Questons On Coeliacs For Newly Diagnosed

[katiewoo]

Hi, I am a newly diagnosed coealics, and have no many unanswered questions! I would really appreciate if any advice could be given! I have tried to ask my doctor but I don't believe she herself knows a great deal about coelicas.

I have been diagnosed with Coeliacs for almost 2 months. I immediately went off the gluten, slowly getting used to it and have seen an impressive improvement on my health. I no longer get stomach pains, I am not as bloated as I used to be and all the constipation, gas, diarrhea.. etc symptoms have pretty much gone. My doctor told me that I have probably had undiagnosed coeliacs for a long time as I discovered I had it after being rushed to hospital with mini heart attack symptoms as a result of having depleted iron levels. I was given a blood transfusion and am now taking iron supplements. I never used to think that it was the bread and etc that was making me sick as I work in a bakery and never got sick from eating things like sandwiches, or savoury scrolls and I loved pastas and ate them all the time. However now, even the smallest amount of gluten I eat makes me sick. Is this normal?? Do you become more sensitive to it when you stop eating it?? I have been sick two or three times since my diagnosis, from accidentally eating something I didn't know had gluten in it, but would have only been a small amount.

She also said that thrush (which has been an ongoing issue for me for many years) can occur with untreated coeliacs and will hopefully go away when I get better. I know that this can be a long time..but how long has it taken people to finally be rid of these symptoms?? I am up to my second month, which I know is still very early, but I am having my third attack of thrush, each one getting worse than the last. I cannot sleep at night because of the burning and itching, and I am having trouble even functioning in the day because I am just so itchy! I always get them a week before my period starts and it will end when my period begins. I am taking the tablet for it but it can take 3 days to fix. I have had thrush for years and never given it to my partner, but even the last three times, he has found a small, unitchy and unbothersome rash on the head of his penis. It has gone away without any treatment both times but it is still frutrating for me as I feel that I am now giving it to him and it's not fair on him. Does anyone else get thrush badly because of having coeliacs and has it since gone away??

Lastly, something which I can find little information on, if you were to eat gluten accidentally, does it affect your inside completely so you go back to square 1? Like if I were to be doing great for months and my bowel is healing, and I accidentally eat gluten, will my bowel be ruined again and be back to not absorbing iron?? I get the definitions of coeliacs but I can never find any information on what happens if you eat a tiny amount of gluten once accidentally...Or I hear stories of people who seem to be able to eat certain things, like a girl I know can eat macdonalds and not be affected. Does this mean that her body accepts this? I don't understand how some products with gluten in it can affect you and others can't. To be on the safe side I am just not eating any of it, but people keep telling me that when I am on top of it and better, and my iron levels are back up, I can probably try different things and see if they make me sick. But I wouldn't want to make myself sick for the sake of eating a cheeseburger.

I am sorry for all the questions asked..It's just such a new concept for me to wrap my head around. I am 21 years old, and I feel like I am 80! My body is so weak and I am always getting sick, I have grey hair, my hair falls out in clumps, I have this awful thrush and am constantly getting headaches and migraines and am always tired... I feel out of control at the moment, and feel like such a whinger. I would like some guidance from someone who knows and who has been through it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Kate

[mushroom]

Hi, I am a newly diagnosed coealics, and have no many unanswered questions! I would really appreciate if any advice could be given! I have tried to ask my doctor but I don't believe she herself knows a great deal about coelicas.

I have been diagnosed with Coeliacs for almost 2 months. I immediately went off the gluten, slowly getting used to it and have seen an impressive improvement on my health. I no longer get stomach pains, I am not as bloated as I used to be and all the constipation, gas, diarrhea.. etc symptoms have pretty much gone. My doctor told me that I have probably had undiagnosed coeliacs for a long time as I discovered I had it after being rushed to hospital with mini heart attack symptoms as a result of having depleted iron levels. I was given a blood transfusion and am now taking iron supplements. I never used to think that it was the bread and etc that was making me sick as I work in a bakery and never got sick from eating things like sandwiches, or savoury scrolls and I loved pastas and ate them all the time. However now, even the smallest amount of gluten I eat makes me sick. Is this normal?? Do you become more sensitive to it when you stop eating it?? I have been sick two or three times since my diagnosis, from accidentally eating something I didn't know had gluten in it, but would have only been a small amount.

