Help! Gluten-free Dumb

[Shmbrt]

Hi All! Brand new to this board. Hubby was just diagnosed last week with Celiacs. Started Gluten-Free about 4 days ago. Back pain, stomach pains and body aches are worse than before he went gluten-free. Any ideas of what's going on? Thanks for any insight you may provide!

Sara

[jerseyangel]

Hi All! Brand new to this board. Hubby was just diagnosed last week with Celiacs. Started Gluten-Free about 4 days ago. Back pain, stomach pains and body aches are worse than before he went gluten-free. Any ideas of what's going on? Thanks for any insight you may provide!

Sara

Hi Sara, welcome to the board

From experience I can say that sometimes things get worse before they get better. A couple of reasons are that at 4 days, he might not have the diet down yet. It's important to read labels on everything including personal care products. If you're not sure of an ingredient, you can call the manufacturer or ask here and someone is likely to know.

You need to de-gluten your kitchen, which entails replacing any wooden boards or utensils and your collander. He also needs his own toaster dedicated to gluten-free breads. Dishes, silverware and pans are fine--but watch for scratched non-stick pans because the scratches can lodge gluten.

Be sure to check on any meds or suppliments he is on. Eating out is best kept to a minimum or not at all the first few weeks. Another thing is that many Celiacs find they need to cut out dairy products for a few months to give the villi a chance to heal.

It also sometimes takes a while for the system to adjust to the gluten-free diet. My own experience was that after about 5 days or so, my dizziness, tingling and numbness got so much worse that I called my doctor on a Friday night thinking I may be having a stroke.

Recovery can be sort of a "rollar-coaster" ride--but it will get better--honestly. This board is an excellent resource--feel free to ask anything anytime--there's no such thing as a dumb question here.

[dbmamaz]

Some symptoms can take a while to go away. For me, the stomach was a day, but headaches were several weeks. . .. but is there something you are substituting for gluten which could be bothering him? For me, the tapioca in all the gluten-free breads and cookies made me sick, others notice problems with dairy or soy.

[AliB]

The dreadful stomach pain I would get for hours after eating went away within 5 hours. The bulk of the discomfort and bloating went away within a week but I was still getting some discomfort and particularly back pain with a lot of other foods, even gluten-free, and particularly carbohydrates. I also started getting other weird symptoms such as tingling and numbness but I kept taking some good multivits and that went away eventually.

I dropped not only gluten, but dairy and most carbs and sugars and have restricted my diet mainly to just plain unprocessed meat, fish and poultry, fresh veg and fruits, a little honey and nuts and water, with an occasional herb tea or unsweetened fruit juice.

After 2 months I am now not getting the discomfort and back pain any more and am beginning to be able to tolerate some foods that I couldn't cope with a few weeks ago, like eggs. Sometimes it is better to cut straight to the chase and give the gut a real good boost at healing. I realised that whilst I was still eating foods that were affecting me, I was prolonging or even restricting the healing process.

I think these things show up more after gluten-free because they have been masked before by other health issues. I have always suffered with back problems (although I thought they were to do with my weight, not my digestion!), but it wasn't till the other things started to go away that the back pain became more apparent, and the reason for it! I suppose it's a bit like the 'white noise' thing. One noise cancels out another - one pain cancels out another!

Another point to remember is that when you remove gluten, because it is an antagonist, the body has a lot of off-loading to do. He may find that he will feel pretty grotty for a few weeks - I had a headache for about 10 days as my body started to detoxify and I could even feel my liver dumping rubbish. When you stop loading the body, and particularly the liver, with toxins, it then has a chance to start to get rid of them. They have to work their way through the body before they can be expelled. Whilst this is part of the healing process it will not happen overnight and can take weeks, months or even a year or more, depending on the severity of one's health issues before health is truly restored.

[MDRB]

Its really tough at first but does get better. Soon your husband will start to feel better and living gluten free will become second nature. Its pretty normal for him to still be having symptoms.

I found that it took 6-8 weeks for my symptoms to start subsiding. This varies a lot from person to person depending on the level of damage to the villi and their ability to stick to the diet. I've heard horror stories about people who take years to heal. Also, try cutting out fatty and carbohydrate rich foods for a few months and reintroduce them once he has started to heal.

Here is what I found worked for me.

1. Don't eat anything processed unless its labeled as gluten free

2. Get a good gluten free multivitamin supplement.

3. Use Flax oil in your cooking (its great for healing the gut)

4. De gluten your house

5. Don't share cooking surfaces or condiments

6. Stick to lean, healthy meals that are easy on the stomach and digestive system, such as lean grilled meats, beans and lentils, and steamed vegetables.

Good luck, I hope he starts to feel better soon, he's very lucky to have such a supportive partner