Please Help! Huge Weight Gain, Exhaustion... Endless Ailments

[AshleyRay]

I'm new to this forum and I'm at wit's end. I don't know where to start....

I was diagnosed three years ago. The doctor was shocked that I was still standing - such severe malabsorption. The ailments and medications were endless. I have not touched gluten, intentionally, in three years. (I was also dairy free for the first year). Airborne gluten can irritate me - FYI.

So, it's three years later and it's been a roller coaster. I'm now free of all medications, RLS, insomnia, pain and my depression/mood swings are a lot better. Due to all of my complications I became a nutritional consultant, herbalist, reiki master, etc. I have not missed a beat with regard to healing every aspect of my mental and physical well being.

So I get to my current dilemma. Soon after going gluten-free and DF I started gaining weight. I gained over 70 pounds in a six month time frame. I'm struggling to lose the weight. I watch what I eat and take tons of supplements. I exercise like a maniac. I do CrossFit (intense), road biking occasional yoga and martial arts. In all I am active and conscious of what I eat. I'm losing a little weight but not enough. If I eat one wrong thing I swell in the abdomen. One wrong bite and I look six+ months pregnant. I haven't worn jeans in years - too uncomfortable with the swelling.

With the intense exercise I'm struggling with pretty bad tendonitis. Is this linked to celiac? It's debilitating and making exercising difficult. It's most of my joints. I'm in PT.

I'm chronically exhausted. (This may have a component of depression due to the weight gain.) I exercise in the morning and then spend the rest of the day trying to stay awake. I sleep on the couch as mush as possible. I'm pretty sure my adrenals are exhausted and I'm treating it with supplements.

I could go on and on about how difficult this is and all of the ailments I'm dealing with. I thought I was out of the woods but they just keep getting deeper. I've made a commitment to my health but these challenges are getting the better of me. I just want to feel "normal," the way everyone else looks like they feel!

Anyone suffering similar issues? I really need some support! I'm tired of being tired and I'm even more tired of complaining and being miserable. Please help. :0)

[Gluten Free Dee]

I've recently gotten healing after many similar problems. I met a nutritionist, Gerri Kier, who helped me increase the efficiency of my digestion with enzymes. When I ate, my gluten free food was turning to paste and lining my intestines - so I gained about 35 pounds in 1 year. Two Months Ago I looked at my blood and saw too much sugar, much plaque from the paste in my gut and unhappy, cells that died too quickly because of a lack of energy. Today I met with Gerri again. I have been eating right for my blood type and not combining foods much so I could increase the speed with which I healed. There was a tremendous difference in how my blood looked!!! It was amazing. I still need to reduce my sugar intake but did that well by using Blackstrap Molassas for energy. I've lost 1 whole pant size in 2 months without dieting. I have tons more energy and my head is more clear. There is hope, but only if we digest our food!

Gluten Free Dee

[iamgf]

I know exactly how you are feeling. I felt that way for a long time. Thankfully, I figured it out and have never felt this good.

You know what to do, but I think you are too close to it to see the answers. Granted, I have met many nutritional consults who don't know squat, but I suspect you are not one of them. The solutions to all of your problems are within you, just waiting to be acknowledged and followed.

So, the following is simply to help trigger the knowledge within you, not to suggest that you don't know all of this already.

1. Foods are the best source for the nutrition our bodies need, so a few daily supplements make sense (one of which I hope is a pro-biotic), but "a ton" tells me your diet is not nutritionally sound.
   
2. What foods are you eating that cause the bloating? Either both, gluten and dairy, are still getting into your diet, and/or you are eating too many simple gluten-free carbs and sugar. Do you keep a food log or diary?
   
3. I suspect over training and not enough of the right foods as the cause of the tendonitis and exhaustion, not Celiac. The right type, frequency, and intensity of exercise will reshape our bodies, but it is only 10% of it. Diet is 80%. Over training will only lead to injury and exhaustion. Do you keep a training log or diary?
   

Like I said, I have been in your shoes and it wasn't fun. I wanted so badly to feel normal, and to have something other than my pain to think about. In the end, eating clean was and still is the answer for me. I highly suggest getting Open Original Shared Link, they changed my life and I know they can change yours as well.

[gf-soph]

I hear you, I am still unwell after 18 months gluten free, and undergoing more testing looking for secondary problems.

