Glutened Myself How Long Will This Take

[langone7]

I have been off gluten 1.5 years. But lately and really always because I was sloppily diagnosed I wondered if I really had celiac. I ate breaded chicken a week ago and then a couple days after that. Now I feel awful and can rest assured that I have Celiac. My stomach hurts, I'm exhausted, brain fog, gas, spots on my arms, and my stomach hurts. I'm nursing my very allergic to dairy 3 month old son. How long until I feel better and is there anything I can do to speed up recovery? I don't remember my symptoms this intense when I used to eat gluten...

[NoGlutenCooties]

Hi -

 

Sorry to hear you're feeling icky.  I'm new at this Celiac thing, having been gluten free for just over 4 months.  In that time I've been mildly glutened once.  I can tell you though, based on reading posts from others on this forum, that the severity of the reaction as well as the length of time it takes to recovery varies wildly person to person.  For me, the reaction was almost immediate with physical symptoms starting about 2 hours after eating a tiny bite of tabuli that turned out to have bulgar wheat in it.  It felt like having food poisoning and the physical symptoms took about 5 days to fully go away.  However, the agitation, short-temper, and grumpiness - which is very uncharacteristic of me - lasted for about a month.  Before my diagnosis I didn't have any symptoms from eating gluten, so I'm not surprised that your symptoms are more intense now that you've been gluten free.

 

As far as speeding up the recovery, I would assume that getting plenty of rest, plenty of water, and eating healthy, easily digested foods would be helpful - these things help with any physical recovery.  Other than that, I don't know of any magic bullet for speeding up the recovery.

 

Good luck - I hope you feel better quickly!

[langone7]

Thanks for the encouragement! This wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't eaten dairy the same day...two miserable people...I should have known better

[nvsmom]

I think most people take a week to three to feel better, hopefully you are on the quick end of things.   All you can really do is hang in there. Avoid other foods that bother you (dairy) and get plenty of fluids and rest. L-glutamine is good for helping the gut to heal although I don't think it actually reduces symptoms.

 

Hope you feel better soon.

 

Editted it add, perhaps keep an eye on your little one to see if he shows a reaction to the gluten. If so, I would take it as an early sign of possible celiac disease in him.    Best wishes

[Berlin1]

Sorry to hear that you've been glutened! This is the worse! May I ask if the breaded chicken was gluten-free or not? Certainly your symptoms would have been even worse if it wasn't, especially if you've been on a gluten-free diet for 1,5 years. The only thing I can say is that everyone's body is different and we all react differently to ingesting gluten. For myself, depending on the amount I ingested, my symptoms will last between 1-3 days. My advice to you would be to hydrate with lots of water and to eat a very light diet of rice, raw juices and crackers. Your body is fighting of the gluten proteins and unfortunately it feels like food poisoning.

Also try some ginger lemon tea! This is always my go-to remedy. It will all pass very soon 

[langone7]

Yes it was chick fil a's breaded chicken salad. Which was stupid I realize now, I have other symptoms as well...but at least now I have no doubt in my mind that I have a problem with gluten.

[langone7]

I'm beginning to think my son has a gluten allergy. He now has many of my symptoms. I called the pediatrician but they told just to watch his temperature. Can food allergies cause a low grade fever?

[Googles]

I don't want to depress you, but my symptoms can last 3-4 months if I actually eat something with gluten in it rather than just something that is cross contaminated. Last time I ate something I was able to identify as having gluten as an ingredient (after being told it was gluten free) I had digestive problems for a month  or so and emotional problems for 3-4 months. The time before that (though I never figured out where that one came from) I had digestive and emotional problems for 3 months. It depends on the person how long it lasts and what symptoms develop. I hope you are feeling better soon.

[livinthelife]

I don't want to depress you, but my symptoms can last 3-4 months if I actually eat something with gluten in it rather than just something that is cross contaminated. Last time I ate something I was able to identify as having gluten as an ingredient (after being told it was gluten free) I had digestive problems for a month  or so and emotional problems for 3-4 months. The time before that (though I never figured out where that one came from) I had digestive and emotional problems for 3 months. It depends on the person how long it lasts and what symptoms develop. I hope you are feeling better soon.

3-4 months? Bless you! I usually take the better part of a week. First is stomach then eye scratching/swelling, then bathroom and brain fog, then general knock me out exhaustion, which to me is the worst. then the joint pain. And a slow stomach burn that lasts at least a week or more. I can handle that the easiest. 

 

All this makes me very careful. It's out to eat that gets me. My own da** fault.     

[skelly247]

It's not surprising that you had a stronger reaction.  From what I understand (and someone correct me if I'm wrong), when you go gluten free, your gut has time to heal.  When you ingest gluten, you are attacking a healed gut that is more sensitive to glutening than a damaged gut that is used to being attacked in response to gluten so it has a dulled (or no) pain.  Until the gluten is totally out of your system, you will probably still experience symptoms as it moves through you.  How soon you'll feel better is dependent on how quickly it moves through your system. Feel Better! 

[mopsiecat]

It takes me about 3 weeks to get over getting my symptoms.  Beside the bowel pain I get ulcers where the sun don't shine and they are so hard to heal - can take  month or more.