Please help me understand cross contamination

[GtJen]

I live with my mother as an adult, and I am Gluten Intolerant to where if I get around wheat, I get sick. I am sick accidentally three times a week because even though I am careful, something keeps happening. So I bought gloves and kept a few plates, silverware and use the same glass, i clean with a separate sponge, i wipe the counters down with bleach, and the handles. My Mother just put pasta in the fridge hot, and the air went up. that frightens me because i have cheese up there in a block, that is semi open. I also had an open avacado. Should I throw those things away, or is there a way to clean the cheese, only part of the pack is open at the top. Its just a concern. I spend so much time stressing about this because i have to share a kitchen. im this close to washing stuff in the bathroom and we all know how dirty that is..its really very sad...

[Ennis-TX]

The cheese and avocado are fine, the gluten was not aerosolized anything like that. NOW if your allergic to wheat there could be some issues being around it like that (some severe cases of peanut allergies can go off if it is in the room) but you would be anaphylactic. 

I get the paranoia, it gets to the point of being almost PTSD. You fear to get sick so bad because the weirdest things have bedridden you. I got glutened touching gluten residue on facets, fridge door handles, etc in my old shared house. My family was huge gluten eaters, gluten cereal, cream of wheat, bread everything, pasta weekly. adding breadcrumbs to everything....it was a nightmare, there was spilled gluten milk on arm rest, gluten crumbs on the floor. I was turning on the facet with a paper towel leaving it on to constantly wash my hands, leave the fridge and cabinets open so I would not touch the handles the entire time I cooked on butcher paper covered counter. LOL I still got sick a few times by weird things...my mom using my pan and spoon to make cream of wheat and NOT tell me. Using flour to make a roux, then I got sick from later having the particles getting stuck in my nose and down my throat, or it settling on something I used later.

I honestly broke down and got my own place but for the last few months, I had my one mini fridge and microwave, cooked everything with nordicware microwave cookware in my own room, washed dishes in the bathtub, and still to this day use butcher paper for easy clean up, food service gloves often, and This is funny, I installed a foot pedal for my sink in my house out of anxiety of constantly touching the knobs lol. It really is like PTSD.
Your just hypersensitive and getting sick often has you on fight or flight about getting sick again.

BTW keep a food diary, many of us get other intolerance and food sensitivities that can also make us sick. So remove some foods and do a rotating diet for a bit removing something for a few days then trying it.  Common issues are dairy, oats, soy, peanuts, legumes, nightshades, corn, etc. Whole food only diet, avoid the processed stuff for now til you start feeling better.

[GtJen]

7 minutes ago, Ennis_TX said:

The cheese and avocado are fine, the gluten was not aerosolized anything like that. NOW if your allergic to wheat there could be some issues being around it like that (some severe cases of peanut allergies can go off if it is in the room) but you would be anaphylactic. 

I get the paranoia, it gets to the point of being almost PTSD. You fear to get sick so bad because the weirdest things have bedridden you. I got glutened touching gluten residue on facets, fridge door handles, etc in my old shared house. My family was huge gluten eaters, gluten cereal, cream of wheat, bread everything, pasta weekly. adding breadcrumbs to everything....it was a nightmare, there was spilled gluten milk on arm rest, gluten crumbs on the floor. I was turning on the facet with a paper towel leaving it on to constantly wash my hands, leave the fridge and cabinets open so I would not touch the handles the entire time I cooked on butcher paper covered counter. LOL I still got sick a few times by weird things...my mom using my pan and spoon to make cream of wheat and NOT tell me. Using flour to make a roux, then I got sick from later having the particles getting stuck in my nose and down my throat, or it settling on something I used later.

I honestly broke down and got my own place but for the last few months, I had my one mini fridge and microwave, cooked everything with nordicware microwave cookware in my own room, washed dishes in the bathtub, and still to this day use butcher paper for easy clean up, food service gloves often, and This is funny, I installed a foot pedal for my sink in my house out of anxiety of constantly touching the knobs lol. It really is like PTSD.
Your just hypersensitive and getting sick often has you on fight or flight about getting sick again.

BTW keep a food diary, many of us get other intolerance and food sensitivities that can also make us sick. So remove some foods and do a rotating diet for a bit removing something for a few days then trying it.  Common issues are dairy, oats, soy, peanuts, legumes, nightshades, corn, etc. Whole food only diet, avoid the processed stuff for now til you start feeling better.

Thank you so much! and yes, I am aware of other allergies. I have leaky gut as well and have a food allergy to potatoes and corn as well and my mother eats those too. So very stressed out. I went downstairs and found a mini fridge and im going to start using that because like you said, handles, faucets, etc are too much. the stress does not help the body either, ive been getting sick three times a week. its very hard.  I am glad there are people who understand! Sounds like you were concerned too, and protected yourself, good job!