Healing With Gluten Free Diet

[Judy3]

On the advice of someone here long that I have been I'm opening a new topic for my question.

Hi everyone,

I've only been on the gluten free diet for about a week and my endoscope and colonoscopy done 2 weeks ago showed my 'innards' to be extremely inflamed. How long does it take for this all to heal? I've been diagnosed with Celiac now after the tests and lab work and with the gluten free, I feel better (no nausea, vomiting or diarrhea) but I still have pain when I eat. Just curious if this is a month thing, a year or many years for healing?

I'm really glad this site is here.. :0)

*Judy3

[i-geek]

Yay for the worst symptoms going away! It will probably take a bit longer for the rest- you didn't get to this point overnight so it will take some time to reverse the damage. I wasn't as ill as you and I think it still took me about a month to stop reacting to things like peppers, cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cabbage, etc.) and alcoholic beverages, about two months for fermented dairy, and longer for unfermented dairy, tapioca flour and pork. I'm 10.5 months gluten-free now and my gut seems to be working properly for the first time in years (possibly in my adult life, and I'm 32). If I've been recently glutened I notice that I have more problems with dairy and fruit.

I'd suggest eating a somewhat bland diet if you can for the first few weeks and eating minimally processed foods. If you're on dairy, try cutting that out. If you're eating a lot of fruit, the fructose might be giving you problems. I found that poultry, beef, eggs, avocados, potatoes (although some have problems with them), rice, veggies like sweet potatoes, winter squash and carrots settled well at first. You might want to keep a food diary for a bit so that it's easier to track other problem foods. Otherwise, patience. It gets better.

[Judy3]

Yay for the worst symptoms going away! It will probably take a bit longer for the rest- you didn't get to this point overnight so it will take some time to reverse the damage. I wasn't as ill as you and I think it still took me about a month to stop reacting to things like peppers, cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cabbage, etc.) and alcoholic beverages, about two months for fermented dairy, and longer for unfermented dairy, tapioca flour and pork. I'm 10.5 months gluten-free now and my gut seems to be working properly for the first time in years (possibly in my adult life, and I'm 32). If I've been recently glutened I notice that I have more problems with dairy and fruit.

I'd suggest eating a somewhat bland diet if you can for the first few weeks and eating minimally processed foods. If you're on dairy, try cutting that out. If you're eating a lot of fruit, the fructose might be giving you problems. I found that poultry, beef, eggs, avocados, potatoes (although some have problems with them), rice, veggies like sweet potatoes, winter squash and carrots settled well at first. You might want to keep a food diary for a bit so that it's easier to track other problem foods. Otherwise, patience. It gets better.

Thanks. My new word for this week is 'patience', I feel so much better in just a week that I guess I'd like it all to be gone... wouldn't we all! I have been keeping a food diary and I did notice that pain isn't necessarily worse with certain foods, it's with amounts! I didn't eat much for 2 months and my stomach is probably having fits that it can't be lazy anymore... LOL Smaller portions for now and the food diary and we'll see what happens.. Miraculous progress in a week though I think, last Sunday I was in the midst of my own 2 day over the weekend gluten challenge and after a regular serving of regular pasta, the bathroom was my room for the rest of the night so this is incredible!!! Thanks again.

[Marz]

Hi there and welcome

I'd highly recommend keeping a food journal along with your symptoms - you may quickly find which foods cause a worse sore stomach, and which are better for you. Until you are fully healed you might find bland, easily digestable food will be easier on your stomach.

For example - I found pears upset my stomach, but then I tried a peeled pear and it was magic Cream/dairy/highly fatty foods seem to give me a sore stomach/nausea. The nightshade family gave me nausea for a while (Potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers), but after a month I was fine with fresh potatoes, and tomatoes are ok, peppers still a bit iffy. I've found fruits, well cooked veges and plain meats are perfect for me.

If you're keeping track of foods, you might find a pattern, and figure out which foods work well for you for now. Once you're feeling better you can start slowly re-introducing these foods and you'll probably be able to eat them again once you're healed.