Practical stuff first - Have you looked in to your blood sugar? Insulin resistance could cause problems losing weight, as well as the exhaustion. Have you looked in to small bowel bacterial overgrowth? My dr thinks that my symptoms may be caused because of this - exhaustion and severe bloating amoung them.

If you are taking a lot of supplements it may be that some of the things you are taking are not longer necessary, and may even be stressing your body or interacting with eachother. I agree with iamgf that you may want to drop the number down to the most important and see if you feel any better. A food diary is a great idea of you aren't doing it already.

I know how frustrating it is to work so hard and still be unwell, but maybe you need to give your body a bit more time to recover from the damage. I'm really impressed at how much energy you have put in to your recovery, but having really severe malabsoprtion will really mess with you- it may be that you are pushing yourself too hard right now and your body just isn't able. I know how upsetting the weight gain can be, but maybe you need to reduce the intensity for a while until you are able to exercise and then still get on with your day? My thinking is that when the body has been starving (as it did with the malabsorption), it takes a long time for it to recognise that it doesn't have to hold in to every calorie that it gets. When you figure out what your body needs you may then be able to really exercise hard without overdoing it.

I have been sick for 3 years now, so I know how it feels to be sick and tired of feeling sick and tired! I hope you have some people close to you that are supportive - it's important to vent sometimes. I have had ocassions in the last few months where I have just needed someone to give me a hug while I had an almighty cry over it all. I am ok with doing that occasionally as I pick myself up and get back to working on it. I get the feeling that may be where you are at right now. I have no doubt that you will keep trying, but don't be afraid to open up and acknowledge how hard it is sometimes.

Have you seen a counsellor or psychologist? I saw one for a while due to depression, thankfully the worst lifted a couple of months after going gluten free. However, I know that the things we discussed and the thought patterns I was able to change have stopped me from slipping back into full-on depression in the tough times since.

Good luck

[Reba32]

what sorts of foods do you generally eat every day? Are you eating a lot of pre-packaged foods? Or are you a whole natural foods kind of person? Gluten free junk food is still junk food.

It's difficult to help you if we don't know what you're eating now though.

I found that before I went gluten free and to a whole foods diet, that I always always always felt like crap. The Celiac disease caused malabsorption, vitimin deficiency, I also had muscle wasting from Grave's disease, which I believe is also compounded by Celiac and malnourishment.

I have tonnes more energy than I ever have before. I don't exercise like a fiend, just walk my dog basically, and yet I'm burning body fat, and building muscle. I'm losing weight, slowly, but losing, and I think finally my body is absorbing food nutrients.

If you're not eating enough overall for your activity level and absorption level, you'll feel like crap. If you're eating a lot of packaged foods or a lot of high carb foods, you could still be doing damage to your muscles by not getting proper nutrients, protien and fats. If you don't eat a balance of healthy fats along with protiens, you're missing out on a few much needed vitimins as well, which I'm sure you already know.

It's amazing how different I can deal with my day now that I'm eating mainly whole natural foods and not packaged convenience foods. I'm not 100%, I don't think I ever will be, but I'm 100% better than I was.

[Wolicki]

I totally get it. I was a skeleton with severe malabsorption last June. I was very, very ill. I started to feel better right away,then had new problems come up like: secondary intolerances (like 20 of them), neuropathy, water weight gain (massive), bloating and gas. All of it has resolved, except for the weight. I gained 100 pounds in 6 months. I eat 1300-1500 calories per day. I exercise a LOT. I eat clean. Rarely I will have a very small gluten-free brownie or a slice of gluten-free bread. Mostly lean proteins, veggies and very little fruit.

I went from scary skinny to slightly plump in 6 months. Doesn't matter what I do, I can't lose weight. I can eat 500 or 2000 and can't lost weight. Doctor said it does take a long time to recover so that your body doesn't think you're starving. But this is ridiculous. So, yeah, I get it. Feel free to vent to me

[cyberprof]

I'm new to this forum and I'm at wit's end. I don't know where to start....

I was diagnosed three years ago. The doctor was shocked that I was still standing - such severe malabsorption. The ailments and medications were endless. I have not touched gluten, intentionally, in three years. (I was also dairy free for the first year). Airborne gluten can irritate me - FYI.

