Anyone else do Gluten Free ?

[weeksy]

Been having some health issues with stomach/swallowing/throat.

Was chatting to a mate when out on a cycle today and he had the same issues previously and was given the same medication Omeprazole and Lansoprazole. But neither helped or fixed him.

He then went on to tell me that going Gluten Free has resolved his issues and he's all good.

So what the heck, it's worth a try, so it's a road i'm going to try out.

Seems as you'd expect, quite restrictive but the results if they work out, will be worth it if the issues go away.

Anyone else do the GF thing ?

[MrLongbeard]

Nope.
But a fella at work did for the same reasons, he reckoned it worked for him, no idea if he kept it up as he left the company.

[weeksy]

I got diagnosed as Coeliac a few month back so no choice to go GF. Bread, biscuits, flour, pastas, serials are all bloody expensive in comparison.

Expense I can live with.

I'm just wondering what exactly i can eat for breakfast and lunch now as bread/croissants/granola/bagels have been a staple for breakfast forever.

On a related note, how does something like this just 'start' does it come from somewhere ? It's not like i've eaten well for years but drifted into bad ways, i've always eaten/drunk the same, but then about 6 months ago i got this tightness in my throat along with painful stomach, had the gascroscopy and a load of other stuff, they gave me these Meds to fix it, but 8 weeks in i've got nothing in the way of developments.

So, trying the GF stuff.

[weeksy]

Thanks for the info.

I was diagnosed with a small irrelevant hiatus hernia too... But as i say, nothing i'm taking seems to be making things better, so for 4-6 weeks i'll certainly give it a whirl.

Cider seems to be the answer to my pub questions/bbq/drinking...

I'll get some flour and the wife can home bake the bread in bread machine, well, once the flour is back on shelves lol

Porridge, yeah that seems OK, but not made in a GF environment, but yes Quakers seem to do a GF version.

Restaurants and pubs, i'm not too worried as we don't go out often and if we do i'll pick things that may not be 100% safe, but pretty safe like say steak and chips...

[ZRX61]

Apparently everyone was just cured

[Dutchman]

I've had similar problems with swallowing/stomach/acid over the years and was prescribed Omeprazole for a while, until I had a GP appointment where she informed me that it had a (fairly rare) side-effect of sudden death. So I stopped taking the pills. I find not drinking too much booze plus the occasional rennie mostly sorts it.

Tends to be red meat that is painful swallowing - burgers, meatballs, steak sometimes. Don't know why. But better now than when i first got it nearly 10 years ago.

Maybe do one of those diets where you cut everything out so you're on rice n water more or less, then start adding things back until you find a possible culprit? GF is a faff and takes away a lot of nice stuff so I'd want to be sure it was gluten that was the problem... spose you could give it a try for a couple of months?

[Skub]

Not really the same complaint,but a couple of years ago I had ongoing difficulty with digestion. Lots of food seemed to give me acid indigestion and reflux,especially bad at night. I tried dropping out all kinds of foods,but nothing really worked,I was still eating Rennies like sweeties.

Then,I decided to stop drinking for a month to see if that would help. I'm now about 2 years down the line dry and I can eat anything,haven't munched a Rennie since and no reflux.

Drinking was one of my favourite things to do and I never ever thought I could walk away from it. It was hard for a good year,but I'm in a new pattern now and I no longer miss it.

The bonus point was losing 3 stone,just from not drinking and getting munchies.

Good luck with your quest weeksy,money couldn't buy feeling good.

[weeksy]

Not really the same complaint,but a couple of years ago I had ongoing difficulty with digestion. Lots of food seemed to give me acid indigestion and reflux,especially bad at night. I tried dropping out all kinds of foods,but nothing really worked,I was still eating Rennies like sweeties.

Then,I decided to stop drinking for a month to see if that would help. I'm now about 2 years down the line dry and I can eat anything,haven't munched a Rennie since and no reflux.

Drinking was one of my favourite things to do and I never ever thought I could walk away from it. It was hard for a good year,but I'm in a new pattern now and I no longer miss it.

The bonus point was losing 3 stone,just from not drinking and getting munchies.

Good luck with your quest weeksy,money couldn't buy feeling good.

