Mari

Check out Dr. Fines CV at www.finerhealth.com/About/CV. He has published extensively in the field of gastroenterology. I read some time ago that he is preparing to publish on his more recent research but have not seen it yet.

When I had the blood tests done the anti-gliadin was elevated but the other test were negative and it also showed an allergy to cow's milk. Within a few days of starting the gluten-free diet I felt so much relieved and better that I did not want to eat gluten again. I read online that some experts were saying the endoscopy biopsy wasn't always necessary and decided to have the genetic tests done. They showed I had two DQ2 markers and had a very high predisposition to develop gluten sensitivity and besides one brother had autoimmune diabetes which one of my markers showed that I had a chance of developing that, too. This was four years ago and now more of the experts are backing off the endoscopy as a necessary test.

Several years ago a woman in the Army who had celiac disease wrote in. She had been deployed to Afganistan or Iraq to train Afgan/Iraqui soldiers out away from any city and was trying to live of the army diet and was having increasing problems. I think she was an officer and did not want her problem known to the army. gluten-free foods were not available to her.

I have read that sometimes a manganese deficiency can cause this. Taking manganese helped one one of my male friends.

As I understand your problem when you eat certain foods, probably mostly carbohydrates, the bacteria/yeasts in your stomach and small intestine immedialely begin fermenting the food and the product you took stopped this and allowed the food to be digested normally. Unless you have an allergy, the gluten reaction occurs 3 to 6 hours after eating - it is a delayed autoimmune reaction.

A good digestive system won't allow bacteria to grow in your stomach and upper small intestine - the stomach acids kill them off so this may be an indication that you dont have enough acid. Some celiacs take Betaine-HCl to correct this. If you have had a problem with Candida/yeasts in the past or have taken antibiotics the yeasts may now be living in your intestine and if you eat lots of carbohydrates as you did with the key lime pie their numbers increase very rapidly and you start belching very soon. There are both medical and alternate ways to control this problem.

Although moderate drinking can be very enjoyable we have to remember that it is toxic to the liver. If you have been a heavy drinker or have never taken supplements to reduce the toxins in your body in the past you might have some residual damage or a toxin buildup in the liver causing you symptoms after being alcohol free for some time. Fortunately the liver will regenerate given some help and there are both medical and alternate methods of doing this.

Sludgy bile and low bile pool are what the practitioner was most likely referring to. I read a number of messages about this at the Liver Flush Support Forum at Curezone and realized that it might be part of my digestion problem. I did some searches on the internet and found out that we need to have a good bile pool available when we eat. Apparently Drs treat this with a high fiber diet so I began eating fiber (gluten-free oat bran) with all my meals and this is working - in addition to eating grapefruit after meals and taking magnesium capsules. I have been doing gall bladder flushes for years and gotten out many stones but wasn't producing enough bile as my stools were still light colored.

You may have developed conjestion in your gall system which has increased lately and is causing symptoms. This is a common problems with celiacs. Many of us do prorgrams which include gall bladder flushes, Curezone has a good forum on this - Liver Flush Support Forum.

As I learned recently candida is very hard to control and intestinal problems common. When I was working to improve my digestion I didn't consider candida as part of the gas/bloating problem but recently a ND gave me some candida herbs to which I added Neem Leaf Capsules and I'm much better and can eat more foods without becoming bloated and gassy. I have been able to stop taking digestive enzymes but still take probiotics in the form of goat's milk yogurt. Yesterday I was able to eat some gluten-free all purpose flour for the first time in years.

I have had this problem for years and it occurs most often when I have eaten a food with something I'm allergic to or intolerant of or I have been been exposed to some chemical. Sometimes it seems to be something which has coated the pill/capsule - a contaminant of some sort. Sometimes I can get them to move on down by sitting up straight and drinking something, fruit juice works better than water. If that doesn't do the trick I eat something solid as food carries it down. I also press downward just below the sternum which may straighten out the esophagus and relax any cramps or spasms. Posture seems to be important so I try to remember to sit up straight when eating and not lying down until I'm sure that pills or capsules are out of my esophagus. I often empty out capsules and mix with a small amount of food or fruit and cut up or mash large pills.

Hope this helps.

I had some symptoms of celiac disease by the time I was four years old, I remember my mother telling me I could not eat certain foods and then as I grew there were problems with depression, lack of stamina, my leg bones aching, slow growth and itchy skin. When I was 19 I got a Salmonella infection in my gut and was in the hospital for a few days and this seemed to have started intestinal problems. In my 20's and 30's the Drs thought I might have an autoimmune disease but couldn't diagnose it. My health deteriorated and by the time I was in my 40's I had to quit working and move to the country to avoid city pollution. I was finally diagnosed at age 70 and it was just great to learn that I could finally do something about recovering my health. I have also been unable to stop smoking even now after 4 years gluten-free.

