Since eating gluten-free, my stomach has been reacting to everything I put in it.. My dietician now thinks I may be lactose intolerant as well as having Celiac. I feel like I can't even eat anything . Every time I put something in my mouth, I get either heartburn or gas pains. I have been constipated and bloated. I have been seeing a dietician for two weeks now to eat gluten-free and lose weight and instead of losing, I have gained two pounds. SHe is not worried about it as she said it is either muscle (I do alot of weight lifting) or water. It is very depressing as I am trying to lose the 20 pounds I have gained since I discovered this disease four years ago.

Anyway, I never ate gluten-free, because I had no obvious stomach problems. Now that I am adhering to a gluten-free diet, I seem to have nothing but problems! My dietician wants me to take several digestive enzymes such as Pro- Biotic and Digest - a lot. She also wants me to take Ultra lactaid when I eat lactose products and Preleif when I eat acidy foods. Al these supplements plus all the gluten-free products are expensive!

WHy would my tummy be so sensitive now that I am gluten-free? Is that a good thing that means I am actually digesting my food now and something that will resolve itself or is it something that will get worse. ?

Monica

How long have you been gluten-free? It could be that you feel worse because your body is ridding itself of all ot the toxins it built up and stored before. Many times, you will feel worse for the first 2-3 weeks after going gluten-free. Are you double checking everything to make sure there is no accidental contamination? If lactose is a problem, you will need to eliminate it to feel better.

When a person is gluten intolerant and continues to eat gluten, they sometimes don't notice symptoms. When they go gluten-free they start to notice symptoms, partly I think because their bodies are healing, and partly because you may have other intolerances to different foods that weren't noticable since your body was spending so much energy fighting gluten. Once the gluten is gone it can now fight they other foods that it doesn't want you to eat. Have you talked to your dietician about trying an elimination diet of common foods? Corn, soy, eggs, even rice and virtually any food could be another intolerance, and gluten intolerant people are more likely to have other food allergies or intolerances. For me it is casein intolerance (a milk protein) and soy (allergy).

If you continue to have problems for a long time and an elimination diet doesn't point to anything specific, I would suggest you go to the doctor and see if something else is bothering you. Colitis (inflamation in the colon) is quite common in Celiacs, as well as a whole ton of other diseases and disorders. You should continue the gluten-free diet , regardless. It will help you avoid further complications, such as more damage to your intestine, developing other auto-immune diseases, and intestinal cancer.

I have an article about allergies and intolerances that I posted. You can find it by using this link or looking in the "Publications & Publicity" forum. http://www.glutenfreeforum.com/index.php?a...&st=0#entry8970

I hope you are able to start feeling better. The diet is harder to stick with if you are not experiencing symptoms relief. It also must be very frustrating to feel worse on the diet. There are a few others here at this message board that have experienced something similar when starting the diet. Hopefully they can give you some advice as well.

God bless,
Mariann

Thank you for your replies. My tummy has been feeling a lot better since I have been taking the Pro-Biotics and the Digest a lot. They are enzymes that I never heard that are supposed to help your body break down the foods and aid in digestion. I also started taking super lactaid before eating anything with lactose and so far so good. That is one thing I would have a reallly hard time giving up- cheese. That is my absolute favorite food. I can easily give up other foods but not cheese.

I am doing pretty good avoiding gluten. My only problem is that my DH and I like to go out to eat alot. He gets mad when I start asking a lot of questions about how the food is prepared. It is really hard because I feel like the only thing I can safely eat are salads and even then, I do not know if the dressing is safe. Last night, I went to a Mexican restaurant. I ate the corn chips and then I was thinking I should have asked if they have flour in them since they make them right at the restaurant. I ordered vegtable fahitas minus the tortillas. I asked the waitress if there was any wheat or grain and she said no but she was a college kid. I felt find afterwards other than feeling really full from eating too much.

Mpnica