When Will I Feel Better?

[dilligaf408]

My husband has had alot of stomach problems for over 10 years. He has seen many doctors and been told many different theories. Mainly stating that he has IBS but we have concluded that his symtoms are just much worse and nothing helps. In the last year it has gotten really bad and has even started to cause panic attacks. We read about celiac disease and have decided to start a gluten free diet. How long before we could know if being gluten free has helped?

[ravenwoodglass]

Welcome to the board. It might be a good idea to ask for a celiac panel before trying the diet. An endoscopic biopsy can also be done to check for celiac. However both tests have fairly high false negative rates so a trial of the diet needs to be done no matter what the results. We do have to be very strict with the diet and some folks have a hard time with that if they don't have a doctors diagnosis but others are fine with just doing the diet and seeing if it helps. If you do decide to go with a diet trial and then decide you want a doctors diagnosis that requires eating gluten again for about 3 months or so and if someone needs to be gluten free that can make them very ill.

For some relief comes pretty quickly on the diet. My 'IBS' symptoms resolved within a week or two but some of my other issues took much longer. It is best to avoid dairy at first as many of us cannot digest lactose until we heal. Going with whole unprocessed foods at first is the best way to go and you do have to watch out for cross contamination. He will need his own toaster for gluten free bread, a seperate new strainer, to replace scratched nonstick pans and wooden utensils. He will also need his own condiments, nut butters, jellies etc to prevent cross contamination for 'double dipping'.

[quincy]

My husband has had alot of stomach problems for over 10 years. He has seen many doctors and been told many different theories. Mainly stating that he has IBS but we have concluded that his symtoms are just much worse and nothing helps. In the last year it has gotten really bad and has even started to cause panic attacks. We read about celiac disease and have decided to start a gluten free diet. How long before we could know if being gluten free has helped?

I assume that in all those years and all those theories, not ONE doctor ever thought to give him a celiac blood test? If true, it never ceases to amaze me....

If he has been sick all these years and panic attacks have set in (that was my first symptom) IMHO go for celiac blood work and/or endoscopy before you start the gluten-free diet just to see if he has any damage to small intestine.

[dilligaf408]

I assume that in all those years and all those theories, not ONE doctor ever thought to give him a celiac blood test? If true, it never ceases to amaze me....

If he has been sick all these years and panic attacks have set in (that was my first symptom) IMHO go for celiac blood work and/or endoscopy before you start the gluten-free diet just to see if he has any damage to small intestine.

thanks for all the replies. your info has been very helpful