Fairy Dancer

Hi

I am not diagnosed celiac as my blood test came back normal. I was trying out a gluten free diet at the time (it was the only way I was well enough to get to the drs) and did experience some improvement until I went back on grains again after I received the results. At that point I relapsed badly (was bedbound) and so decided to go grain free (loosely paleo) once again. I also booted most processed foods.

Fast forward 3 months and my diarrhoea and pale stools have worn off, my energy levels are a little better than they were and I am now able to get out of bed most days even if I am not yet fully functional.

However, I am still having some problems with GERD like symptoms. I was taken into the A and E the other night with chest pain as they wanted to check my heart and that was fine. As were my lungs. Given that I started getting awful reflux and vomited up acid when I got home I am putting the chest pain down to one hell of an irritated oesophagus. The problem is I think it is also disturbing my sleep as I wake up feeling awful and am drowsy/sleepy all day. I also brux my teeth (grind) so that does not help either and the sleep issues are triggering migraine headaches to boot! So I am still feeling rough.

What I am wondering is if the gerd could be linked as even though I tested negative I still suspect celiac (as it is in my family and I have had significant improvement since going gluten free). Also, if it is linked how long before my gut heals properly?

I have tried reintroducing some foods and that has helped a little. I originally took out both dairy and ALL grains but have now put rice and milk (preferably goats but I will drink cows) back in and seem to be ok with it now (initially the dairy gave me diarrhoea slightly but that has not happened this time) and the rice is lovely for settling my gut. Increasing my carb consumption (I was originally low carb paleo) has helped with fatigue levels. So it's a bit better than it was a few days ago now but are there any other foods that will settle reflux?

I really need a good nights sleep and I am sure the reflux is increasing my bruxing which is stopping me from sleeping properly. It's just that I keep falling asleep in the middle of doing things and I have trouble staying awake during the day...its rather irritating when I have things to do.

I also bought a mediflow water pillow to aid sleep and am waiting to see if that helps.

My drs think its anxiety and depression but I do not agree..given the success I have had thus far with avoiding most grains and given that my life problems have increased recently I feel that indicates my problems were in fact diet based (otherwise my symptoms would be getting worse not better lol).

I used to be on antidepressants but came off them months ago. I had daytime drowsiness then and have been complaining about it for years (although I never used to doze off whilst doing things back then lol...I am only 37 not 90!) but they put it down to the sedative effect of the pill. Well I don't take the pills any more and don't want to especially as I have just gotten my moods to settle down into a normal pattern (I experienced the equivalent of emotional ping pong on those tablets!). But again the symptoms I am getting can't be down to the sedative effect of the tablets after all.

PN I did try taking the antidepressants out whilst on a normal diet and did not get the results I have achieved by removing grains from my diet at the time, so I don't think all of my issues were side effects to the pills.

Anyway, Can sleep problems be linked to celiac (if I do indeed have it?).

Any advice welcome as I need sleep. I am trying to study a degree in science and have had to miss two assignments already because I was too unwell with stomach pain and drowsiness to work on them.

HELP!

Thank you.

Yea, there was a time when I was gravitating towards nuts, but they all have a ridiculous fat to protein ratio, like 2 grams of fat for every gram of protein. That's a lot. That paleo diet is interesting, seems like a really high fat diet though. I'll have to research it a little.

Yes the theory with the paleo people is that it is grains and excessive carbs that do the most damage and not fat. Although some forms of paleo can be higher in carbs there is also the low carb version, so the fat is vital for energy. It's not atkins though, people tend to confuse them.

Also legumes are off the menu as is dairy (if you are hardcore paleo which I am these days). So no processed foods, no dairy, no grains (at all...none, zero, zilch), no legumes.

Meat, fish (types low in methylmercury although that is not specified it is my personal preference), nuts, eggs, vegetables and fruit...basically lol

As for beverages I just drink mineral water myself but paleo does allow coffee etc and some versions even slide in soda pops. I don't as I don't add any sugar to anything or use artificial sweetener as a replacement.

