Chrionic Fatigue And Other Symptoms?

[bb1987]

For as long as I can remember, I have been so so tired. I am talking about throughout my childhood and through my teenage years into my 20s. I am now in my early/mid-20s and feel as though I am triple my age! I was "diagnosed" with depression as the cause of my fatigue a year or so ago, but as the medicine is no longer seeming to help, I continue to wonder if gluten is the answer.

I constantly have stomachaches, abdominal cramps (I think I am pregnant every month because of these), nausea, fatigue (no matter how long I sleep), heartburn, eczema...I am probably leaving something out.

I guess my questions are: does this sound familiar to anyone? How do you get started on a gluten-free diet? It seems so hard to me, but I know that I need to try it because I am losing energy to do daily things. Thanks for your help!

[glutentheintolerant]

I was immensely tired and have suffered depression since childhood.

Sometimes after eating something, all I wanted to do was just take a nap.

Passing stool was extremely tiring for me, forcing me to eat something afterwards or else be too tired to do much of anything.

All that changed when I switched to a gluten-free diet. I gained energy I didn't think I had and I can now actually focus on what I'm doing without getting a headache or simply not being able to retain information.

The only difficult part is living with someone who isn't on a gluten-free diet. The rest you just roll into; try not to eat processed foods unless they're guaranteed Gluten-free and check each and every product before you eat it.

Can't relate to any of your other symptoms but that's because people who have a problem with gluten seem to have a wild range of symptoms.

You'll want to get tested for celiac's before you switch to a gluten-free diet. There's no accurate testing afterwards from what I gather.

[NCM]

When I was 15 I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I was tired all the time and I'd wake up just as tired or feel even worse than the day before. It didn't matter how much sleep I got. It's been like that ever since and all my life I thought I had a whole wheat allergy which caused stomach issues. I gave up going to doctors for it when I was 19 because I'd seen so many and the only answer was chronic fatigue syndrome. I had my answer so I figured there was no point in talking to doctors about it, that I just had to learn to live with it. Now in my mid 30s I was finally tested for Celiac Disease (because I started having problems eating foods I used to be able to eat) and it was positive and confirmed with a positive biopsy. It CAN cause severe fatigue. I also had horrible aches and pains all through my body which went away within a week of going gluten free. I encourage you to get the testing done so you know for sure if you have it and you'll know to test your kids or future kids for it. My kids both tested positive for it so I'm relieved we caught it when they are younger and they don't have to go through what I went through. If you don't have it then you need to look for another answer. Don't give up!

[jk17]

Although I'm not officially diagnosed with Celiacs, I was experiencing many of the same symptoms you describe. I went gluten free approximately 3 weeks ago. While I am not completely "cured" - I have noticed some definite changes! This whole last summer I was feeling exhausted frequently, and found it nearly impossible to get up unless I had at least 9 hours of sleep - and even then if was a challenge (usually in the summer months I find I need less sleep, and in the past have woken up quite easily after 7-8 hours). I was getting lots of headaches and would feel exhausted quickly. Lots of stomach aches too. Like I said, I'm not completely cured, but doing much better!

I would suggest doing all that you can to get a diagnosis first. My doctor had my stop eating gluten prior to thorough testing, so now I'm not sure its possible to obtain a diagnosis unless I were to start eating gluten again.

It is challenging to stop eating gluten - I had tons of gluten in my former diet, and everyone in my family eats a lot of gluten. I just have to continually remind myself that it is totally worth it for me to make different dietary choices and feel so much better. There is still so much out there that is gluten free! It just takes going back to the basics of meat, rice, vegetables, fruit, etc. I had to give up dairy 4 months ago, which was extremely hard, but I think helped prepped me emotionally to give up gluten too. At first there are cravings and mood swings, but don't worry, it will get easier to turn down food and choose what will not cause you health problems!