Supplements I Should Be Taking?

[sandsurfgirl]

What supplements do you take to make up for the vitamin deficiencies from before you went gluten free? Do you get vitamin injections too?

When you are newly diagnosed like me, can the damaged intestines even absorb a multivitamin, or do we need to take chewables and sublinguals or liquid supplements?

My doctor is really open to doing whatever I need to get better but she's just not that knowledgable about celiac. I was thinking I should ask her to do labs to see where I'm deficient. She wants me to see a gastroenterologist, but it might take awhile to get the referral approved and then get an appointment and there is no guarantee that he or she will know anything about celiac disease either.

I was also wondering, how long after going gluten free did it take for all or most of your symptoms to disappear? I've been on the diet for 6 days now, so not long. I'm feeling much better and many of my digestive issues are feeling better, but I'm still having some dizzy spells and brain fog. I'm really tired too. I wish I could just sleep all day for like 3 days, but my small kids just don't want to let me do that. For some reason my 2 year thinks I need to play with her and my 5 year old wants me to read him books and things. LOL

I've read every label, been eating only from home, and haven't really been going anywhere because of the dizziness so I don't think I'm being glutened. I also checked all my medicines, shampoos, vitamins, etc. Is it just a matter of time for those pesky gluten withdrawals? I do feel like my body is detoxing. I don't know how to do describe it but I just feel like it is.

[mushroom]

Your doc really should check you for deficiencies. The most important, in my mind, to know about are Vit.D, B12, folate, ferritin, calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc.

You are right that your damaged gut may not be able to properly absorb the supplements in tablet form at the moment. It is generally recommended here that you take a B12 methylcobalamine sublingual which bypasses the gut. You can also get B12 injections, which I did because I did not tolerate the sublingual for some reason. Vitamin D should be in the form of D3 although they are now saying D2 is okay too. If you are really low on this, you will need to "fill up the tank" first before dropping back to a maintenance dose. The calcium, magnesium and zinc are important for D absorption, which you need to prevent osteoporosis.

I take a multivitamin, a multimineral, D, B12, folic acid because those are the specific things I was deficient in.

It is probably not necessary to see a GI for this. If you are within the "normal" range, but at the low end, you still need supplementation as all that is measured in your blood might not be available to your body. For example, your D should be above 50 at least for optimal health. If all your values are near the gutter you won't be feeling to well

[AndrewNYC]

Get tested first for deficiencies. Don't take supplements for things you are in the normal range for. The supplements will just irritate the stomach and not be beneficial. But get retested for deficiencies every 6 months at least because you will cut a number of items from your diet in the next year and may lose some vitamin intake without realizing it.

[sandsurfgirl]

Do I even need to see a GI doc at this point? My blood tests were positive for celiac disease. I am on the gluten free diet. I won't submit to a biopsy just to confirm what we already know. I'm leery of GI docs after being misdiagnosed years ago with IBS by two of them and I'm really not sure what it will accomplish.

Is there some reason to see the GI that I'm not thinking of? I think my doc is just uncomfortable not knowing much about this disease and wants to refer me to give me better treatment, but really what do the GI docs know either? Most of them don't know jack about this as we can all learn from everybody's posts on here.

[aprildutch]

I work at a locally owned health food store/supplement store and ran across an article the other day that said these supplements were important:

a good quality fish oil (carlson is a good brand), probiotics (enzymatic therapy pearls are gluten-free, df), digestive enzymes before every meal, vitamin d, a good multivitamin (i take country life's real food organic because it's gluten-free, but also because it gives me energy)

[Reba32]

if you already have a positive blood test, I don't know why you'd need a biopsy as well. I did both, only because the stoopid GI I went to didn't bother to tell me about the positive blood test before she scheduled the endoscopy (they would never return any phone calls when I called to ask for results). All a GI will do for you is take your money IMO. I have absolutely no faith in the one I went to, and I only went there to have the blood tests because my PCP office had no clue what to do.