Question
I've been on a gluten-free diet for a year. Does that mean that the "fingers" in my small intestine are back to normal? I still have problems with eating too much fiber at one time, causing looser and somewhat urgent bowel movements the next morning.
Answer
For patients who have a diagnosis of celiac disease, the small intestine will typically heal once exposure to gluten is eliminated. This means that the "fingers" of the intestine, which are known as villi, do often grow back.
Fiber can make bowel movements somewhat looser and can even cause some urgency, but this is often an intended result of a high-fiber diet and is not necessarily a bad thing.
However if bowel movements are too loose, become watery diarrhea, or lead to severe fecal urgency, then this could be a sign of another problem and should be evaluated.