Newbie Introduction And Question For The Ladies

[ksymonds84]

Hi everyone

I am 42 years old and was diagnosed as spastic colon in my early twentys. I've had symptoms come and go all my life mainly diarreah, mouth sores, psoriasis, and mild joint pain. Last November and December were terrible for me. Diarreah every morning, mouth sores, and muscle cramps in my calves and feet. My hubby and I own two restaurants and have a rebellious teenage daughter so I chalked it up to stress bugging my IBS. My brother in law who is a Celiac came to stay with us for Christmas and thought I should be tested for Celiac because we share alot of the same symptoms. I first went gluten free for about 5 days and the diarreah was gone so I called doc and set up celiac panel for two days later and went back to eating gluten which just gave me a ton of gas. I went gluten free again the day after the test and started feeling better again. The tests came back a week later as negative. I felt so good on the diet that I decided to just stay with it since I was feeling fantastic, no D or mouth sores etc. I had one screw up when I thought klondike heath bar ingredients sounded o.k. and woke up at 3 am with alot of uncomfortable gas but no D in the morning. So now my question is that I have been feeling wonderful except when I got my period this week, the D and flatuence came back but not everyday. Is this a normal thing to have problems during your period? I've been careful with diet so I don't THINK i was glutened. I guess I was just hoping I had an answer and would have smooth sailing. Thanks for any input!

Kathy

[HappyMomof5]

Kathy,

I also had diarrhea, mouth sores, psoriasis, and mild joint pain. (I attributed D to a "virus", mouth sores to acid reflux, psoriasis to just familial dry skin, and joint pain to my scoliosis. Since going gluten-free, they're all gone. )

I had a positive biopsy, for which I'm grateful because I never would've believed I had celiac otherwise. I've been Gluten Free since this January 4th!

I had withdrawal symptoms and mood swings, crying jags, and deep highs and lows, then my period came 2 weeks from the last time I had it. I'm 36 and that's never happened before.

So yes, I would say the lack of gluten is affecting your hormones, and will change your bowel habits. The frequent diarrhea will stop, but many celiacs continue to have it off and on, or when they get gluten accidentally.

I have a celiac friend who had to take the 'Pepto Bismol treatment' of 1 Pepto tablet 3 times a day for 6 weeks in order to get his D to stop. Some bad celiacs have to do that treatment 2 or 3 times, depending on the amount of damage in the small intestine.

I've heard you begin healing within a week, and sometimes it takes 6 months to a year according to some doctors. Really, it depends on the damage done, but congrats to you for figuring it out on your own.

When I was pregnant I would throw up if I ate gluten the first 4 months, so I learned to avoid it. I had 5 babies at the rate of 1 every 2 years. (Ages 2, 4, 6, 8, 10) I credit those 4 months every so often as keeping me healthy for the last 10 years.

I think even a little bit of time gluten free makes a big difference.

Good luck,

~Heather

[Gwen B]

Hi,

I've been gluten-free for almost three months and yes I did find that my bowel movements took a while to adjust. I used to almost always have mild D before the diet. After a month gluten-free I realised that the gas anc stomach pain was actually due to dairy intolerance. I gave those up and then gave my body time to adjust again, this time mild C especially if i had accidetally had some gluten or cassein, which I didn't realise was in soy and rice cheese. In the last week and a half I have been suffering again and my body adjust again, this time the culprit is soy. I'm now wary of eggs and am not having eggs at the moment just in case.

All this ditective work! It's frustrating but I hope to be feeling as good as I did the first three weeks soon ( I had an accidental cc last night and still trying to detect where from, so am not so happy today )

Definately check out the lactose intolerance, it's very common to new gluten-free free folks and may be just temporary, six months or so.

Good luck!

[Sweetfudge]

i also have very "gluten-like" symptoms when it comes to that time of the month. kind of annoying. and i agree with everyone who said you should cut out dairy for a few months. i did and it helped so much. then i was fine adding it back into my diet for awhile. now a year later, wondering if it might be bothering me. that or soy. welcome to the forums by the way