Having an unhappy day with my Coeliac health restrictions

[lizzycoop]

i've been GF for 10wks and i have improved, but not enough. i want so badly to be the real me. I've had 5mths sick leave and tried returning on 2 x 4hr shifts last week. Work is still too hard, I'm getting fat, and our finances are dwindling.I'm so teary today. When will i be me again?

[emmaatLLFL]

The journey to full health is such a struggle and many will share your pain and emotions. Please have faith that you can get back to full health and some people even feel better once they have mastered their diagnosis and symptoms. The freefrom market is growing and the support available is fantastic. Keep researching, talking to people and continuing with your journey it gets so much easier I promise.

[DartmoorGuerrilla]

I'm sorry to hear how you are suffering.

I don't want to make any assumptions without knowing you but you say you are getting fat... but maybe you need to look again at your diet... what kind of things are you eating since you went GF?

The processed GF and free-from foods in supermarkets are often very unhealthy, full of sugar, trans-fats and preservatives. The healthiest way to eat is to avoid the GF section and cook from naturally GF ingredients like meat, eggs, veggies, rice.

Same goes for the prescription foods. Yes they are all useful fillers, but if you can reduce bread, pasta etc you may feel better from eating less "stodge", I know for me that starchy carbs find a direct route to my hips and I just feel so much better if I avoid them or minimise them.

Maybe you've put on weight because you were under-nourished before, due to malabsorption? Maybe your job was physically active and you are just struggling with the balance between calories and activity? (I've been there my whole adult life!)

Whatever your case, I wish you well. I hope your doctor is supportive.

[Lexy]

Hi lizzycoop - So sorry to hear that you are feeling upset. I think most of us have been there at some point - I still get those feelings from time to time too! I hope you feel better soon

I strongly echo what DartmoorGuerrilla says above! Take a close look at your gluten free diet - focus on fresh and homemade from-scratch meals. Shop-bought gluten-free ready-meals are notoriously unhealthy...I actually get 'gluten-like' reactions from most of them so I avoid them all. If you miss biscuits and cakes - there are hundreds of healthy gluten-free recipes online, many very easy. Seek out those with the fewest ingredients (no xanthan or guar gum, little or no sugar). Also, try to fit in some exercise, whether walking, cycling, yoga - whatever you have time for. Many people find great improvement after starting a regular walking routine.

Going fully gluten-free is a challenge and a bit tricky but gets so much easier once you see the benefits. If you are a medically diagnosed coeliac why not see if you can get an appointment with someone who can help you with nutritional information? Try to take it one step at a time - it could be that there is an element of your new gluten-free diet that is not agreeing with you, so perhaps doing a mini-exclusion diet and then slowly reintroducing things might help you figure out what's going on?

Take care and good luck and let us know how you get on

[Regalbirdy]

Hi Lizzy,

I can empathise with what you are saying, it's not easy sometimes and going gluten-free isn't always the whole quick fix solution. There may be other things going on with your health that you haven't identified yet.

I am glad you are feeling a bit better. It sounds like you may need to go back to the doctors to discuss vitamin imbalance, depression and thyroid issues with them. Any of these can leave you feeling drained and unwell.

You say you have been gluten free for 10 weeks. Do you mind if I ask if you chose to go to gluten-free or have done so on medical advice because of a diagnosis of coeliac, DH or gluten intolerance? If you have been advised to go gluten-free for medical reasons please what ever you do, do not go against this advice. Period.

If it is any help to you I was diagnosed as coeliac last November. Since then I have put on over a stone in weight because of the change of diet and am now on first name terms with all my GP receptionists because I have been there so often since being diagnosed. Naïvely I thought that going gluten-free would put everything right. Being gluten-free has been fundamental to sorting out my health issues but I have had other things going also. It has taken months to get close to figuring out what these are.

I also decided to put myself into counselling after bursting into tears over something quite stupid one Saturday afternoon when I was with friends. I only needed three sessions, however counselling helped me come to terms with some emotional stuff that I had going on related to CD. It may be worth you considering this option if you have the opportunity.

Please don't be too hard on yourself, it sounds like you're trying your best right now.

[1stgls]

Hang on in there!!! I spoke to a Natural health guru about something else and he said---

no matter what the illness it take the same amount of time you have been suffering for your body to be truly healed---ie a cold of 1 week takes a week to recover, if you have been unwell for a long time your body will not heal overnight.