It has gotten me results in that I am not completely bed bound any more and my digestive system is much improved but I am still getting some symptoms that have not worn off yet...I wait patiently as I have only been on it for 2 months (1 month higher carb and 1 month lower carb), so it is still early days and I was feeling rather horribly ill when I started so it may well take time to heal properly.

I have lost 17lbs though (I am overweight), which is a good thing in my case!

I am on the paleo diet (which is grain free and diary free) and I will eat just about anything for breakfast including meat and vegetables (aye I know lol...). I moved away from traditional breakfast foods when I changed my diet.

For something closer to tradition though I often eat some nuts, berries and a couple of poached/boiled/scrambled or fried eggs etc (depending on which I prefer at the time).

Or, if I am not feeling very hungry some macadamia nuts and a banana does the trick...

Opps double post, sorry.

I have a head full of hair but what I am wondering is there anything to stop grey hair?

I am losing my colour

It did start falling out at one point but because I started out with an awful lot of it, it just looked a little bit thinner is all and lately I have new regrowth anyway, especially since I started using the 'no-pooing' technique on it (no use of chemical shampoos). I call it my paleo hair as I am on the paleo diet as well lol.

I also avoid using styling products etc. I am trying to encourage its natural curl to come back as it used to be nothing more than a giant ball of frizz with chemical products on it...even with the best on the market. Its a little bit better now but it's still early days and a bit of stubborn frizz remains from where it was chemically treated with colourants (as close to my own hair colour as I could get).

I want to avoid having to use colourants in the future though..

Silly grey hairs coming through lol

I went grain free and diary free several months ago and my bowel issues settled down fairly quickly, however, I am still intermittently getting what looks like steatorrhea (pale foul smelling stools that are sticky, float and look greasy). The only things I can think of that might be causing it are:

1 A few weeks back I reintroduced dairy again, found it upset me and took it back out after several days.

2 I also ate some chocolate the other day which quite frankly made me feel quite ill (it sounds odd but not only did my mood turn as black as thunder after eating it but I woke up the next day feeling so ill I had to spend the day lying on the couch...a day later and the pale stools are back too). Although there were no grains or dairy in the ingredients list I admit to taking a chance on that as it did say not suitable for gluten free diets due to manufacturing techniques. I thought I could get away with it as it may not have been cross contaminated.

The question is would the pale stools have appeared if I had not eaten the dairy and then the chocolate and if so how long does that take to wear off?

So far, although I am not diagnosed with celiac disease as the blood test I asked the dr for came back normal and they wouldn't do further testing, I have had some improvements over all on the grain and dairy free diet. Before my diarrhoea was uncontrollable and my bowel was not giving me warning any more whereas now, other than the discoloured stools on occasion, I rarely get diarrhoea. I have also been well enough to at least get out of bed most days (as long as I rest frequently and move around slowly) which is nice as I was previously bed bound most of the time.

However I am still having brain fog and vertigo days along with the steatorrhea, which is annoying. I also get vile migraines or migraine type headaches along with cognitive dysfunction (word recall issues flashing lights in my field of vision and so on) as well as odd episodes of depression that last for a few hours or a day and then go away (which makes me think it's not clinical depression as it does not come and go like that usually...). The mood changes can often precede the migraine type headaches or on days when I am feeling like death warmed up again (ie after eating that chocolate).

Should I be going back to the dr for him to check for other things or should I persist and see if more improvements are made over time? If it is misdiagnosed celiac disease, how long before things settle down properly (if I lay off the dairy and chocolate?). I admit I hate seeing drs as they don't take my complaints seriously and put them down to anxiety and depression without doing any further testing beyond a few blood tests now and then. Years of seeing one shrink after the other and being on antidepressants (that I no longer take as they do nothing) and I have gotten nowhere. I have only deteriorated over the years...until I went on the grain and dairy free diet that is...

All the same, I am fed up with still feeling bad, even though I feel slightly better than I did! I am optimistic that things will continue to improve but I am wondering, if I am going in the right direction and it is a digestive issue causing my ill health, how long it is likely to take before all the oddness goes away completely?

