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I have had stabbing pains in my abdominal area every day for years now that nothing seems to help. I had always figured that it had something to do with an emergency appendectomy that I received about seven years ago until I read about "nonspecific abdominal pain" being a symptom on Dr. Kovacevic's website & talked to another girl from the forums about it.

 

Has anyone had success with gluten-free diets? & also, is there any way to maintain a healthy vegetarian gluten-free diet? I haven't eaten meat in almost seven years (I also don't drink milk & I rarely ever eat eggs) & I don't think that I'm willing to give that up for the diet if it's not possible to combine the two.

Also, are there any gluten-free cookbooks that anyone could recommend?? Thank you very much.

Edited by EmersonAilidh
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I've been a vegan for years, and have avoided gluten and yeast and corn for a number of months. I absolutely can be done. I can't say that the gluten-free has done anything noticeable for me, but I keep at it. There are a few grains like quinoa and millet and rice without gluten. Of course there are beans and nuts/seeds. I personally eat a good bit of nuts/seeds, but have started eating more grains lately.

 

I don't have a lot of time right now, but if still interested, ask again this weekend when I'll have a time to really spend on your question.

 

Michael

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I've been a vegan for years, and have avoided gluten and yeast and corn for a number of months. I absolutely can be done. I can't say that the gluten-free has done anything noticeable for me, but I keep at it. There are a few grains like quinoa and millet and rice without gluten. Of course there are beans and nuts/seeds. I personally eat a good bit of nuts/seeds, but have started eating more grains lately.

 

I don't have a lot of time right now, but if still interested, ask again this weekend when I'll have a time to really spend on your question.

 

Michael

 

Thank you! So you basically just have to avoid packaged "vegan" foods like seitan? (I'm not sure if I'm spelling that right)

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I have had stabbing pains in my abdominal area every day for years now that nothing seems to help. I had always figured that it had something to do with an emergency appendectomy that I received about seven years ago until I read about "nonspecific abdominal pain" being a symptom on Dr. Kovacevic's website & talked to another girl from the forums about it.

 

Has anyone had success with gluten-free diets? & also, is there any way to maintain a healthy vegetarian gluten-free diet? I haven't eaten meat in almost seven years (I also don't drink milk & I rarely ever eat eggs) & I don't think that I'm willing to give that up for the diet if it's not possible to combine the two.

Also, are there any gluten-free cookbooks that anyone could recommend?? Thank you very much.

 

 

We've been gluten free along with 31 other foods for almost 2yrs now. You can absolutely do the diet vegetarian. One thing I would recommend, if you have a dr. that is willing to help you, is do a basic food intolerance test. It needs to be done through a lab like Great Plains, Alletess, or U.S. Biotek. This test will check your IgG response to about 96 foods rather than the traditional IgE test that an allergist will run. The reason I say you should do this is that you may have an intolerance to a food that you will be using to substitute for your gluten. My daughter is highly intolerant to rice, eggs, oats, and coconut (among others). When we started the gluten free diet, we fed her tons of rice and she became much worse. We make pancakes and gingerbread with teff flour and it's awesome. Once you get used to the gluten free grains, they're not too bad and most of them have a lot more fiber and protein than wheat flour.

 

here are three links for my favorite blogs that I follow:

http://www.elanaspantry.com/

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/p/site-index.html

http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/

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I have had stabbing pains in my abdominal area every day for years now that nothing seems to help. I had always figured that it had something to do with an emergency appendectomy that I received about seven years ago until I read about "nonspecific abdominal pain" being a symptom on Dr. Kovacevic's website & talked to another girl from the forums about it.

 

Has anyone had success with gluten-free diets? & also, is there any way to maintain a healthy vegetarian gluten-free diet? I haven't eaten meat in almost seven years (I also don't drink milk & I rarely ever eat eggs) & I don't think that I'm willing to give that up for the diet if it's not possible to combine the two.

Also, are there any gluten-free cookbooks that anyone could recommend?? Thank you very much.

