Glutened? My Own Stupid Mistake..tmi

[frozen]

Hi, 

 

I am a recently diagnosed celiac. gluten-free since November 2013. My symptoms were anemia (now subsided), lethargy and Constipation . So after going gluten free It has been hard for me to notice if I have glutened myself. This makes me more paranoid about any food I eat    

I am coming to you guys with this question hoping there will be someone else who has similar symptoms. I apologize for the long rant.

 

So I bought this coconut macaroons from good earth cafe . They were packed in a transparent wrapping with  just a little sticker on them saying its gluten free. There was no ingredient list on it. Just a clear wrapping. And i ate about 3 of them (I know I have already smacked myself for doing this  ) but I am not sure if I have been glutened. My symptoms included just constipation for 1 day and this  uncomfortable and weird "hot" feeling in tummy for about an hour. Now I should say when I have any kinds of nuts in large amounts it makes my tummy feel upset (no D and no C..just weird) and I did eat lot more macaroons than what I should have had. I also had same reaction to the gluten free coconut macaroons I bought from superstore with all the ingredients listed on it (there was no gluten).

I am not sure if I was glutened or my body just does not like coconut   I was hoping to go for the 3 month follow up blood work for celiac by end of this month. Does this mean that I have to start counting my 3 month all over again? 

 

Thanks in advance for answering my question

[Adalaide]

First, one mistake isn't the same as undoing the entire time you've been gluten free. It took time to do damage to your body, it didn't happen in one overindulgent moment with cookies.

 

So, the cookies... the first mistake was simply trusting the sticker on cookies that they were gluten free without an ingredient label and from their cafe. I've been in their cafes, not only are they not gluten free but they make things with flour. Flour will hang in the air and coat everything around the area you work with it with a fine dust. (This is why none of us allow flour to be used in our homes, even if we have a shared home.) Unless you have a conversation with staff from a cafe or other restaurant type place about the safety of their food in general and possibly a specific product, it is never safe to assume anything. At least you've learned something though.

 

Again with the other cookies you bought. They were cookies. Just because there were no gluten ingredients (duh, it's a macaroon) doesn't mean they were gluten free. Any time I make a purchase of something that has a high likelyhood of being produced in, near or around other flour containing products (cookies, other baked goods, pastas, the list could go on and on) I do one of two things. I look first for it to list on the package that it was made in a gluten free facility, if it doesn't have that I will simply call them to find out if it is safe. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't.

 

Of course, it is still possible your body just doesn't like coconut. But I would try plain coconut for that so things aren't muddled by other factors. And remember, don't buy it in a bulk bin because they aren't safe either. Good Earth will sell you an entire box of anything they sell in bulk for a 10% discount off the price if you like to buy in bulk. (And since you have Good Earth there, maybe you have Winco, they do the same.)

[NoGlutenCooties]

It does sound to me like there is a high likelihood that they had been contaminated with some source of gluten.  However, that aside, that is also a lot of hard-to-digest fat to consume all at one time.  Same with the nuts.  Have you tried taking a digestive enzyme whenever you consume protein, fats, etc.?