Hi, I was diagnosed with celiacs disease 4 years ago. I immediatly stopped all gluten out of my diet and saw dramatic changes in my health. 2 years ago I got pregnant and was worried that the baby wasnt getting enough nutrients so I went to a dietician and she told me that I could eat wheat and gluten while I was pregnant because your body slows way down to digest everything it can for the baby so I would also be able to digest gluten. I was so happy and started eating pizza and sandwiches everyday. Well my son is now 8 months old and I am still eating gluten with no effects, does anyone know if it is still hurting me but I just cant feel it? I have no health insurance so I cant get a byopsy done. Thanks for reading :wave:

sdjansen,

If you truly have celiac (diagnosed with biopsy and blood anti-body test), then yes (!) eating gluten for any length of time will hurt you. It is an auto-immune disease, where the body attacks certain cells in the small intestine. Ultimately you will notice problems when your body has attacked enough of your cells.

Your nutritionist gave you poor advice. Gluten-containing foods, such as wheat, are great sources of nutrition, but everyone (even those who don't have celiac) can get the same nutrition (vitamins, minerals, fiber) from lots of other foods (buckwheat, millet, rice, amaranth, quinoa, etc.). If you continue to challenge your body with gluten-containing foods, the portions of your intestine that are damaged this time around will prevent you from getting the nutrition that you need. If you get pregnant again, you will be depriving your baby of important nutrients, because YOU are not absorbing them.

I know that pizza and sandwiches made with wheat bread are yummy -- sometimes I miss them myself. But there are alternatives to lots of wheat products. I know that eating wheat is convenient -- the entire western world is based on a wheat diet, and it's certainly a challenge to avoid it when you eat out or go to the homes of friends. But it ain't doing you any good -- I urge you to reconsider and not wait until your symptoms show up.

--from a celiac, Rheanna

sdjansen,

Also, there's lots more discussion about celiac on the Digestion Disorders Board.

--Rheanna

Hi, thanks for your response. I figured I was being irresponsible with my diet. I never had the biopsy performed but I did have to eat wheat bread for a week and the doctor took a blood sample and told me I had celiacs. I always thought I had a wheat intolerance and not celiacs disease. Now I dont have health insurance and I cant afford to have a bunch of tests performed. I guess I should just stick to my diet until I can find out for sure what I have. I used to have severe pain and discomfort on and off throughout the day, but I havent felt that in over a year. It was a very hard diet for me to stay on, I mean italian food is my favorite. I actually learned how to make pizza dough out of, I think it was rice flour, it never tasted like dominos thats for sure. Well I appreciate your input.

sdjansen,

I actually flunked both the biopsy and the blood test (that is, no celiac result showed up), because I had already eliminated gluten from my diet for 6 months by the time I found a doctor who would believe me and give me the test. So I am probably more gluten sensitive than fully celiac (like you). I had been reacting to barley for years with acid indigestion, and when we moved to Germany 10 years ago, I was introduced to the wheat here which is higher in gluten than it is in the US. So I guess my body just became too sensitized, and I started reacting with more and more acid indigestion, and pretty soon the pain became so great that I couldn't sleep.

It was obvious that it was something in my diet, and after searching on the internet I found out about celiac. (I call it my "cool diesease I found on the internet" because it's not "official" that I have it.) By checking my diet carefully, it was pretty plain that I was reacting to wheat. So I started learning how to eliminate gluten from my diet.

I agree with you that there are certain things that just aren't the same without wheat -- its taste and gluten properties have made it very popular in the western diet. But every time I cheat, my body rebels, and it takes longer and longer now to get back to feeling healthy. So I do everything I can to eliminate gluten.

I make my pizza dough from buckwheat, teff (a relative of millet, from Africa), and a bit of rice flour. Regardless of the flours that you use, I think the "trick" to making the crust is to use a special ceramic pizza stone that you preheat in the very hot oven (the hottest you can get). Make your dough on a cornmeal layer, on flat surface with an open end ( have a cookie sheet like that). Top with whatever toppings you like, and then slide the crust onto the hot pizza stone directly into the oven. The crust cooks quickly without getting so soggy, and you have that mysterious "pizza" smell and taste that we all miss from real pizza in the pizza parlor.

Feel free to discuss whatever you want about living without gluten. There really are lots of us out there and we're glad to share.

--Rheanna

I really don't know much about celiac disease/gluten insenstivity, but I do know pregancy can change and affect allergies. Many women with allergies find their allergies lessen during and after pregnacy. The baby is technically a foriegn body in your body. But they body knows it shouldn't attack it, so often the immune response to foriegn things like pollen lessen too. I have a friend who had horrible allergies. She couldn't even get shots because the hive would become the size of a baseball. After she had kids her immune system calmed down, and she is better off than I am. It almost makes me want to have a baby LOL.

I also know from experience allergies can change. I no longer test positive to ragweed, despite the fact I never got a full course of allergy shots for it.

Anyway, I just thought I would throw that out there. Of course, if you ever get the opportunity, get tested.

sneezydiva,

Allergic reactions can indeed change over one's lifetime. But my understanding is that celiac is not just a histamine reaction. The body actually attacks its own cilia, the little cells in the small intestine that allow us to digest our food. Celiac people have different symptoms and different nutritional defitiencies based on which spots are attacked. And some people have major reactions, like small children who fail to thrive until they are finally diagnosed and start to eat a gluten-free diet. Others have milder symptoms and don't get diagnosed until they are adults.

There ARE people who are allergic to wheat, and it's possible that they may find that their bodies are reacting differently when they are pregnant, or going through a different stage of life, or "who-knows what's different now?". But a person with celiac doesn't stop reacting. The symptoms may not be immediately noticeable after they've re-introduced wheat (gluten) into their diet, but the damage to the intestines is still going on.

Of course I could be full of beans (I frequently am!), and maybe pregnancy and lactation do change the body's reaction even to gluten. It is indeed a miracle that we women tolerate and nourish this alien being that has taken possession of our bodies during pregnancy. Sigh. The human body is a mysterious thing. But I still maintain that gluten for celiacs is always a no-no.

--Rheanna