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Medication Absorption After Being gluten-free For 5 Months.

silk

By silk
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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silk Contributor
silk
Posted

I have been gluten free for 5 months and other than the occasional 'sneak attacks' from unsuspected sources am doing really well.

My question is this: Can being gluten free and healing cause you to absorb or react to things you have always been used to differently?

Case in point: I had been off of caffeine for months and tried to re-introduce it into my diet and it seemed to be going okay, but like a dummy I went over kill and drank and 12-cup pot in less than 8 hours. Result, extreme dizziness and high blood pressure. Sent me to the Dr.'s office where it was 150/100! My pressure has always been pretty good in the past. Did not realize that caffeine do that to you as I have drank it most of my adult life without being aware of any problems. I was also drinking a lot of herbal licorice root tea. Caffeine free but now after digging for answers I find that licorice is notorious for causing blood pressure problems.

Another problem is that I take Lipitor for high cholesterol. 40mg every other day and have never had a noticeable problem with it. But since I have been gluten free and especially for the past few weeks that I have finally been feeling mostly well, my muscles ache and feel tremendously heavy and my spinal column is terribly stiff and painful. I have been exercising with weights and walking/stair climbing but the problems started to trouble me before I got into that. Actually I did those things to try and strengthen spine and muscles. I know that Lipitor is also notorious for causing these types of problems but wonder if they did not for me before my diagnosis because I was not fully absorbing the meds. Which would be amazing because my last check showed the bad cholesterol level to be at 79 and the good cholesterol was 100 which are both excellent numbers. Cutting back to 20 mgs every other day to see if symptoms persist or not. Just wondered if anyone else had experience anything similar?

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Aleshia Contributor
Aleshia
Posted

I don't know much about that stuff but my grandma has a lot of celiac symptoms and has always had to take medications and vitamins etc in a liquid form or tongue drops because the pills just passed through undigested... maybe your body is absorbing things so well now that it feels like its overdosing?

bakingbarb Enthusiast
bakingbarb
Posted
I have been gluten free for 5 months and other than the occasional 'sneak attacks' from unsuspected sources am doing really well.

My question is this: Can being gluten free and healing cause you to absorb or react to things you have always been used to differently?

Case in point: I had been off of caffeine for months and tried to re-introduce it into my diet and it seemed to be going okay, but like a dummy I went over kill and drank and 12-cup pot in less than 8 hours. Result, extreme dizziness and high blood pressure. Sent me to the Dr.'s office where it was 150/100! My pressure has always been pretty good in the past. Did not realize that caffeine do that to you as I have drank it most of my adult life without being aware of any problems. I was also drinking a lot of herbal licorice root tea. Caffeine free but now after digging for answers I find that licorice is notorious for causing blood pressure problems.

Another problem is that I take Lipitor for high cholesterol. 40mg every other day and have never had a noticeable problem with it. But since I have been gluten free and especially for the past few weeks that I have finally been feeling mostly well, my muscles ache and feel tremendously heavy and my spinal column is terribly stiff and painful. I have been exercising with weights and walking/stair climbing but the problems started to trouble me before I got into that. Actually I did those things to try and strengthen spine and muscles. I know that Lipitor is also notorious for causing these types of problems but wonder if they did not for me before my diagnosis because I was not fully absorbing the meds. Which would be amazing because my last check showed the bad cholesterol level to be at 79 and the good cholesterol was 100 which are both excellent numbers. Cutting back to 20 mgs every other day to see if symptoms persist or not. Just wondered if anyone else had experience anything similar?

Wow it seems to make sense. Caffeine can really bother me because I tend to not eat when I am drinking it. There is such a thing as too much caffeine. Here is one lOpen Original Shared Link I have looked at a few times.

I would suggest you ask your Dr about this though. Those seem like some pretty serious side effects.

aikiducky Apprentice
aikiducky
Posted

I don't know about the specific medicine that you're taking, but as your intestines heal that will certainly affect absorption of everything. I've seen lot's of people here mention that they had to lower their dosage of thyroid meds for example.

Pauliina

JNBunnie1 Community Regular
JNBunnie1
Posted

I would guess also that since your digesion has improved and your cholesterol numbers are optimal, then maybe the lipitor is causing other problems. You, know, like it doesn't have anything to do so is causing mischief? I have found myself more sensitive than before to a lot of things, most especially caffeine and alcohol. I used to be able to drink all night and now I'm a one-beer queen.

lhceliac Newbie
lhceliac
Posted

I have the same problem with hypersensitivity and or allergies to medications I have taken in the past but are now causing me problems. I am going to a specialist in celiac disease on Monday I'll let you know what he says.

Louise Hesse

I have been gluten free for 5 months and other than the occasional 'sneak attacks' from unsuspected sources am doing really well.

