How Sick Can Cc Make You?

[answerseeker]

well it happened again. I don't know if I am actually reacting to the trace gluten in gluten free foods or if I'm just not being careful enough. The first time I posted about the Betty Crocker mix making me sick and now yesterday I made myself gluten free pancakes (from a mix) and my family regular pancakes.

 

I had gurgling in the evening not too bad but today I woke up nausiated. Really feeling like I'm going to throw up. Does this sound like cc?

[flowerqueen]

I can only speak from personal experience, but I too, get the symptoms you are describing, when I have been contaminated with wheat/gluten. Sometimes though, the thing you suspect to be the culprit is not at all, and it turns out to be something else. The only sure way is to keep a food journal of everything that passes your lips and a list of symptoms after eating them.

Hope you feel better soon.

[notme]

food journal is your friend!    i have a secondary sensitivity to soy that will mimic a gluten reaction, but it doesn't last as long as a 'glutening' - headache, gas/bloating/D, fatigue, etc.  it used to fool me (and make me crazy "what did i eat i was so careful?!")  on the other hand, sometimes it's something stupid like my shampoo or using hand sanitizer, lolz or kissing the husband <yeah, i had to learn that one the hard way.  i did *not* believe that...................

[cyclinglady]

Do you have a dedicated pancake turner? Spoons, etc.?  I glutened myself twice, by not carefully scrubbing out a pot that I cooked regular macaroni and cheese in.  I think I missed scrubbing the handle.  So, now, I have a few pots, spoons, Tupperware just for my gluten eating daughter.  Even the turner is dedicated to her.   Other than mac and cheese (it's cheaper when her buddies are over), I make her "noddles" for school lunch or pancakes for breakfast -- but those are the only gluten things made in my kitchen.  If anymore episodes occur, gluten will be out completely!  

 

Since you're reacting to the pancake and cookie mix, you might have problems with Xanthan Gum.  It can be derived from soy, corn, wheat or dairy.  Probably the Betty Crocker's Xanthan gum contains soy since it's states that it contains soy ingredients including the obvious soy Lecithin.  Maybe it's an intolerance to soy.  

 

Finally, giving up the wheat means more celiac disease folks turn to rice.  Consumer Reports indicates that rice is high in arsenic.  How much rice are you consuming?

[bartfull]

When you made the regular pancakes you dumped the flour into the bowl. Even if you don't see it, when you do that, flour dust gets into the air. You breathe it in and end up swallowing some. Mom used to wear a dust mask whenever she cooked with wheat flour.

 

And although everyone is different, those symptoms sound typical of CC.

 

That being said, it's still early for you and it's possible you just "react" to nothing in particular. I know I certainly did - things like lettuce, gluten-free cottage cheese, sweet potatoes, you name it. I don't think it was the particular foods, it was just EATING. Give yourself some time to heal and it'll probably stop happening.

 

But DO use a mask when cooking with regular flour. Or better yet, make enough gluten-free pancakes for the whole family. Sure it costs more, but if it prevents you from getting sick, it's worth it.

[answerseeker]

  On 8/14/2013 at 6:48 PM, cyclinglady said:

  How much rice are you consuming?

more than I used too that's for sure. Rice chex for breakfast, sometimes white rice with tamari sauce for lunch, and rice crackers for snacks

[answerseeker]

  On 8/14/2013 at 7:41 PM, bartfull said:

 Or better yet, make enough gluten-free pancakes for the whole family. Sure it costs more, but if it prevents you from getting sick, it's worth it.

my kids tasted mine and actually preferred my gluten-free ones to theirs. they also loved the gluten-free cookies I made and when I make pizza I make gluten-free pizza and they love that too.

[AlwaysLearning]

When I get exposed to gluten via dust in the air, my sinuses seem to flare up more than my gut, feeling as if I have a sinus infection.

But I've also had a bad experience with a gluten-free pancake mix, and when I researched the one ingredient in it that I didn't know much about, I think it may have been causing it's own problems outside of a gluten reaction. Apparently, guar gum is such a concentrated fiber that it absorbs a lot more liquid than other fibers. When they use it in diet aids, they say to drink lots of water with it but the pancake mix came with no such warning.

My cross contamination reactions increase in direct correlation to the amount of gluten.

• The least amounts, found in products being sold as gluten-free but still likely to contain some parts per million, don't have symptoms per se, but I can tell and I don't buy them again. I just don't feel right for 6-12 hours or so.

• The next level up, say from a contaminated cutting board at the butcher's counter or when ordering a salad from a restaurant, may have the irritability, headache, and brain fog but only lasts two or three days.

• The next level up normally comes from full meals made at restaurants where no one knows about cross contamination and the entire kitchen is a danger zone even if my food is "gluten free". So when I suspect it is contaminated utensils and cooking surfaces that prepared multiple items, I get stomach gurgling and gas which can last up to eight hours, plus the irritability, headache, then brain fog, with about five or six days to recover completely.

• And thankfully, I have no idea how I would react if I ate something that actually contains a full-on gluten ingredient because I haven't done it since going gluten free.

If you think you're reacting to the parts-per million, many of the manufacturers who ONLY make gluten-free foods and nothing else do a much better job. I've never sensed any gluten in anything made by Glutino or Udis. But I don't trust the gluten-free foods made by any manufacturer that shares their prep space with gluten.

[tarnalberry]

  On 8/14/2013 at 7:41 PM, bartfull said:

When you made the regular pancakes you dumped the flour into the bowl. Even if you don't see it, when you do that, flour dust gets into the air. You breathe it in and end up swallowing some. Mom used to wear a dust mask whenever she cooked with wheat flour.

 

...

 

Or better yet, make enough gluten-free pancakes for the whole family. Sure it costs more, but if it prevents you from getting sick, it's worth it.

 

This.  You cooked with wheat flour; of course you got contaminated.  My family always gets gluten free pancakes.  I can do gluten free oats, so now we do oat flour pancakes, and they're awesome (and freeze well), but previously, I used Pamela's mix.

[cyclinglady]

  On 8/14/2013 at 8:30 PM, answerseeker said:

more than I used too that's for sure. Rice chex for breakfast, sometimes white rice with tamari sauce for lunch, and rice crackers for snacks

 

Besides the arsenic theory (ha!  pretty far fetched but possible....), you might be intolerant to rice.  I react mildly to it, so I just eat it every few days.  Not daily.

[dilettantesteph]

Cross contamination is enough to return me to full blown symptoms where I can't make it to the toilet in time, my back goes out, my vision blurs, I can barely get out of bed from fatigue, all my joints ache, I can't think straight, and I'm so depressed that I would kill myself if I had a gun handy.  That isn't much fun.  That's why I'm so careful.