Gluten free diet cured my arthritis and saved my life

[Fletch Lives]

Gluten free diet cured my arthritis and saved my life

So I always had a sensitive stomach. A few years ago, my digestive system got worse.......I had lots of cramping and started to lose weight. As a result of the sudden weight loss, I developed gall stones and pancreatitis, lost a lot of weight and almost died. I was in a hospital bed and the doctor said I could die.

I first started on an IBS diet and that improved things. One of the things that was on the list to avoid, was commercial bread, and anything containing gluten. 

But I also had to have a gall bladder operation. 

Through trial and error, I narrowed down my problem to gluten sensitivity. Now I only eat sour dough and rye bread, and gluten free pasta. And of course I can eat just about any other product, such as meat, fish, dairy, and vegetables. 

I still reduce my intake of sugar, sweet foods, and fried foods, they don't seem to be very good either.

My new gluten free diet worked so well, I started gaining weight, so I had to go on a weight loss diet! 

A side benefit to saving my life, the gluten free diet has helped in another way. I started getting arthritis sometimes in my knees. Also, my mother had arthritis.......she had to wear a wrist brace for almost a year. After switching to a gluten free diet, our arthritis went away, and my mother was able to take off her wrist brace - forever. The gluten free diet cured arthritis!

For more information, see the documentary, What's With Wheat? I'm living proof that there is some truth to that documentary.

Edited March 21, 2020 by Fletch Lives

[preraph]

Glad it worked out for you.  I have something been going on for months and now can't even go to a doctor.  I'm afraid it's gall or pancreas, although most pancreas patients are drinkers, but my sister had a gallstone fall into the pancreas and create bad pancreatisis and she doesn't drink at all.  She almost died.  I need to find out.

[Foxhall]

thats interesting,

I only found out a few months ago that am completely gluten intolerant- effectively celiac,

I had to push to get the test even- my Doctor believed I should have stronger symptoms- had only tiredness really,

am finding the diet fine and feeling more energy but only wish was discovered earlier.

 

 

[preraph]

When you have pancreas problems, there are just a lot of foods you can't eat. So it's hard to even know if it's specifically gluten. Because there's just a lot of things that mess you up. 

[preraph]

The guy I know who's celiac gets rashes and turns red with gluten.  He eats it anyway some.  

[salparadise]

On 3/21/2020 at 8:25 AM, Fletch Lives said:

Through trial and error, I narrowed down my problem to gluten sensitivity. Now I only eat sour dough and rye bread, and gluten free pasta.

Hey Fletch, I hate to be the one to break bad news, but the sourdough and rye breads are as glutinous as wheat. Sourdough is wheat, a type of wheat bread. Wheat, rye and barley are the gluten containing grains. If you are gluten intolerant (exact same as Celiac) you should be 100 percent gluten-free (total elimination diet). If you are not Celiac then you might be okay with reduced gluten intake. That's called non-celiac gluten sensitivity. You should determine which you are. Just because something doesn't cause an immediate reaction doesn't mean it's okay. It will still destroy the villi in the small intestine, and more that will impact overall, long-term health. And I suggest that you seen a gastroenterologist –– sounds like your GP isn't up to speed. Mine had never heard of it at the time I was diagnosed. I should've billed him for the instruction

Beer is another thing you need to quit if you drink it. There are GF beers, usually sorghum based. There are gluten-removed beers too. They process it with an enzyme that neutralizes gluten. I drink those occasionally, but stick to the sorghum beers for safety. I mostly drink red wine and tequila. Most prepared/packaged foods contain gluten unless they are marketed as GF. 

I was diagnosed as Celiac in '97, 23 years ago now. Proper diagnosis and strictly adhering to the GF diet saved my life too. I have not knowingly cheated on the diet in all that time. I'm sure I've been accidentally dosed, but I'm very careful. 

I'm enjoying a delicious homemade GF pizza and a bottle of Cabernet as I write this. It's not easy or cheap, but there is no better GF pizza to be had. PM me if you want the dough recipe. There is a standard body of knowledge, but it takes awhile to acquire it. Sourdough and rye, no go.

 

[salparadise]

On 4/24/2020 at 7:12 PM, Foxhall said:

thats interesting,

I only found out a few months ago that am completely gluten intolerant- effectively celiac,

I had to push to get the test even- my Doctor believed I should have stronger symptoms- had only tiredness really,

am finding the diet fine and feeling more energy but only wish was discovered earlier.

Docs can be limited in understanding. Symptoms are all over the place with Celiac. I had only subtle symptoms until I was almost 40, nothings to be concerned about, and then it hit me all at once. I came down with cytp-megalo virus (a circular chain of events) and ran a fever for a month. After that I started losing weight and having memory/cognitive problems. It was malnutrition from the inability to uptake nutrient. My wife started pushing high caloric foods on me like cream of wheat. I was in bad shape by the time I got a diagnosis.

