can inquire to your doctor. Just PM me and I will get back to you.

Hopefully some other people will post to see if there is any other correlation....

Hang in there.

Gg

JNBunnie1 Community Regular

That sounds awful. Has that been happening ever since you went gluten-free? What's the frequency of it? It occurred to me you may have some kind of intestinal blockage, I don't know whether Celiac can cause enough damage to have pain like that when you're gluten-free. Ulcer, maybe?

KerriAnne Rookie

I had an ulcer years ago... doesn't feel the same as far as I can remember, and the pain this time is in the lower/central abdomen - my ulcer pain was under my ribs. I had this pain before being diagnosed - and in general, it went away with my other symptoms when I went on the gluten-free diet. I just wish I knew what causes it. I could be wrong - it could be gas pain, I suppose. I just don't get it. It's a deep stabbing-like pain. Anyhow, I'm going to go do some searching & reading to see what I can find... I'll let you all know if I get enlightened!

tempurachic Newbie

I can relate. I wake up with a painful abdomin often lately. I don't attribute it to consuming gluten or gas either. It particularly hurts under my ribs on the right. It feels hard to the touch and hurts badly. It's hard to push through in the morning. We have two little kids and there is no time to lay down and rest it seems. My husband encourages me to lay down after work and take it easy but it's not practical. Life still has to go on.

Before my stomach would bloat up if I ate gluten. But for the last two weeks my stomach is constantly bloated. It sucks. It hurts. I don't know what is causing it. It's embarassing because it looks like I'm pregnant...and I'm not! My stomach measured at 39 inches and that's no where near my usual size. My clothes arn't fitting and that's discouraging too.

I went to my GI doctor and he ordered another CAT scan. I'm thankful to have an attentive doctor but I'm confident the CAT scan is going to come back negative which is good but doesn't help us explain what's goign on.

It feels good to say this stuff to other peopel with celiac disease. My husband is wonderful and fully supportive but i know he's getting a little weary of this bout with my stomach being so bloated and me not being my usual self.

If anyone has any words for me I'd love to hear them!

  • 2 weeks later...
Runner1978 Rookie

I've been gluten free for about a month and I feel sicker now than I did then. I have the same pains you have described. I also have a complete loss of appetite, which is not normal given that I'm a runner. These pains are worse in the morning and they are followed by nausea. I also get them throughout the day.

Please let me know what you find out.

oceangirl Collaborator

For the females with this pain: Please check this out with a GYN just to be safe. Celiac and GI symptoms can be many things. Where you've had this for awhile, KerriAnne, I think you should check out your reproductive system just to have peace of mind. Of course, you may already have done this. I have terrible abdominal pain with gluten and now am having some again although I live in a gluten-free household and make everything myself! Very frustrating! I hope you fel better very soon!

lisa


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



dinali63 Rookie

I was diagnosed with celiac disease and have been on a gluten free diet for a little over three months. At first I did a lot better on the diet and was feeling great, then I started having the same kind of stomach pains. I posted last week, and got some great suggestions, and on Monday cut out soy from my diet (I realized that many of the prepared items I was eating contained some sort of soy). The pain improved in a day and this morning I feel great!

Always check things out medically, but you may want to think about other food intolerances. :)

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Celiac.com:
    Join eNewsletter
    Donate

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):





    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):




  • Recent Activity

    1. - xxnonamexx replied to xxnonamexx's topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      32

      My journey is it gluten or fiber?

    2. - xxnonamexx replied to xxnonamexx's topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      32

      My journey is it gluten or fiber?

    3. - SamAlvi replied to SamAlvi's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      2

      High TTG-IgG and Normal TTG-IgA

    4. - trents replied to SamAlvi's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      2

      High TTG-IgG and Normal TTG-IgA

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):
  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      132,842
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    aetherwax
    Newest Member
    aetherwax
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.5k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):
  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • xxnonamexx
      I made it through the holiday w/o being glutened. I had my brother cook with gluten-free breadcrumbs and I didn't get sick. I baked cookies with gluten-free flour and had dry ingredients for cookies in ziplock bag. I also made gluten cookies as well and guess I did good washing to avoid CC. My wife also went to a french bakery and bought a gluten-free flourless chocolate cake dedicated gluten-free it was out of this world. 
    • xxnonamexx
      What do you mean it would not allow any celiac to eat gluten again. I think if this helps cross contamination when eating out at a non dedicated gluten-free restaurant this would be nice not to encounter the pains. But is their a daily enzyme to take to help strengthen the digestive system? 
    • SamAlvi
      Hi, thank you for the reply. Unfortunately, no other antibody tests were ordered. I am a 32-year-old male. About two months ago, I ate pancakes and then developed severe diarrhea that lasted the entire day. At night, I became unconscious due to fluid loss and was admitted to the ER, where I received IV fluids. Two days later, I ate bread again and once more developed severe diarrhea. I ended up in the ER again and received IV fluids. In my country, Pakistan, doctors are unfortunately not very thorough, so they treated me for a stomach infection. I visited three or four doctors, including a gastroenterologist, but it seemed like they just wanted to keep me on medications and IV fluids. Eventually, I did some digging myself and started connecting the dots. For years, I’ve had excessive gas buildup and frequent loose stools, but I never paid much attention to it. I also cannot easily digest dairy products. Two years ago, I had a CBC test that showed iron deficiency. My doctor told me to eat more meat and said it was nothing serious. However, for the past five years, I’ve also had severe motion sickness, which I never experienced before. Whenever I get on a bus or in a car, I sometimes lose consciousness for 10–20 seconds and wake up sweaty, and occasionally I feel the need to vomit. After more research on the internet, I came across gluten and celiac disease, so I got two related tests (TTG-IgA & TTG IgG) done along with a stool test and another CBC. The stool test showed weakly positive blood. Ever since eating those pancakes and bread, I’ve had a burning sensation in my gut. My doctor reviewed my tests, he told me to completely stop eating gluten and started me on IV fluids for 20 days, saying that I had severe inflammation in my gut. It has now been two months since I quit gluten, and I’m still not sure whether this is celiac disease or gluten intolerance. I don’t really trust doctors in Pakistan, so I thought I might get some help here.
    • trents
      Welcome to the celiac.com community, @SamAlvi! Were there any other antibody tests ordered? Particularly, was there a "total IGA" test ordered to check for IGA deficiency. When people are IGA deficient, celiac panel IGA test scores, such as the TTG-IGA, are likely not valid. If a total IGA test was not ordered, I would request such to be done. Note: "Total IGA" goes by other names as well. I will include a primer on celiac disease antibody testing which does a good job in covering the nomenclature variations connected with the various tests. Elevated IGG scores can certainly indicate celiac disease but they are more likely than elevated IGA tests to be caused by something else.  
    • GlorietaKaro
      Thank you— yes, valid and essential— The issue either doctors is that every one I have tried to talk to about this has essentially rolled their eyes and dismissed me as a hypochondriac, which gets discouraging. I believe a diagnosis would help me to be taken seriously by doctors as well as being validating, but can carry on without it.    There are many, probably most people in my area of my age and gender, who avoid gluten, but many just avoid it casually— eating the occasional plate of wheat pasta or a delicious-looking dessert, or baking cookies with wheat flour for gatherings.  That is not an option for me. I don’t eat other people’s cooking or go to restaurants that do not have strict cross- contamination procedures. It can be boring and lonely, and people do look at me as if I am being a bit dramatic but weeks of symptoms after a single small exposure has taught me to respect my experience.    Thank you very much for your response— sometimes I just need to hear that I am not crazy—
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.