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I Got Glutened By....my Own Stupidity!

tonalynn

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tonalynn Explorer
tonalynn
Posted

Ok, I get it. I can't have gluten anymore. Suspicions removed.

 

This past Friday I started not feeling very well. I haven't been eating as much since going gluten-free in October, just not as hungry or interested in food. Friday was like any other day, working at home and eating my standard fare: frozen waffles, coffee and a banana.

 

Around 4 pm I started feeling queasy. I figured it was from staring intently at the computer screen for several hours, and felt like I had been reading in a moving car. I decided to take a break and lie down. It didn't help.

 

I bit of background - I hate, hate HATE to throw up. I will avoid it at all costs. I even pass out instead of vomiting. I know I'd feel better faster if I quit fighting it and just got it over with, but I just can't, never could. It's just the worst thing ever. I'd rather have my arm cut off than throw up, that's how much I hate it.

 

I took some Nausene (gluten-free) and waited. Didn't feel better. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, I haven't been around sick people, and didn't eat anything out of the ordinary. I remembered I have Zofran, and took one, but it was too late. Not 5 minutes later I was praying to the porcelain god. It was so forceful and so painful, I think I bruised a muscle under my ribs. It was the first time I vomited in 15 years. :-(

 

That night before bed, I kept trying to figure out what happened. All of a sudden, something occurred to me and I went to the kitchen. I looked at the box of frozen waffles I always buy (Simple Truth Gluten Free waffles). There, right on the front of the box....was absolutely no indication they were gluten free. I picked up the wrong box.

 

I guess you do get more sensitive after eliminating gluten. If eating it now makes me do the one thing I absolutely can NOT stand, I'm a believer. No more gluten. It was yummy, but it's not worth throwing up over.

 

I can't believe I did it to myself! Lesson learned - pay attention in the grocery store!

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pricklypear1971 Community Regular
pricklypear1971
Posted

We've all done it.

Sorry. It sucks.

Hope you feel better soon!

kareng Grand Master
kareng
Posted

gluten happens!

When I first got diagnosed, my youngest was about 12. He decided to be the gluten police. He would grab things out of my hand if he thought they looked too much like the non gluten-free version ( like Oreos or gluten-free cookie dough ice cream ). He and his dad and brother made me some gluten-free brownies. They put butterscotch chips in them. My husband, son and I all looked at the ingredients and missed the barley malt!

smartcookie Newbie
smartcookie
Posted

Thanks for your reply. It’s my first post on here and not sure where it should go. What section should it go in?

 

 

This  is challenging.  Yes, I have done a thorough cleaning, but what is your definition of thorough cleaning? This is new to me.

 

Dust and crumbs fly everywhere so how can I keep kitchen safe?

 

Aren’t  mixing spoon, measuring spoons, measuring cups, baking pans ok if you put in dishwasher?

GF Lover Rising Star
GF Lover
Posted

Thanks for your reply. It’s my first post on here and not sure where it should go. What section should it go in?

 

 

This  is challenging.  Yes, I have done a thorough cleaning, but what is your definition of thorough cleaning? This is new to me.

 

Dust and crumbs fly everywhere so how can I keep kitchen safe?

 

Aren’t  mixing spoon, measuring spoons, measuring cups, baking pans ok if you put in dishwasher?

 

SmartCookie,  I started your post as a New Topic.  It can be found here:

 

https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/105828-making-gluten-free-cookies-in-a-gluten-kitchen/?hl=kitchen

 

Thanks, Colleen

NoGlutenCooties Contributor
NoGlutenCooties
Posted

You're not alone.  I've been gluten-free for 3 months.  I read every label every time.  I've only eaten out a few times - and only at places I knew would be safe.  Then last weekend I was at a friend's.  She's been great about letting me read all the labels, keeping things separate for me, not giving me a hard time about bringing my own food, etc.  Then she said she had some quinoa salad she wanted me to try.  Then we got talking about the guinoa tabuli I had made a few weeks prior.  Well... she ended up grabbing the tabuli out of the fridge instead of the quinoa salad.  Not my tabuli, but stuff from the deli.  Without thinking and without reading the label I took a tiny taste.  Thankfully it was just a tiny taste to see if I even liked it.  The pursuing conversation went something like this.  "This doesn't taste like quinoa,  um... what's in the tabuli?" - "Oh crap" - (reading of the label) - "Oh crap.  It's Bulgar" - "As in BULGAR WHEAT??" - F**ck

3 hours later my stomach blew up like a baloon - I swear I looked 6 months pregnant.  I went to bed only to wake up an hour later with clammy, sweaty skin and uncontrollable shivers.  I tried to go to work the next day but was getting hot and cold and hot and cold and then shaky.  Had to go back home and curl up on the sofa under a blanket shivering my butt off for the rest of the day.  Took a couple of days for my stomach to really trust me with food again.  Took 5 days for the brain fog to lift.

