Mom's On Atkins

[SGWhiskers]

Mom refuses to get tested for celiac although she has a few symptoms and a strong family history. She goes on Atkins every now and again and has figured out that the first two weeks where all carbs are cut out make her feel sick. I wondered about gluten cross contamination, but also wondered why she wouldn't feel sicker when she reintroduced carbs.

I was home this past weekend and learned that she has started Atkins again. I asked her about how she was feeling in the first 2 weeks and she said that she has been cheating a little so that she does not get sick.

If there is some way to turn her experiences on the Atkins diet into an educated discussion about a need to get tested or try a gluten-free diet, I would love to jump on this opportunity.

I know little about the Atkins diet except that the first two weeks are essentially gluten free with cross contamination from pans. I was also just reading a post which suggested that a carb withdrawl that can be experienced on low carb diets might be gluten withdrawl.

Do any of you have experience or knowledge about gluten/carb withdrawl, low carb/Atkins diets etc from before you learned you needed to be gluten free?

[eatmeat4good]

I was on Atkins for 5 years. The only healthy 5 years in my life. What got me is that I didn't know about gluten. I went along happily thinking this is it! I will just eat this way for the rest of my life. Then started reacting, as we all do, to the smaller amounts of gluten and to cross contamination and of course, lipstick. I developed DH but it was treated as Adult acne because it was on my face. I then got "fibromyalgia" and landed in bed for 5 years still not knowing about gluten.

4 months ago found this site and am recovering.

I think this is a perfect opportunity for you to share with your mom. It is very serious even if you don't have many symptoms. By the time the big ones hit, they are so severe that you don't know and neither do the doctors what all the confounding symptoms mean.

One reason she may be feeling poorly on Atkins is the withdrawal. Another reason may be vitamins. It is really important to take vitamins while on Atkins. Or if you have Celiac.

You could start by telling her some vitamin deficiencies make you feel lousy. Even a slight deficiency of the b vitamins causes depression and fatigue. If you start there, maybe she will listen. I'd suggest she ask her Dr. to test for vitamin levels and then give her information about gluten.

Does she know about it and is resisitive? The family history alone warrants testing. I had mostly neurological and dermatological symptoms when it all came back. I'd begun spending the allowed carbs on pita bread instead of chocolate. Healthier right? No it wasn't. It took a forever long 7 years to figure it out.

She is very lucky to know about the family history and to have you as a consultant. There is a book that was helpful to a couple of my friends who had a hard time grasping that this might be effecting their kids. It is by Sherry Lieberman and has Gluten Intolerance in the title...sorry I can't be more specific...it is on loan to a friend.

Good luck, I hope she will get tested, but if not, maybe you can convince her to try your way for two weeks, if she can do Atkins, she can do Gluten free.

My sister got weakness and fatigue on Atkins but it was a potassioum deficiency that caused muscle problems.

Keep trying

[SueQueBlue]

I had been on and off Atkins several times before I was diagnosed. I had withdrawals and always missed my carbs for the 1st couple of weeks, and usually felt worse during that time. Eventually, my body would adjust and I would be fine.

I don't think my celiac was in full force at the time though. When my gall bladder came out in 2009, and I still was sick all the time, the only thing that made me feel better was bread. I couldn't eat pizza, but I thought that was the fat/spices from the pizza itself. The thing that was strange was that I was losing weight (and I could stand to lose alot of weight, so I was okay with that!), but I never thought I had celiac.

I think your body compensates for what is bad for you/making you sick, until it just "breaks". And you are used to living with the symptoms. My mom has IBS, and at 78 refuses to get tested for Celiac, because "she feels fine". So even though I have tried to explain to her how maybe she could feel better, she doesn't want to give up the way she eats. And at 78, who can blame her, if that's what she wants to do.

[SGWhiskers]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Yes, Mom's resistant to the idea that she could have celiac. She's using a little faulty logic and figuring that if she worries about having a disease, then she will give it to herself. If she stays tough and does not give in, then she won't be a hypochondriac like Grandma, Sister, and Daughter who must have given themselves those Celiac symptoms. (And my positive blood/biopsy). She's highly educated and only in her early 60's, but STUBBORN!

I'm hoping for a Gotcha moment with this Atkins. Having her say, "Wow, I feel so much better" or "I get sick everytime I try to add back bread." The concept of needing to keep a little bread in the diet to avoid getting sick is new to me and I'm not sure how or if it relates to celiac.

[Skylark]

The induction of metabolic ketosis on Atkins induction can make people feel sick. It has nothing to do with celiac at all. The little bit of carbs she eats prevents the ketosis and keeps her feeling more normal.

When I tried Atkins, I skipped the induction because I think it's unhealthy and started on Stage 2, with limited carbs mostly from fruit. That was my "aha" moment because I knew I was quite sensitive to wheat but I had been eating rye. When I cut out the rye, the last of my lingering GI problems went away.

[GlutenFreeManna]

Unfortunately there are many things that are low carb but still have gluten she may be eating. Like regular soy sauce, low carb tortillas, low carb pasta (still made with wheat flour last I saw them). Many low carb prodcts use things like wheat bran because the fiber cancels out the carbs or something like that. Also if she is consuming more dairy when she's low carb (cheese is a popular snack) she would have a hard time telling if the dairy or the wheat was bothering her, since many of us ar ealso lactose intolerant. Maybe if she uses soy sauce with wheat in it and gets sick after that you could gently point it out to her, but my guess is if she's that stubborn she won't accept your suggestion. My parents are pretty stubborn too and refuse to get tested. So I can really empathize with you. You might try asking for advice from the gluten free low carbers on this board: Open Original Shared Link Since they are following a low carb gluten-free diet and many discovered they have a problem with gluten while going low carb you might get more ideas about how to bring it up with your mom there.

[cassP]

i know that many experience gluten withdrawal, but i personally never have- other than EXTREME CRAVINGS almost as bad as ciggarettes.. but only for a few days.

YEARS ago- when i FIRST went on Atkins- STRICT, NO carbs, no sugar, no fruit.. i had no withdrawals, except mental cravings.. and the first 3 days i was EXHAUSTED- i believe this is because the body expects all it's energy to be consumed as complex carbs and takes a few days to change how it "asks" for energy.. from there on out- i really felt the best i ever had in my life- tons of energy, no sugar crashes, and well all the other gluten intolerant symptoms disappeared

BUTTTT- ps: everyone is different you know. while i felt like a million bucks- my friend ended up in the ER with Kidney issues