How Long Before I Can Do Things Again

[NathanFS]

Well I was diagnosed with gluten intolerance two weeks ago, the first week I ate as strictly gluten free as possible and I can only think of two times I made a mistake. The second week I have checked every label, gone to websites, checked the labels again. I don't know what I could possibly be doing wrong but I still am sleeping for 14 hours and when I am awake I have unbearable abdominal pain and muscle tightness. I want to be able to do things but I am so fatigued and have no energy. Is there anything I can do? How long was it before you started feeling normal again?

[Lisa]

Hi Nathan and welcome!

Everyone is different so there is no specific answer to your question. I would keep a food diary and document everything you eat, to include meds, vitamins, toilettress, lotions...in other words, anything that can get into your mouth.

Eat simply. Fish, meat, rice, potato, fresh veggies in the simplest way are your friends. When you feel comfortable, add a little at a time.

Once you get over the hump, it's a lot easier. This is a great place to learn...take a walk around.

[Wolicki]

Have you had all your vitamins and minerals checked? I got much better faster when I started supplements for the things I was low on. You should test A, all the B's, D, Ferritin, magnesium, calcium, zinc to make sure your levels are up.

[sunnybabi1986]

I also wanted to chime in about the vitamin/mineral deficiencies. I'm getting checked this week and I suspect I'm deficient in several, due to my extremely low energy level.

I did read that deficiency in Vitamin D can cause stomach pain and muscle weakness/aches. Iron or B deficiency can cause fatigue. Get those checked out and see if you need to be supplementing. Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

Janie

[redsidekick]

Sadly, it is different for each person. I know I used to get depressed reading how quickly some people felt better. That was not the case for me. Maybe it was because Im older (42), I dont know. I can tell you things improved each month, when I looked at improvement like that, instead of daily, I could see the difference even though I still felt horrible. It has now been nine months since going gluten free, around the seventh things got noticeably better, and now nine months in I still have some bad feelings, but nothing like it was in March. Hope that helps to encourage you.

[sadeew]

Hi Nathan~

It was 2 weeks before I noticed improvement and another week before I felt like I was really feeling better.

Be patient. It is different for everyone becasue we all have different degrees of damage. Age, diet, health, etc. all play an important role.

Drink LOTS of water to help your body and make smoothies with good nutrition in them so you are giving yoru body what it needs to heal.

Probiotics are super important, too, especially if you have gut pain. I take PB8 - 4 caps 3x's/day.

[Korwyn]

  NathanFS said:

Well I was diagnosed with gluten intolerance two weeks ago, the first week I ate as strictly gluten free as possible and I can only think of two times I made a mistake. The second week I have checked every label, gone to websites, checked the labels again. I don't know what I could possibly be doing wrong but I still am sleeping for 14 hours and when I am awake I have unbearable abdominal pain and muscle tightness. I want to be able to do things but I am so fatigued and have no energy. Is there anything I can do? How long was it before you started feeling normal again?

Hi Nathan. Several people posted here but I want to re-iterate, get your vitamin levels checked! D, B, K, A, E, Iron levels, etc. It is VERY rare to find someone with Celiac who doesn't have some type of deficiency, and if you have been diagnosed as gluten-intolerant, it is possible you actually have Celiac disease. There is also some substantial research showing that non-gene mediated gluten intolerance can still lead to systemic inflammatory response and nutrient issues.