Fairy Dancer

I noticed a change in bowel symptoms after around 5 or so days. The improvement was gradual. The fatigue however continued on for a little bit longer but is gradually improving.

Caffeine can give me migraine headaches but I tend to be able to get away with the caffeine in cola more than I can get away with a Starbucks lol.

I just wanted to add that I have found the best way around it is to eat a whole foods diet. As I grew up with a brother who had celiac disease and my mother was older generation I grew up on a predominantly whole foods diet anyway (my mother cooked recipes with fresh ingredients as opposed to shop bought processed items) and only started eating processed foods and more wheat based stuff after I left home, so it's a bit like a blast form the past for me lol.

I've just gone back to the types of food my mum would have cooked.

I knew I'd turn into my mother one day!

I am not sure as I am trying a gluten/wheat free diet myself at the moment and have moved over to whole foods only (except for a few treats that I am partial to and which I checked for wheat and gluten content). I did go gluten and wheat free a week ago for about 5 days but tried to put wheat back in as I am due to have a blood test for celiac disease next week. However on day one I started with weetabix and that made me vomit, wheeze and gave me acid gut and stomach pain. Day two I tried bread instead and whilst I kept that down the stomach pain was awful along with the acid reflux and feeling generally unwell (dizzy). On day three I had weetabix and bread and kept both down but again the gut pain was horrendous and the diarrhoea came back as well so I have taken it back out again.

I know I am supposed to keep eating it for the test but I was feeling so unwell and my stomach was hurting so much that I just can't lol.

I am hoping being off gluten etc for the next few days won't really affect my results! I am back on the whole foods only diet again. On saying that I am not sure if my issue is a gluten one or a wheat allergy. I am beginning to suspect the latter. I know from when I had an allergy to duck feathers without realising it that not all allergic reactions result in hives and anaphylaxis as at the time I tested positive (with a skin prick test done by a nurse at a drs office) I had been sleeping under a duck feather duvet with a duck feather pillow every night. The only thing I really noticed is that I woke up feeling dizzy and like I had been hit by a ten ton truck in my sleep. I also had a stuffy nose a lot, felt like I had a never ending bout of the flu and sore red itcy eyes (Blepharitis which can be caused by an allergy if I remember correctly). Very similar to some of the symptoms I am getting now except there are digestive tract ones as well.

So I am thinking allergy...

I also have problems with aspirin and non steroidal anti inflammataries (makes me vomit and wheeze), other medications (certain antibiotics etc) and various house hold cleaners (I get red itchy bumps on my hands when I use them) so it wouldn't surprise me if I now had a problem with something else lol

I suspect though, with gluten intolerance, that even small amounts can upset you for a few days if you are very sensitive to it but I also suspect that eating large amounts will cause a build up in the body and elicit a stronger response.

Those foods (melon, lemonade and coffee) possibly have one thing in common...salicylates. Open Original Shared Link

I am having blood tests for gluten next week and am in a similar position. I want to rule out celiac disease (because I have a brother with it) although I personally am beginning to suspect a mild to moderate wheat allergy. For the blood tests though I am supposed to keep eating gluten. However I feel so bad after eating wheat and I get such a painful stomach I really don't want to consume it at all at the moment.

If I talk to people about a possible wheat allergy though they seem to expect me to burst out in hives or go into shock, but I know from past experience with allergies they do not always manifest that way. I have an allergy to duck feathers (diagnosed with proper medical testing many years ago) but had been sleeping with a duck feather duvet and pillows at the time without realising that I was reacting to them. I merely woke up every morning feeling like I had been hit by a ten ton truck in my sleep...which is pretty much how I feel these days when I eat a lot of wheat along with other symptoms such as acid reflux, dizziness, vertigo, stomach pain and diarrhoea. Also a constantly stuffy nose and sore itchy eyes so I am wondering about other allergies as well lol.

I have heard that 4 pieces of bread is the amount the recommend although I struggle to eat that much bread normally as I don't really like the stuff all that much. I am a potato, meat, veg, fruit and nuts person but I started eating more wholegrain pasta and bread over the years because it is supposed to be healthy for you...

