Thoughts?

[viviendoparajesus]

I had a lot of health problems last year. Someone suggested gluten could be an issue so I started going gluten-free in the spring. I was diagnosed last summer and I went completely gluten-free. I also was told i had casein intolerance so i went of dairy. I was also told to avoid soy and corn. At times, I limited nightshades and grains. I noticed some improvements - skin cleared up, not constipated any more, warts went away, memory improved, brain fog lessened, better sleep, and mood stabilized. I wanted to feel better like I used to a few years ago when I had really stable mood, little to no brain fog, great concentration, good memory, energetic.

Since April, I have been feeling worse and I do not understand why. I have diarrhea, cannot digest food, and bad stomachaches. I am always tired, cannot remember, warts came back, memory has gotten worse, i have brain fog, am distracted, have poor concentration, and am irritable. I am in more pain - headaches, back, shoulder blades, feet, etc. I just do not feel like myself and my quality of life stinks. I also think I must have malnutrition again given the GI issues. I eat good strict gluten-free diet no cheating and it is not an issue of CC. I do not think it is another common food problem - soy, nightshades, corn, other grains, etc. Typical diet - fruit (depends on season - peaches, nectarine, banana, grape, pear, berries, melon, etc), veggies (yellow summer squash, zucchini, green beans, kidney beans, lima beans, pinto beans, peas, asparagus, cucumber, celery, etc), meat (chicken, ground turkey, limited beef, lamb on occasion, no pork), nuts (mostly almonds, peanuts only on occasion), oil (extra virgin olive oil), himilaya sea salt. Supplements - digestive enzymes, serenaid. I have tried general vitamin supplements and ones that are supposed to help with GI healing, but they did not seem to make a difference or i felt worse. I do not think it is an issue of stress.

Any body have a similar situation? Any ideas as to what I can do to feel better?

Thanks for your any help, insights, or input you might have.

[glutout]

Have you gone back to your doctor with these issues?? Sounds like someone has done a good job finding different food sensitivites, etc. Maybe there is more to be done? Have you had something like H Pylori checked?

[lovegrov]

I know that doctors aren't always helpful, but if you haven't seen yours with these returning symptoms, you should. These are some serious symptoms that might not even be related to what you're eating.

richard

[Bubba's Mom]

You might want to experiment with a diet low in salicylates? These naturally occur in some foods and can react in your tummy and intestine just like aspirin, causing upset and even ulcers.

Open Original Shared Link

[bartfull]

Well, a lot of the fruits and veggies you are eating may be CC'd with corn. Bananas are gassed with ethylene gas to make them ripen. (They are also grown with so much pesticide that I would never eat one again, even if I could!) Bagged salads, bagged baby carrots, and some other veggies are washed in a corn based "citrus" wash. Frozen fruits and veggies are often dusted with cornstarch to keep them from clumping together. I just found out that even the ICE you find covering veggies in the grocery store may have corn starch in it. Supposedly it keeps it from melting so quickly.

The new packaging can be a big problem for corn allergies too. I just got corned last week from drinking WATER out of one of those "crystal clear" plastic bottles. They have replaced the BPA's with a corn derived substitute. That is now starting to show up in the lining in cans too, so as of now, I will not eat ANYTHING that comes out of a can.

Also any vitamins or supplements you take may (and probably do) contain corn or wheat. I had to completely stop all of my vitamins, and am just hoping I can get enough nutrition on my very limited diet.

[viviendoparajesus]

the doctor checked for h pylori and parasites. they were negative. we did a couple anti-parasite programs any way. i also did an anti-candida program.

had not heard about all the cc issues with corn. it is not labeled real well. probably because it is not a "major allergen."

i wish i could find a good doctor. my experience has been they do not listen, they think i am crazy/ hypocondriac, they do not know how to help me, and/or they do not work with me. yeah i have been thinking i need to see a doctor. i am just sick of the crap i usually get. i also cannot afford to take time of work or go to an out of network doctor. hmm.

i had seen something about the salicylates before. i think i looked at it a little. i should probably look at it some more.

thanks for the replies and information. i so love this site/ forum!

[GlutenFreeManna]

Why are you taking SerenAid? I would drop the supplements. It could be giving you bad side effects.

Also check your personal hygiene products- shampoo, lotions, etc. Anything that gets on your hands can get in your mouth.

