Boyfriend With Celiac

[Yasemin]

Hi all!!

OK heres the thing me and my boyfriend have been dating for just a little over a year. And he has Celiac, when we first started dating I obviously had no idea about celiac disease, so he taught me what he can and can not eat, etc. And now I'm more cautious then he is with what enters his mouth. He was diagnosed w/ celiac when he was 19 he is now 22, while he was younger he partied a lot..drank a lot of beer..ate a lot of gluten etc. He also ended up getting Ecoli from some food place..he recovered. He would tell me that he would feel sick everyday, he used to not be able to stand for too long, he would be in the hospital for months at a time. Ever since he has been diagnosed he has tried very hard w/ sticking to a strictly gluten free diet. But ever since we met we started going to restaurants eating out everyday..i started realizing that he was getting sick a lot( i dont know if he let his guard down or what)..but then i told him we should stop going out as much..I have limited going out to dinner etc..we go out everyonce and a while and he usally only eats nachos or hamburger no bun or UNOS new gluten free pizza.

But it seems like nothing really matters, his stomach is constantly bloated. He complains of stomach pain a couple times a week. And about once a month or eveyonce in a while his stomach will hurt for weeks at a time. And i feel like he is always eating gluten free because we also cook a lot of home cooked meals(gluten free). He gets really run down and tired. and i get really stressed out becuase i dont know if this is a common thing. he doesnt have insurance to get a doctors appt. to see whats going on. I just really wanted to talk to some ppl about this issue..

Any help

thanks!!!

[Jaimepsalm63]

Hey Yasemin,

Welcome to the forum. It sounds like he's still having gluten from somewhere. You can help him all you want, but it is up to him to make sure he doesn't eat the gluten when you can't see him.

Make sure everything in the household is gluten free for him. That will help him while he's there, but if he's at work and grabs something that has gluten that is on his shoulders. Sometimes people think that a little bit of gluten won't hurt and then they can't understand why they feel as sick as they do.

If he is 100% not cheating on the gluten free diet, look at household products like shampoo and toothpaste. Even your lipstick can have gluten and when he kisses you...he's now ingested gluten. If that isn't the problem either...he may be allergic/sensitive to something else. Have him keep a log of everything he eats and drinks as well as how he feels after every meal so you can pin point a pattern (hopefully).

That is just my two cents. I hope you all figure it out. It stinks feeling sick.

[Yasemin]

Hey Yasemin,

Welcome to the forum. It sounds like he's still having gluten from somewhere. You can help him all you want, but it is up to him to make sure he doesn't eat the gluten when you can't see him.

Make sure everything in the household is gluten free for him. That will help him while he's there, but if he's at work and grabs something that has gluten that is on his shoulders. Sometimes people think that a little bit of gluten won't hurt and then they can't understand why they feel as sick as they do.

If he is 100% not cheating on the gluten free diet, look at household products like shampoo and toothpaste. Even your lipstick can have gluten and when he kisses you...he's now ingested gluten. If that isn't the problem either...he may be allergic/sensitive to something else. Have him keep a log of everything he eats and drinks as well as how he feels after every meal so you can pin point a pattern (hopefully).

That is just my two cents. I hope you all figure it out. It stinks feeling sick.

[ang1e0251]

Don't panic. Many of us have had recurring problems after being gluten-free for awhile. I'm going through a similar period right and am slowly honing in on what I'm reacting to.

Can you tell a little about his diet? What he commonly eats? Does he eat prepackaged gluten-free food? How about dairy? With some clues about his diet someone will probably have some suggestions.

Hang in there. He can get better. You are a great support for him.

[Yasemin]

yea he usally eats prepackaged gluten free food..like bread or cookies..pasta..and his stomach usally hurts after he has eaten..i think its personally becuase his system is so damaged from the ecoli and from eating so much gluten in the past..i think it just hurts him to digest..he tells me that his stomach usally only feels good when he doesnt eat..

Like i honestly dont know what would set it off(his stomach pain)..he sometimes bleeds when he has a bowl movement-i just dont want this to be somthing that could be solved, and i have no idea

[SacGFGirl]

It's funny I was in the opposite boat than you are a few years ago. I'm the one with Celiac and my boyfriend, now fiance, was the one trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with me. My stomach was constantly bloated, I never wanted to leave the house in fear of not being close enough to a bathroom. For awhile my boyfriend even thought it was his driving that I was afraid of, lol.

The body's recovery time varies from person to person so if he's truly 100% gluten free it could just be taking some time for his body to expel all the gluten. Or he thinks he's gluten free but you're missing something on a label somewhere. He could be super sensitive so if he even encounters flour or flour dust in the air, that could be causing the symptoms. I even knew a woman whose daughter was always sick and finally a doctor figured out that it was because they lived near a bread factory and it was the yeast in the air that was making her sick. Thus consider other common allergies in addition to gluten, like corn and dairy.

