Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

1. Main symptoms were severe stomach pains, lots (and lots and lots) of bloating, a touch of gas, back pains, and depression. I also had absolutely no sex drive, which has thankfully returned

2. I started a gluten-free diet in April and within the second full day of being gluten-free, the bloating and pain noticeably started to go away. From what I understand, it can take much longer for some people, but I was lucky.

3. I was diagnosed because of my 180 degree turnaround while on the gluten-free diet. If you start a gf diet and want bloodwork done to determine celiac, you have to start eating gluten again, usually for a minimum of 6 months. If you've been off gluten, even for a little while, the blood tests will often give false negatives.

4. I feel absolutely wonderful. I *only* have bloating, pain, and any of my other symptoms if I've gotten 'glutened'. Otherwise, I feel like I used to before I started getting sick.

Another thing I should add is that with all the improvement when I first went gf, I thought the dairy and fat intolerances must have been facades for the gluten, so I tried eating dairy and fat again while on the gf diet, but I got really sick. So from April until November, I ate gluten-free, dairy-free and very low-fat. It was hard. In November I tried dairy and fat again and found out that those intolerances were only temporary (evidently) due to the damage gluten had done to my intestines and the amount I had healed since April. I'm now able to successfully eat dairy and fat in whatever quantities I want without any problems.

HTH!

--------------------
Elizabeth

all those years it wasn't IBS - it was celiac!
send me an email: liz@dopple.net

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