Digestive Issues First Week Gluten-Free?

[GypsyGirl]

Hello!

I'm new here, and relatively new to this whole subject (though I've been reading like mad).

For 9 years now I've been on a yeast/candida control diet (no fruit, no refined flowers or refined oils, no sugar, no dairy, nothing fermented, no caffeine, etc.).

I have not been tested for Celiac Disease, but I and my family exactly fit the profile for either Celiac or Gluten Intolerance, and I finally took the plunge to try 30 days gluten-free and see if my symptoms improve. Until now my diet has been very heavy on the wheat.

I've been gluten-free 4 days now, and I can already tell this was the right decision, because some things have improved tremendously (I actually bonked my head on the floor during yoga, because doing my usual bending motion put me much lower than usual, due to the increased space and comfort in my lower belly!). However, (and pardon the TMI, but I suppose you are all used to it:)) my bowel movements have been really loose, near liquid. No cramping (which in the past would have always accompanied such), but a little off schedule as well, and not exactly pleasant. Some excess gas throughout the day, etc...

I'm just looking for some advice while I try to stick it out. Is it likely this is just my system adjusting to the shock of the dietary change? A reaction to adding more vegetables and meat? Does this happen to other people, and is it likely to subside soon?

Any advice or reassurance (or just commisserating LOL) would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

[srall]

Yes. I think you need to stick this out while your system adjusts. I discovered my intolerance to gluten (and dairy, soy, caffeine) while on a detox diet so I felt awful for 2 weeks. I think my body was just getting rid of so many things that were poisoning me it made me really sick. Now I've been doing this since March and I'm still trying to figure out the perfect formula. Some days I just feel off, fatigued and foggy and I can't trace it to anything. From what I'm reading it just takes a very long time for your body to heal and recover. Even as much as 2 years. I think if you stick with it you'll continue to improve and feel better.

[sandsurfgirl]

4 days is just the baby steps phase. The body goes through withdrawals and it takes time depending on how sick you were to begin with. It may be that you didn't need all that candida cleanse stuff, that it was always gluten.

(The candida claims are dubious anyway)

Search on here for withdrawals and read old threads to know what to expect and what is "normal."

I had the oddest things happen to me in the beginning. Pooping literally 10 and 12 times per day, some days more, for like 2 or 3 weeks. All manners of D, C and everything in between.

Okay, this one is so TMI but I will share. We all share poop and gas stories on here. It's a party!

I had this horrible cramp in my side. I'd had pain in my right side off and on for years and after tons of tests they came up with nothing. I was 2 weeks gluten free approximately and one night I was sitting in bed and got that same pain I always had gotten. But this time it was really bad and it was spasming and twitching. Then I got this major anxiety attack (one of my big celiac symptoms) and dizzy spells. I was gasping for breath and had to run to the bathroom. I felt like a pop or something on that right side where I'd had the pain all that time. Then I went to the bathroom, and was having anxiety and dizzy spells and all these weird sensations while I had to go. This stuff came out of me that looked like black tar. And when it was gone my symptoms subsided and I haven't had that pain since.

VERY Twilight Zone! Welcome to celiac!

If you have it, which you likely so since you are having big improvements on the diet, then you'll find all sorts of unexpected good results that you don't think are related to celiac. My anxiety was all due to celiac. Now I only get if I've been glutened. I had chronic sinus infections for years and years. All gone now.

[GypsyGirl]

srall and sandsurfgirl - thank you both so much for the replies. It's very reassuring to hear that others have gone through the same and far worse. I am definitely going to stick it out and I'm tentatively hopeful that life may be a whole lot better on the other side.

sandsurfgirl - you may be right that the candida is only a side symptom of the larger problem. Coming off the sugar and fruit and dairy definitely eliminated an array of symptoms that had long been plaguing me and they have not returned as long as I've been on on the diet. But other symptoms have remained regardless, and that is most like the gluten issue. I've also had CFS since I was 13 (I'm turning 38 this weekend), and am currently undergoing the Gupta Amygdala Retraining program to help treat that (which is the first thing in 35 years to actually improve my health), but some debilitating symptoms have remained, and I'm really starting to wonder how many of them may disappear as I continue to be gluten free. There is definitely an anxiety element to the CFS/Amygdala problem as well, and I wouldn't be surprised if the two syndromes are interrelated or one can lead to the other (gluten intolerance to CFS).

Your story sounds SO much like the symptoms my mother has suffered with her whole life. She is most likely celiac as well and I'm trying to get her to get tested. Problem for her is that she's on SUCH a massively restricted diet otherwise (for candida, food allergies, etc.), that she would need something to change in order to be able to remove wheat from her diet and not quite literally starve to death. I'm having enough trouble finding adequate food sources myself, and I have more diversity in my diet than she. I do hope to add in more foods that I haven't yet tested my tolerance for and expand my diet in the long run, but obviously I can't try new things during the initial detox phase, or I would never get any kind of accurate test.

Anyhow, thank you all for the support, and I will definitely be doing more reading of this forum's archives.

I'm about to hop on a plane tomorrow (with my son) for a visit to my parents, during which net access will be spotty, so I really appreciate the quick replies before I take off.

Here's hoping my symptoms leave me alone during the flight!

[sandsurfgirl]

I bet the CFS is related to gluten. I will be surprised if you don't get relief.

If I were you I would add back in the fruits and some sugar and stuff, not go crazy or anything, but focus on being gluten free and eating as healthy as you can for gut healing.

[Marz]

This stuff came out of me that looked like black tar. And when it was gone my symptoms subsided and I haven't had that pain since.

Were you badly const just before this? Sounds IMHO like a impaction that cleared. I've had a similar experience 0.o Also cleared without any further incident, but just weird. I also had liquid d in my first week of going gluten free.

Since then, while I've been properly gluten free (and not challenging myself in some stupid attempt to prove to myself that I am gluten intolerant ), I haven't had any of these sort of problems.

I think the first few weeks you can expect anything, your system is really adjusting to this new gluten-free diet!

[notme]

I am very new here, too. this place has been a Godsend for me! I had a lot of D the first week - a lot - and seemingly out of nowhere but I read *on here* to try going dairy-free for awhile while my body is healing. worked like a charm learning to read my body better, too ( after all those years of clean living... NOT! ) I never knew what was wrong with me or how to correct it so whatever. what a huge difference!!! feeling better every day and gained some much needed weight.

in my mechanical mind: I am comparing my neglected and abused digestive system (and the rest of my malnourished systems/senses!) as an old machine that has sat idle for a long while. I keep thinking that my intestines are working now, like I've started that creaky wreck. the pains I'm feeling from time to time are parts that haven't been used properly in a long time? that make any sense?

and detox I expect will continue for awhile.