My question is this: Can being gluten free and healing cause you to absorb or react to things you have always been used to differently?

Case in point: I had been off of caffeine for months and tried to re-introduce it into my diet and it seemed to be going okay, but like a dummy I went over kill and drank and 12-cup pot in less than 8 hours. Result, extreme dizziness and high blood pressure. Sent me to the Dr.'s office where it was 150/100! My pressure has always been pretty good in the past. Did not realize that caffeine do that to you as I have drank it most of my adult life without being aware of any problems. I was also drinking a lot of herbal licorice root tea. Caffeine free but now after digging for answers I find that licorice is notorious for causing blood pressure problems.

Another problem is that I take Lipitor for high cholesterol. 40mg every other day and have never had a noticeable problem with it. But since I have been gluten free and especially for the past few weeks that I have finally been feeling mostly well, my muscles ache and feel tremendously heavy and my spinal column is terribly stiff and painful. I have been exercising with weights and walking/stair climbing but the problems started to trouble me before I got into that. Actually I did those things to try and strengthen spine and muscles. I know that Lipitor is also notorious for causing these types of problems but wonder if they did not for me before my diagnosis because I was not fully absorbing the meds. Which would be amazing because my last check showed the bad cholesterol level to be at 79 and the good cholesterol was 100 which are both excellent numbers. Cutting back to 20 mgs every other day to see if symptoms persist or not. Just wondered if anyone else had experience anything similar?

wowzer Community Regular
wowzer
Posted

I've been wondering about drug absorption. I went to my doctor with a sinus infection. He gave my doxycyl. He did give me a lower dose because he does agree that I absorb medicines strange. I finished the 10 day dose. That night I had a drug reaction, so I went in thinking it had to be from Motrin. The doctor said it was from the antiobiotic. He did say he thinks it builds up in my system because I don't break it down right. This isn't the first time that this has happened to me from antibiotics. I'm not even sure if their are any I can take now. I do take synthroid and singulair. Let me know what you find out.

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silk Contributor
silk
Posted
  • Author

Thanks so much to everyone for your responses. I have cut back on the Lipitor and the muscle aches are not as bad. Spine is still painful bit I work for a chiropractor so hopefully he can help resolve some of that. Another thought came to me that after drinking so much coffee, I wonder if going 'cold turkey' could cause the symptoms that I experienced? Some of them were very similar to withdrawal symptoms, if I'm not mistaken

But I still think that it is good to cut back on the meds. I have always been hypersensitive to side effects even before my DX so it does make sense. And alcohol affects me more quickly now too.

Thanks again for the support.

sneezydiva Apprentice
sneezydiva
Posted

I'm so glad you asked this question, because I have been wondering the same thing with regard to my birth control pills. The past 2 months, my periods were so short, they were practically non-existant. Both times, I became concerned I was pregnant and took a pregnancy test. Now, it is very common for the pill to cause shorter periods, and for me they've always been a little lighter than usual, but these practically non-existant periods were totally different for me. It finally hit me that maybe I was absorbing the birth control pills better, and I've been missing out on these ultra-short periods for the past 10 years.

I think it is totally possible you are absorbing your Lipitor better.

silk Contributor
silk
Posted
  • Author
I'm so glad you asked this question, because I have been wondering the same thing with regard to my birth control pills. The past 2 months, my periods were so short, they were practically non-existant. Both times, I became concerned I was pregnant and took a pregnancy test. Now, it is very common for the pill to cause shorter periods, and for me they've always been a little lighter than usual, but these practically non-existant periods were totally different for me. It finally hit me that maybe I was absorbing the birth control pills better, and I've been missing out on these ultra-short periods for the past 10 years.

I think it is totally possible you are absorbing your Lipitor better.

LOL :lol: I guess there are some up-sides to having Celiac, huh? I'm not due to have my blood work done again until October but I have my annual 'pay-for-pain' exam at the GYN and may ask them to do the blood work now to see what's happening with cholesterol and blood sugars. May not want to know the answers to those questions because Dr.'s always seem so willing to shove another pill at you or tell you to remove something else from your diet. (Like we haven't done enough of that already?) But not knowing is not good either.

MelliDuff Rookie
MelliDuff
Posted
LOL :lol: I guess there are some up-sides to having Celiac, huh? I'm not due to have my blood work done again until October but I have my annual 'pay-for-pain' exam at the GYN and may ask them to do the blood work now to see what's happening with cholesterol and blood sugars. May not want to know the answers to those questions because Dr.'s always seem so willing to shove another pill at you or tell you to remove something else from your diet. (Like we haven't done enough of that already?) But not knowing is not good either.

You know I wondered about this as well...I was thinking though most medicine is absorbed through your blood stream not your intestines... It goes from stomach to blood stream -I think-

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