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The worst heartburn & gastritis I ever experienced in my life came well after diagnosis of celiac disease & starting the GF diet.  I don't know if going GF makes us more sensitive, if we are reacting to new foods, or if we just notice it more after going GF, but whatever the reason, this is very common among the newly diagnosed.  But, I do think a newly diagnosed celiac would do well to avoid adding in any new foods until they are more "settled down."  GF baked goods are especially troublesome because they contain ingredients such as guar gum, acacia gum, xanthan gum, refined starches, etc. that are known to aggravate GI problems.  So I believe GF baked goods should be avoided as much as possible.  Even though I've been GF for 6 years, I still limit consumption of GF baked goods to once or maybe twice a week.  Any more than that & I pay for it. A daily GF muffin would be a real gut buster for me!    



Anyway, back to my first GF year:  I actually starting losing weight at an alarming rate 10 months after diagnosis.  My GI specialist was unable to help me, but he was kind & humble enough to refer me to a naturopath in Seattle (P. Donovan ND) that specializes in helping people with very stubborn GI issues.  This is what the ND did for me:  [These interventions were tackled one by one & spread out over about six months.]



(1) Specific Carbohydrate Diet or SCD.  This a very, VERY restrictive sugar free, starch free diet.  It helped to settle things down a bit, but because I had so many food allergies and couldn't tolerate the staples on the SCD (eggs, beans, yogurt, bananas, almonds, etc.).  I eventually had to abandon the SCD by adding brown rice, potatoes & yams to my diet just so I could recover some of the lost weight.  Even though I can't follow this diet to the letter, I still apply many of the the principles I learned from this diet to my every day life.    



(2) Food allergy testing.  This was a BIG part of my recovery.  When I finally eliminated every single food I tested positive for, things improved dramatically.  I found out that the major contributor to my horrid heartburn was actually food allergies (cow's milk, soy, eggs, bananas, etc.)  



(3) High potency vitamin supplements.  Can't remember the name of the one the naturopath put me on, but I now take Twinlab daily one caps, extra vitamin C, plus Nordic Naturals ProDHA.  [ProDHA is a high quality fish old supplement that is refined to the point that it doesn't cause "urping up" that dead fish taste taste like other fish oil supplements do.



(4) High quality probiotic formula.  Again, I can't remember exact name, but it was very expensive.  I now have found that I can tolerate home made goat's milk kefir, which is the best, cheapest & defitely the tastiest probiotic!  It works ten times better than any of those expensive commercially prepared products you find at the health food store.  (Search for "Dom's kefir in-site" for more information about kefir.)



(5) Supplemental stomach acid (HCl) and pancreatin.  I took Thorne Bio-Gest for years, but have found a less expensive product that works just as well.  I now take three Soloray HCl capsules and one Soloray Pancreatin 1300 with each meal.  These are almost equivalent to Thorne Bio-Gest and cheaper.  Supplemental stomach acid is one of the most important things I do for my GI tract every day.  Most celiacs have hypochlorhydria, that is they don't make enough stomach acid & digestive enzymes to properly digest their foods.  This leads to heartburn, stomach pain, bloating, indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, yeast & bacterial overgrowth, malabsorption, anemia & other nutritional deficiencies.  Supplementing is very important for a healthy GI track & absorption of nutrients.  



Step number 5 should only be tried after you've done the first four steps.  Stomach acid supplements (HCl) are very potent & should be introduced slowly & gradually.  It's generally recommended that people start with one capsule of HCl a day at the largest meal.  When you adapt to that (probably after about 5 days), then add a second capsule at your next largest meal.  Keep gradually increasing the number of capsules until your GI track & stomach "feel normal."  This might be as little as one capsule per meal or as much as six capsules per meal.   



[When I first started supplementing with HCl, I felt so much better (even slept better), that I went overboard & started taking them at every meal.  After several days of this, I felt like my insides were burning up!  I had to stop taking it for 5 days, then start all over gradually & carefully increasing my dose.  I took about one or two months to build up to my current dose.  You may need more or less than I do, or none at all!  but, I'd certainly recommend every celiac give it a try.  I'd also recommend reading, WHY STOMACH ACID IS GOOD FOR YOU, by Dr. Jonathan Wright MD.  He's one of the leading edge MDs for treating for hypochlorhydria.]



Valerie in Tacoma  
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