First Glutening.

[AmandaD]

Hi guys - I've been gluten free since Sept. 5 (my endoscopy) and have celiac. A couple of days ago I decided to try Rice Dream milk and have been drinking it - and the past two days have the same soft stools that I had when I first found out I had this frustrating celiac thing! I get online and read that Rice Dream is not gluten free...I can't believe I was so stupid - since I check out ingredients for everything else!

Do I ride this out? How long does it take to feel better? Anything I can do to flush it out? And, what's actually happening when I "get glutened"? This sucks. Period.

Somebody who's had a glutening...if you've got advice...please give it...

[Guest schmenge]

Sorry to hear about your inadvertant glutening. From what I have read so far, I am still relatively new, everything varies from person to person. Some people do get relief from OTC medications like Pepto Bismal, but this is also a trial and error thing. In my case I glutened myself last week. I reacted within about 45 minutes and was pretty much "done," at least with my symptoms after 4 or five hours. I just rode it out (it was more annoying than umcomfortable).

Although I am not sure what happens, I imagine that the glutening is again "attacking the villa, but I would not think that any one incidence is anything that would be a big deal from that standpoint.

[carriecraig]

Uuuggghhh - I know how you feel. I got glutened last night, and am not feeling well today. It takes about a day of feeling horrible, and running to the bathroom up to 6 times, and the next day it is gone. At my 6 month check-up, my doctor said that any sort of gluten can set you back up to 4 months. Really, really awful news.

I do find that immodium works, but Pepto and Rolaids don't even touch my tummy aches. Take it easy, and feel better!

[jerseyangel]

Hi Amanda--Sorry you're feeling bad right now. The bright side is that you found out the source of the gluten. Sometimes, that is a hard thing to pin down. Now that it's out, you will begin to feel better. How long that will take depends on the individual. We're all different. For some it takes a few days, and for others up to 2 weeks or longer. There's not a lot you can do but ride it out. There are several threads here that discuss how people deal with the symptoms of a glutening. You could do a search, and read lots of ideas that help.

[AmandaD]

Thanks everybody. Seriously, what a b$#%$! This Celiac stuff drives me nutso!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[happygirl]

Girl, I hear ya. It is frustrating. I think we've all been there. It takes me up to 2 weeks to feel 'normal' again and I can't eat dairy for at least 2-3 days after I've been 'glutened'....dairy makes my life much worse then! There's nothing that really helps me other than just waiting it out. I end up trying to sleep more, and it makes me all the more determined to check EVERYTHING.

Hang in there and hope you feel better!

[tarnalberry]

"getting glutened" means that your immune system is again seeing gluten in your intestines, and goes through the same chemical reaction pathway that it used to when you were previously consuming gluten - and that includes generating the molecules that destroy the villi. Since you're not continueing to eat gluten, the reaction is somewhat contained, but it is a long set of reactions, and - so I've read - it takes about a week to go through everything.

[StrongerToday]

Try and relax. Walking is good for the GI system, so I try to walk and drink lots of water. I try not to take Pepto or Immodium unless absolutely necessary, my opinion is that it's better to get it out of my system. I also love turning my electric blanket on "high" and crawling into bed.

It'll get better!!

Oh, and I did the same thing with the rice milk now I drink Almond Milk, it's pretty tasty.

[watkinson]

Hi Amanda,

Getting glutened sucks I'm sorry you have to deal with it. The great thing is that you realized it very quickly. The problem is that our anitbodies attack and "kill" the gluten but they also attack and kill our healthy cells. Getting glutened can set off tons of physical responses. For me I am sick to stomache for a couple days and then depressed and SEVERLY achey for about 2or 3 weeks afterward. ARGHHH!!!

I take vitamins on a regular basis but if I get accidentally glutened (thank goodness that's only happened a couple times) I up the amounts. I take 2 under the tongue vitmain B tabs, 2 multivitamins, and 2 Omega 3's a day. I also Eat tons of organic fruits and veggies. Eat and drink cleansing foods like, grapes, blueberries, pomagranate juice, 2 tablespoons of flax seed in yogurt (organic yogurt for the live cultures to boost the immune system) and a metimucil type product to cleanse (and help to make normal againt) the intestines.

Good luck, hope you feel better soon, Wendy

[Guest nini]

When I've been "glutenened" I drink a lot of extra water and take immodium or pepto if I need it...

[AmandaD]

When I've been "glutenened" I drink a lot of extra water and take immodium or pepto if I need it...

Thank you all so much...right now I seem to be turning a corner so that's good. I'm actually writing down all of your advice - in between cleaning my kitchen ) ...

You know what's weird, is that this reaction was a lot less strong compared to what I was having when I was first diagnosed. I think that's odd.

I grabbed that damn rice milk because they didn't have the good almond milk from Blue Diamond...how dopey!

Try and relax. Walking is good for the GI system, so I try to walk and drink lots of water. I try not to take Pepto or Immodium unless absolutely necessary, my opinion is that it's better to get it out of my system. I also love turning my electric blanket on "high" and crawling into bed.

It'll get better!!

Oh, and I did the same thing with the rice milk now I drink Almond Milk, it's pretty tasty.

[carriecraig]

You know what's weird, is that this reaction was a lot less strong compared to what I was having when I was first diagnosed. I think that's odd.

You know, I feel the same way. Like I said in my last post, I got glutened today, but the reaction has not been as bad as it was when I was eating gluten all of the time. I always suspected it would be worse. I guess we'll see how I feel tomorrow though.

[jkmunchkin]

My best friend when I get glutened is a bottle of Pepto, some peppermint tea and one of those heating things you put in the microwave. Then I usually try to go to sleep. Usually when I wake up in the morning my stomach feels a bit tender or kinda raw, but the majority of the pain is gone.

It definately sucks. No 2 ways about it : (

Hope you feel better soon.

[Ursa Major]

Amanda, I'm sorry you got glutened. But I am so glad I read this thread, because I had been using some rice dream lately and have been feeling bad! Now I know why.

But I also just found out that rice is a big problem. Now that I've been off gluten and lectins for three months, I decided to confirm the lectin thing, and ate rice last night. My reaction was about as bad as getting glutened, meaning that with the rice dream I got a double whammy . Oh well, at least I know now.

I hope you feel better soon, as the others said, you just have to wait it out.

[AmandaD]

You know, I think some green tea helps. ... it sort of constipates me Isn't this whole thing frustrating...I can't imagine having to eliminate lectins...it's so much work just to eat, isn't it??? AGGGGGHHH

Amanda, I'm sorry you got glutened. But I am so glad I read this thread, because I had been using some rice dream lately and have been feeling bad! Now I know why.

But I also just found out that rice is a big problem. Now that I've been off gluten and lectins for three months, I decided to confirm the lectin thing, and ate rice last night. My reaction was about as bad as getting glutened, meaning that with the rice dream I got a double whammy . Oh well, at least I know now.

I hope you feel better soon, as the others said, you just have to wait it out.