Can't Eat Dairy Again

[sandsurfgirl]

I posted before that I was nauseous for over 3 weeks. I finally figured out it was likely the iron that I was taking. My iron levels are great now so the doc said to stop taking it.

The nausea went away after being off it for a couple of days. I ate clean so I could heal.

Then for a couple of days I ate Thanksgiving type foods that have dairy in them and were rich and well... Thanksgiving-ish. And they made me SO sick. I had to take Zofran for a couple of days just to deal with it.

Today I cut dairy and ate clean and I felt better. It's like the old days when I first went gluten free and all sorts of stuff bothered my tummy. The only thing I can find online is that nausea and bad stomach upset happens commonly with iron supplements (I had no idea and not one of the 3 docs I saw during this time mentioned it!!! Endocrinologist, nephrologist and primary doctor. Grrr. I asked all 3 of them what could me causing my nausea and none of them said iron. Finally went to my GI, doc number 4 and he said yes iron could do it.). I can't find anything about exactly what gets damaged though.

I'm wondering can the iron have damaged my villi again? Because it's the villi that give you the lactase to digest dairy. I also started having reflux again and I haven't had that in ages. I cured my reflux and got off of Protonix with Betaine HCL and haven't even had to take HCL for a very long time. Now I'm back on HCL too.

It is so frustrating to have this happen around Thanksgiving. I made gluten free pumpkin pie and homemade whipped cream, bought eggnog I can't eat any of them. They all made me sick sick sick.

I have no idea how long this will take to heal.

[Marilyn R]

It sounds like you're working on an elimination diet, if not, that's whatt I'd try. It's rough, but enlightening.

[sandsurfgirl]

It sounds like you're working on an elimination diet, if not, that's whatt I'd try. It's rough, but enlightening.

Waaa! I've been there done that. I so don't want to go there again, but I may have to because I could've developed a new intolerance. Crap. Crap. Crap.

I hope and hope it's just the damage from being on iron for nearly a month and it heals soon.

[bigbird16]

Girl, get yourself a big bar of dark chocolate!

Hopefully the dairy thing is just temporary.

[sandsurfgirl]

Girl, get yourself a big bar of dark chocolate!

Hopefully the dairy thing is just temporary.

My tummy is so sensitive right now I couldn't even eat that. I had to quit my morning coffee. My one cup of coffee per day that I look forward to and enjoy so much. I'm having black tea with almond milk in the morning. A sorry substitute.

The GI doc does think it's the iron. He ran a few labs just to be certain I don't have pancreatitis and some other thing I can't remember. He also ran my celiac titers to make sure I'm not getting CC'd somewhere along the line. Probably get results this week.

I did feel much better today on a clean diet so that definitely tells me it's food and likely dairy.

I was so happy when I was finally able to eat dairy again. Iron is evil!

[Takala]

I need to invent a word that means "reaction to ingredient found in gluten free foods that is not the gluten."

My lower gut has been kicking me for 2 days now because I ate "something" not made from scratch,(unlikely it was the Thanksgiving dinner, which we kept grainless, but more likely a brunch or lunch item, either some soup or a waffle. Only other thing is different is that I took 1 ibuprofen marked "gluten free" made with cornstarch, but I'm okay with corn. ) but it's not a gluten reaction otherwise. Not bloated, no reflux, not excessively groggy, no spacing, eyes not wandering, no ataxia, no headache, balance okay, joints NOT flaring other than I have been doing a lot of activity this week, but none of the overall hit by the truck feeling, not stiff. (and one ibuprofen will not touch how stiff I can get from eating the wheat family.)

I've reacted to this brand of gluten free soup before, even tho I could make a soup out of everything on the label and not react. But I also found out that the waffle did contain flax and some soy... but I have eaten that waffle before, and not reacted.

I made pie crust a week ago out of no unusual for me ingredients, and didn't react at all. We were done with that pie by wednesday. Sigh. Should have made another one instead of eating a waffle.

[Roda]

How much iron did they have you taking? I wonder if they had you taking to much over a short period. I tried to take a RX of cromagen for the anemia/low ferritin a year before I knew I had celiac. It wrecked my stomach up even more and had to quit taking it. I wasn't able to tolerate oral iron until I was 6 months gluten free. I then started taking two Slow Fe tablets a day per my GI doctor. I don't remember how long I took it either but I think it was several months. Luckily it didn't bother me at all. I just recently started supplementing with iron again since my ferritin and iron are dropping. Technically I'm not deficient "YET" but I am symptomatic. I don't want it to get worse. This time I'm taking one Slow Fe tablet a day since it isn't rock bottom like it was before. I'm not having any side effects from it this time either. I am now starting to feel a difference in my fatigue and my hair loss has slowed too.

