How Quickly Did Your Symptoms Go Away?

[Tim86]

I want to know about your experience when you first started on a gluten free diet. Please don't try to guess what my experience might be...I just want to know about yours.

Please tell me as best you can remember, how long did it take for these symptoms to be definitely improved. Not necessarily completely better, but improved enough that you had no doubt there was an improvement. Please give an amount of time for each symptom (I'm sure they all take different amounts of times to get better).

IBS

Acid Reflux

Sleep problems

Lack of energy

Headaches

Memory Fog

(I'm only listing the symptoms that I'm interested in)

I just started on a gluten free diet a few days ago. I don't have a diagnosis...I'm doing this to self-diagnose. I know everyone's experience is different...I just want to hear from all of you! Thank you so much!!!

[ravenwoodglass]

I want to know about your experience when you first started on a gluten free diet. Please don't try to guess what my experience might be...I just want to know about yours.

Please tell me as best you can remember, how long did it take for these symptoms to be definitely improved. Not necessarily completely better, but improved enough that you had no doubt there was an improvement. Please give an amount of time for each symptom (I'm sure they all take different amounts of times to get better).

IBS

Acid Reflux

Sleep problems

Lack of energy

Headaches

Memory Fog

(I'm only listing the symptoms that I'm interested in)

I just started on a gluten free diet a few days ago. I don't have a diagnosis...I'm doing this to self-diagnose. I know everyone's experience is different...I just want to hear from all of you! Thank you so much!!!

IBS- Within a week-was on elimination diet so very strict only 5 foods at the time

Acid Reflux- didn't have

Sleep problems- a couple months

Lack of energy - a couple months - sublingual B12 helped a great deal

Headaches- I had migraines and haven't had one since I went gluten-free, unless glutened

Memory Fog- a couple months again the B12 helped and I should have taken it sooner.

[jerseyangel]

IBS--The D stopped within a day or two, my whole digestive system felt calmer and for the first time in a long time I wasn't aware of my stomach all the time. For me, these symptoms came back after about 4 months due to additional food intolerance.

Acid Reflux--I never had it before I went gluten-free. I developed it after and found it was relieved completely by omitting legumes. I also have a hiatal hernia, which I'm sure has something to do with it.

Sleep problems--Almost immediately I began to sleep deeper and wake up more refreshed and less anxious. My dreams were more vivid (not bad, just easier to remember)

Lack of energy--This took many months to get better.....probably 18 months or so. This got worse before it got better.

Headaches--I had aching in the back of my head and neck that began to abate soon after going gluten-free. A week or two.

Memory Fog--Another symptom that took longer to improve for me--again, maybe 18 months.....I still get this when glutened.

[Tim86]

Come on people!!! Let's hear what you have to say!!! Over 100 people have read this thread, and only 2 have responded so far (but thank you so much to those two ).

Please just take a couple moments and share your experience with any of the symptoms I had listed.

This looks like an awesome forum, and I don't want to lose faith in it right from the start.

[leadmeastray88]

IBS - 2 weeks

Acid Reflux - 2 weeks

Sleep problems - 2 months

Lack of energy - 1 month

Headaches - 2 weeks

Memory Fog - Didn't have this

Overall, I felt 100% better by the 2 month mark. The gluten de-toxing takes awhile!

[chasbari]

I want to know about your experience when you first started on a gluten free diet. Please don't try to guess what my experience might be...I just want to know about yours.

Please tell me as best you can remember, how long did it take for these symptoms to be definitely improved. Not necessarily completely better, but improved enough that you had no doubt there was an improvement. Please give an amount of time for each symptom (I'm sure they all take different amounts of times to get better).

IBS (Doesn't really apply... D got better on and off over the first 2 months)

Acid Reflux: 48 hours of starting paleo which was 2 months after starting gluten-free

Sleep problems: 1 week of gluten-free

Lack of energy: 1 week after starting gluten-free

Headaches: not so much a problem for me.

Memory Fog: a few weeks into paleo (10 weeks from starting gluten-free)

CS

[Mike M]

Come on people!!! Let's hear what you have to say!!! Over 100 people have read this thread, and only 2 have responded so far (but thank you so much to those two ).

Please just take a couple moments and share your experience with any of the symptoms I had listed.

This looks like an awesome forum, and I don't want to lose faith in it right from the start.

