Subtle Symptoms Before The Overt Symptoms

[CGally81]

I know that I'd been feeling the definite brain fog/zombie-like state thing every time I ate food containing gluten since March or April this year. But before that, I think I got "silent" or less obvious symptoms.

In 2007, I had grand jury duty. Every day, they'd serve donuts. And I'd have one. And after having one, I got very tired and stayed that way throughout the whole session, even if I had plenty of energy before. Was that just the sugar or something in the donuts, or was I mini-glutened back then?

In 2008, I used to eat lots of apples. Until they started making me hungry. A search on Google for "apples make me hungry" showed I was not alone. It was later discovered that celiac can cause fructose malabsorption, in which eating fruit (even a single grape was enough to cause the problem) can cause you to start craving sugary foods - other than fruit! (This appears not to be a problem anymore, so that part probably healed)

Also in 2008, I was eating a lot of whole wheat bread, but over time, it seemed like the bread did a poor job of filling me up. I would go to it often because of its nutritional and fiber content, but it didn't seem to fill me as well as other foods did. Was that because of gluten? Come to think of it, other gluteny foods, such as macaroni and cheese, which I used to have a lot of in college, seemed to be less filling over the years than they were in the past. They just satisfied me for a shorter amount of time.

So even though I started to suffer overt symptoms in or around March 2009, I think I may have been suffering "silently" before that, in subtle ways, particularly in the form of gluten foods not being very filling. It wasn't until I suffered overtly that I got to the "gluten makes me crave food" problem afterwards.

Has this been your experience? Have you, in hindsight, noticed that you'd been having problems with gluten before it actually caused obvious symptoms? Was gluten-containing food unfulfilling before it became an active problem?

[srthomas21]

I got the "I'm starving" feeling too. I thought I was hypoglycemic or something. Nothing filled me up I was always hungry.

[CGally81]

I got the "I'm starving" feeling too. I thought I was hypoglycemic or something. Nothing filled me up I was always hungry.

Did you get that after going gluten-free? I'm hungry a lot now, though it's not as bad as it's been before.

Still, did you get the starving feeling before going gluten-free? Was it common back when you were eating gluten-containing foods, that those particular foods never really seemed to fill you up?

[Karrin]

I know that I'd been feeling the definite brain fog/zombie-like state thing every time I ate food containing gluten since March or April this year. But before that, I think I got "silent" or less obvious symptoms.

In 2007, I had grand jury duty. Every day, they'd serve donuts. And I'd have one. And after having one, I got very tired and stayed that way throughout the whole session, even if I had plenty of energy before. Was that just the sugar or something in the donuts, or was I mini-glutened back then?

In 2008, I used to eat lots of apples. Until they started making me hungry. A search on Google for "apples make me hungry" showed I was not alone. It was later discovered that celiac can cause fructose malabsorption, in which eating fruit (even a single grape was enough to cause the problem) can cause you to start craving sugary foods - other than fruit! (This appears not to be a problem anymore, so that part probably healed)

Also in 2008, I was eating a lot of whole wheat bread, but over time, it seemed like the bread did a poor job of filling me up. I would go to it often because of its nutritional and fiber content, but it didn't seem to fill me as well as other foods did. Was that because of gluten? Come to think of it, other gluteny foods, such as macaroni and cheese, which I used to have a lot of in college, seemed to be less filling over the years than they were in the past. They just satisfied me for a shorter amount of time.

So even though I started to suffer overt symptoms in or around March 2009, I think I may have been suffering "silently" before that, in subtle ways, particularly in the form of gluten foods not being very filling. It wasn't until I suffered overtly that I got to the "gluten makes me crave food" problem afterwards.

Has this been your experience? Have you, in hindsight, noticed that you'd been having problems with gluten before it actually caused obvious symptoms? Was gluten-containing food unfulfilling before it became an active problem?

I suspect I had a sensitivity to it through my teen years. I was lethargic a lot and had periods of time where I would gain a lot of weight and then suddenly my appetite would disappear and I'd drop it all, becoming a bit scary skinny. I had a lot of head fog too as well as bouts of constipation/diarrhea. I have enamel missing too that started in my teens. It was only in my early twenties that everything became a million times worse.

I'd never heard or thought back to how certain foods made my appetite increase, but I do remember going through boxes of mac and cheese and, later after I changed to a mostly veggie diet, becoming ravenous - after eating apples in particular!