Nausea!

[watata]

I am just diagnosed a week ago. Have been gluten-free since then. I was hoping my nausea would get better. But in the last few days it has gotten worse. Anyone know if this gets better, or if anything else could be a culprit of nausea?

[JoshB]

Hate to be the bearer of bad new, but...

Lots and lots of people get worse before the get better. I did. You've got a chain of auto-immune reactions going off. It just starts off with your body hating gluten, when you have celiac disease your body has started hating itself, and so it damages your stomach, which sets off more immune response, which damages your stomach, which sets off... well you get it. Think of it like a car engine, if you cut the gas it's still turns over for a while.

Eventually if you don't keep feeding the reaction with gluten it will die out, but it might take even a couple months. And at that point you've not gotten better, you've just finally stopped doing new damage. Then you start healing.

So you haven't really healed anything yet, but you've probably dramatically changed your diet, and you're asking a damaged digestive system to adapt on the fly to a completely new balance of food.

Also, you may be one of the people sensitive to wheat as an opiate, and now you're having withdrawals. Yeah, I know that sounds crazy, but it's pretty well documented at this point. I went through it myself, and it was not fun. I've seen the original research before, but can't seem to find it now, so here's a link to a doctor's discussion on the subject: Open Original Shared Link

So all that sounds pretty bad, but press on. You're half way through the worst of it. If you are in withdrawal that should cut back soon, and your gut bacteria should be adjusting to your new diet which will help with the nausea. Remember to eat a lot of fruit and veggies. Even if you want meat and starches as comfort food. You don't have the wheat fiber to push things through anymore.

[eatmeat4good]

The nausea lasted several weeks for me. It was like my stomach didn't know what to do even with gluten free food. I took Promethazine for a few weeks and it made a big difference. It's a prescription, but if you are really miserable with nausea it really helps. There is a withdrawal period and you can have all kinds of symptoms from that, but eventually your body will adjust.

[watata]

Yes I take promethazine 3 x a day and it just barely takes the edge off the nausea. Hoping this passes soon! Thanks for the responses.

[mommyto2kids]

For me I realized that steak and greesy food makes me sick now. Chips can be unpredictable and any new processed food. Eating out makes me sick. I love millet bread and fruit and yogert. I usually do well with these things. Baked chicken is ok too.

[Hungrylady]

You can eat as much fennel bulb as you wish and it really does help! I hope you feel a little better every day. It does take time, sadly.

[moose07]

It took a few months for my nausea to go away. Drinking mint tea helped a little to calm my stomach down right after I started gluten free