IBS-ABOUT 1 WEEK

Acid Reflux- CURED IN 3 DAYS UNLESS GLUTENED AND THEN COMES BACK FOR ABOUT A DAY OR TWO

Sleep problems- ABOUT A MONTH IN THE BEGINNING, NOW IF GLUTENED, TAKES A FEW DAYS TO GET BACK TO NORMAL

Lack of energy-TOOK ABOUT 6 WEEKS TO NOTICE IMPROVEMENT, ONE YEAR FOR BIG DIFFERENCE

Headaches- NEVER HAD AND STILL RARELY EVER GET A HEADACHE EVEN WHEN GLUTENED

Memory Fog-NOTICED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE THAT EVERYTHING WAS MUCH BRIGHTER AND CLEARER AFTER ABOUT A WEEK GLUTEN FREE. TOLD THE DOCTOR THAT I DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHY EVERYTHING INCLUDING COLORS WAS SO MUCH BRIGHTER/CLEARER AND HE JUST KIND OF LOOKED AT ME AND SLOWLY SHOOK HIS HEAD UP AND DOWN AND DID NOT ANSWER. WILL GET FOGGY MINDED FOR A FEW DAYS IF GLUTENED AND EVERYTHING IS JUST DIMMER LOOKING. SORRY FOR YELLING! LOL! Mike

[elonwy]

IBS - about 3-6 months (its a wide time frame, but it came and went for a while)

Acid Reflux- the next day

Sleep problems- about two weeks

Lack of energy - 3 months

Headaches - 3 months

Memory Fog - almost instantly noticed a lessening in this, but took about 6 months to really be gone for good.

[Gfresh404]

IBS - A day or two - also had to eliminate dairy.

Acid Reflux - A day or two, still get occasionally due to issues with digestion of fats. Oils seem to cause me the most trouble, and dairy of course.

Sleep problems - I'd say I started sleeping like a rock after about a week.

Lack of energy - Still struggling with that, Vitamin B supplements help a lot but I really do not like taking them, the less unnatural stuff I have to put in my body the better. I hate to say it but I think it could take up to a year and a half to notice a major difference. I still need the occasional nap.

Headaches - Gone within a day or two.

Memory Fog - Cleared up in about a week.

Just FYI - I have only been gluten-free since Jan 1st of '09.

[nasalady]

I want to know about your experience when you first started on a gluten free diet. Please don't try to guess what my experience might be...I just want to know about yours.

Please tell me as best you can remember, how long did it take for these symptoms to be definitely improved. Not necessarily completely better, but improved enough that you had no doubt there was an improvement. Please give an amount of time for each symptom (I'm sure they all take different amounts of times to get better).

IBS

Acid Reflux

Sleep problems

Lack of energy

Headaches

Memory Fog

(I'm only listing the symptoms that I'm interested in)

I just started on a gluten free diet a few days ago. I don't have a diagnosis...I'm doing this to self-diagnose. I know everyone's experience is different...I just want to hear from all of you! Thank you so much!!!

IBS - better within a few days

Acid Reflux - better within a few weeks

Sleep problems - better within a few weeks

Lack of energy - better within a month

Headaches - better within a few days

Memory Fog - better within a few days

NOTE: I have only been gluten-free since 25 November 2008. Only the diarrhea/IBS is completely gone, and it comes back if I've been glutened. The other symptoms remain, although they are definitely diminished in intensity.

Good luck with everything!

JoAnn

[sugarsue]

It makes sense that you are only interested in the symptoms that affect you so our experiences are not that helpful I'm sure but here they are anyway to be supportive and participatory....

Regarding dd (age 6)

IBS - her bowel and gas issues were much better after a couple of months. Still very sensitive after 6 months and she gets diarrhea very easily.

Acid Reflux - don't think she had this

Sleep problems - 1 month she no longer needed melatonin to go to sleep on a regular basis

Lack of energy - 1st week she was outside JOGGING (unheard of prior). Next couple of months energy levels really went up but very much a daily process

Headaches - she didn't complain of headaches

Memory Fog - I don't know if she had memory fog but she is doing much better in school now after 6 months.

[pele]

Come on people!!! Let's hear what you have to say!!! Over 100 people have read this thread, and only 2 have responded so far (but thank you so much to those two ).

Please just take a couple moments and share your experience with any of the symptoms I had listed.

This looks like an awesome forum, and I don't want to lose faith in it right from the start.

Tim, You are funny!! Some of us have posted stuff that no one has ever replied to!

