Jump to content
This site uses cookies. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. More Info... ×

  • 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

Low Stomach Acidity & A Bit Extra To Ask

Jujbe

Recommended Posts

Jujbe Rookie
Jujbe
Posted

I'm newly diagnosed & have been gluten-free for 1 1/2 weeks. I was very surprised at how fast my stools returned to normal & how much my gas was cut back. I'm not nearly as bad as others here who are very gluten-intolerant. My symptoms were milder than many. But one thing I read on celiac sites is that stomach acid can be low & mine definitely is. I could burp up food (or the very rare times I've thrown up) & it was never even slightly acidic in my mouth. I have never ever had heartburn - don't really know how it feels.

Before I had any idea that gluten was a problem for me, I bought betaine HCl capsules to help with my low stomach acid. They also contain pepsin. I'm curious if stomach acid level will return to normal for me since celiac affects the small intestine only from what I've read - no effects on the stomach. Would I need to continue my capsules & if so, for how long? I've got no way or judging if my acid returns to normal as it's been years since I vomited & don't feel like forcing it just to check.

Also, some foods really seem to give me gas even without any gluten or wheat in them. Onions are one of them - raw or cooked, even a tiny amount. Yet soups, stews & Chinese foods without some onion taste so blah. Have others found that certain fruits & vegetables give them lots of gas too & if so, why? How does a gluten-intolerance make one more sensitive to natural unprocessed foods? Milk, eggs & soy, thankfully don't cause problems. I checked. But good plain fruits & veggies sometimes do. With spring coming up, I'm looking forward to eating fresh strawberries, cherries, etc but boy! do they ever make me gassy if I eat more than a few. (And excuse this comment in case it's too much info :blink: - but my gas smells just like the fruit only horribly mutated.) Does any of this make sense?

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

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


Ursa Major Collaborator
Ursa Major
Posted

At the beginning while just starting to heal, you may simply not be able yet to digest anything raw, be it fruit or vegetable. I was unable to eat raw food for six months at the beginning. Try cooking your fruits to see if it makes a difference.

Dairy is known to cause gas, and it is recommended to eliminate dairy for the first few months on the gluten-free diet to heal faster. The same goes for soy. Even if you don't think they cause problems, they could be the cause for some of the trouble.

Try using shallots instead of onions for a while, they are much milder and easier to digest.

ThatlldoGyp Rookie
ThatlldoGyp
Posted

Ursa, you are so great. I always learn something with each of your postings. I wish I could just hug you!

sorry asker, back to your question, lol! I also had a ton of trouble when I first started gluten-free with fruits and veggies. Try doing the elimination diet. For your fruit, start with bananas and go from there. It will set your starting my new diet parameters and really helps you pinpoint what is causing issues and what is "safe". I added 1 item per week and built my diet off of that. Think whole foods for maximum nutrition and low chance of cross contamination and cooked veggies, they are so much easier to digest than raw. Ursa's advice on the onions is right on. You may want to consider chives as well for flavor. Easy to grow and best when cut fresh from the garden!

Congrats on your diagnosis and happy healing!

I would really talk to your doctor about your low acid situation. But if you feel good, then don't rock the boat right now. Tiny changes can really throw you for a loop. If you don't need the enzyme, I drink Raspberry Shrub from Tait farm to get a yummy acidic drink with the benefits of the berry. go here:

Open Original Shared Link

I love their products, but be careful. Their soy has undeclared wheat.. at least it did a while back. I brought it to their attention and I am sure they will change the labels asap.

Jujbe Rookie
Jujbe
Posted
  • Author
At the beginning while just starting to heal, you may simply not be able yet to digest anything raw, be it fruit or vegetable. I was unable to eat raw food for six months at the beginning. Try cooking your fruits to see if it makes a difference.

Dairy is known to cause gas, and it is recommended to eliminate dairy for the first few months on the gluten-free diet to heal faster. The same goes for soy. Even if you don't think they cause problems, they could be the cause for some of the trouble.

Try using shallots instead of onions for a while, they are much milder and easier to digest.

Thanks, Ursa. I'm sorry that I just saw your reply. I saw that I hadn't clicked email notification of replies but have now.

