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Hello!  I wonder if anyone could help me with the following enigma:-

I have been unable to eat wheat for many years as it gives me abdominal
pain, heavy fatigue, weight loss and depression.  Recently I started to
wonder if I may be a celiac, since I still eat rye, barley and oats and am
never truly well.  I have experimented twice with a gluten free diet, each
time for only four weeks.  Both times I was on the GF diet I felt a bit
better initially (better energy and less headaches), but after two weeks or
so I began to get abdominal pain, bloating and nausea apparently after
eating any type of grain.  The worst time was when I ate several rice cakes
(8 to be precise).  Within an hour I had pain around the navel, followed by
several days of pain all over the abdomen, chilliness and fatigue.  Millet
and corn had similar, though less severe effects.  I also began to have my
doubts about other foods such as eggs and milk, which seemed to cause
indigestion.

This is very strange as it only happens when I am on a GF diet!  Could it
be that eating a bit of gluten in the barley, rye and oats somehow
'desensitises' my system, so that when I am completely gluten-free a whole
load of other allergies manifest themselves?  The symptoms stopped when I
stopped the GF diet, although I still can not eat wheat.

Another thing that occurs after a week or so on the GF diet is tender
muscle pain in the legs and also some pain in the back and arm muscles.
The first time I tried the GF diet this was quite severe, the second time
less so.

Has anyone ever come across anything like this before?  As I live in the UK
and am under the NHS, it will take a while to get an appointment with a
specialist and my general doctor is unable to help me.  Any comments would
be greatly appreciated.

Sarah Marks  UK      [log in to unmask]