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Is This A Good Digestive Enzyme?

CGally81

By CGally81
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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CGally81 Enthusiast
CGally81
Posted

I read that some digestive enzymes are capable of making celiac symptoms worse if you take them when you eat gluten.

Now, I can't swallow pills, so I needed to buy a chewable digestive enzyme. I linked to several in a topic and asked if they were okay, and was told that "AFP Chewables Multiple Protease by Houston Nutraceuticals" would be a good choice. I bought it, and I take them before eating breakfast and dinner (at work, there's no shared silverware or anything I have to worry about, so I don't need them with lunch), and I haven't been glutened since.

At least, I think I haven't. I now have this headache and sometimes fatigue after eating that comes and goes. It first showed up when I was eating Fudgsicles, not realizing they had gluten (malt powder) in them. Stupid labeling laws. Anyway, once I stopped eating them, the headaches/fatigue started to go away. Then come back, and go away, and come back... I am wondering if the reason I have them is because I'm still eating gluten somehow (all my foods are gluten free, and I don't even trust butter anymore, because of bread crumb contamination in my family!) and the enzymes might somehow be exacerbating the effect.

To test to see if my headaches are in fact a gluten-related condition, I took L-Glutamine just now, as it helps TREMENDOUSLY with celiac symptoms. (It always killed them in a real hurry in the past) The headaches don't seem to be going away. In fact, it's an hour later, and I still have a dull headache.

Anyway, two questions:

Are the headaches possibly a withdrawal symptom or something that'll just come and go? Are they nothing to worry about in the long run?

And, is "AFP Chewables Multiple Protease by Houston Nutraceuticals" trustworthy? Is it known to exacerbate celiac symptoms, or does it help a great deal with trace amounts and cross contamination? That company said it can be used to "supplement or replace the Gluten-free Casein-free diet". I hope they're at least right about the "supplement" part!

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