Celiac disease and sleeve surgery

[JennsinCA 85]

Just wondering if anyone else has celiac disease and is having, or has had the gastric sleeve. My surgery date is Nov. 19th and I am just curious to hear other people experiences

[Becca R. 59]

@@JennsinCA -- Hey there! Yup. Diagnosed celiac here. I'm having the sleeve instead of bypass to make sure that they can still do endoscopies to check on things, as necessary. I've heard that the surgery can really increase your reactions to anything you might be sensitive or allergic to (whether that's gluten or lactose), so I'm a bit nervous in that regard, but hopeful that I can just keep doing what I'm doing. I'm having surgery on the 14th, so we'll be just a few days apart from each other.

[JennsinCA 85]

@"Becca R." Hello Becca, very nice to meet you. I would love to stay in touch with you since our surgery dates are so close and we both are celiacs. I almost feel we have an advantage because of celiac. We have already had to permanently give up Cookies, cakes, bread, and Pasta and we are not crazy enough to cheat because for us cheating doesn't mean just gaining weight it also means suffering horrible allergic reactions. Becca are you doing the 2 week liquid diet?

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

There is a really interesting article in the recent New Yorker magazine about gluten-free food. I don't have celiacs but my sister does so I am interested. One thing it pointed out (that you probably already know) is that a lot of the gluten-free replacements are very processed and high in carbs. The lesson for me is that for all foods is that even if it seems "healthy" you have to read labels.

[Becca R. 59]

@@JennsinCA --Hi! It's nice to meet you, too.

I agree that we have an advantage. Saying "no" is already something we do constantly. And like the above poster pointed out, we have long since learned that "Gluten Free" does not mean healthy AT ALL. My two week diet has me on 2 Protein shakes/day and a low-carb/high Protein dinner for the first week, and then Clear liquids for the week leading up to surgery. How about you?

[JennsinCA 85]

My 2 week diet started today. I can have Protein Shakes, sugar free liquids, broth, 2 cups of diluted juice, and 1 cup of fat free milk. It says I can have oatmeal and cream of wheat but those are big no no's to a celiac. Ohhh I almost made a Big mistake this morning one of the Protein powders I bought contains wheat! It is the same brand as all my other powders and looks just like my other powders just a different flavor! I didn't even think about reading the lable in the store but I always read before I consume. That could have been disastrous. Another thing I am noticing is a lot of Soups have wheat, and even some of the sugar free Popsicles they said I can have are out because they either contain wheat or malt.

[composed 26]

How have you coeliacs found things over time. Any difference from before? Any more intolerance? Any special difficulties in post op healing?

Sent from my SM-A500FU using the BariatricPal App

[higher 966]

Hey guys, just want to bump this thread and see if any celiacs are still posting.

I never in my life thought I had celiac, and never paid attention to what it even was but my GI doctor did a biopsy during the required pre-op endoscopy for my sleeve and the biopsy showed celiac. He then ordered a blood test which also showed celiac. He referred to it as "full-blown, real deal, high level celiac" when I expressed my doubts.

I'm going to meet with him and his nutritionist in a couple of weeks to discuss my new mandated gluten-free lifestyle, but in the meantime I'm curious to hear from other celiacs who have the sleeve.

- Did you know you had celiac before you started to look into the sleeve, or were you diagnosed as part of the process like I was?

- Re: diet, a high Protein, low carb diet is very celiac friendly so I'm not super concerned about my celiac diet and my bariatric diet conflicting but my GI doc tells me gluten pops up in strange places. Anyone run into any sneaky gluten on their post op diets?

- And in general, what has been your experience since your celiac diagnosis? Do you feel relief from any symptoms? Is life harder or easier? Less fatigue?

I'm still learning as I go and would love to hear from other celiacs.