Gluten and animal feed

[hoosierfarmer]

Hello, I was hoping to get some advice as I am receiving contradicting opinions from my medical team. I was diagnosed with celiac disease last August. The Doctor who ordered the test said i was extremely senstive and should do everything in my power to never come into contact with gluten again. As my user name states i have recnetly gotten back into the farm life i grew up with as a child. My question is this. Should i be worried about corss contamination from my animals feed. My primary care doctor says to uust wear gloves and I'll be fine. But the specialist who ordered the tests for my diagnosis did say i should elimate all chances of comming into contact with gluten as i am extremly senstive. Does anyone have any experience with this aspect of celiac disease. Any adivice is welcome

[Wheatwacked]

Welcome to the forum.

[trents]

It's not just the hand contact I'd be worried about but also breathing in the dust as you pour it out of sacks and so forth. You will breathe some in and it gets trapped in the mucous of the nasal passages and winds up in the gut eventually.

[hoosierfarmer]

8 hours ago, trents said:

It's not just the hand contact I'd be worried about but also breathing in the dust as you pour it out of sacks and so forth. You will breathe some in and it gets trapped in the mucous of the nasal passages and winds up in the gut eventually.

Thats what i  was afraid of. I'm leaning towards having my feed custom millef yo try and redice or eliminate tue hluten in it. Thanks

[Grlybrainiac]

15 hours ago, trents said:

It's not just the hand contact I'd be worried about but also breathing in the dust as you pour it out of sacks and so forth. You will breathe some in and it gets trapped in the mucous of the nasal passages and winds up in the gut eventually.

Yeah this is exactly how I discovered that the pellets I had switched my parrot to that I thought didn’t contain any wheat or oats either did, or there was some cross-contamination. I opened a new bag and I guess the puff of the dust blowing up at my face was enough for my body to start immediately reacting. Finding purchasable healthy parrot food that doesn’t contain wheat, rye, or oats is impossible…it’s so frustrating…

[trents]

10 minutes ago, Grlybrainiac said:

Yeah this is exactly how I discovered that the pellets I had switched my parrot to that I thought didn’t contain any wheat or oats either did, or there was some cross-contamination. I opened a new bag and I guess the puff of the dust blowing up at my face was enough for my body to start immediately reacting. Finding purchasable healthy parrot food that doesn’t contain wheat, rye, or oats is impossible…it’s so frustrating…

Do you know for certain that you react to oats? Only about 10% of celiacs do and the amount of wheat cross contamination in an animal feed product that is oat based would not likely be enough to cause you problems since you are not directly consuming the feed yourself.

[Grlybrainiac]

1 hour ago, trents said:

Do you know for certain that you react to oats? Only about 10% of celiacs do and the amount of wheat cross contamination in an animal feed product that is oat based would not likely be enough to cause you problems since you are not directly consuming the feed yourself.

Oh the animal feed had both oats AND wheat, not just oats. But yeah I found out that I react to oats because I would get sick when I ate cheerios and kind bars, which was disappointing. I also got dermatitis herpetiformis rashes when I used a hair color product that had oats in it (also disappointing). Granted, after those instances I’ve been too paranoid to try other certified gluten-free oat products, so I can’t say for sure that it’s *all* gluten-free oats. There might be some that I’m able to eat without getting sick.

[Scott Adams]

It seems like using gloves, and perhaps N95 masks, then washing off well after handing various gluten grains should keep you safe. 

[hoosierfarmer]

3 hours ago, Scott Adams said:

It seems like using gloves, and perhaps N95 masks, then washing off well after handing various gluten grains should keep you safe. 

That is a good idea. I was also thinking about a resporator. Thank you.

