Increasing symptoms after going gluten free

[Tyoung]

Before my diagnosis I would consider myself pretty much asymptomatic other than a few flare ups of what I previously thought were ibs symptoms. After having iron deficiency as well I had a positive blood test and EGD. I have now been gluten free for about a month but my symptoms have gotten worse. I now have bloating, acid reflux, and pain in the upper abdomen on and off most days. I am pretty positive I am not being glutened as we overhauled our whole house to be gluten free and haven’t eaten out since the diagnosis. Has anyone else experienced a worsening of symptoms after going gluten free? Will it subside? Or is there something else I should be concerned about. Thank you! 

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, @Tyoung!

It is possible that you are experiencing some kind of gluten withdrawal but I would thing that would have started to subside by now.

There are a couple of possibilities that come to mind.

One is the polysaccharide ingredients that are typically found in prepackaged "gluten-free" wheat flour facsimile foods. If you read the ingredient lists of such foods you will usually find things like guar gum and xanthan gum. Their function is to give the product a texture similar to wheat flour but they are hard to digest and give many celiacs digestive issues. I mention this not knowing if you are relying on prepackaged gluten free food items to any extent or are just choosing carefully from mainstream naturally gluten free food items.

Another is that your body is just going through adjustment to a major dietary change. Wheat is a significant component to the typical western diet that supplies certain nutrients and some fiber that has now been withdrawn suddenly. Are you experiencing any constipation? Also be aware that foods made from gluten-free flour are typically devoid of nutritional value. Wheat flour is mandated by government regulations to be fortified with vitamins but gluten-free flours are not. It can be smart to compensate for this with vitamin and mineral supplements.

Still another possibility is that in addition to being gluten intolerant, your also have other food intolerances. One small study found that 50% of celiacs reacted to dairy like they do gluten. That number may be on the high side in reality and more research needs to be done. However, it is true that dairy intolerance is very common in the celiac community. Another common "cross reactive" food is oats. There are certain foods whose proteins closely resemble gluten and cause the same reaction. About 10% of celiacs react to the protein "avenin" in oats like the do the protein gluten. You might try eliminating dairy and oats for a few weeks and see if your symptoms improve.

[Scott Adams]

Many people with celiac disease, especially those who are in the 0-2 year range of their recovery, have additional food intolerance issues which could be temporary. To figure this out you may need to keep a food diary and do an elimination diet over a few months.

Some common food intolerance issues are dairy/casein, eggs, corn, oats, and soy. The good news is that after your gut heals (for most people who are 100% gluten-free this will take several months to two years) you may be able to slowly add some these items back into your diet after the damaged villi heal.

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