Does Glutening Intensity And Recovery Time Decrease W/ Healing?

[eleep]

My acupuncturist and other medical practicioners have all suggested that my glutenings will decrease in intensity and such once my body has fully healed. I'm not working with anyone with a great deal of knowledge and experience with celiacs, so I was wondering whether this is something people have found to be true in their own experience.

I've been diagnosed at 36 and my last two glutenings were in June and then about a month ago -- as best as I can tell from the most recent experience, it's taking me three weeks to feel like my health is back up to par. I've undergone a pretty intense acupuncture treatment which I can tell has speeded up the healing process and that last glutening was noticeably less severe -- but still pretty bad. I know that it's technically supposed to actually take 6-8 weeks for the body to fully recover.

What about those of you who've been gluten free for several or many years? How old were you when you were diagnosed? Do you find that the recovery time improves? Has something about the nature of your glutenings changed.

[codetalker]

I've been following a gluten-free diet for about 10 years now. Gluten accidents are very rare. However, when they occur, they are very consistent in terms of severity and duration of symptoms. None of this has improved over time. My body has probably healed as much of the previous celiac-related damage as is ever going to be healed.

[Susan M-G]

  eleep said:

My acupuncturist and other medical practicioners have all suggested that my glutenings will decrease in intensity and such once my body has fully healed. I'm not working with anyone with a great deal of knowledge and experience with celiacs, so I was wondering whether this is something people have found to be true in their own experience.

I've been diagnosed at 36 and my last two glutenings were in June and then about a month ago -- as best as I can tell from the most recent experience, it's taking me three weeks to feel like my health is back up to par. I've undergone a pretty intense acupuncture treatment which I can tell has speeded up the healing process and that last glutening was noticeably less severe -- but still pretty bad. I know that it's technically supposed to actually take 6-8 weeks for the body to fully recover.

What about those of you who've been gluten free for several or many years? How old were you when you were diagnosed? Do you find that the recovery time improves? Has something about the nature of your glutenings changed.

[ianm]

I glutened myself four weeks ago and I am finally back to normal. I experienced fatigue and brain fog but I was still able to function. The brain fog was not nearly as crippling as it used to be. It is probably safe to say that if you keep yourself healthy that any accidental glutenings will decrease in severity. However this could vary from person to person.

[Lisa]

  ianm said:

I glutened myself four weeks ago and I am finally back to normal. I experienced fatigue and brain fog but I was still able to function. The brain fog was not nearly as crippling as it used to be. It is probably safe to say that if you keep yourself healthy that any accidental glutenings will decrease in severity. However this could vary from person to person.

I have had similar reactions. And I also will agree that it varies widely.

[tarnalberry]

I don't think that it's changed wildly. It changed a bit in nature, actually getting 'worse', though that was mostly an issue of not always feeling icky, so I recognized not feeling well. It really varies person to person.

[kbtoyssni]

I've been gluten-free for 14 months and I think my glutenings are less severe now. I still get all my old symptoms back but I'm still able to function and live my life. The symptoms can drag on for two weeks, though.

[Lisa]

  tarnalberry said:

I don't think that it's changed wildly. It changed a bit in nature, actually getting 'worse', though that was mostly an issue of not always feeling icky, so I recognized not feeling well. It really varies person to person.

Yes, a poor choice of word on my part..I meant widely. Sorry Tiff, bad spelling on my part.

[tarnalberry]

  Momma Goose said:

Yes, a poor choice of word on my part..I meant widely. Sorry Tiff, bad spelling on my part.

*scrolls down* hehehe... I just hit reply after reading the OP, and didn't see your post until now. (I was multitasking the last time I replied... who knows how many boo-boos I made... ) I can totally see describing it either way.

[Kody]

  codetalker said:

I've been following a gluten-free diet for about 10 years now. Gluten accidents are very rare. However, when they occur, they are very consistent in terms of severity and duration of symptoms. None of this has improved over time. My body has probably healed as much of the previous celiac-related damage as is ever going to be healed.

I'm going way off-topic, but how much did that change your life? being gluten-free for 10 years? do you feel perfectly normal now? how long did it take? etc? I realize everyone is different, just trying to get an idea. Any info would be great!

[darlindeb25]

I think it is very hard to judge how severe an attack is only because most of us were so consistently ill before going gluten free that we never really had a time when we felt normal in comparison to other people. I think that once you go gluten-free and are gluten-free for years, then the reaction seems much more violent, only because we aren't used to having the reaction anymore. For now, my other intolerances keep me feeling so worn out and ackey, that I may not feel a gluten attack as violent. It is very, very rare now that I get diarrhea and when I do, it is usually from an accidental glutening. It's weird, as much as my intolerances are bothering me and as run down as I feel, I rarely ever pick up any bugs from other people. Knock on wood!!!!!!!

And Koty--I have been gluten free for 5 years. I remember that within a very short time after going gluten-free, I noticed a big difference in how I felt. Yet I was very ill then, so any improvement would have been heavenly. I was up almost every night with diarrhea, falling asleep on the toilet at times. After a few weeks gluten-free and being able to sleep through the night for days on end, was heaven. For me, going gluten free was a Godsend for 2 yrs or so. Then my soy intolerance cropped up, then in a few months, the corn jumped in the mix, a yr later rice joined them and then the nightshades. Somedays I feel like I am back at step 1 again, yet I know with these intolerances, I am not near as ill as I was with gluten. I do often wonder why I must go to the extreme with everything. My sister was so ill with celiacs and she has been gluten-free for 5 yrs also and has no other intolerances.