Questions, Dairy, Master Cleanser...

[MelliDuff]

Hi everyone,

My name is Christa and I am new here. January of this year I got sick and never got better...I finally figured out (after 6 trips to my family doctor and numerous blood test him telling me i had the flue, viruses, bacterial infections and dosing me up on antibiotics for 4 months how incompetent doctors can be), I, on my own figured out that I have celiac after ruling out everything else. I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis on top of this. Plus I have mal-absorption problems, I have recently been told I need to take b12 shots and I have been showing up anemic on cbc's for the last 5 years. I also get those sores in my throat from lack of vitamin C even though I have been taking mutil-vitamins for years. I eat very healthy - most of the time - there was no reason for me to have all these vitamin deficiencies... Plus I have DH. I get the the itchy blisters on the tops of my feet and hands and have since I was about 10. My auto immune system is basically trashed... I have been gluten free for about a month and have a little place in my kitchen. it's hard to not cross contaminate because I have two small children ( 10 months and 4 years old) That walk around covered in gluten just about all day long. I am in the process of switching them all over to gluten free. I will never be able to go back to gluten i felt to horrible on it.

Now that you know a little about me and my case i have a couple questions for the wonderful people here that have "been there done that".

1) I find that I am eating like a glutton since going gluten free - I mean I feel like I'm binge eating all day long.... is it normal to CONSTANTLY eat after just starting out? How long does this last? (generally)

2) I'm pretty sure I am lactose intolerant after going gluten free but I just can not bring myself to get rid of the dairy too. The dairy makes me a bit sick but I can handle it. The gluten makes me so depressed i feel like offing myself and sleeping for 72 hours, I also run a low grade fever when I eat it SO there is NO way I can do that again.

If you are lactose intolerant but continue to eat dairy will it impede the healing of your villi? Or will your villi still heal? I can not give up my only vice. I admire you all that can, I truly wish that I could too.

3) I have done the Master Cleanser before (20 days and again 10 days) because obviously I have felt like crap most of my life and have tried to fix it with diet and vitamins...

Is the Master Cleanser (lemonade diet) a good idea to do again while I am healing? It will get rid of the yeast and clean out my insides and maybe help these terrible cravings to go away?

4) What are some foods that will actually fill me up? Rice cakes and rice cereals and anything rice seems to make me become MORE hungry and I'm craving fat like a mad cow!

Help.... any suggestions?

Thanks,

Christa

[AliB]

Hi Christa.

Just out of interest do you have a weight problem?

You may, like me, actually be carbohydrate intolerant. The problem with carbs is that they are very addicitve. The more you eat, the more you want.

The two times in my life I was ever really well was when I went low-carb so when I finally, like you - the doctors were useless in my case, too - figured out that my problem was gluten, I dropped that and dairy and most carbs and sugar. I thought, what the heck, in for a penny in for a pound!

It didn't help that I was also getting problems even with non-gluten carbohydrates which is why I decided to go low-carb, so I now eat very simply - just plain unprocessed meat, fish and poultry, fresh veg and fruit and a little honey and nuts. Although I am not having dairy, I can cope with yogurt so am having plain unsweetened probiotic yogurt to give my gut some extra support.

I find if I don't eat the carbs I don't crave the carbs! My sweet tooth is diminishing so that I now prefer things not too sweet. If I want sweetened things I will have fruit and yogurt sweetened with a little honey, I make a mean almond cake with honey and a few days ago I made a rhubarb, apple and raspberry crumble sweetened with honey with an oat, butter and honey topping, so it doesn't have to be boring. Some days I just have fruit for a dessert or snack, or some nuts and a few raisins. Tonight we had roast chicken, string beans and butternut squash, followed by the rhubarb crumble and yogurt. My husband is doing it with me although not quite as disciplined - he had cream with his crumble!

I do have an odd few rice cakes occasionally with say some mackerel for breakfast. Funny you should say about rice not filling you up. In the pre-non-gluten days when I used to occasionally have a chinese takeaway I always found that two three hours after stuffing myself stupid, I would be hungry again. How weird is that!

I missed the dairy something awful to start, particularly my hot chocolate (I never could get on with tea or coffee) and I did miss cream, but now I don't mind. I am happy to drink water or herb tea or well-diluted fruit juice. Whilst chocolate is probably not a great idea, if I want a hot warming drink (we are only just coming out of Winter here) I have been making myself a cup of hot chocolate with cocoa, a little honey and some coconut milk mixed to a paste and topped up with hot water. It takes a bit of getting used to and it's not as rich as choc made with milk and can be a bit on the bitter side but I like bitter chocolate and find it reasonably ok.