Any advice welcome.

FD

I was happily tootling along on the paleo diet (no dairy, no grains etc), which I have been on the for the last month and a half, when a few weeks ago I had a bad migraine that left me with vertigo and nausea for a while. Not long after that I also started getting stomach pain (upper half of my abdomen, not lower abdomen). As I could not eat much I put cream back into my diet (for the calories) after taking milk out because it seemed to upset me. Now, for the first few days it was fine, then I missed a day of cream as I ran out but today, after putting it back in, the diarrhoea is running through me. This is the first time I have had diarrhoea since I went grain and dairy free, and as it is pretty bad, I am wondering what is up.

Could it be an attack of gastritis (the stomach pain is not a foreigner to me as I have had it at times in the past and it started before I started drinking cream)?

Could it be the dairy? (causing the diarrhoea not the gut pain as I have had the gut pain for over a week now and just got the diarrhoea today)

Could it be something else?

Whenever I see my dr they diagnose IBS but the pain is in slightly the wrong place (upper gut, not lower gut...nearer my actual stomach and small intestine rather than my large intestine). It could be a viral thing I guess so I am waiting it out but any feedback welcome. Should I take the dairy back out again? I though cream might be ok as it's got very little lactose in.

Ok, I am not diagnosed as celiac although I have a brother who is. I did have a blood test months ago (whilst I was trying out a gluten free/paleo influenced diet for health problems that have lead to my being housebound and bedridden most days including IBS type symptoms with uncontrollable diarrhoea, migraine headaches, CFS type symptoms (fatigue, brain fog, vertigo, migraine headaches and other neurological type stuff) but as the test came back negative for celiac so I went back on the gluten again. Queue a severe relapse after a slight (very slight) improvement after going gluten free.

Some months later due to be sick and tired of feeling sick and tired I am trying gluten free again and have now gone full blow paleo. First I took out wheat and kept dairy. Slight improvement in diarrhoea but did not go completely. Took out dairy as well...diarrhoea disappeared. Bloating also went down but as I am overweight my stomach has deflated so much that I now have some spare tyre hanging where the skin has not gone back with it (darn).

Now the version of paleo I do is low carb so out went potatoes. Until yesterday when I decided to treat myself to one.

Result? Diarrhoea and an upset gut...from one potato? Ok I know my gut hates tomatoes so I don't eat them and the same goes for bell peppers but I thought I was ok with potato!

How many more foods is my gut going to object to and is there going to be anything left to eat soon? Do I now have an issue with nightshades too? How many foods can one person be intolerant to? Wheat, dairy and now nightshades!

ARrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Are my drs sure the blood test was accurate?

Also if my above issues are gluten related how long before all symptoms disappear as I have been off grains for a month now and whilst digestion has improved some I still get rip rawing migraine, vertigo, brain fog (its like early onset dementia) etc..how long before that leaves me alone to live a life?

I was going to suggest cranberry juice...but cranberry stuff has already been suggested.

Sounds daft but I dance rather than eat most of the time when I am pissed off. I find the movement very relaxing and invigorating at the same time. If I do need to tuck into something nice to eat, being paleo, I go for a piece of one of my favourite meats and some nice vegetables. I like snacking on king prawns at those times too.

It does get easier but then again I do the paleo diet which fascinates me right now, meaning I kind of enjoy it, so I guess I adapted easily to it and don't really miss my old diet at all. Mind I go to extremes as I have also stopped using shampoo and chemicals on my hair (which is starting to restore its natural curl...something that no styling product has ever been able to do and keep it that way) and I also grew my armpit hair back as I wanted to see what it felt like to be a bit more natural.

I kind of like it. Although people don't have to go that far obviously lol.

I don't eat any dairy, legumes, grains or processed foods. My fluid intake consists of mostly mineral water with the occasional cup of black unsweetened coffee. I don't consume processed sugars or any kind of artificial sweetener. I basically keep my diet clean...uber clean but there are plenty of foods to chow down on: Meats, fish, poultry, nuts, vegetables, small amounts of fruits...