I rarely drink, I'd say 5 maybe 7 units a month.

[Mr Moofo]

But you have not been diagnosed as coeliac ?
Maybe you have a gluten intolerance but just have gut problems / acid reflux etc could be down to a whole lot of things... Stress and IBS being a main one ( I suffered badly for about 10 years), I have been on various ant-acids ( Zantac etc) for about 25 years.
If GF works for you , then fine. But Gluten is the current bogie man of the food world - it is blamed for a lot - but not actually as common as people would suggest. Gluten free will generally have more fat and sugar in that “full gluten” - which is probably not a huge issue.
If you are gluten intolerant rather than coeliac, then don’t worry that things are not produced in gluten free factories, a small amount will have very little effect.

Other common intolerances are celery, sesame, dairy, etc all well documented.
Also avoid alcohol, spicy food, high fat foods & really acidic foods.

Also be very wary of allergy clinic or nutritional consultants - esp if they have a lifestyle to sell...

[weeksy]

But you have not been diagnosed as coeliac ?
Maybe you have a gluten intolerance but just have gut problems / acid reflux etc could be down to a whole lot of things... Stress and IBS being a main one ( I suffered badly for about 10 years), I have been on various ant-acids ( Zantac etc) for about 25 years.
If GF works for you , then fine. But Gluten is the current bogie man of the food world - it is blamed for a lot - but not actually as common as people would suggest. Gluten free will generally have more fat and sugar in that “full gluten” - which is probably not a huge issue.
If you are gluten intolerant rather than coeliac, then don’t worry that things are not produced in gluten free factories, a small amount will have very little effect.

Other common intolerances are celery, sesame, dairy, etc all well documented.
Also avoid alcohol, spicy food, high fat foods & really acidic foods.

Also be very wary of allergy clinic or nutritional consultants - esp if they have a lifestyle to sell...

Agree with all of that. I'm not going completely GF from the context that something may have been made in the same postcode as a wheat farm. But things that are clearly off limits are off limits.
Tonight for tea was farm shop sausage, which could potentially have some small amount of filler in it, but they're usually good with it. However if we were being picky then I'd not have had them. But basically, pasta, bread, beer etc are off the list, unless they're GF stuff.

The spicy, acidic etc I agree totally but I've stayed away mostly for months now. This isn't good days and bad days, this is a constant thing, every every day.

Regarding diagnosis of coeliac, then no. But I was planning on asking for tests like that at next appointment. Which has now been changed to a phone one sadly.

So I'm just trying to narrow it down really. The GF stuff may completely be a red herring, but it's worth trying it to find out.

[Mr Moofo]

You really need to go on an exclusion diet and the. Introduce things back in and see any effect ( but be aware without real allergy testing is is very subjective) - have you thought of dairy and /or lactose?

Serious question - how stressed are you generally ( not by these issues)?

Interestingly, I would guess your sausages will have some sort of filler / binder/ rusk in.

[weeksy]

You really need to go on an exclusion diet and the. Introduce things back in and see any effect ( but be aware without real allergy testing is is very subjective) - have you thought of dairy and /or lactose.

Serious question - how stressed are you generally ( not by these issues)

I've thought of it. I did 3 weeks without coffee or milk, but not full in without dairy.

How stressed, lol, me. 0. A big fat 0. Never, ever.
I have a bloody simple life without stress, pressure or worries.

[flicker]

Been having some health issues with stomach/swallowing/throat.

Was chatting to a mate when out on a cycle today and he had the same issues previously and was given the same medication Omeprazole and Lansoprazole. But neither helped or fixed him.

He then went on to tell me that going Gluten Free has resolved his issues and he's all good.

So what the heck, it's worth a try, so it's a road i'm going to try out.

Seems as you'd expect, quite restrictive but the results if they work out, will be worth it if the issues go away.

Anyone else do the GF thing ?

I've had digestive issues* that have built up over the last few years so I went through a process of cutting out various food stuffs over several months.

Red meat was the cause, I've cut it out completely now and all issues I was suffering with have gone. I do miss a good steak but not enough to suffer the consequences.




*I'll spare you the details

[weeksy]

Let's hope it's not red meat lol.

[flicker]

Let's hope it's not red meat lol.

