A Little Venting

[Persei V.]

I'm just trying not to go mad right now... I'm top notch frustated. I'm six months in the gluten free diet, and while I gave too many slips in the first few months because I trusted too much on labels and far too little on my body telling something was wrong, I engaged on a whole foods diet. No eating out, no processed foods. For a person my age, who has to spend a large part of the day in a school which has no support to the sort of thing, it's a living hell.

Ok. So I started to get things right.

But no, I can't have dairy (which I could have before), neither coffee, or cashews or tapioca flour or or... Or oranges. Ok, I was working around that as well. I loved tapioca, btw.

Though there's something I can't get over right now, is that I can't eat more than 300g of food without getting a few months pregnant bloated (much like when I ate stuff with gluten) and uncomfortable for loong hours.

I can't eat a wide range of things, can't eat a lot of one thing, can't eat a lot, bottom line, and if I don't, I just starve!

I can't win, period.

[shadowicewolf]

College student here who can only buy water and milk at the oncampus stores. :/ I understand.

I just do not have the energy (or the money to buy a crockpot) to make dinner most times so i either A. eat cereal or B. do without sometimes.

Ugh, I try to make big meals and such but i get so tired.

Seriously my schedule is:

Monday: 8am - 12pm lunch break where i do the mad dash back to my apartment 1:40-7:30ish

tuesday - Weds is 8am - 12pm

thursday i get out at 9:15 (look forward to these days).

But the thing is i get so tired and i normaly have a ton of homework it is hard for me to do much of anything. I assure you tuesday-thursday i come back to my apartment and crash for a few hours.

Rant rant rant....

Then when i walk into the bookstore all of the snack foods they have in there are gluten filled. The redone place on campus is gluten filled... (oh there is a gluten-free pizza but i can't have it due to tomatos ).

I would take something with me but they never whipe down the surfaces (nasty nasty). So yeah....

At least i'm over the hump where your at right now. I had about a year to get used to this diet before coming back to school.

But hey look at the bright sides of things, i no longer have tummy issues, i have very good grades (got a 98% on my last paper ), and the best part is that i can go to class and participate instead of being a sick zombie.

One foot forward dear, it will get better.

[Darn210]

Hang in there!! It'll get better Persei . . . and I would bet that you will get most of those foods back once you are fully healed.

I recommend a digestive enzyme. It really helps my daughter . . . whether is was a glutening . . . or something just didn't settle right . . . or it was all just sooo good that she ate way too much.

[deb445]

You mentioned:

"Though there's something I can't get over right now, is that I can't eat more than 300g of food without getting a few months pregnant bloated (much like when I ate stuff with gluten) and uncomfortable for loong hours."

First of all, I'm sorry to hear your dis-ease. Second, are you saying that you are gluten free, and still developing symptoms? I know you are rightfully frustrated, and it sounds like you have eliminated alot already, but I am wondering if you have tried eliminated grains, including corn?

[SMDBill]

I would also recommend a digestive enzyme, particularly ones focused on the problems you have digesting, such as lactose. I am highly lactose intolerant and have been my entire life. I just lived with the D that it caused, but that was miserable, and even worse with the celiac. But what I found was a high level lactase enzyme and just tonight I was able to take one, then enjoy a cheese filled omelet with ham for dinner. No tummy upset at all.

I know enzymes are expensive, but if you can find some targeted at your weakness perhaps you can enjoy a few more foods that are more readily available to you in such a limited environment.

[rosetapper23]

Regarding the bloating, you must still be eating something that is causing digestive discomfort--possibly a vegetable. When I first went on a whole-foods diet and ate lots of salads and fruits, I became terribly bloated and uncomfortable. I found out that it was simply carrots, and I had mixed them in with my salads and had used them for dipping. Small thing, big problem. Anyway, now that I've eliminated carrots, I can eat salads just fine.

[1desperateladysaved]

I am 6 months grain free and I think it is a time when my body is really working hard on recovery. Some may think that it should be long since over, but no, I am certain that it is still working. It is still working very hard. It would be nice to have down time as one recovers, but whatever stage in life you are, you have responsibilities. You can go on and do your best. That is all you can do. It sounds like you are on the right track.

My bloating has not gone away. Until quite recently it has been fairly consistently there. However, now I am getting some swings. Usually, the farthest swelling is followed by a little more deflating than ever before. I am just saying that perhaps it isn't unusual at 6 months of gluten free.

I am having allergy tests and perhaps it will bring out more intolerances.

I like almond milk, coconut milk, instead of milk. I use mango sauce and eggs on my "pizza". Mango sauce is just peeled mango in a blender.. I use a grain free crust. For baking I use almond meal, bean flour, coconut flour, and buckwheat.

I hope you will get some down time. That you will enjoy your food. Your body is still working hang on.

Diana

[RuskitD]

Persei, I feel your pain, literally! I am so sorry you are going though this! We just don't deserve the suffering we are going through!

I am very much in the same boat as you. My choice of foods is quite limited, mostly due to SEVERE sensitivity to corn, which is in and on nearly every food product in the U.S.

I will never eat out again or accept an invite to dinner. Shopping takes me minutes since there are so few foods I can trust to consume. I accepted all of that, quite well, I thought.

I was doing great, for two months. I liked that feeling! Now, its back.....

I have changed nothing .... not been accidently contaminated.... but now that pain in my midriff is back, the having no desire to eat, because I already ache there. If I eat, I bloat.

I never cry, but this week I am ready to. How can you do everything 'right' and still be wrong?

I am not sure.

Gentle hugs to you. Praying that your health will turn around soon, and last a long time!

[Persei V.]

