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Gluten free diet

Posted , 9 users are following.

ned7744
ned7744

2 weeks ago I tried starting a strict gluten free diet following possibilities of coeliac disease or sensitivity to gluten. I expected my bowels to improve following a 6-8 week diary I had been keeping i regulated my intake of food and drink to give myself a 'reference' to begin with.

So I was generally ok, slightly bloated prior to gluten free. 3 days into gluten free I felt awful. Stomach pains, diahrrea really smelly gas, felt weak, headaches etc. Struggled to concentrate at work. My intake of fruit and veg increased and this period of feeling crap lasted 3 days. I was bad. I felt awful. Anyway things improved slightly and the diahhrea calmed but the stomach noises, pains etx were still present.

I'm just confused? If I drink beer, eat pizza, eat pasta...etc usually it irritates me. This week (after being gluten free for 2 weeks and feeling bad) I've sacked the gluten free diet, had bread, pizza etc...but just watched my sugar intake (as this is a sensitivity for me) and I'm having relatively normal bowel movements, no headache, no morning rushes...slightly constipated.

Not sure where to go from here? I seem to be going in this cycle where I will be ok for about a month, then have a proper bad spell usually 2 days of diahrrea, aches, headaches, brain fog etc...then back to normal. I've kept a diary of everything I've been eating and can't link anything to my causes. The 1 thing I thought would help...staying off gluten...actually seems to make things worse?

0 likes, 11 replies

11 Replies

  • ned7744
    ned7744

    Posted

    Another thing I seem to have noticed is that before I got told I had ibs and my stomach was 'normal' I used to eat a big meal and then literally go for a totally normal poo 1 hour or so after the meal. It was like clockwork. Anyway now if I have a meal my body does sometimes tell me k need the toilet but when I try to go, nothing happens. I have the urge but nothing comes out?k don't really feel constipated. It happens the same whether I go through an ibs c or d stage.
  • mike83709
    mike83709

    Posted

    I've got the exact same symptoms as you, I don't think you've mentioned weight loss as I also have this.

    Whilst you might be gluten free it can be a lengthy process to see improvement even if this is your only problem. I expect that you might want to look at other sugars, such as lactose, fructose etc that you may have intolerances to.

    I know this might not sound like a lot of help but your certainly not on your own particularly when this type ofThing can get you down. I really hate my excessive gas so I can understand what it's like for you. It's been about 12 months and I still don't have these issues resolved.

  • caro13
    caro13

    Posted

    Have you seen a dietician and got advice on how to be totally Gluten free? You need this initially because gluten is in so many things you would not think of. If you are still having problems you need a referral to a consultant.

    Mike is right - it can take some time on a strict gluten free diet for your gut to heal - and any crumb of it you consume meanwhile will set you back again....you don't say if you have been officially diagnosed?....and it is important to pursue this if not. Undiagnosed Coeliacs have an increased risk of Bowel Cancer....it takes 5 years on the strict diet for this risk to reduce back to what is the normal level....so you need medical help if still having problems. It is not something you can do on your own - you need help.

  • ned7744
    ned7744

    Posted

    Trust me I was 100% gluten free. I analysed everything I eat and made sure it didn't contain gluten. Salad, veg, fresh meat...etc. I felt rough.

    Secondly I have returned my diet back to what I would class as 'normal' and I'm not having ibs issues, so even if surely a crumb will start causing damage again how come I feel better being off gluten? Surely if i eat gluten now for another 2 weeks and don't have any major issues then it's not gluten irritating me.

    Mike - I've not lost any weight at all. My weight has always been stable.

    I haven't been diagnosed with coeliac or anything like that. I would have thought going gluten free, I would have seen some positive change, even if only small. I'm prepared to go back to a totally gluten free diet but I'm also tempted to get myself into a fairly stable condition with my ibs and experiment with increasing my intake of different sugars etc to see what happens.

