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KristyUK

By KristyUK
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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KristyUK Newbie
KristyUK
Posted

Hi there

I've been looking at this forum for the past day or so and it looks a great place to be. As my name suggests, I'm from the UK, but I don't think the general experiences differ...!

I don't have a celiac diagnosis, but I do have an intolerance to gluten and dairy. I doscovered this almost by accident - after a year of going to a gym and doing proper supervised workouts with a trainer, following a 'healthy eating' plan and even undertaking a 60 mile charity bike ride in the summer, my weight and well-being hadn't really improved - in fact I was feeling worse, if anything.

In the past 3 to 4 years, I have begun to suffer with IBS - my first attack had me doubled up on the floor and when it was over I full expected to find myself lying in a pool of blood, it was that bad. Of course, I was put on anti-spasmodics by the doctor, which work to an extent. But no cure. Eczema begun (which I had never, ever had before), swollen ankles, the typical diarrhea/constipation cycle, painful bloated stomach... looking back why did I think that this was normal?

Something kept on nagging at me that it was due to the wholewheat things I was eating, the 'good' cereal, the wholemeal bread, the cheese, the milk, but I didn't know what to do about it. Then, last week I met up with my trainer, who is also big on nutrition, and had a proper discussion about it. He brought some literature with him about anti-inflammatory foods which we discussed and then I went away and read - or should I say devoured! Less than 24 hours later I had decided to cut all gluten and dairy from my diet for the initial 2 weeks and concentrate on fruit, vegetables, meat, herbal teas and water.

Some people may think it is restrictive, but to be honest, it has opened up a whole new realtionship with food for me. I don't worry about portion control and I don't miss all of those foods which I couldn't do without before.

So, what has happened to me in the last 6 days? As of yesterday morning I have lost 10 pounds in weight (and I repeat, I am not starving myself, I am eating regularly and healthfully), I feel more energetic, my IBS issues have gone, I don't feel like I am suffering from the mood swings I had before.... I can't think of anything bad to write. It's quite stunning.

Maybe I was sliding into celiac - who knows? To be honest, I am not sure that it matters to me. I was lucky enough to find the right information at the right time in my life to give me the impetus to make the change. I truly believe that this is a change for life for me. With such positive results, why would I go back?

This forum looks like a great place. I'm staying around!

Best wishes to you all

K

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RiceGuy Collaborator
RiceGuy
Posted

Welcome to the board!

So glad you've discovered the source of your health problems! It really is a wonderful change, isn't it?! And I totally agree that a gluten-free diet is not limiting. I like to say it is liberating, as I now am aware of, and enjoy, sooo many foods which I either ignored, or didn't even know existed before.

ang1e0251 Contributor
ang1e0251
Posted

What a healthy attitude! It's refreshing to read about someone who is grateful and positive about the healthy choices in their life!

KristyUK Newbie
KristyUK
Posted
  • Author
What a healthy attitude! It's refreshing to read about someone who is grateful and positive about the healthy choices in their life!

Thank you so much for your lovely reply! TBH, I think I'm just grateful that I found the source of the problems! I've also noticed that I find bananas and salted peanuts difficult to deal with - so they'll be coming out of my eating regime for a while.

Yes, I am soo lucky to be in this situation and I really feel for people who are struggling.

Take care everyone.

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    • captaincrab55
      Finding gluten free ingredients

      By captaincrab55 · Posted

      Imemsm, Most of us have experienced discontinued, not currently available or products that suddenly become seasonal.   My biggest fear about relocating from Maryland to Florida 5 years ago, was being able to find gluten-free foods that fit my restricted diet.  I soon found out that the Win Dixie and Publix supper markets actually has 99% of their gluten-free foods tagged, next to the price.  The gluten-free tags opened up a  lot of foods that aren't actually marked gluten-free by the manufacture.  Now I only need to check for my other dietary restrictions.  Where my son lives in New Hartford, New York there's a Hannaford Supermarket that also has a gluten-free tag next to the price tag.  Hopefully you can locate a Supermarket within a reasonable travel distance that you can learn what foods to check out at a Supermarket close to you.  I have dermatitis herpetiformis too and I'm very sensitive to gluten and the three stores I named were very gluten-free friendly.  Good Luck 
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      High DGP-A with normal IGA

      By rei.b · Posted

      Okay well the info about TTG-A actually makes a lot of sense and I wish the PA had explained that to me. But yes, I would assume I would have intestinal damage from eating a lot of gluten for 32 years while having all these symptoms. As far as avoiding gluten foods - I was definitely not doing that. Bread, pasta, quesadillas (with flour tortillas) and crackers are my 4 favorite foods and I ate at least one of those things multiple times a day e.g. breakfast with eggs and toast, a cheese quesadilla for lunch, and pasta for dinner, and crackers and cheese as a before bed snack. I'm not even kidding.  I'm not really big on sugar, so I don't really do sweets. I don't have any of those conditions.  I am not sure if I have the genes or not. When the geneticist did my genetic testing for EDS this year, I didn't think to ask for him to request the celiac genes so they didn't test for them, unfortunately.  I guess another expectation I had is  that if gluten was the issue, the gluten-free diet would make me feel better, and I'm 3 months in and that hasn't been the case. I am being very careful and reading every label because I didn't want to screw this up and have to do gluten-free for longer than necessary if I end up not having celiac. I'm literally checking everything, even tea and anything else prepacked like caramel dip. Honestly its making me anxious 😅
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      High DGP-A with normal IGA

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      So you're saying that you think you should have severe intestinal damage since you've had the symptoms so long?   DGP IgG antibodies are produced in response to a partial gluten molecule.  This is different than what tissue transglutaminase antibodies are  produced in response to.   TTg IgA antibodies are produced in the intestines in response to gluten.  The tTg IgA antibodies attack our own cells because a structural component in our cell membranes resembles a part of gluten.  There's a correlation between the level of intestinal damage with the level of tTg antibodies produced.  You are not producing a high number of tTg IgA antibodies, so your level of tissue damage in your intestines is not very bad.  Be thankful.   There may be reasons why you are not producing a high quantity of tTg IgA antibodies.  Consuming ten grams or more of gluten a day for two weeks to two months before blood tests are done is required to get sufficient antibody production and damage to the intestines.  Some undiagnosed people tend to subconsciously avoid lots of gluten.  Cookies and cakes do not contain as much gluten as artisan breads and thick chewy pizza crust.  Anemia, diabetes and thiamine deficiency can affect IgA antibody production as well.   Do you carry genes for Celiac?  They frequently go along with EDS.
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      High DGP-A with normal IGA

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