Newly Diagnosed

[ARC86]

I was diagnosed just over a week ago.

I've tried to be Gluten Free from the day I found out and as far as I'm aware I've not had any Gluten, hopefully!!

I'm not sure how long I could have been undiagnosed, I know that for the past two years I've been asking my doctors to test me, as my nephew has been diagnosed Coeliac for 7 years, I was anemic and felt unwell all the time and I had noticed I felt worse when eating white bread!

My symptoms were, anemia, tiredness, breathlessness, stomach ache, nausea, diarrhea, bloated stomach, distended stomach, muscle pains and cramps, headaches .

I've also suffered from panic attacks and depression.

What I'm wondering is,

what can I expect?

what is the average recovery time?

is there anyway to speed up the recovery?

Even though I've been gluten-free for a week now I still feel awful, I was told that I should expect to feel worse whilst my body adjusts is that true?

I could really do with a lot of advice, I've been making sure I read up on stuff but I feel clueless still :/

Any help would be so greatly appreciated, thank you.

[samie]

Healing can be different to everybody. You might see improvement in a couple Weeks but it can take several months to fully heal. Its not predictable. The easiest way to shop food is go around the outer areas to shop like meats dairy veggies and fruits. Some people have problems with lactose products till they heal. Make sure your soaps and shampoo is gluten-free.

[Roda]

Healing is different for everyone. I noticed improvements in some symptoms pretty quickly, but others took almost a year or so to get better. I still have struggles here and there. I think for me, the years undiagnosed left some permanant issues.

Here is some advice I gave to another member so I'm going to copy and paste it here for you too.

In the beginning it can be really hard. I never realized how much gluten impacted almost everything in my life. I was mad, angry, jelous, and happy(to know how to feel better without alot of drugs) all at the same time. It was crazy. A lot of mistakes were made in the beginning, but it was a good learning tool for me. Three years into this and I still make mistakes. It happens, so don't beat yourself up.

I bought a couple of books that helped in the beginning. Celiac for Dummies by Dana Korn and Celia's Marketplace grocery shopping guide.

I took a day and went through my kitchen and got rid of anything that I couldn't eat or the other's in the house wouldn't eat and donated it to the food bank. I set up a dedicated shelf in the pantry, drawer in the fridge, and small counter area just for the gluten eaters. I wanted my kitchen mostly my space since I do most of the meal prep. I gave the kitchen a good scrub down also.

I replaced any scratched/worn cookwear and plastic ware or gave them to hubby to use for gluteny things. I bought a new toaster, cutting boards, cooking utensils, pasta strainer, bakeware, griddle, and waffle maker. (a lot of my stuff was worn out anyway or hand me downs from my mom) This can be expensive so sometimes it's not feasable all at once.

Any baking items, condiments, herbs/spices that might have had cross contamination(I was bad about double dipping) I replaced. I banned any baking with regular flour and only made gluten free baked goods. The others were allowed to bring stuff in from the bakery if they wanted and it had to be handled as not to cross contaminate. All shared meals are made gluten free, no cooking to order or cooking two meals. I didn't want to go there.

I checked to make sure all of our personal care products were gluten free.

This all worked for the first year. Eventually I started having problems and had to eliminate any gluten free products that had gluten free oat cross contamination(I was aware of my severe gluten free oat sensitivity 7 months after I went gluten free, but didn't eliminate the cross contamination...see, mistakes still happened ) I also put my pets on grain free food after my youngest son was diagnosed since the kids do most of the feeding of the animals. They are doing well grain free too!

You can do this! Is it going to be hard? Sometimes yes. But all of the time and energy is so worth it to get my health back. I consider myself a veteran now and things are much easier.

[Bubba's Mom]

Recovery time is different for everyone. It depends on how much damage you have, age, diet in general, and so on. You may notice less bloating and reflux fairly soon, but other things take longer.

My best advice is to eat whole foods like fruits and vegetables, unprocessed meats, dairy if you tollerate it.

If the tips of your villi are damaged, you may have trouble digesting milk? Aged cheeses can be tollerated better by some people. Try to stay away from processed gluten free versions of things. They can have trace amounts of gluten and can be hard to digest.

Start a food log. Write down what you eat, including brands. oftentimes we find we have a secondary intollerance and having a list of foods can help sort out something that isn't agreeing with you. Once healed you may find that those questionable foods can be added back to your diet.

I also recommend probiotics. Culturelle brand seemed to help me more than others I took? Digestive enzymes can help too..check for gluten-free though!

[ARC86]

Thank you for all the advice.

I'm trying to eat as healthy as possible to help my body heal, I have a lot of dairy tho :/ I'm going to try cutting down on that and give myself some time to heal.

Can I only get probiotics yoghurts or are tablets available too?

I will try to keep a food diary, I know I'm terrible at keeping track of what I eat :/

I have some good days and then tough days!!

[CarolinaKip]

I went whole foods and kept a food diary the first year. It really help me pinpoint certain foods my body did not like to digest. I have some trouble with certain fruits, milk, some corn products, and soy. Once I figured out soy, a lot of my cramping and bloating stopped. I started off very basic and simple. I also went totally grain free, I was in so much pain, it was worth a try. When it was first suggested I try whole food/grain free, it made me sad, but it was really worth it to me.

Hang in there, read the forums, you won't feel alone here!