So, it's three years later and it's been a roller coaster. I'm now free of all medications, RLS, insomnia, pain and my depression/mood swings are a lot better. Due to all of my complications I became a nutritional consultant, herbalist, reiki master, etc. I have not missed a beat with regard to healing every aspect of my mental and physical well being.

So I get to my current dilemma. Soon after going gluten-free and DF I started gaining weight. I gained over 70 pounds in a six month time frame. I'm struggling to lose the weight. I watch what I eat and take tons of supplements. I exercise like a maniac. I do CrossFit (intense), road biking occasional yoga and martial arts. In all I am active and conscious of what I eat. I'm losing a little weight but not enough. If I eat one wrong thing I swell in the abdomen. One wrong bite and I look six+ months pregnant. I haven't worn jeans in years - too uncomfortable with the swelling.

With the intense exercise I'm struggling with pretty bad tendonitis. Is this linked to celiac? It's debilitating and making exercising difficult. It's most of my joints. I'm in PT.

I'm chronically exhausted. (This may have a component of depression due to the weight gain.) I exercise in the morning and then spend the rest of the day trying to stay awake. I sleep on the couch as mush as possible. I'm pretty sure my adrenals are exhausted and I'm treating it with supplements.

I could go on and on about how difficult this is and all of the ailments I'm dealing with. I thought I was out of the woods but they just keep getting deeper. I've made a commitment to my health but these challenges are getting the better of me. I just want to feel "normal," the way everyone else looks like they feel!

Anyone suffering similar issues? I really need some support! I'm tired of being tired and I'm even more tired of complaining and being miserable. Please help. :0)

You might ask your doc for a sleep study. You could be sleeping but not getting rest due to apnea or due to narcolepsy. Narco symptoms can be different than the one that is normally associated with it (falling asleep at random moments). Narco is also autoimmune and there is some evidence that it is linked with celiac, but aside from that we all know that autoimmune diseases run in packs sometimes.

Good luck!

[mtnplanner]

So I get to my current dilemma. Soon after going gluten-free and DF I started gaining weight. I gained over 70 pounds in a six month time frame. I'm struggling to lose the weight. I watch what I eat and take tons of supplements. I exercise like a maniac. I do CrossFit (intense), road biking occasional yoga and martial arts. In all I am active and conscious of what I eat. I'm losing a little weight but not enough. If I eat one wrong thing I swell in the abdomen. One wrong bite and I look six+ months pregnant. I haven't worn jeans in years - too uncomfortable with the swelling.

With the intense exercise I'm struggling with pretty bad tendonitis. Is this linked to celiac? It's debilitating and making exercising difficult. It's most of my joints. I'm in PT.

I'm chronically exhausted. (This may have a component of depression due to the weight gain.) I exercise in the morning and then spend the rest of the day trying to stay awake. I sleep on the couch as mush as possible. I'm pretty sure my adrenals are exhausted and I'm treating it with supplements.

Anyone suffering similar issues? I really need some support! I'm tired of being tired and I'm even more tired of complaining and being miserable. Please help. :0)

I'm also new to the forum. I haven't have the issues with the severe weight loss, but I certainly can relate to the huge gain, fatigue, etc. I'm gluten intolerant but not celiac.

It's seems entirely possible that the weight gain combined with the fatigue and tendonitis/joint pain are related to adrenal function/thyroid function. Active celiac disorder often is accompanied by adrenal fatigue and thyroid issues. Both of these autoimmune issues can cause significant weight gain and severe fatigue.

If your MD won't test for adrenal function, you can get tests through various groups like the Canary Club. There's a great deal of useful information on thyroid connection to Celiac, and thyroid issues at this link:

Open Original Shared Link

I have subclinical hypothyroid issues and (take Armour thyroid after a long argument with the MD). I also have very poor adrenal function. The adrenal issues have improved slowly but it takes about a year or more to repair adrenals so it's not a quick fix. Low AM cortisol can trigger severe fatigue: Open Original Shared Link

In my own case the weight gain appeared first, then the thyroid malfunction, then the adrenal malfunction, then digestive issues and lastly finding out that gluten and dairy intolerance were actually contributing problems. Pretty much a person has to address the problems as they arise since there isn't any definitive way to 'test' for early diagnosis of food related issues.

Keep at it. You are on the right track.