Thing is is that I don't think that so called healthy wholegrain stuff is really agreeing with me as the more of it I eat the worse I feel!

What are the actual symptoms? I don't have problems other than heartburn, GERD and brusing. Anyone with the same symptoms? The blood test was negitive, but having been on Atkins I know how I feel with and without gluten in my diet. At one time after eating foods containing gluten my stomach burned so bad it hurt to just drink water.

I asked my dr for a test for celiac disease today but obviously I need to have the blood tests done before I get the results back. One of my symptoms is terrible acid reflux and I know that certain foods seem to trigger it more than others such as weetabix, toast etc.

I tried the paleo diet briefly, the lower carb version, and found that my acid reflux vanished. I was also less hungry than when I ate a mostly carb/wheat/bread/pasta/cereals etc based diet (that would be a good thing for me as I tend to over eat and am obese at the present time). Oddly I was also much less grumpy. I noticed after putting wheat back in that I get very irritable after eating it lol.

How reliable are they?

I have issues with some of my toes nails. I have what looks like terry's nails and one of them is much thicker than the others. I am not sure if its a fungal thing or due to diet or related to the other symptoms I am getting. I am presently in the process of trying to get a test for celiac disease as I am getting a range of issues from fatigue to digestive disturbances and, because I have a half brother with it, wanted to rule any problems with gluten out. So for the time being I am still eating gluten until I've spoken to my dr.

I did try a brief gluten free diet for 5 days but went back to eating it for the purpose of possibly getting tested. I did get some mild improvements in the digestive issues and the dizziness/light headed sensation I am getting but right now its too early to tell if that was down to being gluten free or if it was just a coincidence. I do know it's day 3 of being back on gluten and the diarrhoea is back with a vengeance.

If it does turn out to be a gluten issue maybe going gluten free will help my poor toe nails as well!

It depends if you can afford the gluten free diet without any kind of financial considerations being made I guess. I mention this because presently I am arguing with creditors over payment arrangements and what they allow for food each week is ludicrous unless I want to live on cheap bread, pasta and other processed foods that taste like the box they come in. If I need a larger allowance for food because I can't fill up on these foods I need to know about it!

Otherwise I would just put myself on a gluten free diet and see how it affected me and not worry too much about an official diagnosis. On saying that I would like to know if eating gluten is the reason I feel so ill most days so I am going to ask for a blood test when I see the dr next week. In the meantime I have put myself back on gluten containing foods again (I went gluten free for 5 days or so recently as an experiment but don't want a false negative on the test if I have it) and its not going well. 5 days into being off gluten I was able to sit up for a few hours now and then, 3 days back into being on gluten and I have worse stomach pain and am back to having to lie in bed all day because I feel like death warmed up. However until I get the test or try another gluten challenge I can't be sure if the improvement was coincidental or related. Plus the diarrhoea is back and is running through me today

I am also not sure if a problem with gluten can make you feel so fatigued and light headed/dizzy on standing or sitting up that you need to spend most of your time lying in bed but with the stomach upsets I am getting as well I was considering it as a possible issue.

It takes me at least several cups of coffee and 3 cigarettes before my brain comes anywhere close to landing back on earth in the morning! I also can't eat when I first wake up as my stomach is one of the last things to wake up. My bowel however seems to be an early riser so morning constipation is rarely an issue for me lol. Actually any kind of constipation is rare for me full stop!

I had no idea the human body could create so much...

You'd be surprised what they stick gluten in in the UK including the humble banger! Fortunately I rarely consume sausages whether I am eating gluten free or not as I prefer my meat to look as meat should...like err..meat...

Well thank god I don't have to load up too much lol. I kept the slice of plain bread down and had 2 slices of toast and ye gods the gut acid, reflux and stomach pain! It's actually the worst that I've known it now. I had discomfort before I took gluten out, the acid reflux mostly went whilst I was gluten free and now its back with an all time vengeance! So much so it has nuked my appetite along with it. Unusual for me as I usually can't stop eating even with an upset gut lol

Continue to eat the gluten for as long as needed to complete the tests to get the diagnosis at which point you can then stop consuming it again.