I was surprised but after googling I found it's not uncommon. Thankfully it wasn't bacon causing the issues, some fucker would have got stabbed

[Bomble]

Give lactose free milk a try, I used to get a lot of bloating and stomach problems and they stopped since using it, same with a mate of mine. Very quick to see the results too
The Arla stuff is lovely.
I’m also intolerant to gluten, love food so it’s dam depressing. It affects my joints and skin. When I go out to a nice restaurant I usually just bite the bullet, eat what I want then spend all night in agony

[weeksy]

Well day 1 has gone fine

I even went to the Supermarket and bought some Oats, Granola, Wraps and Pittas, all at silly prices of course, but that's OK, if that's how it has to be, then so be it.

I also bought 24 bottles of cider from the local producer I class it as supporting the local community.

I did the no milk thing for 2 weeks... Didn't change anything. I was making the assumption 2 weeks would be enough to start seeing an effect, but who knows.

I've got a couple of weeks before i speak to the ENT guy, i'll see how the GF stuff is going by then and see what he says on it too.

thanks for all the wisdom up to now.

[WelshDragon]

Been having some health issues with stomach/swallowing/throat.

Was chatting to a mate when out on a cycle today and he had the same issues previously and was given the same medication Omeprazole and Lansoprazole. But neither helped or fixed him.

He then went on to tell me that going Gluten Free has resolved his issues and he's all good.

So what the heck, it's worth a try, so it's a road i'm going to try out.

Seems as you'd expect, quite restrictive but the results if they work out, will be worth it if the issues go away.

Anyone else do the GF thing ?

I have had exactly the same issues for a number of years, acid reflux etc. Was prescribed the same medication but wasn’t keen on taking it. I also have a small hiatus hernia. I have the works on ‘oscopies and nothing has been found so for that I am grateful. However, I reckon it’s an age thing and as you get older stuff gets a bit more unreliable! I also find that sometimes when I eat pasta I get all bloaty and feel crap but other weeks I can eat it with no problem. I have also been tested for intolerances but nothing positive came back. I was told that the medication actually inhibits acid production and the issue is the lack of acid not too much of it! I bought cider vinegar to dilute with a small amount of water to increase the acid in my stomach. That seemed to help and I only drink it infrequently now.
The one thing that I have found worked for me was reducing the portion size on my plate, not overloading my oesophagus and therefore not causing the hernia to go into reflux. I had an issue with pasta a few weeks ago but then when I tried it again but a much smaller portion I was fine.
TBH it’s driving me a bit bonkers and my digestive system varies from one month to the next, has a stable spell then flares uup to be uncomfortable again. As I have no underlying issues that anyone can find, I have written it off to being part and parcel getting older.....some bits of getting older are nice, others are pants!!

[Taipan]

The omeprazole/PPIs etc are for your hiatus hernia caused reflux etc and I doubt they are too address your other problems? I have a hiatus hernia and was prescribed them and have to take them on occasion. Not very often though as I know my triggers for reflux though, so I mainly avoid, pastry, nuts, a lot of cereals, particularly granola (!), or put another way, anything with veg oil in it. Oddly cucumber and tomatoes can cause it to?

My Mum was a Coeliac and couldn't eat bread and rice (and pasta if she had have eaten it). She switched to gluten free bread but never really got on with it and would occasionally treat herself to bread with soup when we went out, but paid for it everytime. Most people I know that have what you have, and it seems increasingly common, seem to benefit from giving up bread and pasta, with bread being the biggest culprit, or of course switching to gluten free.

[weeksy]

So we're now 3 weeks in and it's been OK if i'm honest, not amazing as i do miss a nice bit of bread and the replacements are rubbish.

However i can pretty much say that it's not helped with the diagnosed issues at this stage, so i'm wondering if 3 weeks is enough of a marker for it to take effect, or whether i should continue on with the GF.

So a bit up in the air on this as to what to do now... It's take-away pizza night from the pub and i'm half thinking "sod it, lets see what happens" and throwing down some pizza.

I had a phone appointment with my consultant who's referred me to surgical guys regarding the hiatus hernia, but that won't be until after the Zombies are sorted and NHS gets back to normal.