Can't Get Rid Off A Salmonella Infection

[leo]

Hi, I'm a newbie at these sort of stuff. I'm not sure if I have celiac, but I've been on a gluten free diet since February because of a salmonella infection. The thing is that I started feeling better, and before I could remit in June, (my doctor thought that by then I'll be in remission) I had a relapse. I've been cheating often and ate pasta and bread. I survived my June relapse and the doctor extended the diet until December, then I felt better once more and ate some pita bread and pasta, and in two weeks relapsed again. The doctor said that the culprit is flour, and that if I keep cheating the inflammation in my gut would make it easy to relapse. So, my question is that if it is possible to develop celiac or a gluten intolerance after a thing like this. It has been real frustrating, my family gets it, but my coworkers say that is a mental thing...go figure!!! I've lost some weight on this diet and I'm having a hard time getting up to where I was.

[ravenwoodglass]

Has your doctor confirmed with stool samples that you had salmonella? I have had that and I was given antibiotics to take care of it.

Did your doctor ever test you for celiac? He should have done that before he told you to go gluten free. I have never heard of a doctor 'prescribing' the diet as a rememdy for food poisoning so I wonder if he tested you and your tests were positive.

[GlutenFreeManna]

I agree with Raven. Salmonella is usually treated with antibiotics, not a dietary change. If you have celiac then you will never be able to eat gluten again. His telling you to just try gluten-free for a few months and then you should be "healed" enough to eat it again is all wrong if he is suspecting celiac or even gluten intolerance. You need to go back on gluten for testing for celaic (which your dr should have done before telling you to go gluten-free). I think it's time to get a new dr, go back on gluten for e few months if you can handle it and get the blood tests and biopsy done to check for celiac. Even if the tests end up negative you could be glutne intolerant, which also requires a life-time strict gluten-free diet. Listen to your body, if gluten makes you sick don't eat it!

[leo]

Thanks for your responses. I have taken the antibiotics and the whole 9 yards of medication for the side effects in my intestine. According to the doctor the diet is so that my intestine can get healed enough to restore the balance of flora and so the bacteria would be easily fought by the inmune system. This last relapse I had to take the antibiotics via injection, so I won't hurt my stomach so much. I got diagnosed via a Blood test, I was as nauseous as if I were pregnant, was loosing weight and couldn't eat or even think about food, for that matter. I did not present the usual symptoms when diagnosed, but like a year and a half before I had a minor episode of food poisoning that sort of resolved by it self (so I thought). I had a light fever, cramps, nausea and bloating. I didn't have diarrhea nor dehydration, or anything that needed urgent care.

The problem now is that even though I haven't been tested for celiac, I relapsed because I ate some bread and pasta, and like a week later ate seafood (anybody else that day didn't get sick), and according to the doctor, if I hadn't cheated, I wouldn't had relapsed. And now I feel my stomach kind of strange after eating bread or pasta. I

[GlutenFreeManna]

Thanks for your responses. I have taken the antibiotics and the whole 9 yards of medication for the side effects in my intestine. According to the doctor the diet is so that my intestine can get healed enough to restore the balance of flora and so the bacteria would be easily fought by the inmune system. This last relapse I had to take the antibiotics via injection, so I won't hurt my stomach so much. I got diagnosed via a Blood test, I was as nauseous as if I were pregnant, was loosing weight and couldn't eat or even think about food, for that matter. I did not present the usual symptoms when diagnosed, but like a year and a half before I had a minor episode of food poisoning that sort of resolved by it self (so I thought). I had a light fever, cramps, nausea and bloating. I didn't have diarrhea nor dehydration, or anything that needed urgent care.

The problem now is that even though I haven't been tested for celiac, I relapsed because I ate some bread and pasta, and like a week later ate seafood (anybody else that day didn't get sick), and according to the doctor, if I hadn't cheated, I wouldn't had relapsed. And now I feel my stomach kind of strange after eating bread or pasta. I

[leo]

Oh, you are in Mexico! That could explain why your dr is not knowledgeable of celiac. It's hard to find a knowledgeable dr in the US too. Celiac disease is not casued by bacteria. It is a genetic auto-immune disease. It can be "triggered" at any time in your life if you have the genes. Your episode of food poisoning may have been the trigger that started your celiac disease symptoms. If you have celiac you can never "heal" enough to go back to eating gluten. If you have symptoms when you go back to eating gluten after removing it for a while it means you very likely have celiac disease or at the very least you have gluten intolerance (which cannot be tested for but also requires a strict 100% gluten-free diet). People without celiac/gluten intolerance can switch between not eating gluten and eating gluten without any symptoms. The fact that your "food poisoning" symptoms come back (which are very classic symptoms of celaic) when you eat bread or pasta means you very likely have celiac. Since doctors are not very knowledgeable in your country you may want to just self diagnose and eat gluten-free.

If you do go back on gluten for testing a few things to consider:

1. Make sure they are doing the entire celiac diseas panel and not just one test. You can find a list of the tests here: Open Original Shared Link

2. You MUST eat gluten for 3 months in the amount of about 4 slices of bread a day to get an accurate test result.

3. Even with the challenge of eatign glutne for 3 months you tests could come up false negative. The tests are not 100% accurate.

4. If your symptoms are bad when you try to reintroduce gluten don't do it. You can do your body damage and it can take even longer to recover when you go gluten-free again. People who have celiac and don't stick to a gluten-free diet have increased risk of developing cancer, other auto-immune disease and also somethign called refractory celiac--which is celiac that does not respond to a gluten-free diet.

Thanks for the help. I'm waiting until December, that's when I'm supposed to get tested to see if the Salmonella is gone or at least inactive, and get back to my "normal" diet. But in the meanwhile, I'll consult with a gastroenterologist, now that I've read the website link in your post. Several things rung bells, including the loss of teeth enamel ( wich has been pointed out by my dentist recently) and the anemia (wich I have been struggling with for two years). I'm afraid to get tested now and relapse again.