Jump to content

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Celiac And The Flu

RP276

By RP276
in Coping with Celiac Disease

Recommended Posts

RP276 Newbie
RP276
Posted

Hello all.

I've been diagnosed with Celiacs Disease, not sure that is the correct terminology though. The diagnosis was about 30 days ago with a blood test, and I will have an edoscopy in the next week or so. So the question I have is this. I have been diligent with my diet and started to feel better and stronger immediately. My sleep improved, depression lessened and as I stated I almost immediately started to feel stronger and honestly about 5 years younger. Now for the bad news. The flu swept through our home about a week ago. When I first had a sysmptom I assumed I had been glutened. When my son started throwing up and subsquently his sisters, I knew that the flu had arrived. After about 6 days of flu related diareha I had about 2 days when I felt fine again. I thought OK I rallied and I'll be fine again shortly. The weird thing is that I have not felt well. I had the 2 days of reprieve and then the diareha started again and has been with me for 3-4 days. I finally gave up and took an Amodium AD and it helped, but I fear it is just masking the symptoms. Is this normal?

In the past 5-6 years I have never had the flu or even a difficult cold. I'm healthy other than Celiacs and hereditary heart disease. Ironically I always ate really well and had plenty of whole grains in my diet. I guess I just had the wrong ones. :unsure:

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


sandsurfgirl Collaborator
sandsurfgirl
Posted

It may be that your body is taxed by trying to repair celiac damage and you're worn down a bit. Flu happens. It can last quite awhile sometimes.

If you are already gluten free for over a month, your endoscopy is likely to be negative because your body may have healed the damage in the spots they take biopsies from. That does NOT mean you aren't celiac. If you had a positive blood test then you have celiac. There are no false negatives.

There are some threads about the problems with endoscopies in this forum you may want to read. Honestly if you got a positive blood test and are responding well to the gluten free diet, why are you getting the endoscopy? It's likely to be negative and it's an invasive procedure. I chose not to have one. I didn't want a surgical procedure just so they could tell me what I already knew and put some more money in their pockets.

Macbre Explorer
Macbre
Posted

Hello all.

I've been diagnosed with Celiacs Disease, not sure that is the correct terminology though. The diagnosis was about 30 days ago with a blood test, and I will have an edoscopy in the next week or so. So the question I have is this. I have been diligent with my diet and started to feel better and stronger immediately. My sleep improved, depression lessened and as I stated I almost immediately started to feel stronger and honestly about 5 years younger. Now for the bad news. The flu swept through our home about a week ago. When I first had a sysmptom I assumed I had been glutened. When my son started throwing up and subsquently his sisters, I knew that the flu had arrived. After about 6 days of flu related diareha I had about 2 days when I felt fine again. I thought OK I rallied and I'll be fine again shortly. The weird thing is that I have not felt well. I had the 2 days of reprieve and then the diareha started again and has been with me for 3-4 days. I finally gave up and took an Amodium AD and it helped, but I fear it is just masking the symptoms. Is this normal?

In the past 5-6 years I have never had the flu or even a difficult cold. I'm healthy other than Celiacs and hereditary heart disease. Ironically I always ate really well and had plenty of whole grains in my diet. I guess I just had the wrong ones. :unsure:

One thing you need to consider about the endoscopy is that it may not be accurate since you have been 30 days gluten free. I chose not to have the endoscopy because my doctor told me to stop eating gluten immediatly when the blood test came back positive and they had me scheduled for the endoscopy for 3 weeks later, but after talking with "veteran celiacs" I was told numerous times that the results might not be accurate since I had already started healing. Just keep this in mind.

Regarding your flu symptoms lingering....that is not unusual. When I first went gluten free (11 months ago) I had days when I would feel great and other days I felt like nothing had improved. It's a rollercoaster ride in the beginning. You might still be getting gluten and not even realize it. I was getting it from my mouthwash and body lotion. It's trial and error in the beginning. I'm just now starting to have more good days then bad....there is light at the end of the tunnel, but you have to be very strict in avoiding all gluten produts.

red island Newbie
red island
Posted

I was always able to fight off stomach flu's, while others around me got really sick, I only ever had mild symptoms - until last winter. Then the flu would hang on for weeks. I've been off gluten for 3 months now and hopefully my poor gut has healed enough that I wont be sick as much.

And why do the docs tell you to stop eating gluten immediately only to tell you that you have to start again for the endoscopy? I just had my scope this week, my GI doc told me he would not ask me to do the gluten challenge because my reaction to being cc'd was so severe - he says if it turns out to be non-diagnostic we can decide where to go from there, but at least he will know how things look in there.

sa1937 Community Regular
sa1937
Posted

And why do the docs tell you to stop eating gluten immediately only to tell you that you have to start again for the endoscopy? I just had my scope this week, my GI doc told me he would not ask me to do the gluten challenge because my reaction to being cc'd was so severe - he says if it turns out to be non-diagnostic we can decide where to go from there, but at least he will know how things look in there.

