Can Celiac Get Better?

[alpha752]

I been diagnosed with Celiac and living Gluten Free for about a year. Ive been doing very well on a gluten-free diet, and while having been contaminated a few times, Ive had no incidents in nearly 6 months. Tonight, for a couple of reasons, I decided to purposely contaminate myself. I had real pizza for the first time in over a year. It was the most wonderful thing ive ever had. However, I was literally shaking because I was so scared about what was going to happen to me. From past experience with being inadvertently contaminated, I know that 20-30 minutes after eating I will start to have cramps, and 10-30 minutes after that all hell breaks loose. The weird thing is, here I am, 3 hours later and I feel fine. I feel slight stomach upset, but nothing more then if you have eaten a large meal and are over full. No pain, no nausea, no diarrhea... nothing. This has me stumped.

I got to thinking, and I have no idea if this is possible or not, but I was thinking about the physical damage that Celiacs does to us. After being gluten-free for so long, that damage is repaired by our bodies. Is it possible that once the damage is repaired, our symptoms lesson when contaminated again? I know that the gluten I ate today will start to damage my intestines again, but perhaps, because my body is repaired, you get a "free bee" until the damage returns. I imagine if I returned to a gluten diet, I would be fully symptomatic in no time, but its got me wondering if we can sneak in a free one every year or so.

My other theory is that because I am constipated (sorry for the over share, but its part of our disease to talk about these things), it is just taking longer to hit my intestines and cause symptoms then normal. Part of the reason I had the gluten was to help flush out my system and loosen things up. There is a chance that I will become symptomatic in the near future.

Anyone have any thoughts to share?

[Wolicki]

Everyone is different, but the thing to remember is that you are damaging your intestines. When I first went gluten free, I didn't notice cc too much. After about two months, I became incredibly sensitive and would be sick for days from cc. After a year or so, symptoms lessened, but then got worse again.

Some people have delayed reactions, by days sometimes. It is not a good idea to intentionally eat gluten for any reason if you are a diagnosed celiac.

For constipation, are you drinking enough water and getting enough fiber? Stay away from the pizza! Just because you can't see or (immediately) feel the damage, it is happening. Be kind to yourself and stay strictly gluten free.

[Roda]

Sure if you follow a gluten free diet your celiac can and will get better. Everytime to consume gluten though you are starting the immune response all over again and doing damage.

[T.H.]

I've heard of others whose symptoms eventually got less after they'd been strict on the diet for quite a while.

As for a freebee, well, I guess I think of it like this.

We're damaging our intestines right? Our own body attacking the villi until it's eaten away, essentially.

An analogy that worked for me was this: What if eating gluten was like making a cut on our skin. If we cut the skin in the same place before it's healed, it'll bleed more easily, yeah? If we let it heal, then it's better able to deal with the damage and heal it if we cut it again.

However...how healthy does it seem to cut that same spot, over and over again? I just can't imagine that it won't eventually have an effect, and probably not a good one.

But honestly, that's nothing more than opinion. I don't really know what effect having a yearly gluten moment would have, I just wouldn't feel comfortable doing it myself