Questions about health

[zus888 37]

I'm trying one last time to get an answer to this question, since a couple of us newbies would like to know. I think I've been very strict about my GFD, and am wondering if I'll ever know when I've been glutened. At what point can I assume that I might have silent celiac?

[luvs2eat 60]

I think I was kind of a weird celiac. The ONLY symptoms I had were unrelenting diarrhea and super loud belly noises... no pain or bloating or anything else. I only had those symptoms for a couple of months before being definitively diagnosed. It was months and months before my diarrhea subsided and I began to feel normal again. Almost a year into my GFD, I slathered butter on a huge hunk of beautiful challah bread I'd made for others and chowed it down! AND HAD NO REPERCUSSIONS!!! None! I had this wonderful idea that I could "plan" a cheat, maybe once a month. I never got to test it out tho, cause the very next time I was accidentally glutened, I was sick as a dog... nausea, wanting to vomit, severe diarrhea, and brain fog. I've never cheated since... and if I'm accidentally glutened, I can count on 2-3 days of symptoms.

So, I guess, for me, it was about a year into the GFD that I started noticing huge accidental glutening symptoms... but I think it was probably way earlier for most.

Hope that answers your question.

[zus888 37]

Yes, it does! Thanks for the info! That is so strange that your first huge glutening caused no ill effects, but then you got symptoms on accidental ones after that!

I've been going along with your original mindset about planned cheats because I don't think I'll have any outward symptoms and am thinking a cheat every once in a while will damage the system a bit, but not enough to be unable to recover shortly.

It doesn't help that I've been dreaming of cheating.

Thanks for the feedback. It really does help!

[T.H. 406]

I put down a few days, but it's not quite the truth. I started having glutening symptoms at day 2, but as they didn't involve gut pain for me, I had no clue these were gluten symptoms for months afterwards. It was only when I started having more severe non-gut reactions, like an attack of vertigo so bad I'd fall to the floor, that I started to piece it together.

So in other words, my symptoms were present, but my awareness was not, if that makes sense?

My daughter started having gut symptoms arise at about 6 months into the diet, but her non-gut issues were present earlier, as well. I believe my father was something like 6-9 months gluten free before he started developing gut symptoms.

One thing that might help, especially in the case of asymptomatic celiac disease (in case it ends up being not completely silent) might be looking up mild symptoms that are not gut related so you can see if those might be there, yes? Here's some of the milder non-gut symptoms in my family (4 celiacs here), in case that might help. :-)

Glutening symptoms:

- a drop in frustration tolerance

- an increase in emotional problems. It can be like a case of PMS or, in my daughter's case, a raging panic/anxiety attack.

- an increase in clumsiness. Seriously. Two of us have vertigo, but for quite a long time, my daughter's was so mild that she didn't notice other than being more clumsy for a few days in a row.

- headaches, face tension, or ear aches

- difficulty processes new information

- an insomnia attack for a couple days, or very light sleeping with numerous wakings

- extreme thirst. My guess is that for this one, we're not absorbing water very well along with the nutrients.

- a recurrent pain in a particular place. My daughter's knees and calves start to ache really badly. My lower left back gets this throbbing pain for a few days. That sort of thing.

- difficulty dealing with stress. That kind of overwhelmed feeling when usually, you might be able to cope.

- Senses sensitivity. Noises are more grating, or people/things touching you are unpleasant or 'too much.' Taste is off, smells are off. It doesn't have to be all of them, with us, it's usually one or two senses, and not always the same ones.

- Muscle spasms

- soft tissue injuries can start hurting again. Carpal tunnel flare ups, for example.

That's all I can think of for the moment. :-) Really hope you end up having something that can help you figure out when you get glutened, but that is actually not too debilitating. So it's more like a little bicycle bell of warning rather than a car alarm.

[ilookthetype 2]

I put right away, it's within a few hours, and my roommate tends to notice it first because I loose my patience at the drop of a hat (normally nothing bothers me). It'll generally last about 2-3 days with intestinal issues, and then the fatigue and neurological side affects last for about a week.

I finally pegged the timing of the neuro down because i waitress weekends and work in an office during the week and i feel like hell every day but friday and saturday morning before i go into work, then after a few hours I feel like death. I think its from handling burgers and beer all day. which is just incredibly frustrating because i would kill for either of those things on any given day.

[Karla01 1]

Before I started the diet I was exhausted and lived on Immodium, for 5 years I did this. I have been on the diet since. I have not been glutened since, I don't eat out and I make all of my own food. Myself and my family are very careful. My blood antibody count came down from 336 to 27 last month. I don't think I have glutened myself yet.

[WhenDee 15]

Before I went gluten-free I had extreme constipation. Now my response to it depends on how clean my diet has been and how much or what type of gluten I get. I have an IRL celiac friend who has a much stronger & always-same response to it.

Mine varies from a week of terrible constipation --> to being chained to the potty for a day or two. Honestly, I'm not sure which is worse! What doesn't change for me is feeling tired, irritable, and foggy-headed. But those are symptoms that can sneak up on you.

To answer your question specifically - it was how I found out I had a problem with wheat at all. The doc thought I had a really bad bug and put me on a strict diet. Rice only for 3 days, then slowly introducing salad vegetables. I was feeling better than I had felt in MONTHS, maybe YEARS! Then I had something with wheat in it and was violently ill, right away. So my answer is: I had been gluten-free for about 6-7 days.

There's no such thing as "silent" Celiac's in the long-run. Whether it is diarrhea today or colon cancer tomorrow - eventually it makes some noise. I feel grateful, actually, that mine makes such a statement NOW, because it would be awfully hard to be good if it didn't.