Another Question About Reactions

[CMCM]

Just wondering here....if you have been gluten free (or relatively so) for a few weeks, and then if you get some gluten (small amount, not intentionally) accidentally....would the reaction be GREATER and more noticeable than it would have been when you were eating gluten all the time?

I'm sort of feeling that since I've been gluten free, I'm suddenly more reactive to any that I happen to get. Or maybe it's my imagination.

[aikiducky]

Yup, that's how it works for me, too.

I figure if you get gluten all the time, the immune system sorta gets tired of reacting all the time and doesn't react so strongly anymore. When you are gluten free for a while, your immune system gets back it's strength... add gluten, and voilá, a big reaction.

Pauliina

[Carriefaith]

Just wondering here....if you have been gluten free (or relatively so) for a few weeks, and then if you get some gluten (small amount, not intentionally) accidentally....would the reaction be GREATER and more noticeable than it would have been when you were eating gluten all the time?

When, I was eating gluten before I was diagnosed, I was sick all the time, but it was a constant sick. Almost every day I had extreme fatigue, gas, bloating, diarrhea, and brain fog, and I also experienced other symptoms like bone pain and hair loss. Now, when I get very small amounts of gluten in my system, my body responds quite differently. I still get some of the old symptoms, but I got new ones and one can be quite severe. I now expereince heart palpitations, red bumps on my skin, mild insomnia, which I don't remember having before, and mild to severe upper abdominal stomach pain. The pain in my stomach can be so severe that I can't move and it comes on that strong with little or no warning.

[jerseyangel]

I'm noticing that I now get heart palpitations, too, when glutened. My reactions now are more clear cut--nausea, slight D for a few days, upper abdominal pain, thirst, fatigue and the brain fog returns but not as bad as before. Someone described that their tongue feels "too big for their mouth"--thats how I get. Before, as the others, I felt sick all the time--it was more of a degree of how sick I was on any given day.

[key]

I had all the gas, bloating, nausea(sort of constant low grade), heart burn, belching, bone pain, bruising, anxiety(low grade), abdominal pain at night especially and IBS (back and forth between D and C). Now when I get gluten, I start belching, VERY nauseated (worst symptom), bloating, then IBS symtpoms again for a few weeks, bone pain and fatigue. For me the next day after getting gluten, I am starving as if I am pregnant or haven't eaten for a week! Weird. Also my heart races for awhile after eating gluten.

Just thought I would give my experience.

Definitely sicker and my GI says this happens.

Monica

[CMCM]

And I noticed last night, in addition to the nausea, I just felt really weird....my lips were almost numb, fingers and feet tingling, felt weak, definite palpitations, mildly dizzy. But no real D or digestive distress at that point. In the past I've had that horrible pain, not exactly in the stomach but higher up. I always assumed it was some sort of heartburn, but then not really that either, and heartburn meds did zero to help it. Sometimes it would be really acute for several hours, but then would hurt to a lesser degree for a couple of days sometimes. And I could NEVER figure out what triggered it because I hadn't eaten the type of foods that should trigger heartburn.

What's really discouraging to me at this point is the feeling that aside from some simple meats, some but not all veggies (I can't eat my much loved potatoes, for example) and limited fruits, there's nothing I can eat anymore, everything makes me feel bad one way or another. Sometimes I wish I could just take a pill and never have to eat anything at all.

[Carriefaith]

In the past I've had that horrible pain, not exactly in the stomach but higher up. I always assumed it was some sort of heartburn, but then not really that either, and heartburn meds did zero to help it. Sometimes it would be really acute for several hours, but then would hurt to a lesser degree for a couple of days sometimes. And I could NEVER figure out what triggered it because I hadn't eaten the type of foods that should trigger heartburn.

My pain is also higher up, the pain is upper abdominal directly below the sternum of the rib cage, I'm pretty sure that it is the stomach but, it could also be the pancreas.

What's really discouraging to me at this point is the feeling that aside from some simple meats, some but not all veggies (I can't eat my much loved potatoes, for example) and limited fruits, there's nothing I can eat anymore, everything makes me feel bad one way or another

I used to feel that way too, but after being gluten free for a year, everything started to get better and I could enjoy eating again without worrying about getting sick.

[jerseyangel]

Boy--This discussion is really helping me out. I hate that all of us have to experience these things, but it helps so much to know that I'm not alone. Like the palpitations--until recently, I never thought they were connected to Celiac. Also, the belching (sorry!)--I never used to belch even when I was sick. But now, it will come out of nowhere and so embarassing if someone's around. I think I'd probably go nuts if I didn't have you guys to bounce these things off of.

[Fluffyblue]

I think that when you are eating gluten all the time, you tend not to notice some of the symptoms because you have them all the time and just live with them, and also you get used to the pain in some respects, so when you go gluten-free, you feel better than you have for ages - hence a little bit of gluten ingested when you are gluten free feels worse than it would do if you were eating it constantly and makes the symptoms seem more pronounced.

However, I have recently had to go on the gluten challenge as my doc told me to get a blood test whilst I was gluten-free - which of course came back negative. Since going on the challenge I have had loose stools where as previously I had constipation more often than not, so I think my reaction is more pronounced. I may of course not be coeliac though in any event.

[KaitiUSA]

I saw a greater sensitivity to gluten. Some people do not though...it's just one of those things that varies.

[CMCM]

Boy--This discussion is really helping me out. I hate that all of us have to experience these things, but it helps so much to know that I'm not alone. Like the palpitations--until recently, I never thought they were connected to Celiac. Also, the belching (sorry!)--I never used to belch even when I was sick. But now, it will come out of nowhere and so embarassing if someone's around. I think I'd probably go nuts if I didn't have you guys to bounce these things off of.

That's really funny about the belching ...my mom was just telling me a story about when I was around 6, and we had all been sick with some sort of flu, and we were all better including me, but I starting belching LOUDLY and violently to the point they took me to the doctor about it, and it went on for quite a long time. I don't remember that, and haven't noticed it as a problem since then, though. But it was pronounced and weird enough that my mom always remembered it and was puzzled by it, as were the doctors. That would have been about 1955 or so, and virtually nothing was known about celiac then.