Does Stress Aggravate Your Digestion?

[celiacker]

I've been diagnosed Celiac for about a year now. I'm still not getting the consistent relief I thought I would. I have to wonder whether it's stress related.

When I do eat gluten, I have crazy uncontrollable gas and bloating for like 5 hours. This has only happened about 3 times in the past year.

But when I don't eat gluten, I still have very irregular, loose BMs and more gas than I'd like. (Sorry for the detail!) I'm going easy on dairy and I'm stringent about things like soy sauce...those tiny things that can creep into the diet that contain gluten.

Here are some things that I eat/drink regularly. Can anyone tell me whether they have similar problems with any of these?

Drip Coffee (2-3 cups a day)

Yogi Detox tea (only for the past couple of weeks)

Yogi Green Tea Kombucha (few times a week)

Gluten-free granola (daily until recently...thought it might be bothering me - it contains flax seeds, corn flakes, a few other seeds, and nuts)

Fat free plain Stonyfield Farms yogurt (pretty much daily)

Kamu Kamu

Risotto

Cheese (fontina, cheddar)

Gluten-free crackers

These are the things I eat the most of.

Help is appreciated!

Thanks,

Liz

[ShayFL]

If I had to pick one thing to eliminate from your normal diet, I would say dairy. It is so very hard to digest even for non-celiacs. And if you never completely eliminated dairy (at least for a few months while you were healing), you may have never healed completely.

You may be able to add it back in at some point. Why not try a 1 month dairy free trial?

[Mother of Jibril]

Stress can have a LOT of negative physical effects on your body. It forces your adrenal glands to work very hard and that can mess up the balance of all your other hormones (reproductive, endocrine, etc...). Chronic stress can also lead to new autoimmune disorders in your thyroid, joints, nervous system, liver, pancreas... having celiac disease puts you at risk for developing more autoimmune disorders.

I agree about the dairy products. I needed to get rid of corn too (at least for a while). I was surprised at how much of a difference it made!

[darlindeb25]

If you feel dairy is not bothering you, I would eliminate soy, and see how you feel. Soy is the 2nd worst intolerance in celiac's, I believe. I did very well gluten free for a few years, then I started having problems again...it was soy, and to this day, I can not have soy. Corn can be a huge factor for some people too. Eliminate one thing at a time and see how you do.

[JNBunnie1]

I've been diagnosed Celiac for about a year now. I'm still not getting the consistent relief I thought I would. I have to wonder whether it's stress related.

When I do eat gluten, I have crazy uncontrollable gas and bloating for like 5 hours. This has only happened about 3 times in the past year.

But when I don't eat gluten, I still have very irregular, loose BMs and more gas than I'd like. (Sorry for the detail!) I'm going easy on dairy and I'm stringent about things like soy sauce...those tiny things that can creep into the diet that contain gluten.

Here are some things that I eat/drink regularly. Can anyone tell me whether they have similar problems with any of these?

Drip Coffee (2-3 cups a day)

Yogi Detox tea (only for the past couple of weeks)

Yogi Green Tea Kombucha (few times a week)

Gluten-free granola (daily until recently...thought it might be bothering me - it contains flax seeds, corn flakes, a few other seeds, and nuts)

Fat free plain Stonyfield Farms yogurt (pretty much daily)

Kamu Kamu

Risotto

Cheese (fontina, cheddar)

Gluten-free crackers

These are the things I eat the most of.

Help is appreciated!

Thanks,

Liz

To answer your title question, YES! I get stressed out and whoooosh goes my tummy. Some people get normal stuff, like heart palpitations, or headaches, or a rash, but nooooo...... Not me. I get to spend half my day on the toilet.

[cmom]

I know that the stress of not where the closest bathroom is, inevitably makes me have to go!

[ENF]

Just to add one thing, taking probiotics has helped me a lot with similar problems. I avoid dairy completely, and do my best to stay away from products containing corn or soy.