Intolerance?

[Navrig]

Hi there, this is my first post.  I have had a suspicion for a while that I have a mild intolerance to gluten.  It's not normally a great inconvenience to my lifestyle but this week I have felt it more than usual (I think).

My background is male, 54, fit (cycling and training), weight is good, alcohol is weekends only, don't smoke.  I take a small weekly dose of methotrexate for psoriasis.  No other regular medications.  My diet is mixed.  I can be very good with lots of fruit, veg, salad, low fat protein and then I can swing the other way to easy make, fat food.  I tend to avoid fast food from large chains.

At home we always buy a seeded batch loaf for our bread (mass produced though).  Occassionally we will buy ciabata rolls which are fairly simple white flour rolls.

My usual breakfast is muesli.  I've had a look at the brand I buy and the ingredients are:  wholegrain oat flakes, dates (22%), wholegrain barley flakes, toasted wheat flakes, nuts (10.7%) [almonds (6%), roasted hazelnuts (3%), brazil nuts (1.7%)], wholegrain wheat flakes, sunflower seeds (2.3%).

When eating the seeded batch loaf (couple of slices every other day) and muesli (every day) I don't tend to have any symptoms of gluten intolerance.  If I move away from these products to something which are processed white flour I tend to feel bloated.

If I have salad for lunch I feel fine but if business meetings prevent making a salad I end up eating sandwiches and these leave me bloated.

On Monday this week I was very busy and didn't get home until late and I grabbed a take out Chinese meal.  On Tuesday I felt awful.  Bloated, running a fever, sweating, slightly nauseous.  This was as extreme as I have ever had that bloated feeling.  The fever and sweating was new.  By Tuesday night I felt much better.

The bloating feeling after eating processed white flour is not so uncomfortable to make me try a gluten-free diet trial but after Tuesday I aim to give it a go (not now as I head off on a ski holiday this weekend) in a couple of weeks.

The muesli I eat has wheat flakes but they are not overly processed (rolled and toasted) so I wonder would they be less likely to trigger a gluten reaction?

Does it seem I am making sense of how my body reacts to gluten or am I over thinking it (I am not inclined to hypochondria)/

 

[Ennis-TX]

3 hours ago, Navrig said:

Hi there, this is my first post.  I have had a suspicion for a while that I have a mild intolerance to gluten.  It's not normally a great inconvenience to my lifestyle but this week I have felt it more than usual (I think).

My background is male, 54, fit (cycling and training), weight is good, alcohol is weekends only, don't smoke.  I take a small weekly dose of methotrexate for psoriasis.  No other regular medications.  My diet is mixed.  I can be very good with lots of fruit, veg, salad, low fat protein and then I can swing the other way to easy make, fat food.  I tend to avoid fast food from large chains.

At home we always buy a seeded batch loaf for our bread (mass produced though).  Occassionally we will buy ciabata rolls which are fairly simple white flour rolls.

My usual breakfast is muesli.  I've had a look at the brand I buy and the ingredients are:  wholegrain oat flakes, dates (22%), wholegrain barley flakes, toasted wheat flakes, nuts (10.7%) [almonds (6%), roasted hazelnuts (3%), brazil nuts (1.7%)], wholegrain wheat flakes, sunflower seeds (2.3%).

When eating the seeded batch loaf (couple of slices every other day) and muesli (every day) I don't tend to have any symptoms of gluten intolerance.  If I move away from these products to something which are processed white flour I tend to feel bloated.

If I have salad for lunch I feel fine but if business meetings prevent making a salad I end up eating sandwiches and these leave me bloated.

On Monday this week I was very busy and didn't get home until late and I grabbed a take out Chinese meal.  On Tuesday I felt awful.  Bloated, running a fever, sweating, slightly nauseous.  This was as extreme as I have ever had that bloated feeling.  The fever and sweating was new.  By Tuesday night I felt much better.