If he is "cheating" and eating gluten, there's not much you can do, except encourage him to stick with it, even for a limited time, one week, one month, to see how well he feels, and then maybe he'd realize it's hard to be gluten free, but worth it. I don't know where you're located, but you should take him to a local Celiac support group meeting, (that was an eye opener for me), and there are tons of great gluten free tasting recipes out there. In fact I have several on my blog if you're interested.

Good Luck. Hope things improve for both of you.

[Yasemin]

Wow thats crazy about the whole yeast in the air affecting her daughter!! yea i am pretty positive he doesn't cheat..i think hes to afraid of how he is gonna feel after it. he eats the same thing for lunch (hotdogs no bun)everyday because hes a roofer and cant eat much of anything else..becuase he is to much of a "manly man" to bring a lunch with him lol..i think his stomach might be to sensitive..i agree with the fact that his body could still be recovering from all the abuse that it had take..

But the wierd thing is..is that he is not skinny at all he is a actually a pretty big guy.i get the feeling that a lot of celiacs are very tiny do to not getting enought nutrients..i have been trying to get him to take a digestive enzyme powder vitamins that i had bought him..but he says that he used to take them but they upset his stomach..maybe his stomach is extremly extremly sensitive??

But thank you!

[ang1e0251]

That's not true about celiac sufferers all being small. I think the number is about 30% are overweight, I'm one.

He eats a lot of prepackage gluten-free food. Well, that could be your culprit right there. I have a problem with a lot of those things too. There are a couple of reasons why they could bother him. Some items labeled gluten-free actually have a very small amount of gluten. They are allowed to label themselves this way at this point in time. The other thing is most of them contain xanthum gum. Some folks react to it. I think that I do and am currently putting it to the test.

My advice would be for him to stop eating all the prepackaged foods. To eat very simple for a time and see how he feels. He can eat simple meats, vegetables, fruits, corn tortillas, potatos and rice made at home. If he sees an improvement, you know you're on to something. Once he feels well again, if he wants to try one of his old foods, only one at a time per week, let him and pay close attention to how he feels.

You didn't mention if he eats dairy. This can have that affect also. That's another food to drop for now if he's eating it. He may be able to tolerate it again later.

Many of us benefit from taking the sublingual B12 methylcolobin. You don't need a scrip for it. It's over the counter and you also can't take too much. That has benefitted me greatly.

It's tough when you can't go to the dr but don't be discouraged. I'll bet you can figure this out yourselves.

[Nancym]

Probably getting cross-contamination when eating out. Restaurants aren't as careful as we are.

Also, cut out the factory food for awhile. If it was produced in a factory it's subject to CC. I'd stick to eating meats and veggies and fruits. Maybe rule out that there are issues with soy, dairy, other grains and so on.

[curlyfries]

Like i honestly dont know what would set it off(his stomach pain)..he sometimes bleeds when he has a bowl movement-i just dont want this to be somthing that could be solved, and i have no idea

I used to have this problem....didn't even have to have a bm.....just sitting on the toilet was enough. I figured out that it was from fruit, then later, all sugars. I am on a candida diet, now, and no problems. BTW....I have also had a couple of colonoscopies to make sure it wasn't something more serious.

[.:* Lou *:.]

hey Yasemin,

a point I would think about is you said he is eating hot dog sausages (no bread) for lunch everyday;

and because you mentioned he doesn't want to take packed lunch, does that mean he is buying the sausage at work/stall/shop etc?

Pretty much *all* commercially produces sausages/hotdogs have gluten in them ~ used as a filler and binding agent to help the shape and presentation of the sausage. (Only specified gluten free specialty sausages can have a hope of not having gluten in them..) Also, if he's buying it from work etc. there is most definately cross contamination taking place..

hope you find the culprit!

[kbtoyssni]

It could also be that he has other food intolerances that are just starting to bother him now that his body isn't so overwhelmed dealing with gluten. I started to feel sick again about nine months after going gluten-free, and I realized it was peanuts. A food diary was really helpful in figuring that out.

[JNBunnie1]

If it helps at all, you might tell him tha tmy landscaper boyfriend's coworkers made fum of him at first for bringing his lunch, but now they're all jealous because of all the cool stuff he brings. Soemtimes I send banana bread or muffins or cake and they all try to take it from him! And I make him pasta salad or tomato/mozzarella salad or all sorts of stuff and they're all jealous now.

If your boyfriend is even eating the hot dogs with hands that haven't been washed, THAT could be glutening him!