[Lynayah]

I totally get it. I was a skeleton with severe malabsorption last June. I was very, very ill. I started to feel better right away,then had new problems come up like: secondary intolerances (like 20 of them), neuropathy, water weight gain (massive), bloating and gas. All of it has resolved, except for the weight. I gained 100 pounds in 6 months. I eat 1300-1500 calories per day. I exercise a LOT. I eat clean. Rarely I will have a very small gluten-free brownie or a slice of gluten-free bread. Mostly lean proteins, veggies and very little fruit.

I went from scary skinny to slightly plump in 6 months. Doesn't matter what I do, I can't lose weight. I can eat 500 or 2000 and can't lost weight. Doctor said it does take a long time to recover so that your body doesn't think you're starving. But this is ridiculous. So, yeah, I get it. Feel free to vent to me

Wolicki, thank you so very VERY much for posting this.

People think I'm crazy when I tell them I can't lose weight by cutting calories and increasing exercise. They tell me that as long as I am burning more calories than I eat, I'll lose, and that I must be in denial if I'm not losing.

I KNOW HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT, but my body seems to have forgotten.

Weight has always been an issue with me. I was never a victim of underweight -- I have always struggled.

I finally lost weight with Weight Watchers -- over 100 pounds, which I kept off for close to 20 years. It wasn't easy, I had to count every POINT, watch every bite, but it worked.

I guess I'm lucky that I've only gained 20 pounds since being diagnosed last September. So many have gained more. I have been able to maintain my current weight by watching my intake. I seldom go over 1,500 calories a day -- maybe once or twice a month when I eat out, and even then it's seldome over 2,300.

Like you, I eat clean. I know how to eat right. I KNOW ALL THE RULES ABOUT FOOD IN AND CALORIES BURNED.

The problem is that my body seems to have forgotton the rules. For those of us who suffer from gluten-intolerance, the old burn more than you eat rules don't always work, and I wish to goodness that the medical community would wake up and address the issue better than they now do.

That said, I count my blessings every day that I've finally gotten a diagnosis and am on my way to healing. I count my blessings that I know how to eat clean and how to take care of myself. I count my blessings that I have a disease that can be treated by eating correctly -- it could be so much worse.

Every day I try something new -- looking for something, anything that satisfies me and helps me get back to the right weight. After being morbidly obese, it is extremely important to me that I keep my weight in check -- psychologically as well as physically.

I seem to do best with whole foods only, low fat (not NO fat -- a moderate amount of high omega), high fiber -- that's what has allowed me to maintain this weight gain without going higher. BUT I WANT TO GO LOWER the way I used to when I ate this way previously !!!! Augh!!!! It is so frustrating.

Whoops, I'm slipping . . . I need to go back to counting my blessings again . . . this happens to me all the time.

Anyway, I can so relate! Thank you again for posting.

PS: I get plenty of sleep and my thyroid has been tested as fine . . . numerous times.

I really think that our bodies just hold on to anything and everything. I'm excited to see if I start to lose once my gliadin level gets back to normal . . . THAT'S IF I CAN GET IT BACK TO NORMAL!

I am being very strict but my gliadin is not back to normal yet. I'll get checked again next month.

That said, I think I'll start a thread about weight loss and gliadin levels. I wonder if others have found that their weight returns to normal once their gliadin level goes down. Watch for it!

[frogholler]

My Dr. ran a blood test on me last month and told me that it showed that I was gluten intolerant and that some damage had already occurred in my intestines. She didn't mention Celiac so I don't know if I have the disease or not.I did start eliminating wheat, oat, and barely from my diet and for the first few days I felt much better and I had more energy. I lost weight as well and didn't feel bloated. My bowels started moving better and I sometimes have 4 or 5 bowel movements a day. I have a dental implant and was constantly having to clean the plague off everyday. I don't have the plague anymore and my implant is nice and shiny again. My dentures don't get soiled as quickly. These are all the positive things that happened but now I have lost my energy and feel tired all the time and I think what happened is the fact that I discovered all these wonderful gluten free products and started snacking on them. They may be gluten free but are loaded with sugar so I am going to cut back on the the frozen desserts and the gluten free pasta and bread and other sugary foods and see what happens.

[T.H.]

So sorry to hear you're having trouble!

