I've had gastro/intestinal problems for many years and thought I had found the answer by going gluten free and lactose free. My historic symptoms (IBS according to GPs) of stomach pain, diarrhoea/mucus, severe gas, low energy, either disappeared or were greatly reduced. I didn't test for coeliac as I was reluctant to restart gluten for the necessary 6 weeks or so, with all the discomfort that would have meant.
But after 8 months of what seemed to have been a really successful diet which seemed to prove that my problem was gluten intolerance if not coeliac, all the original symptoms have come back over the last couple of weeks. I'm at a loss to understand this. I've always been pretty careful in checking everything I eat for GF, but say something had sneaked through - in a restaurant for example even if the meal was ostensibly GF, through maybe cross-contamination - how long would the effects of that diet lapse last? Could that still be causing problems a week or two later? It seems unlikely to me, but can anyone help on this? Has anyone had a similar experience? Will much appreciate any assistance.
Hi,
are these recent symtoms intermittent, as though an effect of eating something suspect or constantly there?
similarly to yourself I have recently omitted gluten / wheat / most lactose from my diet and have observed incredible positive changes to my health. I was hoping these changes would be permanent!
Hi,
I'm no expert and I'm really new to all this but thought I'd make a suggestion. I read that there have been studies showing corn has a protein in it that's similar to gluten and can cause the same/similar antibody response in people with coeliacs. I don't know much about this and whether the redearch is any good but since reading this I've wondered about 2 incidents where I thought I'd accidentaly ate gluten but couldn't find the source- both times I had ate corn. It's maybe worth looking at.
Hopefully you can get to the bottom of it.
Many thanks for response. I don't think corn is an issue for me, but I do know that oats is, (even the gluten free variety), for the same reasons you give. Oats have similar protein to gluten. Maybe that may be a factor for you?
The symptoms are intermittent in the sense that some days are o.k. and others aren't, and because of this I don't feel so relaxed anymore that I've got a grip of the problem, or can go out and about with the confidence I had. I haven't been able to pinpoint any particular dietary reason for the breakdown but I still think I am better off overall sticking to GF and LF.
I was a good bit worse before. So onward and upward.
I think you can be optimistic - good luck with your efforts.
I have been keeping an eye on oats for this reason as I do eat them quite a lot. So far, I don't think they do affect me.
I also read that that wheat is used in the clarification of wine and can be a problem for coelicas. Although it's technically removed after the clarification, it can still contain trace amounts. I think I'd rather cut out oats that wine 
Hear hear to that. It would be bad news for me to have to cut out wine.
As well as corn possibly being a problem, rice also can be. And buckwheat. It's trial and error. Sometimes a little is ok. Everyone is different. Another thing that can help is to keep carbs and proteins 'separate'. Especially eggs and flour.