I recently tried a gluten free diet for a week but, as I was not undergoing testing and wanted to ask my dr for a blood test etc, I decided to return to eating gluten again for the time being. Yesterday did not go well when I had some weetabix.

Unfortunately, I must have had an upset stomach because within 30 minutes of eating it I threw up, started wheezing and felt horribly dizzy. I ejected most of it I think lol but am trying again today with some bread instead. I ate some a few minutes ago and thus far so good, just a bit of wheezing (I can breathe ok its just wheezy lol) and some mild dizziness/vertigo, but no barfing yet so the weetabix may have been a one off or the upset may have been due to something else.

I was testing for gluten intolerance but if I do get any more similar reactions to putting wheat back in my diet like the one yesterday I may well ask for an allergy test as well lol, as the reaction I had yesterday was similar to the reactions I get when I either take aspirin or anti inflammatories (which I can't take due to the fact I projectile vomit them back up and wheeze like an old woman after taking them) and duck (I did have an allergy skin prick test many years ago that showed an allergic reaction to duck feathers. For some time I thought I just had a problem with the feathers, but after a while every time I ate duck meat with the skin I would end up feeling very ill, throwing up and wheezing again so I stopped eating the meat just in case I had problems with that too).

So I will keep trying and speak to the dr about it.

What is the best way to load up on gluten? I had some weatabix earlier as my first does of gluten and my stomach has ejected it (barfed it back up lol) so thats not stayed down. Would bread be a better way?

Are the 5 days I was gluten free likely to affect the test results? And if the dr wont run the test is it worth trying a home test first so I can take the results of that to the dr if they are positive?

Hi, I have been feeling unwell with various symptoms ranging from fatigue, light headedness to gastrointestinal disturbances for some time now. I was in the process of trying a gluten free diet (as I have a half brother with celiac disease and wondered if I had a gluten problem myself) however a support worker I see (about my issues with depression) has insisted that I see a dr and get a medical check up as she said the symptoms I am getting sound physical in origin so an appointment has been made. Whilst I am there asking for a general check up and blood tests I thought I might also ask for a blood test for celiac disease, even if just to rule it out.

My question is, as I have been on a gluten free diet now for 5 days will it make a difference and can it cause a false negative if I go back to eating gluten now for a week or so before having the tests done (the appointment is for next week)? I don't have any bread in the house as I don't like it much anyway but I do have some weetabix cereal I can chow down on for a while until I see the dr. If I go back on to gluten now after being off it for 5 or so days can I still get accurate test results if I stuff my self stupid with cereals?

Although I will admit that not eaten gluten has slowed the diarrhoea down and if it was that causing it I am not looking forward to its return! I'll just move into the bathroom, it will make life easier lol

Are you vegan? If so are you getting enough B12? A B12 deficiency can cause some of those symptoms.

In regards to the eyes: have you been checked by an optician for convergence insufficiency? I get a similar thing with my eyes and I have Convergence insufficiency with intermittent exotropia (I think its called that, but its where one of my eyes will move off to the side and then come back again whilst the other one will continue looking straight ahead...its hard to see unless a person is staring at me when it happens so most people don't notice it). Basically my problem is caused by weak eye muscles which causes problems with binocular vision and at the moment I wear glasses with prisms to help when doing close up work.

I will add that I have not been tested for or diagnosed with celiac disease but have just started a gluten free diet myself because I have been having a range of symptoms from unrelenting fatigue to digestive problems and as I have a relative with celiac disease (diagnosed) I wanted to find out if I had a problem with gluten myself. I decided not to go for testing first because the NHS is rather slow here and I didn't want to wait months for any tests and results. Basically I feel to bad to wait that long. If the gluten free diet does not work though I will probably go see my gp lol.

I will say that my weak eye muscle problem started at around the same time as my digestive disturbances and fatigue which was about 6 years ago now, so I do wonder if it is related.

