Pregnant Belly?

[sparrow]

I glanced over a forum last night (might be somewhere in here) that mentioned "pregnant belly" -- this is something that I deal with and never heard of anyone else feeling this way!! Is this a gluten intol/celiac symptom that a lot of people deal with? I am bloated feeling all the time. I'm overweight and hungry, have gained weight and find it hard to lose. But my stomach (to varying degrees) looks pregnant -- I mean pretty bad sometimes. I am short and overweight, but I'm talking about a round, firm pregnant belly. Sometimes I'm somewhat normal, just look overweight....and sometimes I look 5 mos. pregnant. It's obviously very uncomfortable...usually after eating certain foods and/or a lot of it. it's a bloated gassy feeling ....just wondering....I'm about to start a gluten free diet to see what happens to all my symptoms. Celiac test results negative...seeing a rheumy on nov 24th. High ana's 1:640.....

[Frances03]

I don't have any statistics or anything true about this to tell you, but I can tell you my personal experience. I am diagnosed with celiac disease, I am overweight, and my belly sticks out like it's 9 mos pregnant a LOT. I usually can't wear jeans, and most of my pants are loose sweat or lounge type pants. Even when I can lose weight, I still have to wear these type of pants. I have dealt with incredible guilt for years now about my weight. I knew that I wasn't eating enought to warrant this incredible weight gain I had (30lbs in one month about 8 years ago) and I haven't been able to successfully lose any of it ever in all that time. Even now on the gluten free diet, I am barely taking in many calories these past couple weeks because I am still learning what I can eat, and I haven't lost 1 pound. So, I am a BIG believer that some of us actually GAIN WEIGHT with celiac disease and that it's not related to caloric intake. I had given birth 3 times and was still thin at about 130 lbs for 5 feet 5 and that was AFTER they were all born, and then I suddenly gained the 30 pounds. My stomach is still sticking out and hard even after these 2 1/2 weeks, so I am hoping that it gets better eventually. By the way, I also have high ana's and was diagnosed with lupus incorrectly.

[RideAllWays]

I am 5' tall and fluctuate between 95-105 pounds...random people around town have asked me when my baby is due. I find it horribly offensinve, especially since I look about thirteen years old! That is a huge symptom of mine...intense bloating. It's embarrasing, and i love my tummy in the morning...nice and flat..makes me not want to eat anything because i know i'll be pregnant in a few hours.

[Skye-N]

...random people around town have asked me when my baby is due. I find it horribly offensinve, especially since I look about thirteen years old!

I totally laughed out loud on this. Stray people at the gym would always ask when my baby was due or if I had just had it. I worked so hard on excercising and eating healthy (what I believed at the time) but my stomach always stuck out. Once my gut started healing, my waistline shrank and I look normal now. Even though I have to watch everything that I eat, I no longer worry about my weight. It just seems to stay the same. If I get glutened then my stomach gets super bloated. I try very hard to avoid that.

Good luck to all of you on staying gluten free!

[sparrow]

Nice to hear that there is most likely a legitimate medical reason for that other than actually being pregnant! I'm not crazy! Looking forward to seeing the difference when I go gluten free...very soon...

[Wolicki]

I never had a problem with the "celiac belly" until after going gluten-free I've been gluten-free fro 4 months now, and I've had a flat tummy for exactly 2 days

Did many of you get the belly after gluten-free?

[jenngolightly]

This is one of the first signs that means I've been accidentally glutened. I look at least 7 mo pregnant and that symptom doesn't go away very fast.

I've got my regular clothes, and my pregnant clothes. :-) My pregnant clothes are pants that are a size too big and blousy shirts. They hide my figure pretty well. Blousy shirts are trendy, so I don't look like I'm wearing maternity clothes. But these clothes both hide my belly and keep me comfortable - that tummy sticks out and it's uncomfortable.