 

 

We've been gluten free along with 31 other foods for almost 2yrs now. You can absolutely do the diet vegetarian. One thing I would recommend, if you have a dr. that is willing to help you, is do a basic food intolerance test. It needs to be done through a lab like Great Plains, Alletess, or U.S. Biotek. This test will check your IgG response to about 96 foods rather than the traditional IgE test that an allergist will run. The reason I say you should do this is that you may have an intolerance to a food that you will be using to substitute for your gluten. My daughter is highly intolerant to rice, eggs, oats, and coconut (among others). When we started the gluten free diet, we fed her tons of rice and she became much worse. We make pancakes and gingerbread with teff flour and it's awesome. Once you get used to the gluten free grains, they're not too bad and most of them have a lot more fiber and protein than wheat flour.

 

here are three links for my favorite blogs that I follow:

http://www.elanaspantry.com/

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/p/site-index.html

http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/

 

Thank you so much! I'll talk to my Mom about the food intolerance test. The only foods that I know for a fact make me worse are meat & anything cherry flavored, but not cherries themselves. Those links are so helpful! Thank you again. ;)

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No problem, I'm glad I could help! You are probably reacting to the red dye in the cherry flavoring. Artificial flavorings and colorings are huge problems for a lot of sensitive people. Also, I don't know if you've tried digestive enzymes, but you may find that you can eat more foods without pain if you take the enzymes before a meal. We use Houston's brand. Trienza is a combo of all their enzymes and seems to help my daughter a little.

 

The test through U.S. Biotek is a finger prick but the other two labs require a blood draw.

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I looked up Chron's Disease on Wikipedia. I have random spurts of abdominal pains, 10-20 times a day. They last for a few minutes each but they're so debilitating that I can't move during them. I do have frequent diarrhea, but never ever blood. I don't have weight loss or growth problems. I'm 15, 5'4", & about 120 pounds. I think that's pretty normal. As far as eye problems go I used to get styes about once a week from when I was nine until about thirteen, but they went away when I would eat a large mango (vitamin D). It's always been suspected that I'm anemic but I've never actually been tested. I bruise easily, am CONSTANTLY tired no matter how much or little I sleep (although it's hard to say whether that can be chalked up to anemia or my Narcoleptic symptoms. Maybe both?) & when I got blood drawn in September (it may have been August or November. I can't remember exactly.) I could hardly make it to the car because I was falling asleep. I have always had really bad headaches, particularly in the morning but they can come all throughout the day.

 

I'm not sure if it could possibly be related at all, but I had to have an emergency appendectomy when I was eight years old. My pains started in early March & after my pediatrician told us twice that it was just a stomach virus (specifically assuring us that it was NOT appendicitis), my family pretty much told me to suck it up. By June I was throwing up twenty times a day, couldn't walk, was malnourished/dehydrated, & had lost thirty pounds. While my Mom was away in New York for business & my stepdad was at work my Grandma took me to the hospital where they found that my appendix had been ruptured for weeks. I was operated on & admitted for about a week.

I don't exactly know when these stomach pains started, but it was at least a year after the appendectomy. They feel absolutely nothing like the appendicitis or any of the recovery pains. I've had an "upper GI" test but it was so long ago that I honestly can't remember what it was for, specifically. All I remember was that it came back inconclusive. I just included that anecdote to ask if that possibly could have had anything to do with the onset of Chron's?? I don't know why/how the appendectomy would be related to my stomach pains, but I always feel the need to include it when talking about them just in case. The pains aren't even really near my scar, but like I said. Just felt the need to include that.

 

[added a few minutes later. That's why it says I edited it.] I've also never had any problems with sores. What kind of doctor would I go to to get tested??

Edited by EmersonAilidh
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I've been a vegan for years, and have avoided gluten and yeast and corn for a number of months. I absolutely can be done. I can't say that the gluten-free has done anything noticeable for me, but I keep at it. There are a few grains like quinoa and millet and rice without gluten. Of course there are beans and nuts/seeds. I personally eat a good bit of nuts/seeds, but have started eating more grains lately.

 

I don't have a lot of time right now, but if still interested, ask again this weekend when I'll have a time to really spend on your question.