I will definitely try going grain-free for a while... I don't eat that much grain anyway: I only eat two tbspoons of rice at lunch and corn couscous once a week.The bloating usually appears after lunch which is when I eat rice (and the most, as well).

I don't eat many vegetables, to be honest. I stick to beans, potatoes, eggs and meat. And fruit juice, though now I'm doing smoothies as per advice. Bananas and apples with almond butter cause little to no bloating to me. But comparing it to before going gluten-free when I had loose stools and spend the entire day feeling uncomfortable, bloated and sometimes with mild cramping (when you have swimming classes in the morning, and an entire afternoon of classes plus nights of study and dance classes, it can be really awful), I'd say I'm pretty good... Just not perfect yet.

Thank you for the kind words

[srall]

FWIW, corn makes me feel just as awful as gluten. And my daughter who is nine, I think has an even worse reaction because she gets really bad hives too. I am always very interested to read how young people fare on this board, especially college students because I will be sending my daughter off eventually and she cannot eat gluten, corn, dairy or soy. I'm trying to impress upon her that she MUST learn to cook and she MUST learn to enjoy the foods she is able to eat. But she'll have the advantage of having this all be second nature by that time. I know this is all very new for you.

My daughter and I have been gluten free for well over 2 years now. Which isn't that long but I feel like we are finally getting a handle on the situation. Healing takes a very long time. I would suggest trying a grain free, pale diet for a while (which means no processed...) and then see if you can add in foods like rice, potatoes and milk. I was able to get rice and potatoes back in my diet quite successfully. I agree about digestive enzymes.

I know it is so awful when you just want to feel better RIGHT NOW. Give your body some time, and treat it right. It does have the ability to heal itself. I suspect you have some other intolerances you need to uncover. Good luck to you and all the other students dealing with this!

[srall]

Um: Paleo diet not *pale* diet

[ncdave]

I wonder how bad your symptoms are when you eat gluten? For me it"s 6-7 days in bed with flu like symptoms, + another week for other symptoms. That makes it very easy to know i been glutened. If your symptoms are not so severe it would make it very hard to figure out whats causing the problem. It has taken me 10 months to figure out my corn senstivety. Like you i had to eat very small amounts every few hours an still lost 40 lbs. My last encounter with corn (dextros) iodized salt. was 14 days ago. Today is my day 6 of feeling fine with no flu like symptoms, i wake up hungry an have gone from 1600 calories a day to 2800. There"s a great deal of info on how to avoid corn on this site, Open Original Shared Link

Maby try removing corn from your diet for a month an see if it helps, i wish you lots of luck with your quest for better health.

[Persei V.]

My symptoms are not very severe and don't last long: bloating, gas, bad feeling on my stomach, some yawning and D. But as of late has been only bloating along with uncomfortableness and constipation. It never lasts more than a week... Though now it's everyday, and I just don't know what can be the source...

So I will get an appointment with a gastro, to check if I don't have gastritis (because not being able to have coffee or oranges does ring a bell) or any other kind of... I don't know. But either way, I will proceed to go grain-free. I'm not sure about the paleo diet yet (my potatoes!!!!), but I'm also trying to get ready to do it if nothing conclusive comes out.

Probably won't, since I have been gluten free for six months now and won't go back to gluten to do the endoscopy, which my mom is insisting me to do now...

Today is the first day grain-free and I am not bloated or uncomfortable. But I ate very little during the day... Remember the gluten-free pizza crust? It isn't. Yesterday I had cramps, and D, and so today morning. I wasn't on the mood to eat at all. For lunch (which happens to be the start of the bloating) I had just a tiiiiny little piece of chicken breast, with a tbspoon of beans and some sips of guava juice. Not much, but got me through the day without bloating me up.

So a little victory, I guess.

[pricklypear1971]

My symptoms are not very severe and don't last long: bloating, gas, bad feeling on my stomach, some yawning and D. But as of late has been only bloating along with uncomfortableness and constipation. It never lasts more than a week... Though now it's everyday, and I just don't know what can be the source...

So I will get an appointment with a gastro, to check if I don't have gastritis (because not being able to have coffee or oranges does ring a bell) or any other kind of... I don't know. But either way, I will proceed to go grain-free. I'm not sure about the paleo diet yet (my potatoes!!!!), but I'm also trying to get ready to do it if nothing conclusive comes out.

Probably won't, since I have been gluten free for six months now and won't go back to gluten to do the endoscopy, which my mom is insisting me to do now...

Today is the first day grain-free and I am not bloated or uncomfortable. But I ate very little during the day... Remember the gluten-free pizza crust? It isn't. Yesterday I had cramps, and D, and so today morning. I wasn't on the mood to eat at all. For lunch (which happens to be the start of the bloating) I had just a tiiiiny little piece of chicken breast, with a tbspoon of beans and some sips of guava juice. Not much, but got me through the day without bloating me up.

So a little victory, I guess.

My ND would suggest yeast overgrowth because of the bloating, especially when eating something that converts to sugar.

I'd consider the digestive enzymes, probiotics. And you may need to be rice free and any other sugar (even those things that convert to sugar) free for a while.

Could be a stage you're going through or you have another intolerance - temporary or permanent.

I've found time is the best way to figure this stuff out. Unfortunately.

[Persei V.]

I considered yeast overgrowth, though sugars don't seem to bother me -- but hell, who knows? First off I'm going grain-free (started yesterday and feeling flat as an ironing board), then I talked to my mother about going on the paleo diet for some time, since it's not very different from what I'm eating now. Maybe I will go sugar-free and paleo (paleo is refined sugar free, from what I've gathered, nothing is said about brown sugar) if grain-free doesn't work...