Some people have good success doing colonics but more people regain their health and energy by doing programs which balance and normalize intestinal function and strengthen the body. The most popular programs such as Dr. Hulda Clarks' and Andre Moritz's programs lead you through a process of parasite removal, Toxin removal, kidney support, liver support and gall bladder flushes. After reading about colonics and enemas it seems to me that it is not a good idea for celiacs to do these until the intestinal tract is strengthened as there are several bowel conditions which may be worsened by doing them.

Physicians also can test you for some toxins such as heavy metals and advise on how to remove them - one way is EDTA treatments and there are specialists who have clinics for this.

You might want to look at the various Forums at Curezone to see how other people deal with cleansing and what their experiences have been.

That old Candida can be sneaky and I didn't realize I had a problem but the ND I see tested me for it and gave me some herbs - Kroeger's Candida Formula # 2 and that helped tho I had to double the dose for a few days. I have added Neem leaf capsules and that is helping too.

My first blood test showed I had elevated alpha gliadin but a negative tissue transglutaminase. I think that my villi were so flattened I just was not able to show any tissue transglutaminase which is released from the villi when they are being destroyed. The stool tests are much more sensitive than the blood tests.

I have had some relief by using the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and there is a recepie book you can buy. The diet is gluten-free and their list of legal and illegal foods is online. The book that describes the diet goes into more detail than the website. I have been able to add a number of foods back to my diet - I couldn't eat carrots but now I eat lots of them.

I have struggled with constipation problems for years. I find magnesiom helps also.

Upon getting up drink a glass of hot plain water. Some herbs are OK to add but not tea or coffee. I often will use 1/2 or 1 capsule of Cascara sangrada. Try to drink 3 to 5 glasses of water a day.

Add fiber to each meal - I'm using gluten-free oat bran and have used flax seed meal in the past.

I eat lots of prunes and prune juice, often I put about 6 prunes in my meals.

Turmeric and other anti-inflamatory herbs can help relax constricted areas in the gut. Also marshmallow root can improve digestion.

You might cutting down on the fat and oils you are eating. I do better using animal fats - just the amount in the meat or poultry - than vegetable oils.

I'm using Kreger's Candida Formula #2 and Neem leaf capsules for Candida and am improving.

I have had several problems over the years which gave me soreness and pain in the sternum area. The first was an upper back problem - it is common for some of the vertabrae to get slightly out of line and it displaced the ribs enough to stretch the area where the ribs are attached to the sternum. Other than having my spine adjusted by a chiropractor I would press upward on each rib or put my forearms under my ribcage then press upwards. Then relax the chest muscles by pressing the area just below where the collarbone flexes at the sternum - it may be very sore. I would also tie two tennis balls in a sock and standing against a wall I'd roll then up and down my spine.

A gall bladder full of stones and sludgy bile can also press up against the sternum and for that I do gall bladder flushes.

For a while I had swelling in my pancreas - the pain was more on the left side but the area was quite sore.

Hope this helps.

I'm very sensitive to gluten and that agrees with the genetic test which showed I have two markers which strongly predisposed me to developing celiac disease (DQ2/DQ2). One marker I inherited from my mother and the other from my father. This means that all of my cell in my body have gluten antigen receptors. A person who only inherited one marker would have many cells with no gluten antigen receptors, maybe half of their cells or half of the receptors on a cell. In addition this is a multigenetic disease so there are several other genes which contribute to the severity of the problem but they are not tested for as the DQ gene test is more than 99% accurate. There may be some information on this at the Enterolab.com website.

I have not been able to eat quinona, I knew it was pure because I grew it. I can eat sprouted quinona - one of my friends brings sprouted gluten-free quinona dishes to our garden club dinners. Raw quinona has a toxin which must be washed off before preparing so maybe the batch of noodles you got had not been washed enough for your sensitive intestine. I bought some gluten-free granola not too long ago and found some of the clumps were moldy and molds produce toxins. If in the processing the quinona didn't dry quicky enough molds could have grown. I bought some probiotics last year and they were also moldy - companies are always fighting the mold problem. I wrote the company and the bottle I bought recently is OK.

