Stomach pains after bread, pasta

healthieramanda

Hi all,

After not having as many bread/pasta in general (of course not cutting them out completely of course) I have been finding myself with excruciating stomach pains after a slice of bread or pasta. Strangely enough, if I ignore the stomach pains and have say a slice of bread every day for a week, the stomach pains disappear. I haven't tried the same with pasta because the pain was too extreme after having pasta and lasted most of the day.

So my question is, has anyone else found this? It's very unlikely I have celiacs (negative antibody result) so I'm wondering whether I have some kind of wheat intolerance? Does your body react like this after not having bread/pasta as much? Is this normal?

Also - I have an appointment booked for a gastroenterologist as my Dr doesn't think this is normal. But I'm just wanting to know in general whether anyone has experienced this and whether you found it was temporary due to cutting out bread and pasta.

SLambertAlaska

I'm no medical expert, but I once had a student with celiacs and he could not eat wheat products. You might want to research it.

shadowfx

Same thing happens to me if I eat it on an empty stomach - power gutcramps for ages afterwards and indigestion like crazy. Try to avoid having it for that reason alone. I've not been diagnosed with coeliacs or gluten/wheat intolerance, but I know from a coeliac friend that you either are or arent, there are no half measures.

Maybe your bod is just telling you "enough with the processed stuff"?

questionablemethods

If I had stomach pains after eating certain foods, I wouldn't eat them -- regardless of what a medical test told me. It could also be that you have a wheat allergy or intolerance that isn't celiac.

healthieramanda

After a neagtive antibody result for celiacs I've been told there is a tiny tiny slim chance I could still have it, but I'm thinking very unlikely. Worst part is that I am lactose intolerant so cutting out wheat/gluten as well as lactose really limits my food choices. I just have to listen to my body.

I'd actually been going very well with my diet (over 8 weeks and going strong) when due to lack of money I started to go through food still in the pantry/freezer instead of buying more fresh stuff. Included pasta and bread, so for the first time in 2 months I was having pasta (avoided it completely due to the high caloric value and inability to satisfy my hunger) and bread.

I must say it is great for weightloss - fruit, veggies and fresh meat!

questionablemethods

After a neagtive antibody result for celiacs I've been told there is a tiny tiny slim chance I could still have it, but I'm thinking very unlikely. Worst part is that I am lactose intolerant so cutting out wheat/gluten as well as lactose really limits my food choices. I just have to listen to my body.

I'd actually been going very well with my diet (over 8 weeks and going strong) when due to lack of money I started to go through food still in the pantry/freezer instead of buying more fresh stuff. Included pasta and bread, so for the first time in 2 months I was having pasta (avoided it completely due to the high caloric value and inability to satisfy my hunger) and bread.

I must say it is great for weightloss - fruit, veggies and fresh meat!

Nora Gedgaudas has quite a bit to say about gluten, especially the problems with diagnosing celiac:

Although there are numerous methods for assessing gluten sensitivity and/or celiac disease, most are unfortunately somewhat unreliable in their accuracy (including the so-called “gold standard” approach of intestinal biopsy), which may be partly why so few are properly diagnosed even when testing is sought out. With respect to blood and salivary testing, out of 12 different sub-fractions of gliadin, for instance, typically only one—alpha-gliadin—is ever tested for. If you happen to have a sensitivity for any of the eleven other forms of gliadin it might not ever show. False negatives are a notorious part of this type of testing, unfortunately.

Her write up on the subject is pretty extensive, so you can read more here: http://www.primalbody-primalmind.com/?p=805

I don't have a full understanding behind the science of testing or know how accurate she is, but I just figured I would point you there since, at least according to her, it might actually still be fairly likely that you got a false negative.

healthieramanda

If I had stomach pains after eating certain foods, I wouldn't eat them -- regardless of what a medical test told me. It could also be that you have a wheat allergy or intolerance that isn't celiac.

I completely agree with you. As I've never cut out wheat products like this before, I thought that there might be a possibility that everyone reacts to cutting out wheat products and then reintroducing them. Apparently the Dr I am seeing will be able to confirm/deny celiacs and even find out if i wheat intolerance through tests.

questionablemethods

If I had stomach pains after eating certain foods, I wouldn't eat them -- regardless of what a medical test told me. It could also be that you have a wheat allergy or intolerance that isn't celiac.

I completely agree with you. As I've never cut out wheat products like this before, I thought that there might be a possibility that everyone reacts to cutting out wheat products and then reintroducing them. Apparently the Dr I am seeing will be able to confirm/deny celiacs and even find out if i wheat intolerance through tests.

