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I Honestly Felt Better When I Was On Gluten

jasonD2

By jasonD2
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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jasonD2 Experienced
jasonD2
Posted

Sure I was constipated and didnt go for 2-3 days but i was able to keep my weight on and didnt have all these other food sensitivities. i feel like ever since i cut gluten out i started developing more and more problems. anyone understand why this is going on? shouldnt it have been the complete opposite? i know i shouldnt think this way but i feel like my health is going to continue to deteriorate and there is nothing i can do about it. i havent had blood work in over a yr and really need to go for one but im terrified that they will find something new thats wrong with me. last time my liver ALT enzyme was a little high but what if its 5x higher and what if there are other problems? ive been ignoring all my health issues for the past 8 months & i think i need to start getting more tests and get back on track

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Niebr Collaborator
Niebr
Posted

I honestly am the same way, I refuse to take aspirin. I refuse just about any bad medical advice from anyone except a hospital. And even then i question them. Go get the tests done, its better than sitting there going out of your mind wondering. believe me you can do that one easily if you don't know for sure.

burdee Enthusiast
burdee
Posted

Sure I was constipated and didnt go for 2-3 days but i was able to keep my weight on and didnt have all these other food sensitivities. i feel like ever since i cut gluten out i started developing more and more problems. anyone understand why this is going on? shouldnt it have been the complete opposite? i know i shouldnt think this way but i feel like my health is going to continue to deteriorate and there is nothing i can do about it.

My history is similar to yours. I thought abstaining from gluten would eliminate my gut symptoms. However, gluten was just the tip of my health 'iceberg'. When symptoms continued I took allergy tests and was diagnosed with 6 more food allergies. Abstaining from those foods didn't eliminate all my symptoms. So I kept getting stool tests, got diagnosed with 8 different gut bugs, and treated those bugs over a four year period. Finally I found a doc who looked for causes of my susceptibility to gut bugs. We discovered I had low stomach acid, low white blood cells, low vitamin D levels and low thyroid levels, which all lowered my immunity. Treating all that FINALLY eliminated my symptoms (constipation, bloating, cramping pain, recurrent respiratory infections). All that took 7+ years.

I suspect years of undiagnosed celiac disease allowed me to develop 6 more allergies as well as Hashimoto's thyroiditis. I know that low stomach acid allowed me to develop intestinal infections from food born bacteria and parasites. Taking years of antibiotics (for bladder infections) w/o taking probiotics allowed me to develop candida. Taking vancomycin for C-diff and Iodoquinol for Dientamoeba fragilis decreased my white blood cell level, which lowered my immunity to respiratory infections.

Undiagnosed celiac disease caused other problems. Treating those problems caused more problems. However, I finally resolved my symptoms thanks to a naturopath who looked at my whole health history and tested everything, rather than just chasing my gut bugs.

So hang in there. Keep getting tested and treat whatever you have. Especially look for causes of your symptoms. You probably had celiac disease and those 'food sensitivities' much longer than you suspect. Perhaps your health problems are all interrelated as mine were. Eventually you will recover, esp. if you take responsibility for your health and just keep working on recovery. I may be 64 years old, but I feel much healthier now than I did during my 40s.

jasonD2 Experienced
jasonD2
Posted
  • Author

Thanks Sue- yes i know your history by heart already ;-) ive put testing and all that stuff on hold just cause i needed a break from it all but gonna go back soon and see where I am. will keep u posted

viviendoparajesus Apprentice
viviendoparajesus
Posted

i agree in some ways i too felt better on gluten. i feel like i crashed, got diagnosed, stopped crashing, and switched symptoms. on gluten, i had constipation, stomachaches, headaches, and skin problems. about a year ago, i was so bloated, could not lose weight, and kept getting infections. off gluten, i could go the bathroom, headaches were less often and severe, my skin cleared up a lot. since then/ in the past year, i still have stomachaches, i have nausea and dizziness i do not ever remember having before and i have memory problems and am itchier more often and it is worse than before. should not i be having less symptoms not more? so i can relate to what you are saying. i agree should not we feel better. it depends on my mood and how things are going sometimes i hold on to hope and believe i will get better. other times i just feel like i am getting worse and will continue to feel this way or get worse. i would like to know what is going on. i wish i could get lab work done but doctors make it such a hassle. i do not want to waste time and energy if nothing is wrong cannot you just send me a card or we work off no news is good news. the other doctors will not even do tests for me. i am moving more toward companies that will just let me have the tests. i would rather know because i think knowledge is power. i would love to find a health professional i could work with. i think that could help you too because while we are experts on ourselves and life with celiac's/ gluten intolerance we do not know all the medicine and stuff doctors do. ignoring health problems does not fix them or make them go away. that said i think sometimes all this is overwhelming and depressing so i think it can be good to take a break but i think sometimes we need to get help. best wishes!

burdee Enthusiast
burdee
Posted

Thanks Sue- yes i know your history by heart already ;-) ive put testing and all that stuff on hold just cause i needed a break from it all but gonna go back soon and see where I am. will keep u posted

Sorry to bore you with the details, but I wanted to tell you with my story that you can recover if you just keep working on your health. I know how frustrating recovery can be, esp. when I think I'm finally well and my symptoms return. I was doing very well until 3 weeks ago when I got contaminated (I suspect dairy from my symptoms) at a restaurant which I trusted for years. I've eaten the same entree over a dozen times and never reacted. However, I visited the restaurant on a very busy night. Somehow my entree was contaminated, even though I couldn't see any signs of allergens on my plate. At first I suspected another gut bug, but my symptoms followed the usual pattern of a dairy reaction (10 days of cramping gut pain and constipation). I'm back to my normal healthy self now. Nevertheless, I learned to be more careful, even in restaurants where I've never had problems. Abstaining from 7 food allergens can be challenging at times. Nevertheless, I'm so much healthier now than most people my age.

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