Absorption Issues?

[groovinkc]

So I've been diagnosed with celiac for 3 years now & have been completely gluten free for about 2.5 years. I've had 3 endoscopies to see what's going on in my intestines & the last one showed that my villi are still blunted (I've had bloodwork done and the antibody level is in the normal range indicating that I am sticking to my gluten free diet). Obviously this causes serious issues but my doctor doesn't really make it to be a big deal. He just tells me it will take time to heal. I'm ok with that except that my body is not absorbing important nutrients. I've seen several people recommend to other people that are having the same issue to take vitamin supplements. However how does that change anything? My body won't absorb them, so why bother. I mean if my body isn't absorbing the nutrients from the food I eat, why would it absorb a straight vitamin. That makes no sense to me. I suffer from being lethargic & depressed, and I'm very tired of feeling this way. What on earth can I do?

I am kind of surprised this isn't talked about more often or that no one wants to know this as well.

[mushroom]

Hello, and welcome to the board.

Actually, we discuss this quite a lot here, because if you have a damaged gut you are not absorbing things properly, the definition of celiac disease. There are ways of overcoming this, mainly ways of bypassing the digestive system. Injections are routinely given for B12 and iron, or you can take the sublingual B12 that dissolve under the tongue. Prescription strength Vit.D seems to work for most people (50,000 IU).

But start with repairing the gut first and foremost. Have you been taking probiotics and/or digestive enzymes to help your digestion? Have you tried L-Glutamine to heal the gut? There are lots of things we can do to help things along, starting with having your nutrient (vitamin and mineral/electrolyte) levels testing to find out what you need to supplement, and then using products to promote healing in the gut. If your doctor is not hep to these things or will not cooperate in ordering the tests it might be time to find another one. This is all basic stuff in recovery from celiac/gluten poisoning. Nutarient deficiencies can leave you very tired and lethargic; so can hypothyroidism, and your thryoid should be checked too.

Let us know how you have been heallng.

[cassP]

yes i agree with mushroom- that's why many of us have done B12 shots or sublinguals.. Because the stomach would probably not absorb it well enough.

[HealingIsEasy]

So I've been diagnosed with celiac for 3 years now & have been completely gluten free for about 2.5 years. I've had 3 endoscopies to see what's going on in my intestines & the last one showed that my villi are still blunted (I've had bloodwork done and the antibody level is in the normal range indicating that I am sticking to my gluten free diet). Obviously this causes serious issues but my doctor doesn't really make it to be a big deal. He just tells me it will take time to heal. I'm ok with that except that my body is not absorbing important nutrients. I've seen several people recommend to other people that are having the same issue to take vitamin supplements. However how does that change anything? My body won't absorb them, so why bother. I mean if my body isn't absorbing the nutrients from the food I eat, why would it absorb a straight vitamin. That makes no sense to me. I suffer from being lethargic & depressed, and I'm very tired of feeling this way. What on earth can I do?

I am kind of surprised this isn't talked about more often or that no one wants to know this as well.

Groovinkc - I had the same problem. It was extremely frustrating. But I went with a liquid vitamin making sure that it had the 90 essential nutrients and my absorption problem cleared up. You may want to check into something like that.