My advice --love yourself, know you are doing the best for your body and allow it to heal in its own time, I know this sounds a bit simplistic on my behalf. It is a long journey but well worth it, we are here to "hold your hand" and give support and advice,

A lot of people have reported weight gain, you now have become able to absorb food, and (in my opinion) a lot of the G/F goodies seem to have a huge amount of sugar and fat in them, maybe a free calorie counting website will enable you to find those hidden calories so you can adjust your intake ( I went on one and found out my share of pancakes were nearly 900 cals!!!! this was 2/3rds of my daily intake for my height/age... for weight loss)

[pretender]

The recovery of your gut may range from 6 months to 4 years depending upon the damage caused. Be careful of the GF diet that is high in salts and fats.

Cooking with fresh foods still gives plenty of choice and far healthier diet, if you can get on without GF foods (shop bought) all the better for your health.

[Hidden]

Lizzy... I still have really bad days, when I feel, tired, tearful lonely......so your not alone in how you are feeling...it was 12 months before I felt like my old self.

It only take me to get glutened and I feel like death warmed up...mix that with being tired and I can chuck in a panic attack just for good measure....so it know exactly how your feeling, I have a lot more good days than bad....

It will get better, but it takes time....the more you stress the worse you will feel...

Janie x

[Penel]

Make sure you are getting some good fat in your diet. Lack of Omega 3 and too much Omega 6 have been linked to depression, so avoid the spreads in plastic tubs if you can.

Has your GP suggested you take any supplements?

As other posts have said, go for natural gf food, not the overpriced processed rubbish in the supermarkets. Cutting back on carbohydrates generally and sugar in particular really helped me feel healthier and keep the weight under control, but I kept fat in my diet to make sure I was absorbing the fat soluble vitamins we need.

Good luck with your health, I hope you see improvements soon.

[lizzycoop]

Hi everyone, thanks for all your answers,THEY'RE PRECIOUS TO ME. If i wasn't so teary yesterday I might have added I;m a food watcher from way back. I'm a vegan and a weight watcher who likes to be under 60 kg now. My fat gene took me to 83 kg and in 2006 I fought back. My diet is plant based and involves few processed accomplimens. After diagnosis I saw a dietitian who worked out my minimum daily intake and for recoverys sake I've been eating more protein and carb than I need and now I'm putting on weight. I'm gonna drop that back I think and hope I don't feel more lethargic for it. My job is physical and I'm sedentary now. I used to be the wonder of all my collegues, fitter and happier than all of them. I'm so not the person I want to be and arguing with my body throws me back to days in bed. I'm so used to telling myself 'bad luck just do, you can do it' and now that doesn't work. I'm 50 and can in hindsight trace Coeliacs back to alopecia at nine. At my sickest, in feb, i had a speech impediment and a limp amoung a lot of other weird symptoms which are dissolving (too slowly). I'm trapped in a foreign body and want out. thank you thank you thank you for reaching out to me.

[Regalbirdy]

Hi Lizzy,

Patience is almost as important as learning to be kind to yourself on bad days. It sounds like you have had a tough time recently.

Unlike getting a car, you don't to test drive and choose the body you have. Your body isn't foreign, it's yours and it's for life. It may be a bit broken right now but with enough love and patience you will be able to fix it up so that it runs smoothly again.

It's okay to be frustrated and angry about the situation you are in right now; however do your best to find some acceptance about how things really are. Dreaming about an idealised future and mourning for the past often leads to more unhappiness.

Have you ever watched the animated film kung fu panda? In it the tortoise says to the panda that "yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift - that's why its called the present." There is a lot of wisdom in that movie and it is well worth a watch.

The path of life has many cul-de-sacs that you have to explore and learn from before going on with the main journey. Good luck traveler, there will be support along the way I hope you keep on finding it.

[Hidden]

Hi Lizzy,I know just how you feel. I'm 49 and up until the last few years have always been really fit and healthy. I have tried to feed my family and myself good quality healthy food. We are lucky that none of us have weight problems and my son has asthma but we seem to have that well controlled most of the time. My diagnosis of gluten sensitive enteropathy took quite a while to get to and most of the time I still find it difficult to come to terms with. I was also very depressed last year when diagnosed and spent weeks being very tearful and just not feeling that I was able to cope. But cope you do ,and after a while you start to turn the corner and begin to feel better in body and soul. It took me 3 months until I started to improve. I felt no benefit at all to begin with going gluten free and never have the "glutoned feeling" so I found it really difficult to begin with. Good luck with the GF diet,it does get easier and lots of us will thinking of you and willing you on. Keep in touch. Caron X

[lizzycoop]

thankyou friends