If you need a food guide you might want to look at the gluten-free Specific Carbohydrate Diet and their legal and illegal food lists. I have used this for a while now and benefited. If you want to know more about why it works for Celiacs and people with IBS it is all explained in the book listed on the website. After several months I was able to add foods to my very limited diet and really enjoyed eating the foods on the legal list. I eat lots of broccoli now.

One thing to keep in mind is that you will soon be starting to heal and you will feel much better. You have just learned something rather shocking about yourself and your anxiety levels are very high and like many of us you are probably irritable. As you get better and learn what you need to do to return to health you will be getting stronger and soon your husband will notice that this is a good thing for him, too. This may take some time to accomplish and you will probably have to show him by example rather than trying to convince him with words or educate him. We all have difficulty during this learning period but as we learn to depend on our own decisions we learn how to talk or act with other people. If you can turn your anger into the energy you need to cope with this problem then hubby may just back off for a while as he adjusts to your situation, this is a big change for him, too.

It is truely wonderful that Drs have learned to identify this problem for it gives the opportunity to become healthy and useful prople again. You will be able to work again in a new job with new energy and renewed hope for your own future. Let us know how you are doing and Good Luck!

About 6 hours after eating gluten I notice that I start to bloat from the cramps and inflamation in the small intestine. Some people have painful intestinal cramps by I usually don't. My feet and legs start tingling and I can't sleep at night, become depressed and have brain fog and confusion and often my throat swells so have difficulty swallowing food and capsules. Maybe a week or more on I get swelling in my knees, sharp random pains like I'm being pinched and if it's a large dose like the wheat crackers I ate by mistake last fall I get patches of rough itchy skin on my back and face and I get itchy bumps in my hair.

I have had to do a whole series of things to even begin to control the gas problems. I learned that the gas is produced when the food eaten ferments or putrifies in the gut. Anything that slows down the movement of what you've eaten through the intestinal tract will give time for fermentation or putrifaction to develop. After starting the gluten-free, cow dairy free diet I started taking digestive enzymes, probiotics and Betaine-HCl to acidify the stomach. I took special Iodine drops which helped control the overgrowth of bacteria in my upper small intestine. I did various body cleanses, especially gall bladder flushes and passed thousands of gall stones. More than a year ago I started the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and found that helped - the kinds of carbohydrates we eat are important. Adding lots of fiber (oat bran) to my meals has helped me produce more bile and helped keep the intestinal contents moving through me. I have found that taking the herbal laxative Cascara sangrada and massaging the abdomen also helps move things along. Just recently my ND gave me some capsules for Candida and they are really helping, though they didn't help much until I doubled the dose for 2 days. Now I think the Candida or other yeasts have been part of the problem all along. Hope you are one of the fortunate people who have their gas problens resolve on the gluten-free diet.

I used a Candida Diet I found online for a while and that helped. Now I'm using Kroeger's Candida Formula #2 and it is helping more. The pain in my opinion might be from trapped gas, intestinal cramping, gall stones although the pain is usually higher up on the right side, cramped iliac valve, partial blockage or irritation due to parasites. If you massage your abdomen, gently but firmly, and the gas moves along or the iliac valve relaxes that will help. Herbal parasite preparations are available online and many Celiacs do gall bladder/liver flushes to clear stones out the gall bladder. There is a Liver Flush Support Forum and a Parasite Forum at CureZone.

I can't comment on B12 but have taken B vitamins in the past and eat foods that have B vitamins now. Naturopaths are very hepful for many celiacs and I think the best way to find a good one is to start asking your friends and acquaintences for recommendations. Their interest and training is in balancing and healing the whole body. I live in the back of beyond and use a book by a naturopath which works for me. See my personal profile.

"I've seen posts here re. things like tachycardia that was caused by gluten, and I must say that my mild tachycardia has improved quite a bit since going g.f. back in March. But starting about a month before that, about early Feb. I think, I noticed that my heart would sometimes skip a beat."

Years ago I would have times when my hear seemed to be pounding and it felt like it was skipping beats and with an uneven rythem. I have a mitral valve stenosis (heart murmur) and thought it was related to that so had ekgs done which were completely normal. The murmur is so mild it does not give me any problems but the apparent skipping beats and pounding turned out to be spasms in my small intestine and that was one of the problems which cleared up on the gluten-free diet. I still get some spasms but nothing like the strong symptoms I had earlier and would sometimes keep we awake all night. If this is the cause of your problem you may want to do some 'home remedies' to improve your digestive system and help your intestine heal from the celiac disease damage. Liver cleanses to get out gall stones may help, see my profile page for the book I use.