Your recovery from gluten, along with anyone else, can be different for everyone. I am told that a large percentage of folks feel better just a few days after removing gluten from their diets.
In my case, there was no doubt that I had a problem with gluten all my life. I can remember being sick from eating when I was quite young. Food made me sick and I was too little to explain it to my mother.
Yet, on the other hand, as sick as I was when I was finally diagnosed (for those who don’t know my story, I was being treated for early stages of Alzheimer disease), only three weeks or so passed before I started feeling better! But it didn’t end there. Now, nearly 5 years later, I can still feel improvement in my health.
I suffer from a mild form of ataxia. According to Jane Anderson, the About.com Celiac and Gluten Sensitivity Expert:
Gluten ataxia, an autoimmune neurological condition involving your body’s reaction to the gluten protein found in wheat, barley and rye, can irreversibly damage the part of your brain called the cerebellum, according to practitioners who first identified the condition about a decade ago.
This damage potentially can cause problems with your gait and with your gross motor skills, resulting in loss of coordination and possibly leading to significant, progressive disability in some cases.
So how long will it take to recover from gluten? Someone with a recent problem with gluten or with milder symptoms than my own, may recover much quicker and feel better within days.
Jane goes on to share:
You may feel constantly hungry during the first several weeks you’re gluten-free, and you may want to eat all the time. This is completely normal — it’s your body’s way of trying to make up for not being able to absorb food. Your ravenous appetite should calm down eventually….
In addition, to feel better sooner, you may need to address any celiac-caused malnutrition. Lots of celiacs find they have vitamin and mineral deficiencies at diagnosis that can interfere with their well-being. Talk to your doctor about what supplements you should consider, and make sure to use only gluten-free vitamins.
Although you should start to feel a little better quickly, it takes most people who were very sick prior to diagnosis a long time — months, usually — to feel completely “normal” again. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t bounce back immediately; if you continue to see gradual improvement, you’re going in the right direction. However, if you don’t feel as if you’re making enough progress, talk to your doctor about your ongoing symptoms.