Hi, I get similar sorts of symptoms as you but I am not diagnosed with celiac disease as I have never been tested for it. However as I have a family member with the disease I am trying a gluten free diet myself to see if it helps. I have only been on it for about a week though and accidentally consumed some chocolate etc with gluten in by mistake during that period so...oops lol.

My general symptoms include:

Fatigue

Malaise (feeling unwell)

Brain fog

Muscle aches and spasms

Itchy eyes

Blurry vision due to weak eye muscles

Stuffy nose

Repeated infections in my teeth and teeth that are literally crumbling and breaking apart (molars mostly)

Episodes of Feeling shaky and weak all over (usually resolved by eating)

Migraine headaches

Ice burning tingling painful sensation mostly in the skin of my ears.

Feeling unsteady when I stand or sit up

Episodes of Vertigo

Salt cravings (of all things as I am not a great lover of salt lol)

Angular Cheilitis (sores on side of my lips)

Digestive symptoms include:

Acid reflux from hell

Stomach and Abdominal cramps

Passing frequent stools

Diarrhoea with soft foul (rancid) smelling slightly pale stools (most days although on some days my stools are normal)

Yellow mucus in stools (Most days)

I am hoping the gluten free diet will clear at least some of that lot up lol!

I hope your symptoms clear also and congrats on your graduation. Whilst I am older than you I am starting my degree later this year, so maybe one day I will get my graduation day too!

I think it can be a case of what you are used to or what you get used to. At the moment you are in the process of accepting your diagnosis and are mourning the loss of some of your favourite foods, so how you are feeling is understandable.

I am not diagnosed with celiac as I have never been tested but have been getting symptoms that resemble it. As there is a celiac in my family (my brother) I decided to try a gluten free diet and see if it helps at all. But because I have a celiac brother I pretty much grew up on a near gluten free diet as a child (when he was living with us) as family meals where usually gluten free so my brother could eat it. Although I did eat some gluten containing foods when my brother wasn't eating with us. I only really started consuming a lot of foods like wholemeal bread and pasta etc after I left home because that is what healthy eating guidelines recommended. The problem was the more of those foods I ate the worse I started feeling so I have returned to my roots and gone back to the kinds of foods I would have eaten as a teenager and child (meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, potatoes, sweetcorn, dairy (as I seem to be ok with that especially if it's live bio yoghurt, however I have a question mark over cows milk as last time I had a glass it did upset my gut a bit) and things like nuts. Because I like those foods and grew up on them I am not really mourning the loss of bread or other gluten containing products.

As I said I think it's a case of what you are used to but eventually you will get used to the foods on your new diet and start to enjoy them. They can be just a delicious as the gluten containing foods if not more so and there are a lot of gluten free substitutes. My brother used to have gluten free bread on prescription many many years ago and I actually used to be prone to trying to pinch it because it actually made nicer toast than regular bread!

Being gluten free seems hard now, but in time it will get easier.

Hugs

fd

Edited to add that in regards to the cost I have found it has not changed much but that is because I moved away from heavily processed foods and chose to eat more things like fruits, vegetables, potatoes etc (although I always did prefer potato over things like pasta or bread anyway). I find they are often quite cheap in the UK whereas eating a lot of processed foods actually works out more expensive. When it comes to heavily processed foods you pay a lot for relatively low nutrition and an awful lot of additives.

You say about the smell of the stools and that they float. Do they also stick to the toilet bowl? I know my daughters are the same, she goes two to three times a day. I've looked up symptoms of celiac disease and IBS myself as my Coeliacs test came back neg yet I still get stomach cramps, wind, bloating occasionally but it all sounds one in the same (I know its not though). It sounds like you need the celiac disease test to rule this out. Perhaps cutting out certain foods like dairy or gluten could help you find out the problem. But I would say test first and see what happens from that.

It can stick if I don't aim properly and it hits the side of the pan yes lol.

