My Reintroduction Symptoms - Intolerance?

[xx-gulliver-xx]

Hi gang, sorry if I missed any stickies - I looked.

SHORT VERSION

Since January 1, I've been on a gluten + dairy elimination diet. A month in, I had a large portion of a likely-cross-contaminated meal, and for 3 days I had severe symptoms including nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, dysthymia, no appetite and a passing fever sensation (hot/cold swings). The nausea/stomach discomfort was so bad I would wake up and couldn't get back to sleep. This happened again last week after another contamination incident. These begin 12-24 hours after consuming gluten. Separately, I reintroduced dairy just once (whey protein powder) and had explosive gas and intestinal distress for most of the day (this one came on ~3 hours later but is a clear allergy). My questions:

1. Are these unusual gluten intolerance symptoms? It was so severe I thought it must have been food poisoning.
2. Does this suggest gluten/dairy sensitivity OR a natural sensitivity to foods one hasn't eaten in awhile? I.e. I'm not allergic to candy but when I had a handful after not having any for 3 months of boot camp, it was a colon crusher. And prior to the diet, I was able to eat both dairy and gluten with little to no irritation.

MORE DETAIL

• I embarked on this diet because I've always had symptoms, accelerating in adulthood. These include:
• A highly irregular BM schedule and volume, as well as frequent bouts of gas and bloating
• Brain fog, and horrible/deterioriating short-term memory
• "Sticky" weight (i.e., I'll diet + exercise for a month and lose almost no weight, while friends cut out only soda or spaghetti and lose 20 lbs)
• Unpredictable fatigue + dysthymia/anhedonia
• My brother is Celiac and lactose intolerant

[GFinDC]

Hi Gulliver,

I am assuming you didn't get tested for celiac disease before going on the gluten-free diet?  If true, that's unfortunate as the celiac disease antibody tests depend on having been on a regular gluten diet for up to 12 weeks.

The dairy reaction is a classic celiac symptom.  Celiac disease can cause damage to the villi lining the small intestine.  Those villi make an enzyme that digests dairy sugar (lactose).  Without the villi, there is no lactase enzyme, and no sugar breakdown.  That means the gut bacteria have a big sugar rush to feed on and start making lots of feeding byproducts.  Very fartilicious and bloaty.

Another thing, often it seems when we go gluten-free and then start eating gluten again the symptoms are worse than before stopping gluten.  The immune system is already at a high state of readiness and it just needs a little bit of gluten in the water to start a full blown attack.  Recovery from celiac damage can take 18 months or longer for some.  Also you may be low on certain nutrients like vitamins and minerals that your body and brain need to function well.  That can cause depression, fatigue and other unpleasant symptoms.

There is a sticky at the top of the Coping with section called Newbie 101, which may help some.  My guess is you have celiac disease but without testing it is hard to know for sure.

The reaction to sugary foods is probably dysbiosis, a fancy term for gut flora being all out of whack.  There's too many bad, nasty bacteria and not enough of the helpful ones.  This can happen when your gut is damaged and digestion is impaired.

I hope you feel better soon.

[xx-gulliver-xx]

20 hours ago, GFinDC said:

Hi Gulliver,

I am assuming you didn't get tested for celiac disease before going on the gluten-free diet?  If true, that's unfortunate as the celiac disease antibody tests depend on having been on a regular gluten diet for up to 12 weeks.

The dairy reaction is a classic celiac symptom.  Celiac disease can cause damage to the villi lining the small intestine.  Those villi make an enzyme that digests dairy sugar (lactose).  Without the villi, there is no lactase enzyme, and no sugar breakdown.  That means the gut bacteria have a big sugar rush to feed on and start making lots of feeding byproducts.  Very fartilicious and bloaty.

Another thing, often it seems when we go gluten-free and then start eating gluten again the symptoms are worse than before stopping gluten.  The immune system is already at a high state of readiness and it just needs a little bit of gluten in the water to start a full blown attack.  Recovery from celiac damage can take 18 months or longer for some.  Also you may be low on certain nutrients like vitamins and minerals that your body and brain need to function well.  That can cause depression, fatigue and other unpleasant symptoms.

There is a sticky at the top of the Coping with section called Newbie 101, which may help some.  My guess is you have celiac disease but without testing it is hard to know for sure.

The reaction to sugary foods is probably dysbiosis, a fancy term for gut flora being all out of whack.  There's too many bad, nasty bacteria and not enough of the helpful ones.  This can happen when your gut is damaged and digestion is impaired.

I hope you feel better soon.

Thank you for your kind and detailed reply!

I did not get tested; just figured since my brother is Celiac and I'd had persistent, mild to moderate symptoms for a decade+, I'd give the elimination diet a go.

It is interesting to hear that damage from Celiac can actually cause lactose intolerance... I love cheese and lots of foods with dairy ingredients, so this would be an enormous bummer whether it's primary or secondary.

I'm very curious though how unusual the gluten symptoms (borderline fever symptoms, nausea, insomnia, dysthymia, fatigue) I experienced are? Do these seem unusually severe? It definitely wasn't "just" discomfort, it felt like borderline flu (which I've already had this year, so it wasn't that). I would have thought it's food poisoning, except it happened 2x separately in 3 weeks despite not eating repeat food I think.

[ravenwoodglass]

2 hours ago, xx_gulliver_xx said:

.

I'm very curious though how unusual the gluten symptoms (borderline fever symptoms, nausea, insomnia, dysthymia, fatigue) I experienced are? Do these seem unusually severe? It definitely wasn't "just" discomfort, it felt like borderline flu (which I've already had this year, so it wasn't that). I would have thought it's food poisoning, except it happened 2x separately in 3 weeks despite not eating repeat food I think.

Symptoms like that are not unusual at all. Peoples symptoms can vary. Some folks get severely ill from even the tiniest amount of gluten while some celiacs are symptom free even on a regular gluten filled diet or think their symptoms are 'normal' or attribute them to something else. With a brother that is diagnosed it is likely you also are celiac. As mentioned you would need to go on a challenge for about 12 weeks to get blood work done.  If you desire a diagnosis a challenge is what you need to do.

[xx-gulliver-xx]

42 minutes ago, ravenwoodglass said:

Symptoms like that are not unusual at all. Peoples symptoms can vary. Some folks get severely ill from even the tiniest amount of gluten while some celiacs are symptom free even on a regular gluten filled diet or think their symptoms are 'normal' or attribute them to something else. With a brother that is diagnosed it is likely you also are celiac. As mentioned you would need to go on a challenge for about 12 weeks to get blood work done.  If you desire a diagnosis a challenge is what you need to do.

Just what I was looking for. Thanks all!