 

Michael

 

Thank you! So you basically just have to avoid packaged "vegan" foods like seitan? (I'm not sure if I'm spelling that right)

 

Well, if you're going to go seriously/strictly gluten free, bear in mind, gluten is probably hidden in lots of packaged foods, whether made for vegans or not, so the solution there is just avoiding packaged foods or reading labels really carefully. Not sure how gluten-free people handle restaurants, how much is hidden there. I've been strictly gluten-free at home, and avoided obvious gluten sources in restaurants, but haven't worried about little bits in restaurants.

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I've been a vegan for years, and have avoided gluten and yeast and corn for a number of months. I absolutely can be done. I can't say that the gluten-free has done anything noticeable for me, but I keep at it. There are a few grains like quinoa and millet and rice without gluten. Of course there are beans and nuts/seeds. I personally eat a good bit of nuts/seeds, but have started eating more grains lately.

 

I don't have a lot of time right now, but if still interested, ask again this weekend when I'll have a time to really spend on your question.

 

Michael

 

Thank you! So you basically just have to avoid packaged "vegan" foods like seitan? (I'm not sure if I'm spelling that right)

 

Well, if you're going to go seriously/strictly gluten free, bear in mind, gluten is probably hidden in lots of packaged foods, whether made for vegans or not, so the solution there is just avoiding packaged foods or reading labels really carefully. Not sure how gluten-free people handle restaurants, how much is hidden there. I've been strictly gluten-free at home, and avoided obvious gluten sources in restaurants, but haven't worried about little bits in restaurants.

 

That makes sense. Thank you! :blink:

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Have you considered the possibility that you might be lactose intolerant? I had diarrhea (non bloody) multiple times a day for years until I realized I was lactose intolerant (and there is lactose/dairy in many things, including bread, that you might not suspect). Now I take lactaid pills (available from the drugstore, over the counter) whenever I suspect dairy or lactose and I have diarrhea only a couple of times a year, when I misjudge. Definitely worth investigating -- since you can test yourself with a simple drugstore purchase.

 

Also, hypothyroidism can present with constant and chronic fatigue as your only symptom. It did for me. You migth ask to get your thyroid tested-- you want to have TSH, free T3 and free T4 tested, as some people can have normal TSH but still be hypothyroid (and that's what the T3 and T4 will show).

 

Make them tell you your results, not just normal or abnormal. A lot of family doctors think any TSH above a 4.0 is fine, but most patients (and some specialists) will disagree. I always fee lousy unless my TSH is 2.0 or below -- and that's true for a lot of other people.

 

Hope this helps!

 

-- Lfran

 

 

I looked up Chron's Disease on Wikipedia. I have random spurts of abdominal pains, 10-20 times a day. They last for a few minutes each but they're so debilitating that I can't move during them. I do have frequent diarrhea, but never ever blood. I don't have weight loss or growth problems. I'm 15, 5'4", & about 120 pounds. I think that's pretty normal. As far as eye problems go I used to get styes about once a week from when I was nine until about thirteen, but they went away when I would eat a large mango (vitamin D). It's always been suspected that I'm anemic but I've never actually been tested. I bruise easily, am CONSTANTLY tired no matter how much or little I sleep (although it's hard to say whether that can be chalked up to anemia or my Narcoleptic symptoms. Maybe both?) & when I got blood drawn in September (it may have been August or November. I can't remember exactly.) I could hardly make it to the car because I was falling asleep. I have always had really bad headaches, particularly in the morning but they can come all throughout the day.

 

I'm not sure if it could possibly be related at all, but I had to have an emergency appendectomy when I was eight years old. My pains started in early March & after my pediatrician told us twice that it was just a stomach virus (specifically assuring us that it was NOT appendicitis), my family pretty much told me to suck it up. By June I was throwing up twenty times a day, couldn't walk, was malnourished/dehydrated, & had lost thirty pounds. While my Mom was away in New York for business & my stepdad was at work my Grandma took me to the hospital where they found that my appendix had been ruptured for weeks. I was operated on & admitted for about a week.

I don't exactly know when these stomach pains started, but it was at least a year after the appendectomy. They feel absolutely nothing like the appendicitis or any of the recovery pains. I've had an "upper GI" test but it was so long ago that I honestly can't remember what it was for, specifically. All I remember was that it came back inconclusive. I just included that anecdote to ask if that possibly could have had anything to do with the onset of Chron's?? I don't know why/how the appendectomy would be related to my stomach pains, but I always feel the need to include it when talking about them just in case. The pains aren't even really near my scar, but like I said. Just felt the need to include that.