The bloating feeling after eating processed white flour is not so uncomfortable to make me try a gluten-free diet trial but after Tuesday I aim to give it a go (not now as I head off on a ski holiday this weekend) in a couple of weeks.

The muesli I eat has wheat flakes but they are not overly processed (rolled and toasted) so I wonder would they be less likely to trigger a gluten reaction?

Does it seem I am making sense of how my body reacts to gluten or am I over thinking it (I am not inclined to hypochondria)/

 

Due to the amount you eat I do not see this as a gluten issue but a starch carb issue. If you suspect gluten is a issue try the celaic blood test, your eating enough for the test and the simple blood test by any doctor will rule it out. MY thoughts are that your bloat and other issues are caused by the bacteria in your gut going a bit crazy with the heavy starch load....this would be more pronounced with processed noodles, high starch white breads, etc. Look into SIBO or Candida and see if any of those match up. If not then your just having some food issues and need to avoid high starch foods that your body just can not handle any more. Amusingly those of us with this disease (Celiac) have to be our own little nutritionist and doctors and we end up learning quite a bit. Anyway we have some better qualified people here that can perhaps point you at a better diagnosis, but I am seeing more of a correlation with the starches and carbs with the bloat pointing at your gut and the microbiome it contains reacting to said foods. Probiotics might help a bit, brand wise I use Nature Way Fortify 50billion...they make a 50+ version no offense intended that might be better, you can find it at walmarts.  Amusingly I use it to make my own dairy free yogurt dumping 2 pills to a mason jar of almond milk and vegan protein powder blending it with a hand blender and letting it set in the fridge for 24-48 hours.

[cyclinglady]

Celiac Disease symptoms often overlap with other illnesses (odds are that Chinese food was a food poisoning issue).  Some celiacs are asymptomatic.  Personally, I was anemic and had no gut issues.  The ONLY way to find out is to get tested.  It is a simple blood test.  Continue to consume gluten until all testing is done. 

Open Original Shared Linky

Gluten is gluten.  If you have celiac disease, it does not matter if the gluten-containing product is refined or not.  It only takes a crumb to set off an autoimmune reaction. 

[Jmg]

6 hours ago, Navrig said:

Does it seem I am making sense of how my body reacts to gluten or am I over thinking it (I am not inclined to hypochondria)/

Hi and welcome

To be honest I think you're being very considered and making a lot of sense. You have some symptoms which may point towards a gluten / celiac issue, like the bloating or the psorisasis, but there's nothing definitive so you really should follow Cycling Lady's advice above and book a celiac blood test before making any changes to your diet.

If the test is negative give serious thought to trialing the gluten-free diet regardless. As long as you replace any missing nutrients its perfectly safe and for some people, like myself, this is the only way to establish whether or not gluten is an issue.

Best of luck whatever you decide. Lot's of good advice and support available here if needed.

Best,

Matt

[Wheatwacked]

39 minutes ago, Jmg said:

As long as you replace any missing nutrients

There is no downside to a wheat free diet, Celiac or not, other than a massive loss of revenue for the food and pharmaceutical industries. Wheat based breakfast cereals are only a "nutritious part of a healthy breakfast" because of the added vitamins and minerals. The 25,000 or so strains of modern semi dwarf wheat, which is today about 85% of commercial wheat consumed, are based on a mutation of the Japanese dwarf. Each with its own genetic map and resultant side effects, so it impossible to prove. In the beginning, in the 1950's, intensive research was undertaken using chemical and radiation mutations along with aggressive hybridization techniques with the goal to solve global famine through increasing yield. The research was successful, yield per acre was increased up to 10%, a Nobel Prize was awarded and the Biafra baby belly was created. To this day Wheat is excluded in Congressional discussions of GMO foods. Wheat is the only food that causes leaky gut. You are not a hypochondriac.

In my opinion, a gluten free diet should be the first step to identify any symptom, especially if they say, "we do not know what causes it but it is normal. Don't be a hypochondriac."