After two months of basic foods my gut is really starting to heal and I can now tolerate some foods that I couldn't cope with a few weeks ago, like eggs. I could have kept the dairy going but like you it made me feel queasy and gave me catarrgh and mucous, but I thought that if I did it might just prolong the healing process or even restrict it and I wanted to get better as quickly as possible.

I know that I probably will never be able to go back to eating the way I did before, but that is no bad thing. Our 'Western' diet is very high-carb, high-sugar and high-garbage. Hopefully, once my gut has really healed, I will be able to go back to having a few 'treats' occasionally and I am looking forward to that. The Gluten, however, will always be out-of-bounds - even if my stomach does appear to be able to cope with it, I do not want to end up damaging it all over again.

Protein will fill you up. It balances the blood sugar and prevents the swings that carbohydrates cause. If you get hungry, it may be because your pancreas is over-reacting to the carbohydrate and pushing out too much insulin to compensate, producing low blood sugar, which makes you weak and shaky and hungry. Do you ever get hypos? I used to suffer with that a lot when I was younger and before I became diabetic. I might have prevented that if I had kept the low-carb way of eating going, stupid woman that I am.

People eat carbs all day and all day their blood sugar is swinging wildly from one extreme to the other, which is why many hit a slump in the middle of the afternoon to the early evening. Mine used to hit me around 4-5pm and I would feel like going to bed! The digestion of carbs takes so much energy that it tires them out!

[MDRB]

How long have you been gluten free?

A lot of celiacs find that they can't handle dairy, fatty foods or carbohydrate rich foods until their body has healed (and yes they could slow you recovery). I would suggest staying away from these things for a few months and reintroducing them slowly after that.

Avoiding cross contamination in your house will certainly help.

I had a similar problem with never feeling full when I first went gluten free. I find that eating several small meals during the day, rather than three main meals works for me. Also eating more protein such as chicken, beans, lentils, eggs and lean beef will help you feel full for longer.

I haven't heard of the 'master cleanser' thing you mentioned (probably because I live in Australia)

but you need to be eating healthy, unprocessed foods to help your villi heal. I pretty much cooked everything from scratch for the first few months. Also flax seeds or oil are meant to be incredible for helping your gut heal.

Also you might want to check that the multivitamin you are taking is gluten free.

Good luck, I hope you start to feel better soon.

[MelliDuff]

Hi Christa.

Just out of interest do you have a weight problem?

Protein will fill you up. It balances the blood sugar and prevents the swings that carbohydrates cause. If you get hungry, it may be because your pancreas is over-reacting to the carbohydrate and pushing out too much insulin to compensate, producing low blood sugar, which makes you weak and shaky and hungry. Do you ever get hypos? I used to suffer with that a lot when I was younger and before I became diabetic. I might have prevented that if I had kept the low-carb way of eating going, stupid woman that I am.

People eat carbs all day and all day their blood sugar is swinging wildly from one extreme to the other, which is why many hit a slump in the middle of the afternoon to the early evening. Mine used to hit me around 4-5pm and I would feel like going to bed! The digestion of carbs takes so much energy that it tires them out!

I am not over weight and have never been unless you count gaining 60 pounds during pregnancy . I have been on the no carb diet before. That was about 5 years ago. I'm sure I felt better than I do now. I think cutting out carbs is defiantly something I will try! I know going all natural is a better path.

Thanks so much,

Christa

[MelliDuff]

How long have you been gluten free?

A lot of celiacs find that they can't handle dairy, fatty foods or carbohydrate rich foods until their body has healed (and yes they could slow you recovery). I would suggest staying away from these things for a few months and reintroducing them slowly after that.

Avoiding cross contamination in your house will certainly help.

I have been gluten free for at least a month then purposely glutened myself (on easter) because I just could not cope with the fact I was going to lose my food. Stupid I know. I am not sure if my problem is gluten or dairy. I really should go get a test run. I think it's a combination of the two.

Gluten: physical symptoms

Horrible depression

Chronic fatigue. I can drink 5 espressos and take a nap. I sleep all day if possible.

my stomach bloats up

I run a low grade fever from 99 to 100.