I don't eat raw foods. :) Somehow I had it figured before. My body seems to be fairly good at telling me what was good for it & not (except for gluten but then I ate that daily, no off times for my body to compare to). I know raw was always felt to be healthier but it seemed harder for me to digest. My salads consist of lightly cooked vegetables (not hard but not soft either) dressed with simple rice vinegar & oil & a bit of safe seasonings like garlic or fresh herbs I grow. I'm not a big fruit fan & prefer my veggies. I'd eat fruit cooked with some (gluten containing) crumble or cobbler on top as desserts sometimes.

I've been using spring onions (green) instead & only a little but any type of onion, even a bit, will cause some gas. I can understand your ideas about milk & soy too. Must admit (I know - you give good advice & I don't want to ignore it) that giving up all milk would be so hard. I love a couple cups of hot tea with milk. Hate the taste without. :P Tea with milk is the reason I get up in the morning.

Bit extra to ask though - does a person who basically just presented with DH & not overt GI symptoms always have some damage to their villi? And how does one know when it's healed & your body can handle other foods better?

Thanks for your answer. I really am going to think long & hard about the milk part. Am loathe to stop all milk but maybe cut way back to only a little? I'd rather give up the onions! :lol:

- - - - -

And thank you too, That'lldoGyp. Oh, I have a fairly good idea what sort of fruits or veggies bother me! :lol: Bananas? Oh, I love them but they don't love me. Gas, gas, GAS! So I don't eat bananas. Maybe if they were cooked but I don't like them cooked. I can eat a half orange okay. No raw apples ever! Blueberries are great for me, raw or cooked. They never make me gassy & don't make me loose like most fruit does. Raw strawberries & cherries are a problem too. I can eat dragonfruit. Thought it might be a problem but isn't. Same with raw kiwi but it has a protein digesting enzyme in it so maybe that's why it's okay. Rarely eat lettuce - maybe a few times a year. It would be nice if I could eat it again in the future when things are healed.

Since I make & cook almost everything I eat from scratch, I tend to eat whole foods most of the time. Less work & I enjoy the taste or simple vegetables or meat prepared like that. Mind you, I also love Asian & Indian cooking that I do but that will have to wait till the future when I'm healed. I make soups too from scratch - buy the bones & make my own stock. Just no more barley or noodles added to soups. But that's okay. I can add rice noodles.

Perhaps 'cause I ate healthy & simply with no refined or ready-made foods, plus I took supplements like methylcobalamin (B12) & other B vitamins, magnesium citrate, vitamin D, salmon oil caps, etc, I don't have any nutritional problems often associated with GI. Not anemic, strong bones (I've had a couple of nasty falls on to concrete & was fine). I considered myself feeling well for the most part so I'm curious to see how much better I may feel 1/2 to 1 year from now with no gluten & fully healed (I hope). Thank you for your insight!

P.S. Got LOTS of chives - am always digging them up & giving some away. I take great pride in my herb garden & grow what I need for the most part.

  • 3 years later...
awwashburn Newbie
awwashburn
Posted

Jujbe- What ended up happening with you? This is the first time I've heard someone describe the "stopping gluten then having trouble with veggies" scenario! This happened to me a year ago and I was so surprised. Onion is the worst. Bananas and tomatoes are about the only fruits that don't cause me to get bloated/gassy. Spinach and other "soft-leaved" lettuces also go down well. But almost every other veggie is hit and miss, which is hard because I used to eat primarily veggies! I was vegetarian for 20 years but now with having to avoid gluten and onions I started to eat meat (because it was hard to eat out and I got low iron once I started the gluten free diet)! Dairy and meat ALWAYS go down well for me. Nuts are fine sometimes and not others. I started to think maybe I was a fructose malabsorber due to the fruit reactions (apples) or fructan malabsorber (onion and wheat) but it doesn't fit perfectly. I recently read about low stomach acid. Do all low stomach acid people have issues with proteins and fats? Do they ever have issues with fruit or veggies? I did the "baking soda" test and "Betaine-HCL tablet" test and never had any reactions, which apparently means I'm low stomach acid? Thanks- sorry for rambling- was just excited that you mentioned all 3 issues I've been wondering about (gluten, veggies, stomach acid). Audrey

sa1937 Community Regular
sa1937
Posted

Please note that this is a very old thread and it's highly unlikely that Jujbe will see your post.