Okay, here goes:

IBS: bloating gone in 2 days. The rest started to heal after about 4 months on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Is it healed yet?? I don't know, but the past two weeks have been good.

Acid R: N/A

Sleep: restless leg sydrome gone in two months, that helps me sleep.

Energy: Still improving slowly, not normal yet

Headaches: N/A

Memory Fog: Huh?

[hhdavid]

I've only been on the diet one month today (yea!) but here's my symptom resolution:

IBS: bloating/stomach pain stopped almost immediately. The D is much better but I still have my days.

Acid Refux: almost immediately

Sleep: still working on that, but I am not sleeping near as much as I did when I was sick. I would sleep so I wouldn't know I was in pain.

Energy: Still improving slowly, it gets better every day. Still not normal yet, but it's like daylight and dark compared to a month ago.

Headaches: within days.

Memory Fog: I still have moments that I mispronounce words, can't think of the word/person's name I'm trying to think of. And I'm still forgetting stuff, but not like I was before I went gluten-free.

[mushroom]

Come on people!!! Let's hear what you have to say!!! Over 100 people have read this thread, and only 2 have responded so far (but thank you so much to those two ).

Please just take a couple moments and share your experience with any of the symptoms I had listed.

This looks like an awesome forum, and I don't want to lose faith in it right from the start.

Maybe you are not getting the number of responses you hoped for because our symptoms were different from yours, and you specifically told us not to respond

IBS - don't believe in this; had gas and bloating, which is different

Acid Reflux - didn't have

Sleep problems - depends on the gas and bloating; still get sometimes

Lack of energy - didn't have

Headaches - didn't have

Memory Fog - Didn't have

See what I mean??

[TearzaRose]

First of all I felt better IMMEDIATELY. The very first day I felt like a new woman.

IBS-not really that, more like bloating and severe cramping: 1 day

ACID REFLUX-N/A

SLEEP PROBLEMS:1 day

ENERGY: on and off, but first day was very energetic

HEADACHES: N/A

MEMORY FOG: 1 day

[nb-canada]

IBS - within 2 days saw an improvement. Did not even feel anything wrong with my stomach after 2 days - my son had same experience. BM's decreased from 5 to 7 times per day to 2 within a couple weeks of going gluten-free. Very seldon get a <gurgling> stomach any more.

Acid Reflux - was on medication so was already improved. Tried stopping meds a couple times in the first six months & still had heart burn. Haven't tried stopping since.

Sleep problems - within 2 days could do without sleeping pills (which didn't work anyway )

Lack of energy - after 1 year has improved but still have not much energy. Could be due to Hypothyroid - started meds in December.

Headaches - did not have.

Memory Fog - did not have, I think

[Pegleg84]

Hi

this is really interesting for me too, since I've just started on the Gluten free diet (1 week now), as a self-diagnosis thing.

It hasn't been long enough to tell, but my stomach problems have diminished, constipation is getting better, and i think I've started to sleep better too.

sorry, not much help to you, but just be aware that everyone has different symptoms and the only way for you to know if you'll get better is to give it a shot.

[prayin4achange]

IBS- Within a week-was on elimination diet so very strict only 5 foods at the time

Acid Reflux- didn't have

Sleep problems- a couple months

Lack of energy - a couple months - sublingual B12 helped a great deal

Headaches- I had migraines and haven't had one since I went gluten-free, unless glutened

Memory Fog- a couple months again the B12 helped and I should have taken it sooner.

I am really interested on an elimination diet also. I tried one time before and even with research was kind of confused. Can you please share what foods you did eat and how you reintroduced other foods to cancel out any other allergies/intolerences?? Thanks!

[Tim86]

UPDATE: It has been about 3.5 weeks now, since I went gluten-free. My IBS has improved significantly, and I think I might be having fewer headaches (not sure yet). But no other improvement in the other symptoms. It is getting to be a real struggle to stick with it. My IBS wasn't debilitating, it was just a nuisance, so I'm having a hard time giving up so many of my favorite foods just for that one symptom. I've been eating a lot more salads and fresh fruits. For lunch, I often eat packets of tuna, with potato chips. I put the tuna on the chip. It's good for a couple days, but I'm already getting bored of it. Today at work somebody brought in some delicious pastries, and it is so hard not eating one. It's borderline torture!

I'll try to stick with it a few more weeks. But if my only symptom that gets better is IBS, then I don't know if I will stick with it.