IBS is not a diagnosis. it is a set of symptoms and a label they give you when they don't know what causes those symptoms. I was overweight as well and drs told me to eat more whole grains and just exercise more and I wouldn't feel so fatigued. The more wheat I ate the sicker I got until I was bed bound from pain and fatigue. Give the diet a try if you can't get them to test you for celiac. Just be aware that you cannot get a positive test result if you stop eating gluten. You would need ot add it back in for 3 months prior to testing. So IF you will need that positive in order to stick with the diet then have your testing done FIRST. If you think you will stick with it when you see the results you can just try the diet. You have to do it strictly however in order to see if it works. If you have celiac, any small amount will keep your antibodies active and can keep having symptoms. Also be aware that some of the neurological symptoms could take 6 months or more to go away. Everyone's time frame for healing is different so don't give up if you see no results in the first week.

Hi

Is there a good comprehensive list of foods and food additives I should avoid if I try the gluten free diet? I am familiar with some of the obvious stuff such as bread, pasta, wheat flour etc as when my brother lived with us (he was much older than me though) as a child my mother had to make sure he had a gluten free diet so most of our meals were based on meat/poultry/fish and vegetables. She also avoided pre made gravy mixes and used to make gravy with bisto power, cornflour and oxo I think. So I have some limited experience of what to avoid but I was quite young back then and obviously food these days include a lot of additives, especially if they are heavily processed.

And on that subject what about chocolate? Not that I eat a lot of it these days but I do like the odd sweet treat lol

Hi, I am new here but I was wondering about whether or not I could have a possible gluten problem. My reason for this is that for the last 10 years or so, on and off, I have been having some digestive system and bowel issues. On top of that I have other more generalised symptoms including fatigue, feeling generally unwell, and dental issues (I do not know if it is related but basically my teeth, particularly my back teeth, are breaking a apart and I have lost many of them as a result). My digestive issues include acid reflux, abdominal cramps, needing to use the loo up to 8 times a day, stools that are not watery but which are soft, float and basically smell rancid.

Basically I am fed up with feeling ill all the time and having an upset stomach. I did see my dr about my digestive issues some 6 years ago and was told it was IBS. However I was given no tests for anything as he just went by my symptoms, looked at my record and saw that I suffer from depression and anxiety, and concluded it was that.

In regards to the fatigue, a year earlier I addressed that with another dr. They did do routine blood tests that time which all came back normal except for a slightly elevated white cell count indicating a 'possible viral infection' so at first they concluded it was that. 6 Months later the symptoms were still with me (feeling very flu like etc) and I asked them to repeat the blood tests. They would not as they said that a virus does not last that long. Again they looked at my record and concluded that it was depression and anxiety even though at that time my mood was not actually low.

It was shortly after that that the digestive symptoms started getting worse.

Over the years they have fluctuated and do tend to vary in intensity but I do not know why. At the moment they are at their worst. I follow the dietary advice for IBS and eat lots of whole grains etc but its really not helping lol.

I am not happy that they just push my digestive issues aside as I have quite a family history of digestive disorders. On the extreme end of the scale (and I highly doubt that after all this time this is my issue or I would probably know by now!) my dad died from cancer of the oesophagus and my mums dad from cancer of the stomach. On the less extreme end my mother had diabetes type 2 (although she was not over weight, in fact she was underweight, had no fat on her arms and legs and had a very distended bloated abdomen) and digestive issues herself (she was not diagnosed with Celiacs but IBS and had a range of medications for it). My half brother also developed diabetes type 2 in his late 30's but he was over weight. My other half brother was diagnosed with celiacs disease when he was a child (back in the 60s) but I don't think my mother was tested at the time as it was considered to be a rare childhood disorder back then.

I try not to be a hypochondriac about it but my digestive system is malfunctioning for some reason and with my family history I want to know why!

However, I should note that despite my digestive system symptoms I am over weight, not under weight.

Would it be worth my trying a gluten free diet for a while? Or is it most likely IBS as the dr said and should I keep up with all the whole grains instead?

Suggestions, opinions and advice welcomed.