Women Question!

[miaryan]

Hi Ladies,

Been gluten free for 10 days now!!!!

i just got my period yesterday after not having it for 3 months! i'm in dying pain with lots of cramps and back ache! i'm having to change my pad every hour! wanting to know if this is normal or should i go into ER and is if everything is ok?

please let me know if anyone has had this or knows what to do!!!!

in desparte need if help!!! so tired and fatigued!!!

thanks Mia

[Mskedi]

Wow... after not having a period for three months, I would expect some discomfort, but that kind of pain and bleeding, I think, at least warrants a doctor visit. Can you go to Urgent Care rather than a full-blown ER? If not, then, yeah... I'd say go to the ER.

On the plus side, malnourishment can cause you to miss your period (that's why it sometimes shows up in people with eating disorders and in people who use up their calories through exercise like ballet or long-distance running), so maybe you were malnourished before going gluten-free and now your body is getting nourished and you have your period again.

I remember being told that the rule of thumb for going to the doctor if missing periods with no chance of pregnancy is three months, so you should probably get yourself to a doctor about the missed periods, anyway.

I'm clearly no medical expert. Get yourself to someone who knows what they're talking about and feel better.

[AmandaD]

Mine got MUCH more intense AFTER having kids...in case that's what you're dealing with at all??

[miaryan]

i just came back from urgent care to see my family DR. he said that if it doesn't get better by tomorrow to go to ER for a humogloben test and i might need a blood transfusion!!!

and to double up on iron pills cause i'm already amemic!!! sorry for the horrible spelling!!!

no i havent had any kids lots and lots of miscarriages thou. but i'm ALWAYS regular so i thought i was pregnant again but i wasn't DR said it might be due to stress and health issues. finally got info about having celiac disease and have been gluten free now for 10 days. felling better for 2 days now but still tired. got my period yesterday and now even more worried from what the DR said. Plus even more tired now!

thanks Mia

[momxyz]

Mia,

my daughter had primary amenorrhea and got really messed up with hormonal treatment for that... in researching I found a lot of connections between disturbances in menstrual cycles, miscarriages, and infertility and gluten intolerance and/or celiac disease.

After five months on a gluten free diet, she got her period....unassisted and naturally. Not totally regular yet; recently she skipped a month and then had a very heavy period.

having had a miscarriage myself, when I first read your description of heavy bleeding and severe cramps, that's what came to mind.... but since that's been ruled out,and since you have just starte the diet, I am guessing your body is still in the process of balancing things out.

I hope you don't have to have a transfusion. If you'll forgive me for being a bit of a mom, please do take your iron and get rest! Plus eat foods that are naturally rich in iron (as well as gluten free). I was anemic during one pregnancy, but didn't want to take the iron because of a tendency for constipation. So I boned up on what foods were good iron sources. I ate lots of red beef, beans, peaches, spinach... those are what I remember. My hemoglobin went up and I never had to go on the iron.

good luck- hope things settle down!

[StacyA]

My celiac's wasn't triggered until this summer. Before then I had 'typical' periods (pain, heavy bleeding at first then tapering off). This summer I suddenly had VERY light periods with no pain. I didn't connect that to my also sudden diahrrea and other 'classic' celiac symptoms. (I figured I was starting into menopause). It took 4 months to get diagnosed with celiac's, and when I started gluten-free my periods suddenly returned with the pain and heavy bleeding. (Then a light bulb went off, because I remembered reading about infertility and celiac's.) That may be part of what's going on for you.