[AVR1962]

the doctor checked for h pylori and parasites. they were negative. we did a couple anti-parasite programs any way. i also did an anti-candida program.

had not heard about all the cc issues with corn. it is not labeled real well. probably because it is not a "major allergen."

i wish i could find a good doctor. my experience has been they do not listen, they think i am crazy/ hypocondriac, they do not know how to help me, and/or they do not work with me. yeah i have been thinking i need to see a doctor. i am just sick of the crap i usually get. i also cannot afford to take time of work or go to an out of network doctor. hmm.

i had seen something about the salicylates before. i think i looked at it a little. i should probably look at it some more.

thanks for the replies and information. i so love this site/ forum!

If I were waiting on advise from my doc, I would still be sick, seriously. Sounds to me like something is creeping into your diet still either thru CC with something.....kitchen, food items you're not aware of OR it is something new. One thought is high fructose. For me it gives me the same symptoms as gluten. Also, check out a high salicylate food list.

Are you supplementing? Eventhough you have been doing better your body still could be vitamin and mineral deficient.

[Reba32]

Could even be additional auto-immune disease(s). If you do get to a doctor, ask about testing for AIs. This can get incredibly frustrating and expensive though, because AIs are difficult to pin down.

[T.H.]

Any body have a similar situation? Any ideas as to what I can do to feel better?

Thanks for your any help, insights, or input you might have.

I had a similar situation with my daughter, my son, and myself, yeah. I know a few here who have as well, to different extents. For some of us, after we have been gluten free for a while, we become more sensitive to gluten. I headed straight to super-sensitivity. My son ended up with a lot of gluten-free foods that were safe at first, but a few from the list now make him sick. My daughter started getting sick from all her normal gluten-free foods except one. She seems more sensitive to cc from products that have changed things in the production line and to gluten cc from other sources, now.

Foods that we have reacted to that would be in your diet:

nuts and beans - At about 6-8 months gluten-free, my daughter started having problems with unflavored nuts and dried beans that were processed with wheat, while she was fine with these processed without wheat. The first time, we both reacted to the same nuts (we have different symptoms of glutening) - it's actually what helped us realize gluten might be an issue with our nuts, and started looking at other dried goods, too. Sadly, the 'processed with wheat' label is voluntary, not mandatory, so finding safe nuts involves a lot of calls.

Veggies and fruits - a weird question: does your grocery store allow free cookies to kids while their moms are shopping? Ours does this and in the store, I've seen the kids eating their cookies and touching fruits and veggies in the store at the same time. So theoretically, there could be some gluten cc issues with those if not washed with soap and water thoroughly.

Meat - One that got us was raw bison meat. I'd been eating it just fine, and then the company started using the same grinder for both their sausage (with gluten in it) and their plain raw meat. After that, I was sick on it, although it took quite a while to figure that one out!

Oil - This happened to us with our Spectrum oil, where wheat germ oil was processed on the same line. I had lots of different oils from them, and was only using one bottle of one type at first. But when I got a new bottle, or tried to use the other oils, I was getting sick all the time, because I would use the oil every day. Also another one that took a while to track down!

salt - is your salt made by a company that also makes any spice/flavoring mixtures, especially any with gluten, that might be processed or packaged in the same facility? It's rare, but when I was calling around for salt, I did come across this. In the early days, though, so I wasn't recording down the information like I should and don't recall the company anymore.

supplements - my daughter has had a terrible time finding supplements that didn't make her sick. We haven't tried digestive enzymes because I'm a bit nervous about it, for the same reason. Might be worthwhile to check on those to see if they test for gluten levels with every batch, possibly? If they don't, it might be possible for gluten cc to sneak through a batch here or there and causing issue.

Also, some of the labeled gluten-free or naturally gluten-free food (in the USA) aren't tested, and may be contaminated, as well. This study is a great example of this being an issue: Open Original Shared Link

From what you listed in your diet, however, it didn't sound like you use any grains, is that right?

And one last thing. For me, with gastro issues, I developed a few food intolerances/allergies along the way. All I get from some of them are gastro problems, and some I get gastro and spacy-headed kind of stuff. I had to space things out and do a food journal to track 'em down.

Sorry I can't be of more help. Just figured if you've been tested for some of the usual suspects in a situation like this, you might want to check out some of the more unusual ones. :-)

[SoyBoy]

A lot of the fruits (peaches, pears, etc.) you are eating are high in sorbitol. I have read that a high percentage of the general population (and even higher percentage of celiac population) are intolerant of sorbitol. Tree nuts (ie. almonds) are also something to keep an eye on. Just some food for thought as you track your diet and symptoms.

[Britgirl]

I would definitely ask for more testing and see a nutritionist who specialises in food allergies. Something sounds like it is triggering your system into overdrive.