Archived

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

Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      129,979
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    mary lou grolimond olson
    Newest Member
    mary lou grolimond olson
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.3k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • Scott Adams
      Finally got in to doctor to get my referral and I lucked out and got into Gastro the same day - question about different transglutaminase results

      By Scott Adams · Posted

      It sounds like your gastroenterologist is becoming increasingly confident that celiac disease is the likely diagnosis based on both your older and newer lab results. Her suggestion to call each Monday for possible cancellations is actually a great strategy—especially given how long the wait is until your August 29th appointment. It’s also a good sign that she’s advocating for you to be seen sooner, which shows she’s taking your case seriously. The fact that some labs might not have been drawn yet due to overlap with your functional health doctor’s upcoming testing adds a layer of confusion, but that’s unfortunately common when multiple providers are involved. Hopefully, the GI’s remaining labs will still get processed, or she can reorder them if needed. As for the colonoscopy prep, it’s totally understandable that you're dreading it—many people rank it among the least pleasant medical experiences. You’re definitely not alone in preferring the pill prep option over the liquid kind, especially if you don’t drink Gatorade and had a rough experience with Miralax in the past. Hopefully, your doctor will approve the pill form, especially since you’ve tolerated other options poorly before. Fortunately, the upper endoscopy doesn’t require any bowel prep—just fasting, usually starting the night before—so that part should be easier to handle. It’s great that you’re already trying to boost your gluten intake, but yes, tracking gluten content can be surprisingly tricky. You’re right that the general rule for wheat-based products is to multiply the protein content by about 0.75 to estimate the gluten content. That means foods like oyster crackers, while convenient, may not pack enough gluten to help reach the recommended daily goal of around 10 grams before biopsy. It’s helpful that you caught that early, and switching to more gluten-dense foods like regular wheat bread, pasta, or wheat cereals might make it easier to hit your target. It’s not easy eating more gluten when you’re trying to manage symptoms or just not used to it, but doing so can make a big difference in ensuring your biopsies are accurate. You’re on the right track—hopefully with a little luck, you’ll get a cancellation and be seen sooner.
    • cristiana
      Worried about being isolated

      By cristiana · Posted

      Thanks for sharing that film, @trents.  I am not sure how I missed that film as I see it is a few years old, but it is very good.  I think you should be fine if you take your own packed lunch and eat it from your own lunchbox etc.  Might be worth doing a lunchtime recce to see how cramped the room is before making a decision - for all you know, there may be other people  there who don't eat gluten?
    • cameo674
      Finally got in to doctor to get my referral and I lucked out and got into Gastro the same day - question about different transglutaminase results

      By cameo674 · Posted

      The GI doc messaged me this afternoon that she believes that the new blood work added to the old is definitely  looking like a celiac diagnosis is in my future.  She wants to me to call into scheduling each Monday to see if I can get my August 29th appointment moved up due to cancellations.  I have never had a doctor recommend that.  She also said there were additional labs that she requested still out that have not come back yet; so, they may have been missed drawing those since the functional health doctor has a whole slew of labs that I am suppose to be waiting until August 27th to do. I am still waiting to hear on whether or not she will allow me to do pill prep versus the typical gatorade prep that I did 8 years ago for that colonoscopy.  I do not drink gatorade to begin with and that miralax prep kept me in the bathroom up until we drove to the procedure.  My younger brother said the pill form was fairly easy when the liquid form is hard to swallow. Colonoscopy prep is definitely close to number one on the list of things I never want to experience again if I could avoid it.  Number one is a different medication that caused severe cramping that had me in tears until it wore off.  Never having had an endoscopy, I have no idea of what that prep is like, but it cannot be worse right? I started munching on oyster crackers last night.  It is shocking how filling they are.  I just read that I need to pay attention to the protein content of the wheat bread product or I will miss the gluten goal of 10 g per day prior to testing.  The post said that I should look at the protein and multiple that number by .75 if it is a wheat flour product to see how much gluten is in it.  No more oyster crackers for me.  I would have to eat 10 oz bag everyday to meet my goal.  not going to happen.
    • Alibu
      Latent celiac, need to go gluten free, advice on kitchen "reset?"

