What Happens When You Are Glutened? What Do You Do?

[bd13]

Being newly diagnosed I've never been able to feel the real brunt of being glutened but two or three times. When I get glutened I feel like something is kicking me in the stomach, and it twists and turns uncontrollably. I also vomit excessively followed by acid reflux (sorry for the description :/). What do you do to help soothe being glutened? And what happens when you are glutened?

[Georgia-guy]

Help soothe it? I haven't found anything for that. :-/ I have to just let it run it's course.

When I get glutened, within a short time I will feel like I haven't slept in days. A couple hour later, the horrible abdominal pain starts. By the next morning, I get to add brain fog to the list (to the point last time I couldn't remember a very regular customer's name and address). The fatigue and abdominal pain last from 1-3 days, but the brain fog lasts a week. This is from cross contamination, I am a pain when it cones to eating out (I only trust 1 restaurant cuz the manager I know there is the daughter of a celiac), and I triple check what I buy at the grocery store.

Everyone's symptoms are different, and the time tables are different. You will have to learn as you go what yours are. I have also seen many people have new symptoms when they get glutened after being gluten free for a long time.

[glutenfreeliac]

I retreat to my safe food -- mostly chicken and rice. Light veggies. Seriously, I focus on what I know is safe and let my body do its thing. I've heard tales of foods/enzymes/whatever that help clear your system, but I am skeptical. It takes time for your system to clear -- and the amount of time depends on your body.

 

As for symptoms, we're all different. I swell up immediately, but you may differ. The trick, after avoiding gluten like crazy, is to know the symptoms you have and get through them as best you can. I do my best to avoid gluten -- and I've been amazingly successful, all things considered -- but once I've ingested it, I have to ride it out.

 

This is an increasingly rare thing for me....

[beth01]

It really varies from person to person.  The first thing to start for me is the horrible pain followed by nausea/vomiting.  For the pain I take hot baths or use a heating pad, I luvz me a good heating pad.  I take Pepto to help with the burning feeling and a anti-nausea med for the obvious.  With your vomiting issues you should be able to get a prescription for one.  They do work wonders.  This pain/ stomach issues can last hours to days for me.  After or if I am lucky during the pain and nausea comes the diarrhea.  Pepto helps with that also.  Pepto is my new best friend, I have it every where!  After I am done with the big D, it's followed by constipation that I have to take a bunch of more meds for.  Then I get a few days of muscle/joint aches and nerve pain, all the while the brain fog is hitting me like crazy and I have reverted to talking like a toddler.  There is nothing for the fog but time.  Sometimes it takes longer to get better than other times.  I can't say go away because I believe my IQ has dropped tremendously the last few years and am wondering if it will ever be what it once was. I also have some women related issues that I can pin down to glutenings but you two don't need to hear about them, I double up on my probiotics.  I also tend to get a little b%$@#y when I have been glutened.  Sometimes unreasonably so.  I realize it a little too late and then am apologizing profusely.  The self control is getting easier to handle though as time goes by. I have been glutened four times in three months, I am new - crap happens.  Only one has been a full on ate a bunch of gluten, the others are all CC issues.  I didn't do it on purpose, the brain fog had me thinking I could eat one thing when I couldn't ( Reece's Pieces v.s Peanut Butter Cups - one is safe, the other clearly not!).  The only difference with that one was that the pain was so much worse.  It seems like they are more prolonged the longer I go between glutenings.  This last one is on day 5 and I am not even half way through my list of symptoms.  I also try to drink water like crazy, flush that poison out. Other than that, it takes time and patience, which I never seem to have enough of.

[Georgia-guy]

Beth, I have to know (and don't want to go to how store right now and look) which reeces is safe??

[beth01]

The peanut butter cups, just so they aren't holiday items ( or so I have read, don't know if that is up to date info though).  I can attest to the fact that the ever loved ET Recee's Pieces  are not gluten free.  Oh so yucky!

[GF Lover]

The regular size peanut butter cups are gluten-free.  Holiday shapes, small bites and larger ones, ect should be checked first and may contain/do  contain gluten.  Do trust an educated guess on any product.  And watch for recipe changes.

 

Colleen