Yeah. If you read around on "paleo/primal" websites in particular, you will find that a lot of people have very similar experiences. They never realized how much they were being effected by certain foods (most frequently gluten-containing grains and dairy) until they took them out of their diets and tried reintroducing them. It doesn't mean that you've developed intolerance just by eliminating them -- it probably means that they've always bothered you (maybe not as severely) and you are just now putting it together.

gramon29

I've have the same issue. I too am lactose intolerant but can handle a small glass daily. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE bread and pasta but since I started changing my eating habits over 6 months ago, I've noticed recently that I cannot tolerate breads and pastas as much. I get hearburn very easily and I feel like I have a constant stomach ache. No fun. I don't want to live off of meat and veggies only and I've gone a few days completely without carbs and it does help but I just have a very hard time giving them up. I feel the urge to binge on them if I give them up for more than 3 days. So, my solution - I just deal with the discomfort. I hasn't affected my weightloss.

I have the same heartburn problem with chocolates and tomato sauce. My favorite indulgence before was brownies and now I literaly cannot stand the site of them they give me such terrible, terrible heartburn.

healthieramanda

If I had stomach pains after eating certain foods, I wouldn't eat them -- regardless of what a medical test told me. It could also be that you have a wheat allergy or intolerance that isn't celiac.

I completely agree with you. As I've never cut out wheat products like this before, I thought that there might be a possibility that everyone reacts to cutting out wheat products and then reintroducing them. Apparently the Dr I am seeing will be able to confirm/deny celiacs and even find out if i wheat intolerance through tests.

Yeah. If you read around on "paleo/primal" websites in particular, you will find that a lot of people have very similar experiences. They never realized how much they were being effected by certain foods (most frequently gluten-containing grains and dairy) until they took them out of their diets and tried reintroducing them. It doesn't mean that you've developed intolerance just by eliminating them -- it probably means that they've always bothered you (maybe not as severely) and you are just now putting it together.

I am probably about half way through that link you sent me, what an amazing read! I can at least say i am going to be educated when I see my gastroenterologist.

What I have read through other websites is that people who are wheat sensitive can develop a tolerance over the span of their entire life and when they turn to low-carb diets then reintroduce wheat products they find they have an intolerance to wheat and it is near impossible to build up the same tolerance they once had earlier.

Thanks so much for your input you have been very helpful

jomar75

I too have stomach pain and heartburn after breads. I seem to do ok with tortillas and flatbreads so I'm thinking mine may be more of a yeast intolerance. I tested negative for celiac but my doctor said it does only test for a certain aspect of wheat and that it was obvious by the improvement in my health when not consuming it that I definitely have some type of intolerence. I was also not able to lose weight while consuming it and after eliminating it I started to lose.

iamzakaria

I'm not sure about just after eating, but when my anxiety is high I get a horrible, crippling pain in my solar plexus- it spread to my chest, my neck, my arms, my face.. my entire upper body. sometimes it's so bad that I just curl in a ball and cry. I've found the muscle relaxers help and if i don't have any meds (like right now- no insurance) a couple shots of vodka make the pain go away or lessen. So I'm guessing it's because the muscles are getting so tight that it's becoming painful- for me anyway. stress has also been known to cause indigestion though.

the source : http://www.stomachpainafter-eating.com/

Jerseyside

I'm seeing a few people referring to breads as a potential problem. I just want to point out that bread usually contains other common allergens, like egg and soy in addition to wheat. Either of those can cause same belly ache symptoms. If you are okay with tortilla wraps then check if they contain soy or egg. See what happens when you try eliminating one off those.
I'm no expert. This is just my personal experience.
(soy is in almost everything...VERY difficult to eliminate from your diet)

kristinabutler520

For many years i have wondered if there is a correlation between becoming intolerant to foods and how often they are or are not eaten. A long time ago I became "allergic" to dairy after I stopped drinking milk to cut down on flem/mucus production. When I first introduced back into my diet I would have pretty bad and immediate reactions such as an itchy rash on my face. As I slowly reintroduced it, it went away.

The other reason for my post is that a couple years ago my daughter became lactose intolerant. It happened virtually overnight and we figured it out by looking at what she had been eating and eliminating dairy. She pretty much now has that under control and knows what she can and cannot eat. (Not all dairy has the same effect.)

Recently- within the last couple of weeks she has been experiencing stomach pain and nausea after eating some carbs such as bread and pasta. Actually, frequently she can feel it before she is even done, so it is almost immediate. It seemed obvious it was wheat related. However she then had the same stomach pain after eating apples and rice. She has discovered though if she limits herself to only about a half of an apple she is ok. I found an article on livestrong.com that talked about an intolerance to fructose and the ratio of fructose and glucose in foods. It also stated that people who are lactose intolerant are more likely to be fructose intolerant as well. I'm still trying to do research on this but it is slow going.

WanderingLass

Worst part is that I am lactose intolerant

Most celiacs are also lactose intolerant. Celiac sprue runs in my family (and I am hoping nothing triggers it for me!!) and about 1/2 are also lactose intolerant. The two seem to run hand in hand.