Not Seeing Results Yet From Gfd

[Joon]

I'm still waiting to get results from my biopsy, but my gastroenterologist strongly suspects I have celiac disease. (My entire mother's side has this and I grew up on a GFD almost entirely, and it's only been as an adult the last few years that I've been eating gluten.)

...I've been extremely ill the past few months, and since Wednesday (it's now Monday morning) I am still really sick, yesterday especially. Now, I know how not to eat gluten, so I didn't cross-contaminate. I know all about this. I'm just wondering if it can take longer than a week to see results.

I'm so scared I'm not going to get better......

[RiceGuy]

It can certainly take longer than a week. Many find that cutting out dairy for awhile speeds recovery. Once you feel better, you can try adding it back, and see how it goes. Avoiding sugar and coffee might help too. I'm sure others will have some good pointers for you.

I hope you feel better soon!

Welcome to the board!

[Joon]

It can certainly take longer than a week. Many find that cutting out dairy for awhile speeds recovery. Once you feel better, you can try adding it back, and see how it goes. Avoiding sugar and coffee might help too. I'm sure others will have some good pointers for you.

I hope you feel better soon!

Welcome to the board!

I really appreciate that; thanks. I may try goat's milk instead of cutting out dairy...

I get a lot of stomach and abdominal pain and a lot of bloating. I could write "a lot of" in front of everything I write. I've lost so much weight so the bloating looks ridiculous and is very noticeable. I was getting cramps in my feet and calves but more recently I get spasms in my abdomen. And, of course, diarrhea.

My other huge symptom is thirst. Doc thinks this may be from a calcium deficiency and I guess my very thorough blood workup must have confirmed this because I'm now on cal-mag supplements (and tonnes of B12), but still I get thirsty like I haven't had anything to drink for weeks and it is almost unquenchable. It's a terrible sensation.

Btw, I tested negative on the antibody blood test, but my gastroenterologist had said ahead of time that he half-expected this to happen (due to my medical history)... He still thinks I have celiac disease.

On July 8 I get a small bowel barium X-Ray... and in a week I get my biopsy results.

Feel like CRAP. Hold my tummy all the time. Sooooooo tired, all I do is sleep... Had to cut my pretty hair off because I can't take care of it... My house is a disaster and I can't have guests over......

(Cue the violins, please heheh.

[ShayFL]

Did they do a diabetes panel? All that thirst.....

[TipTip]

Hang in there Joon!

It took me almost four months to really be able to see and feel a difference in my body and my spirits going gluten free!

[aikiducky]

I was unusually thirsty when I first went gluten free, and also if I accidentally get some gluten I'm thirsty for some days after that. So it could be something to do with that, but what mechanism exactly it would be I don't know.

Good idea to check for diabetes though, that's not something to take lightly.

Pauliina

[Joon]

Did they do a diabetes panel? All that thirst.....

I'm not sure if he did. The gastroenterologist took nine vials of blood and ticked off nearly everything on a giant page of paper. He knows about the thirst and he's been great about taking everything seriously. He noticed things wrong with me I hadn't noticed (apparently something in the look of my eyes, and something with the way my wrists look).

I'm naturally fair-skinned, extremely so, but even still I look very pale and wan.

Urgh, you know what was sooo frustrating? The day I saw him for the first time was the only day I haven't been bloated in months! (And the by evening I was back to being bloated again. Go figure.)

When I am almost panicky-thirsty, Gatorade is the only thing that will cut it; though my panels show that I'm only a little low in Potassium.

I really appreciate all of your comments... Thank you so much.