 

[added a few minutes later. That's why it says I edited it.] I've also never had any problems with sores. What kind of doctor would I go to to get tested??

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It sounds like you need to see a gastroenterologist. Do you have a dr. that is willing to listen to you and help run some tests? My dd has autism so we work with a DAN! dr that runs all the tests that our mainstream pediatrician will not run. An upper g.i. most likely didn't get to the area you are having trouble with if the pain is much lower down. If you google the names Dr. Krigsman or Dr. Bui, you should be able to get some good info on Crohn's and other g.i. disorders. Also, you can join a yahoo group named Thoughtful House. If you go on there and explain some of your symptoms, some members should be able to help you. You definitely don't want to be living in pain like this! I'm sorry you're going through so much.

-Amber

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It sounds like you need to see a gastroenterologist. Do you have a dr. that is willing to listen to you and help run some tests? My dd has autism so we work with a DAN! dr that runs all the tests that our mainstream pediatrician will not run. An upper g.i. most likely didn't get to the area you are having trouble with if the pain is much lower down. If you google the names Dr. Krigsman or Dr. Bui, you should be able to get some good info on Crohn's and other g.i. disorders. Also, you can join a yahoo group named Thoughtful House. If you go on there and explain some of your symptoms, some members should be able to help you. You definitely don't want to be living in pain like this! I'm sorry you're going through so much.

-Amber

 

Don't be sorry! One day it'll stop. ^_^

I have seen Thoughtful House but I was never too sure about joining because it seemed mostly about Autism & I've never really identified as Autistic even with the P.A.N.D.A.S.

We have yet to find a good doctor out here! In all honesty I didn't even think that there were doctors who diagnosed & treated P.A.N.D.A.S. in Texas. The only one I knew of was Dr. Kovacevic. When I started experiencing it five years ago I went to a neurologist & just haven't seen a new one since, even though he is doubtful of the existence of P.A.N.D.A.S. I've always just figured that it was more convenient since he had seen me since day one. With the particular exacerbation that I'm going through now I AM pursuing P.A.N.D.A.S. neurologists for the first time & hope to make an appointment soon. I've never had any treatment besides pharmaceuticals, & I'm hopeful that that will change soon. :)

This forum gave me so much hope. When I was ten years old no one knew what P.A.N.D.A.S. was. Seeing everyone here helping eachother & working for progress is so amazing to me. I am so glad that I found this.

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Have you considered the possibility that you might be lactose intolerant? I had diarrhea (non bloody) multiple times a day for years until I realized I was lactose intolerant (and there is lactose/dairy in many things, including bread, that you might not suspect). Now I take lactaid pills (available from the drugstore, over the counter) whenever I suspect dairy or lactose and I have diarrhea only a couple of times a year, when I misjudge. Definitely worth investigating -- since you can test yourself with a simple drugstore purchase.

 

Also, hypothyroidism can present with constant and chronic fatigue as your only symptom. It did for me. You migth ask to get your thyroid tested-- you want to have TSH, free T3 and free T4 tested, as some people can have normal TSH but still be hypothyroid (and that's what the T3 and T4 will show).

 

Make them tell you your results, not just normal or abnormal. A lot of family doctors think any TSH above a 4.0 is fine, but most patients (and some specialists) will disagree. I always fee lousy unless my TSH is 2.0 or below -- and that's true for a lot of other people.

 

Hope this helps!

 

-- Lfran

 

I'm fairly confident that I'm not lactose intolerant. I was totally vegan for about six months two years ago & it did nothing for the pain. Nowadays I only eat cheese as far as dairy products go anyway, & that's not often.

I'm also fairly confident that the fatigue isn't related to my thyroid. My neurologist was stuck on "IT'S YOUR THYROID!" for quite a while, & two sets of extensive bloodwork in the past nine months have come back completely & totally normal.

 

Right now our main guess is really that it's either anemia (which we're almost certain I have) or just my Narcolepsy symptoms, since the fatigue came on so suddenly. Thank you for your advice! ^_^

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