My mothers sister died of pernicious anemia of unknown origin in 1989. Her other sister died of a disease of unknown etiology. My father died 2004 at 84 when his intestines twisted a second time and surgery was unsuccessful because his intestines were like Swiss cheese. After surviving  a massive heart attack 20 years earlier. My older brother died, at 73 after optional surgery to fix a leak between his colon and bladder. Stitches leaked and nine months later he succumbed. He had survived 15 years with one lung after cancer surgery triple bypass and 5 years after 10% of his remaining lung was removed because of a cyst on it. Both causes of death were listed as Heart failure. My wife had misdiagnosed endometriosis most of her life. She died in 2005 a year after surgery for Ovarian cancer,  which she never recovered from. Cause of death: heart failure,  My mom died at 84 in 2012 after a long unsuccessful recovery period from gall bladder surgery. Operations were a success but the patient died of cardio myopathy. Mothers mother stroked and was in a nursing home for 7 years. Died in 1971. Mothers father died of heart attack when he was 39. Grandmother had diabetes and all three sisters struggled with and overcame obesity in their forties. Weightwatchers had a equivalency chart that calculated food values in terms of slices of bread. My son was biopsy diagnosed Celiac in 1976 as an infant, though most of the doctors thought his problem was that my wife's anxiety. My younger brother had surgery for sleep apnea. My sleep apnea and a whole host of other "we don't know why and our tests find nothing so it must be hypochondria" type symptoms went away with GFD. (gluten free diet.) My daughter in law became happier when she started taking 10K vitamin D3 and then got healthier (all the symptom of my wife's endometriosis without any diagnosis) when she stopped eating wheat and discovered in addition she is lactose intolerant. Lyrica made her nuts. After a kidney transplant and gall bladder removal her father was diagnosed deficient vitamin D and he is doing better on a modified GFD, his Creatinine levels had started to increase a year after the transplant and is now normal again. His wife's diabetes is improved with GFD.

My point is that I finally noticed the pattern. Eat wheat, you die. Do not eat wheat and you get healthy. So that is what I finally did Thanksgiving 2014. So with a good wheat free diet, a lot of vitamin D and iodine supplementation and 15mg a day of prednisone for the fibromyalsia I am doing just that. All my symptoms are reversing.  I am working at being less evangelistic about being wheat free, and I apologize for that, but as you can see the evidence is overwhelming. Yours will too.

The last time I saw my older brother, he was eating a Hawaiian Roll and gave me a gift of Dr. Davis's book,  Wheat Belly: Total Health. Joke was on him, he died a month later. Between that book and Furhman's, Eat to Live, my life if getting better.

[Jmg]

36 minutes ago, Wheatwacked said:

Wheat based breakfast cereals are only a "nutritious part of a healthy breakfast" because of the added vitamins and minerals.

Yes, this is the part I was referring to!

I'm not defending wheat or grains etc. You are preaching to the converted!   Just making the point that for many, the vitamins they are getting through fortified gluten grain products will be missed when they go gluten free unless they take steps to replace them.

Most gluten free replacements aren't fortified sadly, so unless a supplement or alternative source is introduced people can run the risk of needlessly suffering. 

 

 

[Navrig]

Wow, such great advice.  Thank you for your prompt responses.

I did a little digging around and found some anecdotal evidence that MSG can cause a nasty reaction.  Looking at those symptoms I am almost inclined to think I may have reacted to it.  The symptoms were quite flu like:  sweating, headache, palpitations and general tiredness.  I had this for about 12 hours.

At least I have committed to stop buying Chinese take away food.  We don;'t buy it often but I am not risking that reaction again.  I'll make it at home without the MSG.

I have my ski holiday next week so it would be hard to do anything in the way of tests and diet change so I will look at things when I get back.

Thanks again, much appreciated.

[Wheatwacked]

On ‎1‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 4:08 AM, Navrig said:

Bloated, running a fever, sweating, slightly nauseous.

I agree with cyclinglady that it sounds suspiciously like plain old food poisoning, then again, it is flu season.

I hope you have gotten over it.