You have a smart doctor!!! In spite of the fact that you may have a negative biopsy, he can still test you for other things.

My doctor was also ready to diagnose me after a high positive celiac panel. I did stay on gluten until I had the endoscopy because I knew my adult daughter had a problem with gluten so I felt I should go the full route hoping I'd get a positive diagnosis...and I did.

Several months later she had the blood tests and also had high positives on her celiac panel. However, she just went gluten-free and skipped the endoscopy.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      131,916
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    kls888
    Newest Member
    kls888
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.4k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • knitty kitty
      Help I’m cross contaminating myself,

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      I followed the Autoimmune Protocol Diet which is really strict for a while, but later other foods can be added back into your diet.  Following the AIP diet strictly allows you digestive system to heal and the inflammation to calm down.  Sort of like feeding a sick baby easy to digest food instead of spicy pizza.   It's important to get the inflammation down because chronic inflammation leads to other health problems.  Histamine is released as part of the autoimmune response to gluten.  High histamine levels make you feel bad and can cause breathing problems (worsening asthma), cardiovascular problems (tachycardia), and other autoimmune diseases (Hashimoto's thyroiditis, diabetes) and even mental health problems. Following the low histamine version of the AIP diet allows the body to clear the histamine from our bodies.  Some foods are high in histamine.  Avoiding these makes it easier for our bodies to clear the histamine released after a gluten exposure.   Vitamin D helps regulate the immune system and calm it down.  Vitamin D is frequently low in Celiacs.  The B Complex vitamins and Vitamin C are needed to clear histamine.   Supplementing with essential vitamins and minerals boosts your intestines' ability to absorb them while healing.   Keep in mind that gluten-free facsimile foods, like gluten-free bread, are not enriched with added vitamins like their gluten containing counterparts are.   They are empty calories, no nutritional value, which use up your B vitamins in order to turn the calories into fuel for the body to function.   Talk to your doctor or nutritionist about supplementing while healing.  Take a good B Complex and extra Thiamine in the form Benfotiamine (shown to promote gut health).  Most B Complex vitamins contain thiamine mononitrate which the body cannot utilize.  Meats and liver are good sources of B vitamins.   Dr. Sarah Ballantyne wrote the book, the Paleo Approach.  She's a Celiac herself.  Her book explains a lot.   I'm so glad you're feeling better and finding your balance!
    • klmgarland
      Help I’m cross contaminating myself,

      By klmgarland · Posted

      So I should not eat my gluten free bread?  I will try the vitamins.  Thank you all so very much for your ideas and understanding.  I'm feeling better today and have gathered back my composure!
    • knitty kitty
      Taking Probiotics but Still Getting Sick After Gluten – Advice?

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      Some people prefer eating gluten before bed, then sleeping through the worst symptoms at night.  You might want to try that and see if that makes any difference.   Several slices of toast for breakfast sounds okay.  Just try to work up to the Ten grams of gluten.  Cookies might only have a half of a gram of gluten.  The weight of the whole cookie is not the same as the amount of gluten in it.  So do try to eat bread things with big bubbles, like cinnamon rolls.   Yeah, I'm familiar with the "death warmed over" feeling.  I hope you get the genetic test results quickly.  I despise how we have to make ourselves sick to get a diagnosis.  Hang in there, sweetie, the tribe is supporting you.  
    • Clear2me
      Gluten free nuts

      By Clear2me · Posted

      Thank you, a little expensive but glad to have this source. 
    • Xravith
      Taking Probiotics but Still Getting Sick After Gluten – Advice?

      By Xravith · Posted

      @knitty kitty  Thank you very much for the advice. I did the exam this morning, my doctor actually suggested me to take something called "Celiac duo test" in which I first do the genetic test and if it's positive, then I'll have to do the antigen blood test. I have to attend 1 month until my results are ready, so I have some weeks to increase the amount of gluten I eat daily. It will be hard because my health is not the best right now, but I also did a blood test to cheek my nutritional deficiencies. The results will arrive on Tuesday, so I can ask my doctor what should I do to control my symptoms and blood levels during this month. For now I'm resting and paying attention to what I eat— at least I don’t look like a vampire who just woke up, like I did yesterday. I'm still scared because is the first time I've felt this sick, but this is the right moment to turn things around for the better.  I realized that if I eat gluten at lunch I cannot finish the day properly, I become severely tired and sometimes my stomach hurts a lot - let's not talk about the bloating that starts later. Do you think is it ok to eat gluten just in the morning, like some cookies and slices of bread for breakfast? 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.