I've got a ton of recipes if you need to expand your horizons.

Edited April 25, 2020 by salparadise

[Art_Critic]

My wife went Gluten free about a year or so ago and her hips stopped hurting her as well as many other issues she had went away.

It was difficult for her to adapt but she figured it all out, Gluten free pasta and Sourdough bread helped tons and she has a pancake mix that you can't tell the difference... for Pizza she just scrapes the toppings off or orders the Marco's pizza bowl, no crust...

She swears by it.. I still eat Gluten but my Gluten intake has at least been cut in half as I eat the same pasta etc etc that she does..

 

[Fletch Lives]

14 hours ago, salparadise said:

Hey Fletch, I hate to be the one to break bad news, but the sourdough and rye breads are as glutinous as wheat. Sourdough is wheat, a type of wheat bread. Wheat, rye and barley are the gluten containing grains. If you are gluten intolerant (exact same as Celiac) you should be 100 percent gluten-free (total elimination diet). If you are not Celiac then you might be okay with reduced gluten intake. That's called non-celiac gluten sensitivity. You should determine which you are. Just because something doesn't cause an immediate reaction doesn't mean it's okay. It will still destroy the villi in the small intestine, and more that will impact overall, long-term health. And I suggest that you seen a gastroenterologist –– sounds like your GP isn't up to speed. Mine had never heard of it at the time I was diagnosed. I should've billed him for the instruction

Beer is another thing you need to quit if you drink it. There are GF beers, usually sorghum based. There are gluten-removed beers too. They process it with an enzyme that neutralizes gluten. I drink those occasionally, but stick to the sorghum beers for safety. I mostly drink red wine and tequila. Most prepared/packaged foods contain gluten unless they are marketed as GF. 

I was diagnosed as Celiac in '97, 23 years ago now. Proper diagnosis and strictly adhering to the GF diet saved my life too. I have not knowingly cheated on the diet in all that time. I'm sure I've been accidentally dosed, but I'm very careful. 

I'm enjoying a delicious homemade GF pizza and a bottle of Cabernet as I write this. It's not easy or cheap, but there is no better GF pizza to be had. PM me if you want the dough recipe. There is a standard body of knowledge, but it takes awhile to acquire it. Sourdough and rye, no go.

 

The sourdough and rye are well known to be better for gluten sensitive people. Maybe you are sensitive to any grains.

But you are right about the beer - I can't drink beer. I drink wine or straight liquor.

[salparadise]

On 4/26/2020 at 10:00 AM, Fletch Lives said:

The sourdough and rye are well known to be better for gluten sensitive people. Maybe you are sensitive to any grains.

But you are right about the beer - I can't drink beer. I drink wine or straight liquor.

No, I am not sensitive to all grains; I eat bread made with various grains –– but not wheat, rye or barley, which are the gluten containing grains. I am Celiac, so I'm sensitive to gluten specifically.

The sourdough fermentation process breaks down certain proteins, phytic acid, and fructan that cause digestion issues for some gluten-sensitive people, but it does not eliminate (or reduce) the gluten. So the key is in knowing whether you are Celiac, or non-Celiac gluten-sensitive. If you're not Celiac then you can do whatever works to keep symptoms at bay. But no matter how you slice it,  a piece of rye or sourdough bread is going to contain [many times] more gluten than a beer. Also, if you're eating commercial sourdough bread, it is probably not sourdough in the sense that it wasn't fermented –– they add sourdough flavoring to regular bread and sell it as sourdough. The sourdough fermentation process is too time consuming for regularly priced commercial bread. There are some pretty good commercial GF breads available in grocery stores now.

Given that you always had digestive issues, lost a bunch of weight, and had serious complications, I'd suggest getting a proper diagnosis. If it turns out that you are in fact Celiac, you'll need to go strictly gluten-free. You may have merely reduced gluten intake to less than the critical threshold for the serious issues you had before, but could still doing long-term damage to the villi of the small intestine. Or maybe you aren't Celiac, which would be wonderful since you could do whatever works. Wishing you the best regardless.

[mrs rubble]

I’m not celiac or gluten free, but I’ve had IBS, gallbladder surgery and anti reflux surgery, and have a very sensitive gut. 

I’ve found that chilli irritates my stomach, I can only tolerate a small amount, and since I’ve eliminated all fizzy drinks and spirits, having water instead, I’m healthier than I’ve ever been. 

I also have to really be careful with fat levels in my food too, I can only eat a very small portion of lasagna for example. 

It’s a long road trying to find what works for each individual. 

I’m thrilled to read you’ve found yours! I’m sharing my story in case it helps someone else too.