Coeliac Disease, Lactose intolerance and Stomach Ulcers

[Jennyyyen]

Hi everyone, I’m new to this!

I have diagnosed coeliac disease of 6 years, I’m 24 and was diagnosed at 18 - my diagnosis took 2 and a half years though! My father also has coeliac disease too and was diagnosed when I was 5 so I was somewhat lucky to have an existing home set up to cater for a gluten free lifestyle.

My coeliac disease seemed to be onset by stress, I am very sensitive to gluten and have further stomach complications including a hiatus hernia.

I am now in the process of have tests done for suspected stomach ulcers as well as possible lactose intolerance. I’ve read that one auto immune disease commonly leads to another, is this the case for anyone else? The thought of having to restrict my diet any further is horrible! Does anyone anyone else have further complications or have any advice living with ulcers?

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[Hidden]

The standard understanding (to my knowledge) is that stomach ulcers are most commonly caused by helicobactor (h-pylori) bacteria. Have you been tested/treated for h-pylori?

Beyond that it seems non-uncommon for individuals to end up with associated/related GI tract damage and conditions, including colitis, microscopic colitis, diverticulitus, leaky gut, etc.

Stomach bacteria (the wrong sort) can also overgrow.

Individuals also may struggle with enzyme levels.

Dairy intolerance/allergies, additional food intolerances are common and some may resolve once coeliac is under control and gut repairs. Much of this is down to imbalance in stomach enzymes which do not thrive properly in a damaged gut.

Leaky gut - disputed by many clinicians - apparently makes gut wall more permeable leading to food particles entering body and causing reactions.

It's good you are having additional tests. To repair any damage you may have to embrace restricted diet for a while and read up on gut repair diet/techniques. Some people guess a good 12 months of doing all the right things (including avoiding alcohol/caffeine) is suffcient to achieve good repair level. Also be aware that commercial gluten free foods still contain very small amount of gluten that may still be causing reactions for you.

[Whydothis]

You sound as though you have a lot to cope with. I agree about stress being a possible trigger of coeliac disease in people who are already vulnerable to it - I think that is probably what started mine off.

I can't help with the ulcers, I'm afraid.

The lactose intolerance should, hopefully, be a temporary thing. Apparently it happens because the area of the small intestine where the villi are damaged by the reaction to gluten is exactly the place where we normally produce lactase, which is needed to digest lactose. Once the villi recover, it should become possible to get back to normal with lactose. This seems to be working for me - I am now able to tolerate some ordinary milk again, although I am taking it slowly. When I realised I had this problem I did some research and found that hard mature cheese, such as cheddar, and live yogurt are both OK as the bacteria have worked on the lactose and reduced it to very low levels. I have been OK with both. (Butter and double cream are OK as well, because the lactose in milk is in the "skim" part, not in the fat)

I hope this helps a little

[Penel]

Hi Jennyyyen

Try not to worry about lactose intolerance. Even if you don’t recover the ability to digest lactose it is possible to manage the condition. If you want to stick to dairy products you can get products like lactose-free yoghurt (or make your own), lactose-free milk, cheese etc. And as the previous poster has said, high fat dairy like cream and butter are usually ok, although I find I have to be careful not to have too much.

When it comes to other conditions, it does seem common to have more than one health condition. I have had endometriosis and an eye condition, both seem to associated with coeliac disease.

Good luck with sorting out the ulcers and improving your health.

[Hidden]

Hey good luck with the testing for stomach ulcers, some coeliac are more sensitive to gluten than others and many of us cannot tolerate allowed levels of gluten and this is enough to prevent our villi recovering and this is important as the enzyme lactate is produced at the tip of our villi so I'd also have a good look at you diet to see if you are ingesting too much gluten.

I eat a naturally gluten free whole food diet and that works for me.