An-Pep?

[infosearcher]

My daughter was recently diagnosed with Celiac disease through bloodwork and biopsy of her small intestine. We have gone gluten free since Dec. 11th, but I'm sure that we've made mistakes along the way. I am quite puzzled by the fact that she seems to continue to have bouts of constant indigestion - a lot of deep belching, bloating, and gas even though I have been closely monitoring her diet. For example, she ate Betty Crocker gluten free chocolate chip cookies Fri. evening and started belching and becoming sick Sat. morning. I was reading about the enzyme an-pep and I was wondering if anyone else takes this? Does it work? Could it possibly be something that my daughter should be taking to help with her discomfort and indigestion? This is all new to us, and I would appreciate any information that someone could offer that's familiar with what I'm describing. We return to her GI dr. next week, and I thought that we would see more progress than this. By the way, she takes Nexium twice a day and Zantac if she needs it. I also give her probiotics - acidiphillus.

[mamaw]

Hello & Welcome-

Here is my two cents! She is very new to the gluten-free lifestlye & not all experience relief the first weeks, months or even several years. So it will take much time for many.

She could be noticing & reacting to foods that she never thought were a problem ! Once our bodies start to feel change it sometimes shares other things with us....... it is common to experience sensitivities to many things that she may have not noticed in the past. She is now becoming more aware of what the body is telling her.

Taking nexium & also Zantac at times to me is overkill. First off I feel both of these drugs deplete the good flora in the intestinal tract, they are made to do that. We need good flora to aid in digestion. Probiotics & enzymes are friendly to our intestinal tract . But I think by taking the Nezxum & then adding probiotics is " I'll kill off what good flora I have then try to replace some of the loss with a probiotic."

There are also many who do not do well with ready made , prepackaged foods... Plus there could be another ingredient in the betty crocker that isn't agreeing with her.

Has she been tested for allergies to a dairy, night shade vegetables, corn ,, soy & so on?

The protein in milk (casein) is also broken down at the tips of the villi....

Here i smy suggestion : eat very simple plain foods ie: chicken, veggies & fruit to give herself a chance to heal the gut. Then agter she finds no problem with these gluten-free food items then move on & add a new item every few days to see if she gets a reaction. This way she can find out what is the culprit.

godd luck

mamaw

[Ahorsesoul]

My dh has suffered for year with stomach acid problems. The last two he has taken acid reducing medications for his stomach. It did not fix it. He's now been gluten free over two months. Just this weekend he was saying how his stomach symptoms have reduced to almost nothing. He is also taking vinegar or orange juice instead.

Here's some interesting info on why people should not be taking stomach acid reducing medications long term:

Open Original Shared Link

[orchid1]

My daughter was recently diagnosed with Celiac disease through bloodwork and biopsy of her small intestine. We have gone gluten free since Dec. 11th, but I'm sure that we've made mistakes along the way. I am quite puzzled by the fact that she seems to continue to have bouts of constant indigestion - a lot of deep belching, bloating, and gas even though I have been closely monitoring her diet. For example, she ate Betty Crocker gluten free chocolate chip cookies Fri. evening and started belching and becoming sick Sat. morning. I was reading about the enzyme an-pep and I was wondering if anyone else takes this? Does it work? Could it possibly be something that my daughter should be taking to help with her discomfort and indigestion? This is all new to us, and I would appreciate any information that someone could offer that's familiar with what I'm describing. We return to her GI dr. next week, and I thought that we would see more progress than this. By the way, she takes Nexium twice a day and Zantac if she needs it. I also give her probiotics - acidiphillus.

Hi, i would like to relate to your daughter's situation thru my experience with celiac disease. i had celiac disease for many years before it was diagnosed with it. as a result my small intestine became so damaged that i became intolerant to: all dairy products (lactose intolerance is very common amongst celiacs), legumes, nuts, fats, most oils, potatoes, corn, rice, sugar, red meats and several starches. i would experience bloating, gas and diahrea if i ate any of the things mentioned. i found out about these food intolerances by keeping a food diary and constantly

recording any symptons after eating various gluten free foods. it is not an easy thing to do and it takes alot of time. she could have intolerances to other foods-not just gluten containing foods.

[infosearcher]

Hello & Welcome-

Here is my two cents! She is very new to the gluten-free lifestlye & not all experience relief the first weeks, months or even several years. So it will take much time for many.

She could be noticing & reacting to foods that she never thought were a problem ! Once our bodies start to feel change it sometimes shares other things with us....... it is common to experience sensitivities to many things that she may have not noticed in the past. She is now becoming more aware of what the body is telling her.

Taking nexium & also Zantac at times to me is overkill. First off I feel both of these drugs deplete the good flora in the intestinal tract, they are made to do that. We need good flora to aid in digestion. Probiotics & enzymes are friendly to our intestinal tract . But I think by taking the Nezxum & then adding probiotics is " I'll kill off what good flora I have then try to replace some of the loss with a probiotic."

There are also many who do not do well with ready made , prepackaged foods... Plus there could be another ingredient in the betty crocker that isn't agreeing with her.

Has she been tested for allergies to a dairy, night shade vegetables, corn ,, soy & so on?

The protein in milk (casein) is also broken down at the tips of the villi....

Here i smy suggestion : eat very simple plain foods ie: chicken, veggies & fruit to give herself a chance to heal the gut. Then agter she finds no problem with these gluten-free food items then move on & add a new item every few days to see if she gets a reaction. This way she can find out what is the culprit.

godd luck

mamaw

No, she hasn't been tested for other allergies to foods but I have wondered about the dairy products. I didn't realize that a prepackaged gluten free food (such as the Betty Crocker mix) may cause her problems, but I probably won't buy it again until I can rule out what has made her ill. The reason she takes the Nexium is because she has esophagitis and duodenitis (sp?) that was found through an upper GI series done in Nov.'09. I like your advice about eating a bland diet. I'm sure that her gut is hurting and is a mess. I wished it was me that could have this instead of her.... Thanks for your advice:)

[mamaw]

You are very welcome. I hope she gets to feeling better soon... sorry there are no quick fixes with celiac.

blessings

mamaw

[CMCM]

After going gluten free, I started trying all the various gluten free goodies out there....mixes, cookies, cakes, etc. What I found was that my system was unable to handle all those OTHER grains and starches, and I had problems with sugar as well. Also dairy. I had to eat very carefully for a long time....many months....and even now nearly 4 years later I have to be careful and eat small amounts of these things. In the beginning, though, your system is a mess and just can't deal with things that are hard to digest.

[ravenwoodglass]

No, she hasn't been tested for other allergies to foods but I have wondered about the dairy products. I didn't realize that a prepackaged gluten free food (such as the Betty Crocker mix) may cause her problems, but I probably won't buy it again until I can rule out what has made her ill. The reason she takes the Nexium is because she has esophagitis and duodenitis (sp?) that was found through an upper GI series done in Nov.'09. I like your advice about eating a bland diet. I'm sure that her gut is hurting and is a mess. I wished it was me that could have this instead of her.... Thanks for your advice:)

Was she still on gluten or doing a gluten challenge before the endo? The gluten reaction can cause the inflammation of the esophagus and duodenum. If that was the case then she needed the diet and perhaps a short term on the script meds not a long term dosage. My GI found this inflammation on my tests also, in my case it was a reaction from the stuff I had to drink as they scoped both ends. A very short course of Pepto Bismal took care of it. I had been handed both the scripts she was but choose to try the pepto first. It worked and didn't mess with the natural production of acid in the stomach that we need to digest our food.

Also make sure to check that the drugs she was given are gluten free. The pharm should be checking with each script or refill but some need to be reminded.