Gluten Free

I eat gluten free and have so for several years now. When I first eliminated gluten I felt no difference at all. Then a few days after I started eating it again I got much worse. By the time I brought up with the doctor I had already been permanently gluten free for several months. My gluten intolerance test came back negative. But for the test to be effective you're supposed be consuming gluten daily. Doctor told me to eat some doughnuts and come back. YAH, RIGHT. Totally wasn't worth the pain for me.

I'm not sure if I have a gluten intolerance, am merely sensitive, or just not eat gluten while flaring. I tell people I am Celiac. It's not worth the pain for me.

Hellish is a good word to describe these diseases. I have been doing the Paleo Diet for several weeks now and have had the best couple weeks since my diagnoses - this despite every drug up to and including Remicade. I tried the SCD for several months with some improvement, but like imagardener2 says, I was still consuming lots of dairy in the form of yogurt (even the SCD yogurt). Once adopting paleo things have been better for me. If you're interested, I suggest you check out www.robbwolf.com. He was a graduate student of Loren Cordain, the original author of the Paleo Diet, and I think he has taken it to the next level. His recent podcast discusses UC.

I haven't tried GF yet as I am having a celiac's test later this month just to rule things out. However, I wanted to point out that feeling sluggish might mean something about your ability to break down gluten. I was doing some reading about Celiac's and some of the info I read said some people who have it are asymptomatic in that it doesn't cause the blatant digestive issues but that they have other symptoms. So, eating GF might not mean anything to your UC, but it might mean something to your general health. Gluten could be effecting your small intestine and in turn effecting your nutrient absorption. I'm not saying you have Celiac's I'm just encouraging you not to discount sluggishness as nothing.

I have eaten gluten free for about 3 years. Before being diagnosed with UC i was told i had celiac, although all the tests came back negative. At this point I don't think I have celiac, just UC, with maybe a gluten intolerance. Either way, I feel much healthier on a GF diet. When i eat anything with gluten I have a lot of IBS symptoms, including extreme bloating, to the point that I look like I'm 6 months pregnant. In my case, I think eating GF helps reduce some of the symptoms of UC but certainly doesn't cure the disease. That said, eating GF is difficult, expensive, and a real lifestyle changer so not a choice to make lightly.

Dahlia

Hi,

It has absolutely helped me! Well, gluten AND dairy--TOTAL elimination. Its amazing, I have to say that, on a day to day basis, without these foods I feel 1 million times BETTER NOW than I did before I was diagnosed with UC.

I lived about 32 years in a constant bloated state, with frequent bouts of diarrhea, heartburn and ALWAYS had gas. Now, I have UC (maybe from all those years of eating dairy and gluten ?? which obviously are not good for my body), but I am almost never bloated, and basically never have gas to speak of! For someone with UC, I have very little diarrhea (almost never), though when my UC kicks up, it will come in the form of bleeding.

I did have a major flare this past summer, however, there were several other factors that were present, including stressful travel, during which time I ate milk, gluten and lots of fresh fruit, and had to take an antibiotic when I got home. This past Fall, I had some fried rice with soy sauce which has wheat. A few days later I had blood that lasted for about 3 days. I swore never to do that again.

So, yeah, for me it is working great. It did take a long time to see the benefits. It will be a year in another week or two.

Best, Jayne
p.s. I tested negative for celiac.

Are you in the UK? Do you know of Jini Patel? SHe's Canadian but writes about natural protocols for healing IBD (She has crohns, apparently a severe case, but has been symptom and medication free for almost 20 years). Anyway, she has several diets in her book "Listen to your gut". One of them is to reduce/eliminate bleeding. There's another for diarrhea. If it's really bad, she as an "IBD remission diet" which is a liquid diet with supplements. Might be worth looking into if it sounds like your thing.