 

And all that time I just kept saying to myself - how freakin stupid could I be???  I know I can't eat anything prepared at a deli!!  I know better than to taste something without reading the label - usually twice.  What the heck was I thinking????

 

Anyhow...  you're not alone.  I look at it this way... at least I know I've been doing something right because I must be cleaning it out of my system to have a reaction like that to a tiny little bit after just 3 months.  Also, now I don't have to be terrified of the unknown - I know exactly what a glutening is going to do to me.

 

Live and learn.

luvs2eat Collaborator
luvs2eat
Posted

Been there... done it... after being gluten-free for 10 years! I feel the same way about throwing up, but after grabbing a package of Rudi's hot dog buns and chowing one down, I spent the next many hours on the john w/ a waste can in my lap while my body completely purged itself from both ends. I was amazed that my stomach kept trying to empty LONG after it was dry. I didn't know Rudi's made non-gluten free stuff and didn't even look at the package. THAT was a night I won't forget!

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tonalynn Explorer
tonalynn
Posted
  • Author

If I needed positive proof I can no longer eat gluten, I got it last Friday. Since I never had any GI symptoms before (not that I knew of), going gluten free seemed more like a punishment than a cure. I figured if I had some gluten by accident, I'd just feel really tired and foggy, but then be ok, all the damage being done inside was something I couldn't feel. WRONG!

 

At least it was good enough emphasis that I can't have gluten, and it WILL make me sick. I have a lot less of a problem going gluten free if I know it's going to literally make me puke. Yuck!!

 

My bf and I came up with a good saying for a bumper sticker: Eatin' Gluten Gets Me Pukin'! :D

MGR Apprentice
MGR
Posted

Don't feel bad, I've done something even more stupid! I live in UK and my family and I spent Christmas in Spain with my family and my husband's family flew out from UK. Big party and very tricky to cater for gluten free surrounded by gluten full eaters. I was doing the cooking and managed to stay safe for nearly two weeks, only one minor incident with some chocolates we thought were gluten free but weren't ... And a little tummy ache with A little D on the side.. But the really serious thing I did was whilst travelling back from Spain to Uk an I learned how tricky it is being on the move with celiac. Our ferry in Spain was cancelled due to bad weather and we had to embark on an epic three day drive through Spain, France and uk to get back home. I had my gluten free goodies, like bread, ham, rice cakes, home made Spanish tortilla, rice and chicken with cauliflower salad- by day 2 I had eaten all my cooked foods and only had bread and cheese left. We were on the boat, it was lunch time, warm food.... Nothing I could eat available ... See a steak looking at me and before I could evaluate the situation, I had ordered one, without chips but with peas... Ate it and OMG! I spent the rest of the journey with horrendous tummy ache and arrived home in the early hours in the morning and have been clutched to the WC ever since! Lesson learned - always ask, never assume anything, and if in doubt eat your rice cakes! I have only been gluten free for about 4 weeks now and the thing I have learned so far, it is a great learning curb! Happy New Year to you!

MGR Apprentice
MGR
Posted

Sorry, I managed to post this two times by accident and can't work out how to remove this second one- but I will take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy new year!!

MsMarginalized Rookie
MsMarginalized
Posted

Been there, done that!

 

I was diagnosed in Oct. 2012 & started gluten-free right away.  For the past 9 months or so everything was smooth (ish).  In the last 3 months, I've found that sneaky little weasel we call gluten creeping in!  First it was the WalMart brand of crinkle cut french fries.  Has wheat.  And their BBQ sauce & steak sauce...all have wheat!  DS (he was diagnosed a month after I was) realized the fryer oil was contaminated by the weasly french fries.

 

I keep a mixed kitchen (DH & DD are not gluten-free) but I'm wondering if that really is do-able?  DS was just asking me today about when we wash our gluten-free pots & pans in same water as everything else & he's the one that realized the plastic cereal bowls would be a problem...I'm almost feeling as helpless as when I was first diagnosed! :(

NoGlutenCooties Contributor
NoGlutenCooties
Posted

I keep a mixed kitchen (DH & DD are not gluten-free) but I'm wondering if that really is do-able?  DS was just asking me today about when we wash our gluten-free pots & pans in same water as everything else & he's the one that realized the plastic cereal bowls would be a problem...I'm almost feeling as helpless as when I was first diagnosed! :(

 

My uncle was diagnosed with Celiac approx. 15 years ago and my aunt keeps a mixed kitchen.  My uncle has his own toaster and I think his own cutting board.  But all other utensils, plastic storage containers, etc. are shared and they have no problems - they just wash everything very well before using it to prepare gluten-free food.  And he's very sensitive to cross-contamination but they make it work.  I know many on here are advocates for separate plastic (utensils and containers) but it seems unnecessary as long as they are washed thoroughly.

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