My thoughts would be this:

1. If you had such severe malabsorption, it makes total sense that you would gain weight now that it's gone. You're body HAD to have already gone into starvation mode, and from what I understand, it'll stay there for a while. Your body conserves better, uses less calories, because it had less. And if you were 'still standing' when your doc didn't think you would be? You're body is probably REALLY good at conserving every last ounce that goes into you.

2.The swelling...now that sounds more gut related. My doc has told me that people with celiac disease are more likely to have allergies and reactions to foods, that can develop at any time, for the rest of our lives. That was the case for me. I never had food issues, that i knew, and yet have been having tons of problems with OTHER foods now that I've gone gluten free. Also, we tend to react more to dyes and preservatives, which tends to mean that vitamins and drugs can effect us more, too.

First thing I would do? Stop the supplements. I'm assuming you've checked them for gluten free status, since you sound very conscious of your health, but if you're having them every day, then that means there are some ingredients you are getting EVERY day...and since you're feeling crummy, something in them could be contributing.

Second thing I would do is start rotating your food. Make sure you don't eat the same thing more than every three days or so. But this would mean you have to be careful about some things, like corn, for example. It's in everything, including iodized salt. It's a tough haul to avoid all corn ingredients for a couple days, unless you go the fruits and veggies and plain grain route, with sea salt that has no anti-caking agent.

Third thing. Start a food journal - if you aren't eating the same foods all the time, then you will have at least something that you can go back and look over for patterns, either from that day, or the following day, etc...

Fourth thing - you might want to check out fructose malabsorption. It's a gut issue that can develop (not inherited) in people who already had gut issues, like celiacs. And people who have it react to fruits, grains, and vegetables. a TON of stuff. Yogurt and probiotics tend to make it worse. It's not well known here, so most docs won't test for it. There's some information on it, here: Open Original Shared Link

And lastly - truly, I feel your pain, I really do! Yes, there are others out here whose bodies went crazy after going gluten free. My depression went away, some problems resolved, but a whole host of new ones popped up so I was exhausted, miserable, lots of joint and muscles pain, gut issues where I'd never even had them before! I'd never been sensitive to any foods, that I knew of, but I'm now sensitive enough to breathe in the gluten and get sick, as well.

I got so sick I stopped eating for a few days, and felt better, but every time I ate, I started to feel bad. The food journal is what did it for me. I found out that almost everything I was eating was reacting badly with me - all grains, most meats, most fruits and veggies. I'm very luck I did, because after a few weeks, my reactions started to include my throat swelling shut to some foods, even though I'm not allergic to them! I basically cut my diet to almost nothing and added foods in, one at a time.

My doc says that in all his celiac patients, he's seen a few react like this. Like a hyper-reactivity to foods. But for most of them, after 6months - 2 years of staying away from what bothers them, it tends to calm down and go back to normal (not the gluten part, of course).

Since then, I have been slowly figuring out what i can eat. If I eat safely, the joint pain and bloating and exhaustion go away. If I try a food to see if it's 'safe' and it's not? They all come back within 24 hours. I have yet to find a vitamin, of any kind, that I can have without causing these symptoms to reappear. Being sensitive to the gluten? It looks like I am just as sensitive to many other substances too, like corn. Anything derived from a food, whether it tests as having no 'detectable' molecules or not, seems to set me off. Ripening agents sprayed onto fruits, for example, are often corn derived and they kick my butt, no matter how well I wash them off. So I can eat the food from someone's garden or local farm, but not the main organic stores. I don't test allergic, but my reactions are very intense and my diet is so limited now it's easy to tell when I am having a problem.

I wonder if the same might be true for you, especially as you are so sensitive. Actually, I wonder if doing what I did, except on purpose for you, might help? I didn't eat for two days - mostly because I felt so sick that I thought i had the stomach flu - and i started to feel better and did that slow reintroduction of foods. Maybe a fast of a day or two might be worth while for you, too?

I hope you can find the answer you are looking for and see how it goes!

I'm new to this forum and I'm at wit's end. I don't know where to start....

I was diagnosed three years ago. The doctor was shocked that I was still standing - such severe malabsorption. The ailments and medications were endless. I have not touched gluten, intentionally, in three years. (I was also dairy free for the first year). Airborne gluten can irritate me - FYI.

