Bloating

[BrownEyedGirl]

Did anyone have a lot of bloating when first starting on the gluten-free diet? The last day or so I've just been so bloated, all the time. I suppose my body is still adjusting.

[Wolicki]

Yes! I was one of the "opposite" celiacs that never had bloating prior to dx and then BAM looked 10 months pregnant after. It was caused by secondary food intolerances, which I had a bunch of. They are very common while in recovery. The most common culprits for celiacs are dairy, soy, corn, nuts, and nightshades.

I was intolerant to all grains including rice, dairy, corn, legumes, nightshades, broccoli, cauliflower, nuts, popcorn and seeds. All have resolved except for broccoli and popcorn. As soon as I eliminated all of these, the bloating stopped. You may want to consider an elimination diet to identify the culprits.

[BrownEyedGirl]

Yes! I was one of the "opposite" celiacs that never had bloating prior to dx and then BAM looked 10 months pregnant after. It was caused by secondary food intolerances, which I had a bunch of. They are very common while in recovery. The most common culprits for celiacs are dairy, soy, corn, nuts, and nightshades.

I was intolerant to all grains including rice, dairy, corn, legumes, nightshades, broccoli, cauliflower, nuts, popcorn and seeds. All have resolved except for broccoli and popcorn. As soon as I eliminated all of these, the bloating stopped. You may want to consider an elimination diet to identify the culprits.

I'm not entirely sure if I have secondary intolerances, or if I had some sort of cross-contamination issue. I also have DH (which was almost healed), but later on after the bloating started, I started itching some and I woke up this morning with more forming lesions. I have already eliminated dairy though.

[dreacakes]

I second the elimination diet suggestion.

I had major bloating from grains after I went gluten-free, and it's much better now, though I'm not to the point where I can incorporate them back into my diet (although, Quinoa irritates my tummy the least). Everyone is different, so just by simplifying your diet it's much easier to figure out what is setting you off.

Hope that helps!

[Mari]

I just answered your post about cross contamination and wanted to share some comments about bloating and DH. I had bloating before going on the gluten-free diet but it did get worse. I did a lot of reading and found bloating - lots of gas in the gut - is caused by the food we eat fermenting. The food we eat contains carbohydrates and our gut bacteria ferments it if our digestive process is not functioning well. Gluten or food allergies or intolerances cause inflamation which slows down the food going through us and our gut bacteria have more time to ferment it. gluten-free diets tend to be high carbohydrate so we feed our gut bacteria when we eat it. To help with this problem I started using the Specific Carbohydrate Diet more than a year ago amd have found it very helpful and have been able to add back foods to my diet.

I have found it helpful to take betaine-HCl, digestive enzymes and probiotics. The betaine increases the stomach acids, necessary for good digestion and killing off the bacteria on foods. I use goat's milk yogurt now instead of probiotics and only occasionally need to use digestive enzymes.

A full or bloated upper abdomen - which I had too - turned out to be a problem with my bile system. I had gallstones which I got out ( and am still getting out) by doing liver/gall bladder flushes and sludgy bile for which I'm taking increased fiber with my meals. I have used flax seed meal in the past and lately am using gluten-free oat bran fiber. I often visit the Liver Flush Forum at Curezone to find out what others are doing about their digestive problems.

I used to get rough itchy patches of skin and itchy lesion in my hair. This cleared up on the gluten-free diet but comes back if I'm glutened but it is very delayed reaction which takes several weeks to start bothering me and lasts until the autoimmune reaction calms down - months later. This suggests to me that you are still getting gluten from somewhere - food, cosmetics, supplements, the crumbs around the toaster. I have also read that it may take a few years to clear the gluten plaques out of your intestines.