Three Questions

[waterlily-]

First, How long does it take to heal from gluten intolerance? I'm not severely intolerant. For example, I can eat two cookies and not get sick. (I am stopping doing that by the way as I found good recipes) So I wondered if it depended on how severe ones reaction to gluten is?

Second, what vitamins should I be taking on top of a multi vitamin? I know that with this you can be deficient in some things but I'm not sure what to get and what I need the most.

Third, Is it true that intolerance can develop into celiac's disease? I wouldn't think so..I would think that ones intolerance could become more severe if left alone, right?

Thanks!

[Korwyn]

First, How long does it take to heal from gluten intolerance? I'm not severely intolerant. For example, I can eat two cookies and not get sick. (I am stopping doing that by the way as I found good recipes) So I wondered if it depended on how severe ones reaction to gluten is?

Heal or recover? If you don't have celiac disease but non-celiac gluten sensitivity there probably isn't any 'healing' in the sense most people here normally use - in the strictest interpretation of the medical research. But your time to recover from the symptoms/effect may vary wildly from days to a couple weeks.

Second, what vitamins should I be taking on top of a multi vitamin? I know that with this you can be deficient in some things but I'm not sure what to get and what I need the most.

Unless you have celiac disease you should not be suffering gluten related malabsorption issues. This is not to say you don't have undiagnosed/untreated celiac disease. If you do exhibit signs of vitamin deficiency, you should probably have a full nutrition/blood workup. This is where a good ND can assist you as they generally seem to be more willing to order a full CBC with vitamin/mineral/hormone workups.

Third, Is it true that intolerance can develop into celiac's disease? I wouldn't think so..I would think that ones intolerance could become more severe if left alone, right?

You are going to get a number of varying answers on this. celiac disease requires a gene plus an environmental trigger to actually become 'active'. However, it appears that most people who have a gluten sensitivity probably carry at least one of the known celiac genetic markers. So chances are if you have a gluten sensitivity your already have potential to develop celiac disease. There is some feeling (depending on who you read and what research you follow) that gluten sensitivity is merely undiagnosed, asymptomatic, or undetectable (by current methods) celiac disease. This is the camp that I tend to fall into, but this is logically impossible to prove unless they find another positive cause for gluten sensitivity other than celiac disease.

You may have a lifelong intolerance and never develop celiac disease. You may have no intolerance or symptoms and suddenly develop celiac disease for any number of reasons. You may have an intolerance and they have celiac disease become fully active. There is no definite answer to your third question. :/

* Edited to add to my answer for question #2 *

[Jestgar]

Third, Is it true that intolerance can develop into celiac's disease? I wouldn't think so..I would think that ones intolerance could become more severe if left alone, right?

There is no known answer to this. Any responses you get are people's opinions, although some people feel quite strongly about theirs.

[Korwyn]

There is no known answer to this. Any responses you get are people's opinions, although some people feel quite strongly about theirs.

Of course I feel strongly about my correct opinion!

[GlutenFreeManna]

First, How long does it take to heal from gluten intolerance? I'm not severely intolerant. For example, I can eat two cookies and not get sick. (I am stopping doing that by the way as I found good recipes) So I wondered if it depended on how severe ones reaction to gluten is?

Second, what vitamins should I be taking on top of a multi vitamin? I know that with this you can be deficient in some things but I'm not sure what to get and what I need the most.

Third, Is it true that intolerance can develop into celiac's disease? I wouldn't think so..I would think that ones intolerance could become more severe if left alone, right?

Thanks!

1. Are you asking how long you have to be gluten-free before you are okay and can go back to eating it again? If so, the answer is NEVER. Whether you have celiac or non-celaic gluten intolerance a strict, 100% gluten-free diet for life is required. Just because you can eat a little bit without symptoms does NOT mean that the cookies are not doing damage to your body.

2. Have your vitamin levels checked to find out if you are deficient in anything first. Some vitamins you cannot overdose on, but many of them can be dangerous if you take to much and can do things like damage your liver or kidneys. It's important to consult with your dr so you are just taking what your NEED.

3. As the others said it depends on who you ask. I have seen many personal accounts on here of people who had repeated tests that were negative yet they had symptoms. They continued to eat gluten because the tests were negative until years later when they were much, much sicker they finally got a positive test result for celiac. So it's somewhat of a semantical problem, imo. They were reacting to gluten for years prior to getting a positive test result--Were they "gluten intolerant" until the celiac diagnosis or were they celiac disease sufferers that could not be diagnosed because the current tests are not good enough? I think there is a different diagnosis of gluten intolerance that is valid and not the same thing as celiac disease. however I also think there are a lot of celaic disease suffers walkign around with the label of non-celiac gluten intolerant just because the medical field and testing has not caught up to the same standards for other diseases. Since there's no money in researching this type of question (i.e. no drugs to help gluten-intolerants/celiacs) there is very little research into the difference. Some big strides have been made in improving testing in the past decade but IMO they are not enough and too few drs know about the subject.

[waterlily-]

1. Are you asking how long you have to be gluten-free before you are okay and can go back to eating it again? If so, the answer is NEVER. Whether you have celiac or non-celaic gluten intolerance a strict, 100% gluten-free diet for life is required. Just because you can eat a little bit without symptoms does NOT mean that the cookies are not doing damage to your body.

No, I meant how long for my gut to heal from eating the gluten before. If it just varies from person to person and how you can tell.

[GlutenFreeManna]

No, I meant how long for my gut to heal from eating the gluten before. If it just varies from person to person and how you can tell.

Sorry. It varies from person to person. The main way to tell is to by having a repeat biospy in 6 months to a year, if that is how you were diagnosed. You can also have the blood tests redone to see if antibodies decrease and if your initial vitamin and mineral panels are low then you can know if you are absorbing vitamins again when they are back to normal and you feel better. If you haven't had any of that testing done (as I have not) you won't really know except based on how you feel and what you are able to eat. I knew my vitamin levels had to be back to close to normal when my hair was no longer falling out in clumps and my nails were growing again. I knew my gut was getting better when I started to be able to digest more raw veggies and more beans (in the beginning I could not handle beans, raw salads and lots of nuts).