[pufffee]

I glanced over a forum last night (might be somewhere in here) that mentioned "pregnant belly" -- this is something that I deal with and never heard of anyone else feeling this way!! Is this a gluten intol/celiac symptom that a lot of people deal with? I am bloated feeling all the time. I'm overweight and hungry, have gained weight and find it hard to lose. But my stomach (to varying degrees) looks pregnant -- I mean pretty bad sometimes. I am short and overweight, but I'm talking about a round, firm pregnant belly. Sometimes I'm somewhat normal, just look overweight....and sometimes I look 5 mos. pregnant. It's obviously very uncomfortable...usually after eating certain foods and/or a lot of it. it's a bloated gassy feeling ....just wondering....I'm about to start a gluten free diet to see what happens to all my symptoms. Celiac test results negative...seeing a rheumy on nov 24th. High ana's 1:640.....

Hi Sparrow,

There is a topic discussed on here call "Celiac Belly" I seem to be the only male that has had this issue, or at least willing to write about it lol. MY only issue since becoming going gluten-free and even before I started gluten-free was my belly getting bloated all the time. It is nutz. I have asked people what vitamins and or supplements people to take to help. I have heard good things about Magneisium(sp) but really have not gotten to many answers. I have been gluten-free for a month and lost at least 10lbs but have a belly like I drink beer all day long lol

[sussarliv]

Hi Sparrow,

There is a topic discussed on here call "Celiac Belly" I seem to be the only male that has had this issue, or at least willing to write about it lol. MY only issue since becoming going gluten-free and even before I started gluten-free was my belly getting bloated all the time. It is nutz. I have asked people what vitamins and or supplements people to take to help. I have heard good things about Magneisium(sp) but really have not gotten to many answers. I have been gluten-free for a month and lost at least 10lbs but have a belly like I drink beer all day long lol

I totally have this. It is one of my main symptoms. For the one week I was gulten-free (before I had to go back on for my test), I totally lost my belly and was as flat as a board. Now I am huge again. My weight was done to 122 and I am 5'5". Now I am around 125 and so bloated. It is more the bloat then the weight. 125 isn't bad, but when it is bloat weight - it looks horrible.

I can not wear pants, since I don't have a waist. Sweats and yoga pants have been my clothing of choice for the last month.

My test is tomorrow!!!!!! Normal clothes here I come

Susan

[summerteeth]

Ugh... two years ago, before I was diagnosed, I just blew up to look about 8 mos pregnant (I'm not very big to begin with). Customers at work (and colleagues, even) asked me about every five minutes when the baby was due. It was VERY upsetting to me because I felt like crap, then I LOOKED liked I gained 25 lbs.

I have been gluten free for *almost* a year (!!!! so excited) and it has gone down considerably, but it still rears its ugly head every now and then (but not nearly as bad as it was).

[ang1e0251]

For me, dairy contributes to this also. I'm not completely dairy free but I may need to bite the bullet on that one. I do love my cheese!

[SLB5757]

I am 5' tall and fluctuate between 95-105 pounds...random people around town have asked me when my baby is due. I find it horribly offensinve, especially since I look about thirteen years old! That is a huge symptom of mine...intense bloating. It's embarrasing, and i love my tummy in the morning...nice and flat..makes me not want to eat anything because i know i'll be pregnant in a few hours.

Add me to the 5'1 - 95-105 group. Mine fluctuates depending 0on how near my monthly cycle I am. Anyways, always - and I repeat always end up with the "pregnant belly". It is very noticeable in slim people, and I oftentimes look like I have a basketball in my belly after eating. I notice if I have been glutened it starts higher up under my sternum and will go all the way down.

[Mtndog]

I had it HORRIBLY this past winter and several people (complete strangers!) asked me when I was due. Mine was due to 2 causes- I had a systemic yeast infection which I took Nystatin for (I had been on long term antibiotics for Lyme). That helped a bit.

In the words of my primary care doctor, women should not mess around with bloating. Even though I have celiac, she had me get an abdominal ultrasound because bloating is one of the many vague symptoms that cause ovarian cancer to go undiagnosed. I found out the rest was due to a uterine fibroid. Haven't dealt with that yet (appt with OB/GYN this week).

I'm not trying to scare you but I would get it checked out.

[sparrow]

I had it HORRIBLY this past winter and several people (complete strangers!) asked me when I was due. Mine was due to 2 causes- I had a systemic yeast infection which I took Nystatin for (I had been on long term antibiotics for Lyme). That helped a bit.

