Hi folks - recently I have been feeling bloated and tummy problems plus change in bowel habits (more loose) excuse the graphics and sore heads etc - at 50 years of age and having MS I was wondering is my diet going to have to change or what tests can be done to see if I’m intolerant to gluten or whatever - any advice would be gratefully received - I’m going to visit my GP in the next few days (if i can get an appointment)
Thanks
Stephen
I’d wait until you’ve seen your GP before making any dietary changes. Your GP will know what questions to ask and which tests to do to determine what’s wrong. Don’t go gluten free for the sake of it. There’s no benefit for most people. The same applies to going lactose free, or any other intolerance change for that matter.
I agree with Cheerful Dragon - wait until you see your GP before making changes to your diet, so that a full and proper diagnosis can be made. AV.
Hi Stephen
Definitely don’t cut out gluten if your GP is going to test you for coeliac disease. The test won’t work if you’re not currently eating food containing gluten.
Assuming you don’t have coeliac disease, you could still be referred to a dietician to see what changes you could make to your diet in order to improve your digestion.
Sue
Hi Stephen
It’s not that easy to be diagnosed for ceolaic as you have to go to the hospital to be diagnosed and have a camera up and down. If you have stomach ache after any product with flour in. It took me two years to be diagnosed ceolaic. I lost over seven and a half stone stomach very bloted and lots of diarrhoea, I also lost my job and ended up in hospital for a week.
If you go gluten-free before the tests they won’t see any problems down there, as you have to be eating normally gluten included, even after three years I still have a swollen stomach. But I haven’t had anymore problems since I have been on a gluten free diet, I miss my bread and you would be a lot poorer for it, as gluten free stuff is not cheap.
Kay
i once stopped eating bread because i was trying an MS diet.
i quite like rye bread though.
the diet was far too restrictive and the best thing i ever did was going back to normal food.
a whole food diet is wonderful, hardly any bloating, normal stools.
so try wholemeal bread and lots of greenery.
Have you had any stress lately? You could be having an episode of irritable bowel. Its quite common and can cause bloating gas and change in stool.
I paid to see a dietician in 2012 and the blood test found i was intolerant to some weird things lol. On a scale of 1 - 3 (3 being worse). gluten came up, so did bakers yeast and brewers yeast. green beans, bananas, and a host of other things.
I did do research about gluten and it can cause inflammation so i took it out as much as i could, also i was lactose as well so try not to eat dairy i drink koko milk which is fortified with b12 and D. I know if i eat anything with stuff i am intolerant too as my tum blows up lol and i am not pleasant to be around. IF i eat bread with gluten i burn for england my legs go nuts.
I have found as i get older i become more intolerant of lots of things, even had hay fever for first time since i was born this year, sneezing my head off.
you doctor might sort you out with a blood panel i must admit i found mine quite interesting as some of the things on there I used to have tummy issues but just put it down to eating too much of a good thing lol.
but taking gluten out really helped me and i dont drink anymore as when i drank i sneezed my head off, and i felt awful. one way to go tea total ha ha. when i went gluten free the water fell out of my body and i lost weight. feel tons better for it, but then it showed i had an intolerance to it.
Cheers guys - some great responses there and especially the stress one, could be a cause, found my aunt (83) dead in bed on 13th July - i was her next of kin but this has been going on before alot of this, although it has been quite a stressful time lately with work and caring for an elderly uncle in a wheelchair with parkinson’s and MS threw in for good measure. The joys.
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Gosh how upsetting to find your aunt had passed away. I would possibly think it is all down to stress but one should never just assume anything, so perhaps just visit your GP and tell them what is going on. x You sure have been put through the mill. x
Thanks guys
Went to my gp and she advised me to cut back on dairy products and try kefir cultures for probiotics and I may have IBS so need to get my gut right.
hiya redman
asda have a good selection of kefir products. tesco only have one so far that i know of. dunno about other shops.
i take probiotic tabs for one week out of 4 and drink kefir when poss. i have said for a long time that the key to understanding more about ms lies in our tummys but what do i know?! kefir is pleasant to drink so worth a try.
ellie
You could be retaining fluid as well. Altho that usually comes with swollen ankles, joints, puffy eyes. Try cutting out caffeine: decaff tea, no coffee. If you get yoghurts look for Bio live and organic, kefir do a yoghurt and a quark. Nice.
Thanks folks - kefir is ok - i take a glup of it out of the bottle everyday