[sandsurfgirl]

How much iron did they have you taking? I wonder if they had you taking to much over a short period. I tried to take a RX of cromagen for the anemia/low ferritin a year before I knew I had celiac. It wrecked my stomach up even more and had to quit taking it. I wasn't able to tolerate oral iron until I was 6 months gluten free. I then started taking two Slow Fe tablets a day per my GI doctor. I don't remember how long I took it either but I think it was several months. Luckily it didn't bother me at all. I just recently started supplementing with iron again since my ferritin and iron are dropping. Technically I'm not deficient "YET" but I am symptomatic. I don't want it to get worse. This time I'm taking one Slow Fe tablet a day since it isn't rock bottom like it was before. I'm not having any side effects from it this time either. I am now starting to feel a difference in my fatigue and my hair loss has slowed too.

The OTC one I have it 50 mg per day. Now my iron is 140 so it's good but they will keep testing it every few months. If it goes down again I may try the Slow Fe. Hopefully it stays up and I don't have to deal with this.

[AVR1962]

Glad you got that figured out. The extra iron could have messed you up a little bit and you might be recoverying but it should not take long. What you are taking now is very safe and you should be good.

I had a similiar situation recently with vit D....had been struggling to get my levels up and then finally I was over my count without knowing. I became very emotional which I knew from the past that something was not right, retested and was able to back off my D. Had a little recovery to do, didn't feel too hot for a few days but it passed. I made sure I put pleanty of fluids into my system.

I think what is great in this is that by having too much we might actually be absorbing!!!!! At least that is my thought process, maybe I am just hoping.

[sandsurfgirl]

Glad you got that figured out. The extra iron could have messed you up a little bit and you might be recoverying but it should not take long. What you are taking now is very safe and you should be good.

I had a similiar situation recently with vit D....had been struggling to get my levels up and then finally I was over my count without knowing. I became very emotional which I knew from the past that something was not right, retested and was able to back off my D. Had a little recovery to do, didn't feel too hot for a few days but it passed. I made sure I put pleanty of fluids into my system.

I think what is great in this is that by having too much we might actually be absorbing!!!!! At least that is my thought process, maybe I am just hoping.

I know that is a good thing! When I got out of the hospital my thyroid meds were way too high and I felt like I was crawling out of my skin and so anxious. They lowered my dose and it was this weird feeling of being frustrated that they had raised it too high but being happy that my thyroid kicked in and was working better. My dose is lower now than when I started all of this.

Absorbing nutrients is a good thing! I would guess there isn't any research on what part of the gut gets damaged by iron. I can't find anything. I do wonder if it affects the villi because that would make the most sense as to why I had to go off dairy again.

[Roda]

The Slow Fe brand has 45mg elemental iron in them, so not much of a difference in dose. It is slow released and supposed to not cause as much GI upset. Heck I did fine with it when I was taking two a day. I know some forms/brands are harder to tolerate than others and it varries from person. My ferritin was 43( ref range 11-336) in March and my iron 59(ref range 28-170 and % sat 16.9(ref range 20-50) in June. Then in Sept. all of them dropped: iron 38, % sat 10.6 and ferritin 26. I have been feeling fatigued and noticed the trend so that is why I started back on the iron. My endo also upped my cytomel in Sept. I've been trying to get her to adjust my T4/T3 ratio since March. I actually think I'm slightly hyper at the moment, but not too bad. I go back in Dec. so we can hopefully find the right combo.

[Marilyn R]

It's strange. If I take a gluten-free multi-V with iron, it tears me up and I get C in a bad way. However, I can cook with cumin seed, powdered cumin, make cumin tea (it's high in iron) and not have a problem.

I get how awful it would be to re-start an elimination diet and I'm glad you're feeling better. Maybe if you just give your gut awhile to rest you can start hard cheeses again. Good luck to you!

[sandsurfgirl]

The Slow Fe brand has 45mg elemental iron in them, so not much of a difference in dose. It is slow released and supposed to not cause as much GI upset. Heck I did fine with it when I was taking two a day. I know some forms/brands are harder to tolerate than others and it varries from person. My ferritin was 43( ref range 11-336) in March and my iron 59(ref range 28-170 and % sat 16.9(ref range 20-50) in June. Then in Sept. all of them dropped: iron 38, % sat 10.6 and ferritin 26. I have been feeling fatigued and noticed the trend so that is why I started back on the iron. My endo also upped my cytomel in Sept. I've been trying to get her to adjust my T4/T3 ratio since March. I actually think I'm slightly hyper at the moment, but not too bad. I go back in Dec. so we can hopefully find the right combo.

I'm on a combo of Nature-throid which is an Armour thyroid type prescription and Levoxyl. It made my ratios go into balance nicely but it wasn't easy to get the dose right. It took some noodling around and I went through a week where I was crawling out of my skin from being hyper until we adjusted down.