So, it's three years later and it's been a roller coaster. I'm now free of all medications, RLS, insomnia, pain and my depression/mood swings are a lot better. Due to all of my complications I became a nutritional consultant, herbalist, reiki master, etc. I have not missed a beat with regard to healing every aspect of my mental and physical well being.

So I get to my current dilemma. Soon after going gluten-free and DF I started gaining weight. I gained over 70 pounds in a six month time frame. I'm struggling to lose the weight. I watch what I eat and take tons of supplements. I exercise like a maniac. I do CrossFit (intense), road biking occasional yoga and martial arts. In all I am active and conscious of what I eat. I'm losing a little weight but not enough. If I eat one wrong thing I swell in the abdomen. One wrong bite and I look six+ months pregnant. I haven't worn jeans in years - too uncomfortable with the swelling.

With the intense exercise I'm struggling with pretty bad tendonitis. Is this linked to celiac? It's debilitating and making exercising difficult. It's most of my joints. I'm in PT.

I'm chronically exhausted. (This may have a component of depression due to the weight gain.) I exercise in the morning and then spend the rest of the day trying to stay awake. I sleep on the couch as mush as possible. I'm pretty sure my adrenals are exhausted and I'm treating it with supplements.

I could go on and on about how difficult this is and all of the ailments I'm dealing with. I thought I was out of the woods but they just keep getting deeper. I've made a commitment to my health but these challenges are getting the better of me. I just want to feel "normal," the way everyone else looks like they feel!

Anyone suffering similar issues? I really need some support! I'm tired of being tired and I'm even more tired of complaining and being miserable. Please help. :0)

[glutenfree mom]

I'm new to this forum and I'm at wit's end. I don't know where to start....

I was diagnosed three years ago. The doctor was shocked that I was still standing - such severe malabsorption. The ailments and medications were endless. I have not touched gluten, intentionally, in three years. (I was also dairy free for the first year). Airborne gluten can irritate me - FYI.

So, it's three years later and it's been a roller coaster. I'm now free of all medications, RLS, insomnia, pain and my depression/mood swings are a lot better. Due to all of my complications I became a nutritional consultant, herbalist, reiki master, etc. I have not missed a beat with regard to healing every aspect of my mental and physical well being.

So I get to my current dilemma. Soon after going gluten-free and DF I started gaining weight. I gained over 70 pounds in a six month time frame. I'm struggling to lose the weight. I watch what I eat and take tons of supplements. I exercise like a maniac. I do CrossFit (intense), road biking occasional yoga and martial arts. In all I am active and conscious of what I eat. I'm losing a little weight but not enough. If I eat one wrong thing I swell in the abdomen. One wrong bite and I look six+ months pregnant. I haven't worn jeans in years - too uncomfortable with the swelling.

With the intense exercise I'm struggling with pretty bad tendonitis. Is this linked to celiac? It's debilitating and making exercising difficult. It's most of my joints. I'm in PT.

I'm chronically exhausted. (This may have a component of depression due to the weight gain.) I exercise in the morning and then spend the rest of the day trying to stay awake. I sleep on the couch as mush as possible. I'm pretty sure my adrenals are exhausted and I'm treating it with supplements.

I could go on and on about how difficult this is and all of the ailments I'm dealing with. I thought I was out of the woods but they just keep getting deeper. I've made a commitment to my health but these challenges are getting the better of me. I just want to feel "normal," the way everyone else looks like they feel!

Anyone suffering similar issues? I really need some support! I'm tired of being tired and I'm even more tired of complaining and being miserable. Please help. :0)

I so understand you I have been diansed just a month ago but my 14 year old daughter was diagnosed 3 years ago. SHe has gained over 100lbs and exhaustion is her biggest complaint as well as " I'm starving". She is always hungry I know she adhears to her diet very well because her symptoms when she has had gluten are more of an allergic reaction like truble breathing and swollen in her neck. But what we can't understand in all this weight gain and exhaustion her doctors are not to concerned and said as long as she is on gluten free diet she will continue to gain weight. I hope this helps you to realize you are not alone. I am going to share your post with her and let her know she is not alone. By the way I am also very hungry being on a gluten free diet and becoming more tired myself.

[Coolclimates]

Oh, man, I hope this doesn't happen to me. But i've been on the gluten-free diet for almost a month and am just feeling hungry all the time, plus constantly craving sweets, baked goods, etc. And I have been feeling more exhausted lately. Besides that I haven't been feeling better yet. I hope all of this eventually pays off. I'm worried I will start gaining lots of weight and just feel hungrier and more exhausted than ever...