  • caro13
    caro13

    Posted

    Persist with your GP Ned. You do know that all GPs were told not to refer folk on or do further tests until they had been into the Surgery at least 7 or 8 times in one year with the same problem.....a GP on TV gave that away last year! So you just have to keep going back. Good Luck.
  • debz73
    debz73

    Posted

    Try Total Candida Defence, working for me after one week! Also an IBS sufferer
  • jerry1646
    jerry1646 ned7744

    Posted

    Hi ned7744

    I don't know if this will help but after enduring years of IBS it suddenly seemed to get worse. After visiting the Doctor and trying mebrevine with no improvement the Doctor recommended fybogel (one a day). This together with giving up Gluten has improved things greatly for myself. It has only been for just over a month now so I cannot speak long term.  I can only cross my fingers and hope it continues. 

     

  • n0am
    n0am ned7744

    Posted

    Dear Ned7744,

    Your experience sounds similar to mine! I all of a sudden (over a gradual period) started getting a really bad gut as if I'd eaten something that was off, anyway after this went on & on for 7,8,9 months I realised it must be something else (What confused me was the 'good/normal' periods in-between). So I went the docs who's said it was stress related, cut a long story I don't feel stressed at the min, a friend mentioned milk so I stopped any milk intake and I was back to normal! We'll I thought, as after a couple of night of having beer and eating lots of biscuits, I was back to a bad gut e.g. Bloated and really uncomfortable then going to the toilet 6, 7,8 times a day with not much happening when I got there! So now I'm trying to cut out any gluten, does anyone know how long it takes to know if I'm on the right lines, e.g. If I stop gluten and I'm ok 3 days after zero gluten then I can safely say it is gluten? This whole thing is really depressing sad I just want to know what it is so I can exclude it from my diet 

    • ned7744
      ned7744 n0am

      Posted

      Yeah it is annoying. I know how you feel.

      I've kind of given up worrying about it. I've been back to the hospital to see the specialist and realised a lot of my anxiety has made things a lot worse. The specialist has given me some tablets to deal with this and I'm trying to force myself to go out and do stuff even when I'm bad.

      Everything I've tried helps a little but nothing has cured the issue or I can't pinpoint exactly what irritates my gut. Reviewing a food diary I made over a number of weeks I can say that eliminating sugar (especially coke), tea, coffee, fried foods...etc all seems to help. But then for whatever reason my stomach issues go away and the other week I eat fish and chips which was something I'd never eaten before as it would make me feel rough for 2 days after! I felt fine! What's that all about lol.

      Sugar and bad diet has caused my ibs. Drinking alcohol on an empty stomach has now made my guts much more sensitive to things. The anxiety that comes with ibs has caused me  a vicious circle worsening my symptoms.

      As for gluten free... I eat gluten free sometimes but the mistakes I made were changing to gluten free when I had bad diahrrea, eating lots of fruit and veg etc and this actually made my symptoms worse. Like any 'fault finding' you have to gather some evidence (like a food diary) then start eliminating 1 thing at a time for a number of weeks else it isn't a realistic test.

      Thanks

  • Guest
    Guest ned7744

    Posted

    6 weeks gluten-free helped me to be able to eat a bit of wheat once in a while again....

    Is there something else you ate more instead of the gluten-containing products during the period you were in this diet? I can't digest raw vegetables and fruit for example, which I used to eat more when I was on elimination diets. 

    • ned7744
      ned7744 Guest

      Posted

      Basically everything I've tried has marginally helped for a period of time. Gluten free diet, stopping all the junk food etc has all helped marginally but not cured me. I think since I stopped drinking soo much fizzy drink my stomach is repairing itself as my ibs attacks are happening a lot less and not lasting for as long. I got some anti anxiety tablets from the hospital and can't believe the difference they have made. I disagreed with my GP refusing to believe I was anxious about my ibs, but I was wrong... He is right.

      I'm now about to start a 6 month plan of using VSL probiotic and L glutamine supplement as I believe my cause of ibs is from sibo (everything kind of makes sense). I'm also going to try and deal with the anxiety side of things aswell as I didn't realise how much that was causing me to feel s**t.

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