My body swells up with water. I can gain ten pounds plus over night.

I get Dh on my hands and feet sometimes, not every time.

I have a hard time breathing - When I run (i usually force myself to run a couple miles everyday)I have asthma attacks. I was put on an inhaler and realized after going gluten free I did not need it.

Dairy:

I get mildly depressed.

My throat gets very sore.

I get a little fatigued

my stomach bloats up

I get a headache and sinus pain

I get so constipated, the only way to eliminate is to drink a whole bottle of magnizum citrate.

I am planning on going to see an allergist in the next couple of weeks. I am thinking that I should probably go to a GI and get a celiac blood panel run. I will call around. I don't care about the biopsy because from what I have read it is not accurate.

Oh yes and my multi vitamin is gluten and dairy free - I have to mix it up and drink it, its totally gross. It's called All one powder form. Mixed in water it's guaranteed to make you gag.

Thanks for reading my post and offering your help,

Christa

[MDRB]

I have been gluten free for at least a month then purposely glutened myself (on easter) because I just could not cope with the fact I was going to lose my food. Stupid I know. I am not sure if my problem is gluten or dairy. I really should go get a test run. I think it's a combination of the two.

Gluten: physical symptoms

Horrible depression

Chronic fatigue. I can drink 5 espressos and take a nap. I sleep all day if possible.

my stomach bloats up

I run a low grade fever from 99 to 100.

My body swells up with water. I can gain ten pounds plus over night.

I get Dh on my hands and feet sometimes, not every time.

I have a hard time breathing - When I run (i usually force myself to run a couple miles everyday)I have asthma attacks. I was put on an inhaler and realized after going gluten free I did not need it.

Dairy:

I get mildly depressed.

My throat gets very sore.

I get a little fatigued

my stomach bloats up

I get a headache and sinus pain

I get so constipated, the only way to eliminate is to drink a whole bottle of magnizum citrate.

I am planning on going to see an allergist in the next couple of weeks. I am thinking that I should probably go to a GI and get a celiac blood panel run. I will call around. I don't care about the biopsy because from what I have read it is not accurate.

Oh yes and my multi vitamin is gluten and dairy free - I have to mix it up and drink it, its totally gross. It's called All one powder form. Mixed in water it's guaranteed to make you gag.

Thanks for reading my post and offering your help,

Christa

You poor thing!

One month gluten free may not have been enough to feel significant changes.

All of the symptoms you describe sound like common celiac symptoms (including the ones listed as dairy induced symptoms).

My understanding is that when the villi are damaged with celiac disease, often the damage includes the part of the villi that produces the enzyme that helps you digest dairy. This is why its so common for celiacs to also have a problem with dairy. However, if you avoid both gluten and dairy until your villi has healed, you will often be able to tolerate dairy again once you have healed (unless it is an additional unrelated intolerance).

I have found two different brands of vitamins that are gluten-free: 'Centrum' and 'Swiss Gluten Free Womens Multivitamin' I'm not sure if these are available in the US, but they are tablets and don't make me want to gag

I hope you begin to feel better.

[MelliDuff]

You poor thing!

One month gluten free may not have been enough to feel significant changes.

All of the symptoms you describe sound like common celiac symptoms (including the ones listed as dairy induced symptoms).

My understanding is that when the villi are damaged with celiac disease, often the damage includes the part of the villi that produces the enzyme that helps you digest dairy. This is why its so common for celiacs to also have a problem with dairy. However, if you avoid both gluten and dairy until your villi has healed, you will often be able to tolerate dairy again once you have healed (unless it is an additional unrelated intolerance).

I have found two different brands of vitamins that are gluten-free: 'Centrum' and 'Swiss Gluten Free Womens Multivitamin' I'm not sure if these are available in the US, but they are tablets and don't make me want to gag

I hope you begin to feel better.

Thanks so much for the info. I have a list of Gi's I am calling tomorrow... I am going to make sure and ask if they are familiar with Celiac disease before I make an appointment. Hopefully I can get a diagnosis. This diet is something you have to be 100% committed to and I don't know that I can do that without a definitive answer. At least not on the dairy end. If I had a positive test result, I would be able to stay gluten free and I know that my husband would be around to kick me in the butt should I feel like slipping.

I tried Centrum and I threw it up about a half hour later. I usually have to take vitamins in powder form or I throw them up. Does not matter if I take them with food or without it, they come up.

Thanks for the support,

Christa