How Long Does It Take For Villi To Regrow?

[hicupingandburping]

IF you spend 3 months eating non gluten stuff and your villi grows back? What if you ate some gluten stuff, does it take those 3 months again to come back????

[emaegf]

It may take longer than 3 months for your system to heal depends on how long your Celiac has been active. Your need to maintain a gluten free diet for at least 6 months to 1 year to give your system time to heal. Even after healing your villi may not be back to 100%. Even after maintaining a gluten free diet anytime you eat gluten you will do dammage to your villi that may not heal again so it's not worth the risk.

[Lollie]

I agree. It took at least a year for my villi to "reactivate" after becoming gluten-free. If I accidently eat something with gluten, I have problems for at least 2 weeks after the incident. It is better to avoid the gluten!

[Peace41]

This is a useful post thanku for writing it.

For me I found out that it can take two years. I am not expecting short term healing because of also my trigger event experience I am going through and this has revealed the process

of healing for me, is going to be a very slow journey that is going to need a lot of patience. But in the end, healing is a possibility that I really didn't have before. Had Gerds and Ibs and other things for over twenty years.

Even if ur villi does come back, u need to maintain and live the diet anyway. My focus is now on, this is a new way of living and a new thing for me, that I must do for the rest of my life, so I can live with that. Because the alternative was worse that brought no true relief or healing. for me it has become a blessing.

Peace41

[lovegrov]

Of course this in one of those things with no pat answer. It all depends on the person, the amount of damage, what and how much you ate, and so on.

richard

[Lifelong Celiac]

Agreed, it depends on the person and length of undiagnosis. I've had Celiac's for approximately 26 years but was only diagnosed 7 years ago (I'm 40 years old). I just went for my three year gastrointestinal imaging series and not only have none of my villi regrown, the duodeum is actually turning a grayish black color. I have followed the strictest of gluten free diets and living for the past seven years but due to misdiagnosing in my teenage and early adult years resulting in my continuing of digesting and applying gluten foods and products I have no chance of my villi ever regrowing. I am now diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and am awaiting most recent biopsies to see what else is going on as I am unable to tolerate or digest even gluten free foods. Best advice, diagnose as early as possible and follow strictest gluten free diets and lifestyle to best manage and live pain free. 

[Goofer]

I have been recently diagnosed to well 2 months ago, and my Specialist told me my Villi may never heal 100% or it may heal within 1 year or 5 years.
Everyone is different. but from someone who has recently had to adopt a gluten free diet get used to it and get creative with your food, its the only way. I have adopted a Paleo diet for now it has seemed to help me.

[Melvin80]

On 7/7/2018 at 12:01 PM, Lifelong Celiac said:

Agreed, it depends on the person and length of undiagnosis. I've had Celiac's for approximately 26 years but was only diagnosed 7 years ago (I'm 40 years old). I just went for my three year gastrointestinal imaging series and not only have none of my villi regrown, the duodeum is actually turning a grayish black color. I have followed the strictest of gluten free diets and living for the past seven years but due to misdiagnosing in my teenage and early adult years resulting in my continuing of digesting and applying gluten foods and products I have no chance of my villi ever regrowing. I am now diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and am awaiting most recent biopsies to see what else is going on as I am unable to tolerate or digest even gluten free foods. Best advice, diagnose as early as possible and follow strictest gluten free diets and lifestyle to best manage and live pain free. 

May I ask what happens when you do eat a gluten free food item?

[Fenrir]

12 minutes ago, Melvin80 said:

May I ask what happens when you do eat a gluten free food item?

Do you mean an item with gluten in it?

[Juca]

3 years on gluten-free diet: I feel great but still flat villi and zero iron absorption.

[DJFL77I]

The villi (cells lining the small intestine) are not permanently damaged in celiac disease. In fact, the cells in the intestinal wall regenerate every 72 hours as long as they are not being exposed to gluten. ... For others, it may take years for the villi to fully recover.

[Larzipan]

I've heard from my doctor that it can take a few years to regrow the villi. I highly recommend going to a naturopath because they can point you in the right direction to what probiotics and GI tract supplements can help that process happen a little faster than just being on a gluten free diet. I think it helps to have some digestive aids and vitamin supplements to help your villi grow back and for your immune system to steadily get stronger. I am super sensitive to gluten but I have realized since taking probiotics and supplements while eating gluten free that if I get "glutened" it only lasts for around 24 hours instead of days or weeks like it used to. 

 

Forgot to say that I've only been diagnosed for 11 months and have been gluten free since November 2019, but I've already seen pretty quick results for nutrient absorption so I assume my villi are coming back slowly but surely. I know everyone is different though... 

[Makky]

On 7/1/2020 at 10:11 AM, Larzipan said:

I've heard from my doctor that it can take a few years to regrow the villi. I highly recommend going to a naturopath because they can point you in the right direction to what probiotics and GI tract supplements can help that process happen a little faster than just being on a gluten free diet. I think it helps to have some digestive aids and vitamin supplements to help your villi grow back and for your immune system to steadily get stronger. I am super sensitive to gluten but I have realized since taking probiotics and supplements while eating gluten free that if I get "glutened" it only lasts for around 24 hours instead of days or weeks like it used to. 

 

Forgot to say that I've only been diagnosed for 11 months and have been gluten free since November 2019, but I've already seen pretty quick results for nutrient absorption so I assume my villi are coming back slowly but surely. I know everyone is different though... 

Hi Larzipan, about a year later here, I am newly diagnosed and curious to see how you are now feeling at a year and a half gluten-free? Any advice would be great, wish you well and thank you so much! 

[trents]

A couple of years or more on the average, maybe, for full healing. A lot depends on how successful you are in avoiding gluten. Every time you get "glutened" it is a setback in healing. Substantial healing can happen sooner, however, and you should start feeling better within weeks of cutting out gluten.

[Makky]

22 minutes ago, trents said:

A couple of years or more on the average, maybe, for full healing. A lot depends on how successful you are in avoiding gluten. Every time you get "glutened" it is a setback in healing. Substantial healing can happen sooner, however, and you should start feeling better within weeks of cutting out gluten.

Thank you Trents I really appreciate that, I am about two months gluten-free now with one accidental glutening one week ago. Feeling much better than before, but of course after much research I am seeing a lot of op-eds and such that discuss how some celiacs intestines NEVER heal back to what they once were, and that really scares me! I’m so impatient to be the person I was before all of this, which is why I have been curious about what diets and foods are best and worst to follow. I am considering doing a somewhat “Whole Foods diet” (specifically no dairy, no soy, no corn, no coffee, no alcohol, no sugar) for a few months and see how that has me feeling. Of course it’s too soon to tell yet whether I am truly healing internally yet or not, but I’d rather speed the process up than risk getting more autoimmune disorders and worse gut health. I never knew this would be so stressful, thanks again for the comment!

[trents]

Actually, there was an NIH study someone posted on the forum in the past year that did show at the very finest microscopic level that villi may never be quite what they were pre celiac. But, we still seek the most complete healing possible and that's all we can do. It certainly is better than finding little or no healing. How much, how fast can not only depend on how successful one is in avoiding gluten but also on age and general health.