Body Knows Best?

[MashedSpud]

Hey all. New undiagnosed member here. Rather than type a big intro straight away I thought I'd ask one question first off:

 

Before you knew you had a gluten sensitivity, did your body start trying to tell you it was bad for you, without you really knowing why?

For example, I used to eat fresh and toasted sandwiches for lunch pretty much every day. Usually healthy stuff like tuna, asparagus, egg, etc. Then one day I made a sandwich and straight after the first bite I felt sick. And that reaction has gradually increased over the years with gluten products, to the point I started suspecting gluten intolerance a few weeks ago.

 

Can anyone relate?

[1desperateladysaved]

I think my body was too over-whelmed to warn me at least toward the end.  It sure is good at it now!  Before biting into something one day, I felt cramps in my tummy.  Boy, did I wish I had heeded the warning.  It took 3 days to recover.  The next time I felt cramps, I stopped eating.

 

I do remember an amazing bloat long ago after baking and eating my homemade bread.  I thought it could be a healthy response.  OOPS  Oh, then there was pizza.  I bloated 9 inches overnight and gained 9 lbs!  I blamed it on the cheese.  I guess I did have some warnings, but I had total brain wash.  I thought grain a panacea of good health.  A valuable source of vitamin B which I seemed to need an incredible amount of.  In hindsight, the body is amazing!

[NoGlutenCooties]

I didn't get any "I feel sick" warnings... but I never liked bread.  I would eat an occassional bagel, but they made me tired and gave me darker circles under my eyes.  I thought it was empty carbs hitting me.  But now that I know I have Celiac, I think my body was trying to tell me something.  Another example... most protein bars leave a funny aftertaste, but the Luna protein bars never did.  Turns out they're gluten-free and I didn't even know it.  So yes, I do think our bodies send out subtle messages... if we don't get the hint it starts talking louder... then yelling... then locking us in the bathroom with it until we get the picture. 

[SkyBlue4]

I used to eat a sandwich for lunch and everyday I just HAD to nap afterward. I have diabetes so I would immediately suspect a glucose spike but it was always fine when I checked. I never even suspected it was gluten causing my immediate crash. It felt like someone slipped me a sleeping pill. 

[sweetsailing]

Yes, I think the body does know more than we do...the trick is to be listening.  I unfortunately wasn't listening, not sure I was even in the same room LOL!

 

After my first inpatient stay with abdominal pain, they sent me home on a low fiber diet (eat lots of white bread they said - oh, if I only knew then what I know now).  The first thing I tried to eat when I got home was a plain bagel.  It took me an hour to choke down that bagel, the whole time I was telling myself, "I need to eat something", "I need good food to get over this", etc.  Had I listened to my what my body was trying to tell me...I should have just put the bagel down. 

[MashedSpud]

Thanks everyone. It just seemed strange how I would feel sick almost instantly. As I have suffered depression and anxiety for years I first thought it had to do with those getting worse. But now I look back and see that even beloved pizzas slowly disappeared from my personal menu without me realizing, lol.

 

Anyway as I said I'm undiagnosed. But I went gluten free a little over a week ago and had amazing relief from some symptoms within 24 hours. When I get time I'll post more about my "journey".

[MashedSpud]

I need to talk about this again (and maybe rant). First I should say that I'm a 43yo male, undiagnosed, and due to other issues am living at my parents. I've been gluten free for a month now and during that time have been progressively getting better. I'd still occasionally have crap times so a few days ago I began getting more serious about CC - wiping down the benches whenever someone else used the kitchen, using my own tea towel, washing pots and utensils before use, etc. I was sure this was helping reduce the craptime:goodtime ratio. But my main reason for being so careful is I want to be 100% gluten-free so when I do a gluten challenge I will definitely know what's going on. I've explained this to mum, though it's just a waste of breath.

 

Anyway the other night mum came home from work and said one of her co-workers is "full blown" celiac and she can eat bread occasionally without problems. And that I was being stupid and didn't have to be as careful as I was. I explained that if this lady was trully celiac eating just a small amount of gluten could be hurting her body whether she felt ok or not. Of course I was wrong, so yesterday I printed out some info about dealing with CC and gave it to mum. Nup. It's still rediculous apparently. Us gluten warriors are just paranoid it would seem Enough of that for now. Too depressing.

 

So yesterday I decided to make nachos. I know what ingredients are ok and I've made them a few times since going gluten-free and usually gobble them down like mad - a sort of goto food. But after the convo with mum started thinking I am...actually I don't know what I was thinking. I didn't wash the baking dish first, didn't wash the saucepan I used, dried utensils with the peasants tea towel, didn't wash my chopping board in case someone had used it. Basically I gave the middle finger to what I now call the Gluten Ghost (hidden contaminants). The result isn't good. After a small bowl of nachos I had stomach ache within an hour. It didn't go away and I ended up going to bed without dinner. Then I woke up at 1:15am with cramps and had to run to the toilet. Nocturnal diarrhea was my main symptom and I haven't had it since going gluten-free, until now. It's now 2 hours later. I feel horrible, bloated and can't sleep, heartburn is back, neck pain, throbbing under ribs. Damn.

 

But what I'm interested in is how I felt WHILE eating the nachos. From the second bite I started getting the feeling like I used to with sandwiches. As I ate it got progressively harder to have another mouthful. It's like I have to force myself to eat more and more with every mouthful. I got through it, but the last mouthful took 10 minutes to chew and finally swallow. It's like my stomach was trying to tell me it didn't want that poison to reach it. Seriously, can this happen? Is it possible for the body to react this way so fast? Is this more common with celiac or NCGI, or doesn't it matter? I really want to know because if this is some sort of instant reaction to gluten then I now know what it feels like and can make sure I'm in running distance to a toilet whenever I feel this way.

[GFinDC]

*** Warning, some humor, some truth ahead.

 

Maybe they will invent portable terlets someday.  Make your life a little easier!   Kidding!

 

I haven't had your exact feelings, but something similar I think.  I used to have trouble swallowing food, and would have to wash it down with water.  Sometimes it would come back up, shall we say, explosively, and migrate to the nearest inanimate object in a hurry.  Splat!  Yucko!    Eventually that stopped happening.  I don't miss that one bit.  I think some of it was trapped gas in the stomach, making it hard to swallow.  And some of it may have been nerve damage, due to vitamin deficiencies.  But I don't know for sure, just guessing on that.  It's kinda discouraging to spend all that time cooking something and then not be able to eat it.  Ah well, days of joys gone by.

 

After you teach yourself about being careful a few more times (screw-up in other words), it will get to be more of a habit to be aware of things.  That doesn't mean you will never make mistakes, just fewer of them.  Imagine though how long it takes for someone who doesn't have celiac disease to learn the same level of awareness?  It may never happen, without the positive (?) reinforcement of symptoms/reactions.  So, don't expect a whole lot pf progress on the parental side soon.  If you are making mistakes, you can imagine they will make more.

 

Otherwise having celiac is just one big happy boat load of fun, as we sometimes don't ever say around here.   It gets better, but a little paranoia about gluten cc at the beginning is not a bad thing IMHO.  Helps to keep the mind focused on the issue ya know.  Instead of girls.

 

 

 

[MashedSpud]

I don't really see it as paranoia. Rather I'm just being smart. But the reason I want to know if others have an instant reaction to gluten is if it's not common then it could be a psychological thing. But to be able to tell practically instantly that I've been glutened would make it much easier to recognize the culprit food. Good for a disorganised person like me who hates diaries and stuff.