[missy'smom]

I so understand you I have been diansed just a month ago but my 14 year old daughter was diagnosed 3 years ago. SHe has gained over 100lbs and exhaustion is her biggest complaint as well as " I'm starving". She is always hungry I know she adhears to her diet very well because her symptoms when she has had gluten are more of an allergic reaction like truble breathing and swollen in her neck. But what we can't understand in all this weight gain and exhaustion her doctors are not to concerned and said as long as she is on gluten free diet she will continue to gain weight. I hope this helps you to realize you are not alone. I am going to share your post with her and let her know she is not alone. By the way I am also very hungry being on a gluten free diet and becoming more tired myself.

The notion that being on a gluten-free diet will sureley cause weight gain just doesn't make sense to me(assuming no other health issues are at play). A gluten-free diet looks different for everyone. Just like the general population, there are gluten-free low-carbers, gluten-free vegan, gluten-free vegetarians, etc. Our gluten-free diets are all very different. I'm terribly thin but even for me, who needs to gain weight, 100 lbs. would be very unhealthy. Great weight gain, fatigue and feeling quite hungry are signs of blood sugar imbalance. Testing for diabetes should be done just to rule it out. Making sure that adequate amounts of protein are consumed at every meal(preferably from meat or eggs and keeping carbs and sugar very controlled could go a long way to help with hunger and energy levels. Make sure to get fats too-olive oil, coconut oil, avacados etc. Fats help us feel full and slow the rate at which carbs hit our blood stream. Honsetly, it shocks me that her doctors haven't screened her for diabetes yet. Make sure they do an OGTT and/or an A1c. A fasting blood sugar is of little or no value in reaching a diagnosis, unless one is satisfied with getting a diagnosis too late. Diabetes can be very treatable if it's caught early enough. Maybe just a little dietary change.

[Sharon326]

Have you been tested for Hashimoto's disease or other Thyroid related problems? I have Hashimoto's diesease (an autoimmune thyroid condition) and gained over 40lbs despite a very healthy balanced diet and regular exercise and was unnaturally tired most of the time. Those are the two biggest indicators or thyroid problems and you are more likely to have hashimoto's if you're gluten intolerant. Good luck!

[mtnplanner]

As a follow-up to my earlier post, I'm having some modest success in losing weight after shifting to a 'Paleo" diet. I determined that in addition to being intolerant to gluten and casein, I also don't tolerate non-gluten grains very well either. The 'Paleo' diet' focuses on real whole foods, and eliminates out grains, dairy, legumes and processed foods. Since this pretty much fits my 'ability to digest' patterns, I decided to adopt that eating plan as a way to simplify daily life. Paleo eating patterns also have a higher probability of lowering the blood glucose levels that often accompany obesity. I think it's pretty certain that it's extremely difficult to drop weight if BG levels are above norm. The downside of Paleo is that you have to cook from scratch.

I just mention Paleo as a possible way to address celiac obesity, as celiac obesity is a pretty ignored area of research. The presumption that eliminating gluten normalizes weight for silent celaics seems to apply to about 60 percent of obese celiacs [in studies] leaving the other 40% high and dry. So gluten intolerance is only part of the obesity causative factors.

Any online search of Paleo Diet will lead you to Loren Corain's web site. His book [Paleo Diet] is very good, but I've also found that Gary Taube's online interviews [Good Calories, Bad Calories] are really excellent in examining the idea that insulin levels contribute to obesity: Open Original Shared Link and Open Original Shared Link And I've also found that Jack Challem's book "Eat Right for your Genes' provided some pretty helpful information for my particular issues.

Obesity that isn't responsive to 'eating less and exercising more' is not a lack of willpower. If the body weight won't normalize, then there is a metabolic problem, and most metabolic problems seem to be connected to the quality of foods eaten, not the quantities eaten. Food provides more than fuel. It provides cellular information. It's taken me years to grasp that fact. Food provides distinctive sets of information to cells - any lack of information and cells devise workarounds like weight gain. In order for the body to run optimally, then it needs plentiful amounts of nutritional information, not lab experiments in a box or can pretending to be food.