In the words of my primary care doctor, women should not mess around with bloating. Even though I have celiac, she had me get an abdominal ultrasound because bloating is one of the many vague symptoms that cause ovarian cancer to go undiagnosed. I found out the rest was due to a uterine fibroid. Haven't dealt with that yet (appt with OB/GYN this week).

I'm not trying to scare you but I would get it checked out.

You're right...I just had an annual check-up with Ob/Gyn...everything apparently okay, but that's good to keep in mind. Thanks...

[kayo]

I'm so happy to hear that this is common and shared experience and with time it should go away. I'm 5'3" and have put on 40 pounds over the last 5 years, much of it in the past 2 years. I hover around 140 pounds. But as you can see, prior to these GI issues I was quite underweight at 100 lbs. Most of my life I had difficulty putting on weight. Part of my adult life I hovered in the low 90's and high 80's. Since I have RA docs just blamed it on that. It was a struggle to weigh 100 pounds. Then voila! I started putting on weight, at first I was relieved and then concerned when it didn't seem to want to stop and there wasn't a caloric reason for the gain. That's when I became concerned.

At 5'3" and 140+/- on a petite frame I'm now one of the 'normal/chubby' ones that makes docs look at me and say, no, you don't have [insert GI issue here]. It's been a long battle for docs to take my concerns seriously.

Anywho, I've been on a gluten-free diet for 3 months and have seen great improvement in how I feel. Much of the inflammation I had all over my body has reduced. (headaches, diarrhea, acid reflux, etc. all ceased too)

I've lost 5 lbs which is amazing because other than cutting out gluten I haven't changed my diet. However that loss of inflammation and weight just accentuates my belly! A neighbor asked me, are you having the baby soon? Not, are you having a baby or how far along are you but an assured opinion that I was both having a baby and that it was going to be soon! Yes, that's how big my belly is. I look 7-9 months pregnant on any given day. I have to say it's made me quite depressed before learning how common this was.

I too have regular clothes which I call Outfit As (pants with buttons and zippers) and then slightly 'pregger' clothes which I call Outfit Bs (nice pants with elastic waist) and super 'pregger' clothes Outfit Cs (sweats, yoga pants). This makes planning outfits for work challenging! So far I haven't had to resort to wearing the Outfit Cs to work yet.

[Skye-N]

I'm so happy to hear that this is common and shared experience and with time it should go away. I'm 5'3" and have put on 40 pounds over the last 5 years, much of it in the past 2 years. I hover around 140 pounds. But as you can see, prior to these GI issues I was quite underweight at 100 lbs. Most of my life I had difficulty putting on weight. Part of my adult life I hovered in the low 90's and high 80's. Since I have RA docs just blamed it on that. It was a struggle to weigh 100 pounds. Then voila! I started putting on weight, at first I was relieved and then concerned when it didn't seem to want to stop and there wasn't a caloric reason for the gain. That's when I became concerned.

At 5'3" and 140+/- on a petite frame I'm now one of the 'normal/chubby' ones that makes docs look at me and say, no, you don't have [insert GI issue here]. It's been a long battle for docs to take my concerns seriously.

Anywho, I've been on a gluten-free diet for 3 months and have seen great improvement in how I feel. Much of the inflammation I had all over my body has reduced. (headaches, diarrhea, acid reflux, etc. all ceased too)

I've lost 5 lbs which is amazing because other than cutting out gluten I haven't changed my diet. However that loss of inflammation and weight just accentuates my belly! A neighbor asked me, are you having the baby soon? Not, are you having a baby or how far along are you but an assured opinion that I was both having a baby and that it was going to be soon! Yes, that's how big my belly is. I look 7-9 months pregnant on any given day. I have to say it's made me quite depressed before learning how common this was.

You sound a lot like how I was. I'm 5'2" and used to weigh 140+ even with working out and not eating many calories. Now I'm usually around 125 without trying. Even though I'm not skinny, my body seems to like being this weight.

If your doctors don't take you seriously, find a celiac specialist who will. I took the celiac test after being gluten free for several months and my doctor didn't realize that made the test invalid.

My life is totally different now that I'm gluten-free and not just because I don't look pregnant. I'm still healing though, even 3 years later.