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2 years


Svelte

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Svelte Apprentice

I just read an article saying it usually takes 2 years to recover from celiac disease after going gluten free.  Is this accurate?  I'm pretty sure my doctor told me 3 weeks or something at the time, but I highly doubt that is accurate as I still have problems and I'm well over a year gluten free.  The antibody test they do for celiac disease still was positive, but much better, after 9 months; so it makes sense to me that this normally takes at least a year to heal.  I've done 2 elimination diets and currently am on about my 3rd or 4th different diet.  I have been starting to feel better after 3 weeks of sugar free on an anti candida diet, and I don't think it's possible to eat better that I do.  It sure has been a slow recovery.


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cyclinglady Grand Master

In theory, the small intestinal lining can regenerate in just a few weeks.  But the reality is that autoimmune response takes time to stop after ceasing to ingest gluten.  Another factor is the actual gluten free diet.  The learning curve is steep.  It takes time to master and mistakes are typically made.  Finally, concurrent and systemic issues (e.g. osteoporosis, anemia, joint pain, liver enzymes) take time to heal or resolve.  
 

Congratulations on reducing your antibodies.  You are on the right path!  

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    • trents
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    • trents
      Staci, take note of the forms of magnesium and zinc I recommended. With some of the vitamins and minerals, the formulation can be very important in how well they are absorbed. Many of the vitamin and mineral products on supermarket shelves are in a form that maximizes shelf life rather than bioavailability which, in your case, would seem to be a critical issue. And with magnesium, if you use the typical over the counter form (magnesium oxide) you may find it has a definite laxative effect (think, "milk of magnesia") simply because it isn't well absorbed and draws water into the colon. Spend some extra money and get quality vitamin and mineral products and research the issue of bioavailability. There are forum members who are knowledgeable in this area who may have recommendations. Do you have Costco stores where you live? Is Amazon available to you?
    • Kathleen JJ
      And yes, of course it's better to know and we will adjust.  It's just, he's 7 and in our house we can control what he gets. But he plays soccer 3 times a week and in the changing room the boys share candies. I can and will tell him not to accept them any more, but "mistakes" will be made.   I'm really burdened by the potential social impact for him. He so loves to go to a restaurant as a family - I'll guess that's finished. Going to birthday parties at another kids house? I am reading about Coeliacs and apparently the fact that something as much as TOUCHED something with wheat is enough, even if he doesn't feel the symptoms - how can we control that bar from keeping him locked up?    And the worst worry of all: how do you tell a little boy to do all of this to not have symptoms that he does not have. If he'd been having horrible diarrhea or feeling really tired, we could tell him 'see, you feel so much better now, that kind of food was just not good for your body', but now, what will our argument be? For clarity: of course we will put him on the diet, I am not saying I don't believe in the necessity of that, it is just that it will be quite a stretch to 'sell' it to him 😞
    • StaciField
      I’m 41. You have helped me achieve the goals of finding a way of getting nutrients into my body so I will see how it works for me. Thank you so much.
    • Kathleen JJ
      Thank you for your reaction. The reference values are both "<10", although I found a medical paper from Netherlands (I'm Belgian) who use the same values and there the see a positive daignosis as twice more then 200 and a positive biopsie. I didn't see how to change this in my original message, sorry...
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