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Thanks to all for your responses. Below are excerpted responses to my
concerns of a failure to gain weight after 3 months GF and how long it took
others to regain their normal weight. I have to say that my slow stomach
emptying made a jump in improvement (I can feel the lugging isn't as intense
or as long in duration even with a little more fat intake this past week)
just a several days after my message to you all. Now, I seem to be holding
onto a one pound gain after two months of remaining the same weight. One
pound is significant to me since my normal weight is only in the mid-90s at
bearly 5 feet tall. Even my Gastroenterologist admitted to me a month ago
that he can't deny that my slow stomach emptying causes food fermentation
(stomach needs a neutral environment, he says) and affects the ability of my
small bowel to absorb food and maybe, why I'm still malabsorbing fats.
Here are the excerpted responses:
I lost approx. 15% of my weight. After going GF, it seemed the first month
that nothing was happening. After that I started to gain weight and by the
third month had recovered my weight loss. I gained an additional 15 lbs in
the next three months. I am actually now trying to lose a few pounds.
I had a bit more weight loss when I first began a GF diet. After 8-9 months
I started gaining weight back. Don't give up yet.
I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in Mid-Nov, 2001. I was down to 103 lbs.
After 6 weeks of the diet I had gained 6 lbs. and 5 lbs. more by Jan. 1st.
(114). Then 2 weeks ago I ate something at a restaurant, got diarrhea, and
lost 4 pounds within the next couple of days. I have gained 2 of those lbs.
back. The weight gain is definitely slow!
My own experience is a gradual increase in my weight, increase in muscle
mass, and improvement in health ever since I quit eating gluten. That was 6
years ago and I'm STILL getting "younger" every day
I lost 30 pounds in 8 months before being diagnosed with CD in 1982. What
prompted a quick diagnosis (if you call 8 months 'quick') was that I also
had DH. I went from 125 pounds at 5'6'' to about 95 pounds. The thing I
remember the most after diagnosis is that I stopped *LOSING* weight. I think
I put the weight back on rather slowly but mostly because of the GF diet and
back then there wasn't as much support as there is now so my diet leaned on
the philosophy of "Always safe, never sorry." (meaning I ate no processed
foods, only protein sources of fish,meat, chicken and lots of fresh fruits
and vegies.)
It was actually several years after diagnosis that I had my gallbladder out.
I was having trouble eating fat, maintaining weight, and having pain. By the
way, I had to ask for an abdominal ultrasound. My doctor also thought that I
was not staying gluten free. An ultrasound is much easier and cheaper than
more biopsies and they can look at your pancreas also. With health care
these days, you have to insist for the care and tests you want sometimes. I
am told it takes 6 months for intestines to heal, but I don't know for sure.
I still had malabsoprtion until I started pancreatic supplements. Pancreatic
insufficiency is an occasional complication of celiac disease. It can be
tested for simply by measuring the elastase level in a stool sample.
I lost 25 pounds in 3 weeks last year before being diagnosed. I didn't get
that weight back on for almost 8 months and then it continued. So now I am
over my ideal weight by about 18 pounds and have to go on a stinkin' diet!!
Boy, from one extreme to the other inside of a year. Now that I am healthier
and absorbing more, I guess the fat is being absorbed into my butt!! Never
had much of a weight problem before CD, but now I see dieting and major,
major exercise is going to become a regular part of my life. Don't
worry...eventually you will gain it back. Enjoy eating anything you want
right now. It won't last.
I …have malabsorption and am underweight. I don't know what percentage as
all this started soon after childbirth when I gained 40 lbs. I usually have
a heck of a time gaining weight and now that I'm gf and eat less sugar and
simple carbs, it's just about impossible. I've been almost totally gf for at
least a year. For the slow stomach emptying, you might look into Betaine
HCL. It increases stomach acidity and helps empty stomach faster. I started
taking it to reduce acid reflux. Kind of counterintuitive to take acid to
fix that, but it did because food didn't sit in there so long. I did gain a
little weight taking a potent probiotic called Primal Defense, but there is
controversy over it's gf status. If interested you can call Garden of Life-
something about grains that haven't sprouted - and then ask your doc.
Has your gall bladder been checked? I am a biopsy diagnosed celiac. I had
pain exactly like yours and fat malabsorption and it was my gallbladder. It
has since been removed and I feel great. By the way, my pancreatic enzymes
weren't elevated, as some say they usually are when you have a gallbladder
problem.
For recovery, give yourself a year free of gluten, casein, and lactose,
before you even consider yourself better. If problems don't subside in that
time, then is the time to look for other problems.
Don't worry so much about gaining the weight back if you are feeling better.
If your blod tests--that is hemoglobin,iron, electrolyes etc(normal tests
from a yearly physical) are normal, and you are feeling better it may take
years to gain back the weight. Just be sure you are taking Gf vitamins,
have a dexascan for baseline osteo and calcium/Vitamin D intake and eat
well.
Why go thru all the invasive tests if you are GF??
Sorry to read that you are still having problems, but 2.5 months does not
put you very far into recovery from gluten. The total healing and
restoration of your damaged intestines could take a year or so, specially as
you did three gluten challenges. The doctor who diagnosed me was far ahead
of his time in 1971 when he told me that his diagnosis meant not low gluten,
but no gluten. He also said that once I was gf, the slightest bit would make
me very ill and do major damage, far more than before I was gf.
After another six to eight months you should have recovered sufficiently
from the internal damage to reassess, in your mind, the overall effects of
being gf. If most or all of your symptoms have disappeared at that time and
you are beginning to gain some weight, perhaps you could just rest with the
pragmatic 'diagnosis' of celiac.
I have also been diagnosed gluten sensitive enteropathy and have not gained
all my weight back. I would love to find a way to add 10 more pounds back on
and get some fat back into my face!
Best wishes to you all! Laura
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