She also said that thrush (which has been an ongoing issue for me for many years) can occur with untreated coeliacs and will hopefully go away when I get better. I know that this can be a long time..but how long has it taken people to finally be rid of these symptoms?? I am up to my second month, which I know is still very early, but I am having my third attack of thrush, each one getting worse than the last. I cannot sleep at night because of the burning and itching, and I am having trouble even functioning in the day because I am just so itchy! I always get them a week before my period starts and it will end when my period begins. I am taking the tablet for it but it can take 3 days to fix. I have had thrush for years and never given it to my partner, but even the last three times, he has found a small, unitchy and unbothersome rash on the head of his penis. It has gone away without any treatment both times but it is still frutrating for me as I feel that I am now giving it to him and it's not fair on him. Does anyone else get thrush badly because of having coeliacs and has it since gone away??

Lastly, something which I can find little information on, if you were to eat gluten accidentally, does it affect your inside completely so you go back to square 1? Like if I were to be doing great for months and my bowel is healing, and I accidentally eat gluten, will my bowel be ruined again and be back to not absorbing iron?? I get the definitions of coeliacs but I can never find any information on what happens if you eat a tiny amount of gluten once accidentally...Or I hear stories of people who seem to be able to eat certain things, like a girl I know can eat macdonalds and not be affected. Does this mean that her body accepts this? I don't understand how some products with gluten in it can affect you and others can't. To be on the safe side I am just not eating any of it, but people keep telling me that when I am on top of it and better, and my iron levels are back up, I can probably try different things and see if they make me sick. But I wouldn't want to make myself sick for the sake of eating a cheeseburger.

I am sorry for all the questions asked..It's just such a new concept for me to wrap my head around. I am 21 years old, and I feel like I am 80! My body is so weak and I am always getting sick, I have grey hair, my hair falls out in clumps, I have this awful thrush and am constantly getting headaches and migraines and am always tired... I feel out of control at the moment, and feel like such a whinger. I would like some guidance from someone who knows and who has been through it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Kate

Hi and welcome to the forum. I can't answer all your questions, especially about thrush, but can get you started.

Yes, most of us find that after we have eliminated gluten and then we get a little bit by mistake, we react more than we did when eating gluten all the time. It's like the body says, WHAT??? This again? I thought we had agreed to do away with this stuff. You broke the pact, I'll show you!

But, if you do accidentally ingest gluten, you don't go all the way back to the beginning. It is a setback, but not a major incident (although some suffer more than others). It does not undo all the healing you have already done, just creates some confusion for the digestive tract which reacts to it for a while and then settles down again.

For those who are diagnosed celiacs and show no obvious reaction to eating gluten, it is usally doing some damage although it may not be obvious at the time. It can hit you later on down the road with other nasties that come out of the blue, like hypothyroidism, diabetes, MS, or RA for example. If you are a diagnosed celiac and continue to eat gluten, you are asking for trouble.

As you heal you will get some spring back into your step, your hair should start to regrow, the migraines will probably go away, and you will start to feel your actual age rather than a decrepit tired old lady.

Good luck on your gluten free journey, and you must be strict about it. I am not sure working around flour all the time is the best environment for a celiac. If you do not seem to be improving as you think you should a change of occupation might be in order. We have had others on the forum who worked in bakeries; for some it was okay, for others it was not. Feel free to come back and ask other questions, and I hope someone else will help you with the thrush. For me, it was constant UTI's which *have* gone away since gluten free.

[katiewoo]

Hi mushroom.

Thank you for such a quick response. I was having a bit of a bad day yesterday and really needed to whine to someone! Today is a bit better. My thrush medication is kicking in and I don't feel so flat.

I haven't yet noticed any affects from working at the bakery, but I guess that's not to say it won't pop up on me.

I really appreciate the way that you explained it to me, it has made perfect sense to me now and I can even understand the way my body is acting. I want to stay right clear of gluten forever if it makes me healthy.

Just a question - what are some of the easier meals you make? I am struggling to find decent things to eat for breakfast and lunch. Dinner is always easy - it's always vegetables or salad with a piece of meat. I used to be a vegetarian before I got sick, but before the doctor diagnosed me with coeliacs they believed that my iron was so low because of my diet, and it scared me enough to get back on the meat. I have never been a big meal eater and would just snack all day. I have been living off sakatas and cadbury twirls but I know this os no good for me, so I try to eat gluten free pasta and sauce for lunch, and breakfast I eat fruit or nothing which is bad. Any inspiration would help!