      By Alibu · Posted

      Well, I've made if from the pre-diagnosis forum to here!  I've been diagnosed with "latent" or "potential" celiac and my doctor has suggested me to go gluten-free before my appointment with him in October (first available, LOL).  My ttg-iga was 152, my EMA was positive, I have the gene, but my biopsy was negative (and he took 12 samples), so it makes sense to go gluten free to see if I improve. I know the basics - I can find lists of things to avoid, I know about hidden dangers, etc. all of that.  Where I'm struggling is just STARTING.  I need to go shopping and stock up on some staples.  My goal is to not try to find gluten-free alternatives, but to focus on naturally gluten-free foods like proteins, veggies, fruits, and carbs like potatoes and rice.  However, the rest of the household will not be gluten-free, which is fine, I don't want them to for various reasons.  But I have SO much food in my house in the pantry and fridge and cabinets, and it feels like I need to get rid of a lot in order for me to start fresh, but at the same time, I can't get rid of everything. I guess it's just feeling overwhelming and I've never given up gluten before so this is going to be a huge shift for me and I feel like I need SPACE, but I can't quite have that. Any advice on just getting started and organizing myself would be great!  
    • Scott Adams
      Finally got in to doctor to get my referral and I lucked out and got into Gastro the same day - question about different transglutaminase results

      By Scott Adams · Posted

      It’s great that you were finally able to see a gastroenterologist—and even luckier to get in the same day as your referral! It sounds like your GI is taking a very thorough approach, which is reassuring given your complex symptoms and history. The confusion around your different tissue transglutaminase (tTG) antibody results is understandable. The variation between your December and June labs may be due to multiple factors, including differences in the lab performing the test (Quest vs. Mayo Clinic), the specific assay used, and the amount of gluten you had been consuming before each test. Antibody levels can drop significantly when gluten is reduced or eliminated from the diet, even partially, which might explain why your recent tTG IgA was now negative and your tTG IgG was borderline high. That’s likely why your GI mentioned it was “usually the reverse”—typically, tTG IgA is more commonly elevated in confirmed celiac, not IgG alone, especially when IgA levels are sufficient, as yours are. Your gene testing confirms that you carry HLA types (DQ2.2 most likely) that are permissive for celiac disease, meaning you can develop it, but not everyone with these genes will. These genes don’t explain why your symptoms are milder or different from others with celiac—many people have so-called "silent" or atypical presentations like yours, with issues like long-term heartburn, loose stools, nutrient intolerances, or just gradually adapting to symptoms over time. It’s not uncommon to assume these symptoms are just aging, medication side effects, or lifestyle-related until someone finally connects the dots. It’s a good thing your daughter advocated for you to be tested—many cases are missed for years because they don’t follow the “textbook” presentation. As for the immunoglobulin tests, your doctor likely ordered those to ensure your immune system is functioning normally, particularly your IgA level, since a deficiency can cause false-negative celiac blood tests. Since your IgA level is normal, your tTG IgA test should be reliable (assuming adequate gluten intake), but again, if you weren't eating enough gluten, that could explain the lower antibody levels now. The comprehensive metabolic panel and negative stool parasite results are additional pieces ruling out other causes of your symptoms, like infections or organ dysfunction. The upcoming endoscopy and colonoscopy should provide more definitive answers, especially with biopsies looking for celiac disease, eosinophilic esophagitis, and microscopic colitis. It’s completely valid to feel unsure about what you’re experiencing, especially when your symptoms have been lifelong or gradually worsening without being severe. You’re not alone—many adults with celiac or gluten-related disorders report subtle or chronic symptoms they’ve normalized. You’re doing the right thing by staying on gluten now through your procedure date in August. Try not to stress about reaching the full 6-slice equivalent each day, but do increase your gluten intake as much as tolerable (e.g., a couple of pieces of bread, pasta, crackers, etc.) to give the biopsy the best chance of detecting any damage. Good luck with your upcoming procedures—you’re closer than ever to answers and a clearer direction forward.
×
×
  • Create New...