Nature provided many great foods! I like to tuck in.

ARrrgghhhhh get rid of the sunflower oil!!!!!

I do paleo but I do a fairly strict version of it these days. It has worked in stopping my bowel issues such as bloating, diarrhoea etc and has given me much more physical energy, however, I am still having issues with feeling drowsy all day and brain fog. On saying that I have not been on it for long myself and I also just quit smoking so that might be playing a role too.

I stick to meat, fish, eggs, nuts, lots of veg, and some fruit (mostly berries)for food and mineral water with the occasional cup of black (unsweetened) coffee for drinks.

I don't eat any processed foods at the present time (other than the coffee) and if I do use fat to cook with (mostly I just eat whatever comes naturally in the food and avoid cooking in extra fat unless it is absolutely required to stop things sticking to the pan (such as dry meats like chicken breast...meats with a lot of fat content rarely need extra fat adding and cook in their own juices) as I believe this is a more natural way of consuming foods but that is a personal thing...) I use non hydrogenated animal fat. I did try coconut oil but it kind of upset my gut and give me acid reflux (as can sunflower oil)...animal fat does not.

There were two reasons I went so strict though and those are weight loss (I need to lose some) and the fact that I was sick and tired of being stuck in bed each day feeling ill. Ok I still get days where I am stuck in bed due to the darn drowsiness I get but i get more good days than I used to and at least I have physical energy even if my brain is sleepy lol (it was sleepy before paleo so the diet is not to blame for that).

Anyone know if paleo can clear brain fog and drowsiness cause I just had to pull out of doing a degree I was getting good marks on because my brain is so exhausted it was refusing the process any more work. I am pissed off with my brain right now because I was getting straight A grades dammit...but I was falling badly behind with the reading due to drowsiness all the time and so got to a point where I just could not catch up. Annoying.

I am not on any meds (I weaned off those too as I was on antidepressants but they do diddly squit for the feeling ill), gave up smoking and went paleo removing all dairy, grains, legumes and processed foods so my lifestyle is now pretty clean....but still I am sleepy during the day. Gah.

Have physical energy but brain has times when its incapable of staying awake and keep dozing off...

I was feeling much better this week on my whole foods only paleo based diet, until I had some dairy (which I had previously mostly taken out for a while (apart from a bit of yoghurt) as I am trying to find the culprits that are upsetting my gut and triggering migraines). Anyway all I can say is the dairy didn't go down well at all...and it seems to be exiting as fast as it went in! Not to mention the flatulence that has surfaced lol.

I think I will pass on the dairy for a while.

I got away with a yoghurt a few days back but the cows milk has really got things moving in a not so good way. And I had just gotten that to settle too

Bloomin daft dairy.

I would have replied with: "yes, my food was an hallucination and you imagined the whole thing...you might want to see a dr about that!"

I am going back into withdrawal again at the moment but the symptoms are are hard to separate from the symptoms I was getting whilst eating gluten anyway.

I did come off it before and went onto a whole foods diet with no grains and limited dairy (modified paleo), had some improvement and was finally able to get out of bed most days (I was bed ridden most of the time prior to that). During that time I had some blood tests at the drs, one of which was for celiac (due to my having a family member with it). They all came back normal so I thought 'ok not that then' and went back to eating processed foods and gluten/grains/wheat again.

3 months later and I was bedridden once again, so regardless of what the blood test said I am going back paleo again...

I only just started in the last few days so at the moment any withdrawal symptoms are merging with my existing symptoms.

Hope your withdrawal passes quickly and you feel better soon.

Can you eat nuts?

Try not to drink too much diet soda as well. It may not be the case with you but personally I find I get a bad reaction to aspartame in the form of migraine headaches and mood swings. It also makes me feel very unwell in general. I used to love diet cherry cola and drank it every day. Sometime back I tried the paleo diet and took it out for a while. I have not been able to put it back into my diet since as I get a bad reaction to it every time. I will basically get one migraine after the other for as long as I persist in consuming it.