And always remember, when the classic 'diet and exercise' doesn't work, it's not the patient's lack of willpower or effort at fault. Blaming the patient is the fallback position of an incompetent doctor. If your doctor isn't willing to test for fundamental metabolic imbalances when you've clearly made serious efforts to overcome obesity, then find another doctor. Never give up hope of finding answers.

[RoseTapper]

I also suspect Hashimoto's or an imbalance in your thyroid hormones. Three years after going gluten free, I developed Hashimoto's--boy, was I miserable! Also, because the thyroid continued to sputter for a while, it was difficult to determine how much Armour Thyroid I should take. However, I can tell you most definitely that tendinitis can occur when your thyroid is out of balance--either there is too much thyroid hormone or too little. It's always one of the first tip-offs for me that my medication is out of whack. If you do a little research on thyroid conditions, you'll see that tendinitis in the joints is a common symptom.

[glutenfreegirl]

Can I ask a few of you have mentioned blood type/ gene type diets....what blood types are you? I read blood types o have great success on no grains (gluten-free or not) or dairy...I would love your thoughts.

[mtnplanner]

Can I ask a few of you have mentioned blood type/ gene type diets....what blood types are you? I read blood types o have great success on no grains (gluten-free or not) or dairy...I would love your thoughts.

I'm blood type A. Theoretically I should do well as a vegetarian or a vegan according to the principles of the 'blood type diet'. And in fact, when I was a vegan for 2 years my lab tests improved in a number of areas and I reversed out of type 2 diabetes. Alas, I discovered the hard way that being a vegan isn't always the best long-term choice for a person with both hypothyroid and adrenal issues as such disorders really do need good protein levels to restore health. I found restoring adrenal function too difficult to accomplish as a vegan. Top vegan support groups had no answers for the dilemma of how to get enough plant protein to restore the adrenal system, either. (note that soy proteins are not recommended for hypothyroidism) By the end of 2 years as a vegan my digestive system went to pieces, too. So, I stopped being vegan, did more testing, and now eat 'Paleo-style'.

Now this doesn't mean that I think poorly of 'the blood type' diets. While the science may be a little shakey, the concept on eating foods related to your genotype does have merit. What isn't generally addressed is that you also have to know your own hidden food intolerances when using the suggested food tables. I found Adamo's identification of health disorders and blood type associations useful, but the food recommendations seem a little hit and miss when you get down to specifics - but no more so than any other popular diet book.

It wasn't until after I'd spent 2 years as a vegan that I learned that I was genetically and actively intolerant to gluten, intolerant to casein (all dairy), and really don't do well on grains in general. So I was making things worse for myself - not by the practice of eating vegan per se - but by the lack of knowledge that grains were a problem for my body. I'd excluded dairy as a vegan, but included gluten as well as non-gluten grains. I don't do well on grains which is probably why my digestion failed. And I lost zero weight in 2 years as a strict vegan which was very disappointing, too.

Currently, I've gone with the 'Paleo diet' because it's actually pretty easy to implement and excludes my trigger foods. Also, I'm slowly losing weight following a Paleo diet. I ignore the 'evolution' justifications popular in Paleo books. I think it's more accurate to say that our industrialized, lab-experiment food supply simply isn't what our bodies are designed to eat and that people can become healthier eating real food. Our bodies cells simply don't recognize the non-food substances plentiful in manufactured, processed convenience foods. Thus eating 'Paleo' means a return to eating fresh foods, meals cooked from whole foods, etc. Paleo essentially eliminates out much of the most hybridized food stuffs and puts real food back on the plate. Probably any clean eating or whole foods meal plan that eliminates out your own food intolerances would be equally health promoting.

I've noticed that the best 'diets' promote the use of fresh whole real foods. Once the books become popular then there's a spin-off of manufactured processed convenience foods that completely ignore the fundamentals promoted in each book of eating real food. A microwaved pre-made meal is a lab experiment. A 'food bar' is a lab experiment. An apple is food.

I'd have to say that nearly all diet books are spin off's of the findings of Melvin Page DDS (dentist) who did extensive research on dietary impacts on health (yes, teeth health tells a story) and on blood chemistry imbalances. His "Fundamental Eating Plan" is a classic: Open Original Shared Link

So whatever diet you choose follow, eat real food. If it won't rot don't eat it! Just my nickel's worth of personal opinion