Thought I’d figured it out - gluten free

[tempresistance]

I was diagnosed with IBS 15 years ago which has steadily got worse over the years to the point I’m in pain every day. I suspected gluten and had a blood test for coeliacs which was negative however my gp advised trying gluten free for a while to see what happened. I ignored this a long time but recently gave it a proper go. After just over a week gluten free I felt amazing! No pain, no bloating normal bowel movements however last night after another gluten free meal I had another ‘attack’ pain, diarrhoea and bloating with hangover type feelings today. I feel back to square one 😔 could I be wrong and it not gluten at all or can this happen?

[sleepismysuperpower1]

have you been tested for a milk allergy? could you try continuing your gluten free diet, but also subbing out milk for milk substitutes?

[CMOTDibbler]

What did you eat?

[Surfskatefamily]

Hi also a long term ibs sufferer. I did the no gluten for a bit but doing great on a low fodmap diet. Aka IBS diet.

If you Google it you can find printable lista/charts of food low fodmap or avoid. Whichever way you'll find it easiest.

It's pretty much low gluten, low dairy and cuts out some random trigger foods like onion garlic and apples (which made me sad as I love apples)

[jenthelibrarian]

I found my IBS culprits, wheat and cow-milk cheese [I'm OK with semi-skimmed milk and low amounts of other dairy] with an exclusion diet, which is slightly less draconian than the Fodmaps and might be a good start.
Good luck with getting sorted

[tempresistance]

I’ve considered diary before but I’ve had it all week and been ok until last night.

CMOTDibbler

I had a meatball wrap, all gluten free and home made fries

Back to the drawing board I think

[sleepismysuperpower1]

cramps and diarrhea are symptoms of a dairy intollerance that take longer to develop, so it may be that whilst your body was getting used to a gluten free diet, it found that the dairy was irritating it too (if that makes sense, i'm not a doctor!)

[StarryNightWithGrazingDeer]

Maybe worth checking the ingredients in the wrap, not for gluten but for things like chickpea flour, lentil flour, guar/xantham gum which can be problematic for people with IBS due to Fodmaps.

So maybe look into the Low Fodmap diet, find out some common high fodmap foods and see if any of them were in the wrap. Onions/garlic is a really common thing to irritate people. They are high in fructans (one of the fodmaps). Wheat is also high in fractals, so going gluten-free would have taken wheat fructans out of your diet only for other sources of frusta so to get to you. As well as onions/garlic, tomato paste or very reduced tomato sauces are high in fructans so it could be that if the meatball wrap had an Italian tomato sauce or onions/garlic in the meatballs themselves.

As PP say it could also be the dairy- I felt great when first in gluten free but a few weeks in dairy reared it’s head.