On stopping I will get one almighty cracking migraine then the migraines will stop.

Hi, I am looking for dairy free, gluten free, soya free, corn free foods that I don't have to cook or can microwave within minutes.

The problem is that I want to try a diet free of the above foods to see it if helps with the fact that I have to spend most days lying in bed because I feel ill. Dizziness, brain fog to the point where I cannot think or organise anything, headaches, stomach pain, diarrhoea, muscle spasms, neck pain, back pain, blurry vision (with or without prescription glasses), dim vision, inability to focus my eyes, feeling spaced out (or feeling drunk when I don't consume alcohol at all), vertigo etc mean I spend most days feeling like death warmed up and am unable to function.

Other more minor symptoms include: intermittent sore throats, bloating, gas that would even offend the pope, acid reflux, a fungal/mouldy taste in my mouth (that comes and goes) and a constantly runny nose, feeling too cold with the odd hot flush thrown in, itching episodes and occasional rashes. I also get wheezing but then again I do smoke so some of those symptoms might be down to that...

I just want my life back.

However, as much as I want to try the diet I don't feel well enough to get up and cook most days, I don't have anyone who can cook for me and so I am left eating ready made junk foods that I have delivered most of the time. Sugar cravings from hell also don't help with this and I do eat far too many carbohydrates. This is not ideal and is probably slowly killing me given that I don't feel well enough to exercise...I need somehow to break the cycle but I am stuck.

I could just eat fruit but it is not filling enough...

What can I buy and eat that does not require any cooking and which does not contain any of the above ingredients?

PN I have ruled so many food groups out to begin with because if there is a dietary link I do not know exactly what is making me feel bad. I do know I feel worse after eating but then again, after a while I will also fee bad if I don't eat anything at all...but its hard to tell what is and what isn't affecting me!

I have been getting a strange set of symptoms recently, however, I have been weaning off of some antidepressants so don't know what is due to what at the moment.

The symptom that concerns me is intermittent and seems to come and go randomly. It's not every day but seems to happen a few times each week. It is also getting more intense feeling each time it happens (or seems to be). Basically it starts out as itching in one or two locations and then turns into itching everywhere. I then start having breathing problems where my breathing is slow and laboured and it is hard to breath in deeply. This can be accompanied by wheezing but as I am a smoker I usually put any wheezing down to that. However the wheezing is worse than it normally is during these itching attacks. I will also feel very light headed, dizzy and my hands and feet will feel ice cold. If I wait for long enough the itching will morph into an itching, pin pricking/pain/stinging sensation all over my skin.

Now I can stop the attack by taking a quarter of a tablet of the antidepressant I am weaning off, which makes me think withdrawal symptom. On the other hand, my brand of antidepressant can be used as an antihistamine (although it is not often used as such as there are other antihistamines that make you less drowsy on the market) so that makes me think possible allergy....

If it is an allergy, the itching starts a few hours after eating so it is not an immediate reaction...is it possible for a reaction be delayed?

Also, the only common ingredient I could find in the foods I had eaten at the time was soya and soya lecithin. For foods with soya directly in the ingredients the reaction was stronger and for the foods that may contain soya due to cross contamination (warning on label) the reaction was milder. Also, some contained only soya lecithin which I read people with allergies can tolerate (although it does depend on how much of the food I have consumed in those instances).

Could it be an allergic reaction to soya and soya Lecithin? Or is it likely to be some strange medication withdrawal symptom?

Any opinions?

I will run it past my dr if it gets any worse or continues, for now though I am managing it by taking a small dose of the antidepressant when it occurs as 30 minutes after taking just 7.5 mg the itching and breathing problems will stop .

To cut a long story short, I went on a gluten free diet some months ago to help with IBS and CFS type symptoms. The reason I considered trying a gluten free approach was because I have a brother (half brother, same mum different dad) with celiac disease. Anyway, about a month or so after starting the diet I did experience some improvement which continued for a while after that. However, during that time I went for blood tests for celiac disease and as they came back negative, I started eating wheat again.

