Hi everyone, so i know that a lot of people on here have gone Gluten free.
I have started the FODMAP diet for IBS, and part of it is to eliminate Gluten and Wheat. so i have done this since last week, gradually bringing in the new foods.I have noticed i keep getting a niggly headache and feel a little lethargic. Is it possible to have withdrawal symptoms? Are wheat and Gluten like a drug!???
I need to do this for 8 weeks, then report back on my symptoms. The Dietician thinks i will feel great! Lets hope so.......

If there's a withdrawal it's from the carbohydrates in the things you're cutting, which also relates to a blood sugar drop if you're used to running on those types of things as fuel. The headaches and all else are caused by that, and your body needing the shift the enzymes it produces and how it allocates energy according to your new diet.
It will pass potentially, but that depends on what you're eating instead of those things. Can you be more specific with your dietary changes? As in from what to what are you eating?

I agree with Anonymon. It's possible it's some withdrawal effect, but it's critical to look at what you're eating instead of the foods you've eliminated. I've been dairy free and mostly gluten free for a long time, and also using the principles of FODMAPS, actually long before it was called FODMAPS (just intuitively knowing what trigger foods made me worse). I never felt any withdrawal problems, but in my experience it's also not something you just switch to and then feel wonderful in a couple of weeks. The idea is that you've got some troubles happening in the ecology of your intestines and you want to stop feeding the "bad bugs" the foods they love in order to multiply. Even when you change your diet it can take a long time for the balancing process to show a positive effect. Mark Pimentel, M.D., (a leading physician in this area of research of bacterial overgrowth) even uses antibiotics in some patients who test strongly for bacterial overgrowth and imbalance.

Thanks Anonymon and JR2.
What you say makes total sense.I am feeling better now, the headaches seem to have gone. I am sticking to the FODMAPS, i know it will take time to see an improvement, so i will keep going....
JR2, did your stool consistency improve once you cut Gluten out!??

Hi Rachael!
My digestive problems are pretty complicated, and so for me it's more like the avoidance of some foods and inclusion of others is what has been critical. So, it isn't like just removing gluten makes all the difference. In fact, even with my strict diet, I still suffer a lot. But I know how much more I suffer when I'm not strict. It's taken years of discovering what to eat and what not to eat, and actually, my safe list and harmful list changes. Everyone is so different, and diets like these help to kind of pinpoint troublesome areas for each individual. Even FODMAPS safe foods aren't necessarily safe for me.
It really just takes a lot of experimenting and keeping track of outcomes.
How are you feeling now?

Hi, I am doing okay now. Been doing the diet for 2 weeks now. I am seeing a slight improvement in symptoms. And my BM is okay. I was worried it might change my stools, but I have found taking 1/2 sachet of Movicol after lunch and 1 after eve meal helps.

Hi Rachel, I have been suffering from IBS as well and realized that controlling that is the key to get anywhere close to healing AF. I have reduced dairy and wheat significantly. I agree with Jr2 that the lack of nutrition due to this has to be made up in some way by the other things you eat. The important thing in my case has been having a well balanced meal. I cannot do just salads at a time or only rice. My plate has to have at least 70% of the entire food pyramid (of course you manage individual portions when you add to much). This balance of diet has let me get off any kind of stool softeners, laxatives etc and get routine and consistency back in my stools. Of course, once in a while there are bad days but the diet has brought a lot of predictability which has given me peace of mind! Earlier it was very stressful not knowing what to eat and what not to.

Hi Sufferer, it is great that you have managed to do it all with diet. I am hoping to do that too. I am doing well on the FODMAP now, the bloating seems to be reducing somewhat and I am seeing a small improvement. I know it will take time, but I will get there! I am definitely eating a varied amount of foods now, whereas before I was so scared to eat and poop it wasn't good! I was waisting away and looking so ill. I am slowly gaining weight now with the right foods.