Gluten free diet for Crohn's Disease?

Does anyone avoid gluten with their crohn's?
Just a thought, only I know that gluten is difficult to digest?!
Would love to hear your experiences.
Thanks
Claire.

Ive tried it before.. I was flaring really badly at the time though and struggling with meds, so not sure if it helped or not.. I think it did. I felt better to a point. Im thinking of trying it again.. Im trying to do the whole low residue thing right now, but when I start adding the veggies and fruits back, I want to avoid alot of starches and gluten if I can. If you read up on all of it, it makes sense to avoid too much, doesnt seem to be doing me any favours anyways. and they have a lot of products now that cater to that. some better than others of course.
good luck!

I don't even know what that is. Could you please explain?

I used to avoid Gluten in the past and still try too but not as much as before.I had a vega allergy test in the past that indicated i was having bad reactions to foods with gluten in them so i shopped around and bought gluten free products for a while..They where more expensive but they did give me the break i needed to rest my bowel and get back to better health at the time before i could slowly reintroduce some gluten foods back into my diet.

btcrv said:

I don't even know what that is. Could you please explain?

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a bit hard to explain, its a protein found combined with starch in some cereals, wheat, rye, and barley. some people have a hard time digensting it, and are even allergic to it (Celiac disease) I know of a few people who have been misdiagnosed with either Crohns, UC or Celiac, some of the symptoms can be a bit similar I think.

Hope that helps!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/gluten.html

I know every time I have gone into the hospital, they put me on a gluten-free diet until my gut settles down. It does help, but trying to find foods that are gluten free AND taste good is sometimes hard to do. With me, I avoid too many foods already to have to avoid the basic ingrediant in alot of foods like gluten. HOWEVER, I do avoid it when I feel like I am beginning to flare. It does seem to help.

Donna

I have never been on a gluten free diet but my sister has celiac disease which is the gluten allergy for wheat. She also has had my nephew tested for the same problem. My older sister has been told that she is gluten intolerant.

I have always wondered what happened between my parents b/c all 5 of us seem to have gut problems.

Thanks guys for your comments. I have taken myself off gluten as I was getting bloated and sluggish and feel much better for not eating it. (I don't have IBD) It's actually my daughter (8yrs) who I was thinking about as she probably has crohn's (under investigation) and I have taken her off gluten, much to her disgust!!! She seems to be less in pain for not eating it, so we'll see how it goes!
Thanks again.
Claire.

I have never attempted to avoid gluten, so I can not really say if it affected me in any way.

Are a lot of medications/pills/capsules made with gluten? I think I recall one person saying to avoid pills because they were made with gluten, but I do not know if that was what they actually said.

I have Celiac Disease as well as Crohn's so I don't eat anything with gluten. I don't know what affect it would have with someone who wasn't Celiac but from what I've read it helps. Most GF food is low in Fibre, so anyone on a low fibre diet would definately benefit. Anyone who has Gluten questions...please ask!

I started eating some organics about a month ago and I dont feel bogged down like I used to, I almost feel more energy and full of life.

While my IBD is active, either flare or full blown downturn, I'm not allowed 'fibre'. A case of not adding fuel to the fire when the digestive system is inflamed. Gluten & fibre seem to go hand in hand... For instance, I can have oatmeal, white rice, or plain white bread (as long as it isn't fortified like whole wheat).. No rye, whole wheat, barly or heavy grains... but in removing those, i.e. white rice versus brown
that gluten is removed or reduced... It isn't always the case, but is quite typical. I don't know why there's such a striking similarity between IBD & Celiac patients... But if you've got IBD, and active inflamation, reducing fibre (gluten by association) is commonly recommended. Yet you may be getting gluten in meds & supplements
without knowing it... so if you suspect you may be sensitive to gluten, looking at ALL of the things you put into your body may explain some periodic flare-ups. OK?

I agree with kev, it is often recommended to avoid fiber, but I've also met people that flare without having it. We all react differently which is why food topics is sort of a try it and see type thing.

There have been some studies recently and...

"The researchers conclude that there is a high prevalence of celiac disease in those with Crohns disease, and that all patients who are diagnosed with Crohns disease should begin a gluten-free diet at the time of diagnosis."

I heard about these studies about 3 weeks ago, and have been gluten free since. It has made all the difference in the world. I wish I had known this years ago before they took out two feet of my small intestine and one third of my large intestine. Plus I went thru the remicade treatments.
I think this is this missing link I have been looking for all these years. I have kept food diaries forever trying to figure out what sets it off and never could..it just never made sense...now it does and I am the proud owner of a flat stomach any 20 yr. old would be proud of.

i've been TRYING to stick to gluten free diet ... but that shit is hard. I can't tell from what I have tried whether or not it's really working cause i've been feeling a lot better since my humira treatment... anyway it's a tough call. Seems lots of fiber and lots of dairy gives me problems though

Dairy, especailly milk, seems to affect most of us. I do not think it is all that good for a person anyway. I can eat cheese with no problems, but never have figured out why.

Dan Bergman

They say that the harder the cheese, the lower the lactose content. i've got a list of cheeses that have next to no lactose in them... some even recommended for a person with IBD. Processed cheese slices, or cheese spreads, are hi in water and lactose. i've found and tried, with good results, hard cheeses that are low in fat N low in lactose. But, for processed cheese slices, I have to use a veggie equivalent. Or, for example, I am extremely sensitive to mozzarella, and even a low fat mozzarella hits me hard. but a soya equivalent I found that both tastes like mozza, cooks like mozza, and looks like mozza, doesn't bother me at all. I always used to think that pizza bothered me due to fat content, not so!!

If you go Gluten free, make sure all the pills and supplements you take are free of them (supplements usually state that, but I don't know about prescription meds....)

Celiac disease is hugely under diagnosed.

When random tests are done, many people who have never been diagnosed with Celiac, test positive for Gluton intolerance. I would think that most of us have been tested for this at some point in our diagnosis, but maybe not everyone.

D Bergy

Hmmm, learn something new everyday.. too bad I forget it by the next. I 'thought' that oats were low in gluten, almost gluten free.. but that one had to be carefull because their gluten could be increased from cross contamination. Like, flours high in gluten milled in the same equipment. but then again, maybe I mis-understood.

I was tested for it once and it came back negative; but even though I notice that I feel lousy when I eat too much bread. Maybe it's the yeast!

Lisa... 1 in 120... WOW, that would make it more than twice as prevalent as IBD

My math is rough, but that would mean that 250,000 Canadians have celiac disease.... can't understand why the medical community arent' shouting to heavens

I think there is something seriously wrong with the whole FDA food pyramid. I took Rowan (uc) off gluten and she is doing great this week. I have been off of it somewhat and I have hashimotos disease I am always constipated and now I poo daily maybe twice. Doesn't make any sense bc I am getting less fiber but weird all the same.

Myreinhard said:

I think there is something seriously wrong with the whole FDA food pyramid.

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i love those 'lightbulb' moments,
yes , there is something wrong with the FDA
It's an industry controlled corporate PR division aimed at feeding you sh-t