One and a half months later and my IBS and CFS type symptoms are back with such a vengeance I am bed ridden again most days. My migraines are also back and plaguing me. My gut is constantly bloated, the diarrhoea is coming and going, some of my stools are so pale it's worrying, my gut is constantly sore (upper part of my abdomen, not lower) and feels like its been sandpapered or something, I feel dizzy, fatigued, nauseous and just plain ill.

Could it be my return to eating gluten or is it just a coincidence? Should I consider going gluten free again, despite the blood test result, to see if there is an improvement?

I do know that my diarrhoea and feeling ill get worse when I eat gluten or bread and some cereals so I took those out first.

There was some improvement but not enough.

Then I found it was getting worse with corn so I took all grains out at that point.

Things seemed to get a bit better and I thought I had cracked it. Then things started to slide backwards again so I took dairy out. No change. I also went onto a whole foods diet and stopped eating processed foods except for the occasional bit of chocolate ice cream and later on when I took dairy out a gluten free, dairy free, nut free, egg free dark chocolate bar. Other than that I eat no processed at all.

The more fruits and veg I eat the worse it seems to get...so now I'm becoming afraid of eating them. Actually as I don't know what exactly is upsetting me I am becoming afraid to eat anything. I am hungry but don't want to eat because I don't know what will make me feel worse and upset my gut and what will not. I spend my time either feeling so unwell I can't get out of bed or running to the toilet. Its ludicrous and I feel powerless to do anything about it because I don't know what is causing it!

Hi, despite taking gluten and grains out I am still getting stomach problems. I can no longer tolerate either the fatigue (or rather malaise) and running to the toilet 10 times plus a day. I am desperate and want to try a complete elimination diet but I am having trouble finding a clear list of allowed foods during the elimination phase. Can some one help me by linking me to an allowed foods list?

I have tried google and I get lots of pages saying go via a dietician (no can afford and the NHS are useless and keep putting my issues down to IBS without running sufficient tests) and basic instructions but no list of ALLOWED FOODS and foods to avoid.

If I know what I can and can't eat I can at least try it myself. The other option is to do a complete fast and then try adding one food at a time if I can't find any safe foods to eat until I do a challenge.

I really just want a break from feeling ill and having to run to the bathroom. There is no time for any kind of life between those two symptoms. Even if I do manage to feel well enough to get up (and I'm back to having to stay in bed again due to feeling bad) to get anything done I spend so much time going to the loo that I can't get anything accomplished.

On the bright side Im losing weight at around 5lbs a week without trying so there is a silver lining as I am over weight anyway and could do with being thinner..ha!

Help!

To me the highs are similar to a sugar rush with brain fog, dizziness and fatigue lol. Scatty brain time. That hits before the diarrhoea.

It's not very nice lol.

I hate highs lol. I prefer naturally induced contentment.

I shop from the fresh foods aisles and pass on the processed foods, as the former don't usually contain gluten.

I see nothing wrong with trying out a gluten free diet if that's what they want to do but they should be warned that it won't necessarily help them lose weight (it can still be high calorie, high fat and high carb).

I am not diagnosed as celiac but as I was getting various health problems and as celiac disease is in the family I decided to try a gluten free diet. I have had some improvement to my health but its only been about 3 months so I want to give it a bit longer. I do know the improvements reversed themselves the few times I tried to put grains/wheat/gluten back in.

I don't think eating gluten free lessens the impact of celiac disease on those who suffer from it and neither should it affect public opinion of celiac disease. I think they should make it clear though that they are only eating gluten free out of personal choice and not out of a medical need to do so as they are different things.

Personally I can see the allure to eating gluten free...Although I went gluten free for my health I was glad to see the back of bread. That stuff always did taste like cardboard to me, especially wholemeal. I only used to eat it cause it was 'supposed' to be healthy.

Id blame the corn lol