[LCAnacortes]

I have not been officially diagnosed but have close relatives on my mom's side of the family that were diagnosed with celiac. I had a lot of the really bad symptoms so once I found out that it was in the family, I went gluten free.  One of my symptoms was DH - super bad rash around my neck and in other places.  And I had sores on my head. I stopped using conditioner with wheat in it and the sores on my head went away.  But the Dermatitis herpetiformis rash was persistent.  Then I read a post here about handling pet foot with wheat in it - and sure enough I checked our dry cat food and it had wheat and other gluten things in it.  I stopped handling that and my DH rash is nearly gone.  I would definitely use gloves at the very least.  Best of luck on your journey. 

[Maria Deal]

I raise my own meat chickens, in a chicken tractor on grass eating some bugs, using non gmo, soy free, wheat free feed (which is very expensive), but I do sometimes get glutened from the actual bags regardless.
I explain how: the mill makes all kinds of wheat and other products so those paper bags are loaded on the outside with cross contamination. So my hubby has to transfer to another container. Then the other items I buy from tractor supply or Lowe’s also are cross contaminated on the outside, the floors, everything inside those places indeed does cross contaminate me. We transfer to other containers.

 

Protocol: I wear 1 set of disposable gloves & n95 mask, big brimmed hat leaving my house, put on yellow dishwashing gloves in shed before touching anything else outside. Husband not as fastidious as me. 😡 Yellow gloves are longer & sturdy, I take those off & leave in shed. Disposable gloves I use to protect me opening doors, turning water knob, etc., and take off chicken boots with folded over partial glove. I take off my chicken clothes once inside. Wash up arms & face, use paper towel to dry.
 

So when I water garden & pick strawberries etc., I still wear disposable gloves or gardening gloves. I still get glutened sometimes and this week I have been debating if I want to keep raising meat chickens twice a year (only our 2nd year, just for our freezer, we are 60, I am alone doing it 5 days as he drives over road truck & we both have back issues as well 😑so when I get glutened it’s rough). 
 

We want to switch to raising 2 pigs, but that will have to wait until he retires, I know I cannot handle an escaped pig by myself. Feeding pigs is gluten-free easier - they eat anything. We would sell 1 to pay for them. No, we don’t have room for any beef.

FYI: I react to airborne gluten in grocery store’s & restaurants, an n95 mask, double masks, does not protect me from being glutened if I smell the Bakery aroma. 🤷🏻‍♀️😑 

Sidebar: I also get HD, but was only after the shot (everyone in the World got) and it caused Shingles, then I had it. I was not allowed to get the 2nd one or Booster. I did go on the gov’t sites and fill out all the info that was requested (immune compromised ppl apparently get Shingles from it) just FYI & I can’t recall the 4 letter acronym for that 1 site that starts with a V.

Hope this all helps anyone. Let me know if you have any questions.

[Wheatwacked]

Maria hi,

Have you tried raising your vitamin D plasma level.  Low vitamin D is the primary cause of compromised immune system.    As I approached 80 ng/ml I was less and less affected by cross contamination.

Doctors consider 29 ng/ml as sufficient, but that is based only on what we need to avoid Rickets, not mental health, other bone health and immune system health.

At 10,000 IU a day it took me about 4 years to get me to 47 ng/ml and another 2 years to increase to 80 where I currently am holding steady, still taking 10,000 IU everyday.

42% of Americans have low or deficient vitamin D.

Many studies have been done on kidney transplant patients where they recieved a single dose of up to 1,250,000 IU of vitamin D. The only difference between them and those who had daily 2000 IU a day over a year is the higher dosed patients reported being happier.

This might help. Zinc gluconate (Cold Eeze) lozenges coat the mucous membranes in the mouth and nose, and the antiviral effect of zinc protects against airbourne infection. I have not suffered a cold or flu since 2004.  It might help protect you from the chicken dust.  By the way I have worked on a large chicken farm so I know the dust you speak of. Can't hurt to try.

Worth reading the complete articles:

     Vitamin D and the Immune System     "The immune system defends the body from foreign, invading organisms, promoting protective immunity while maintaining tolerance to self. The implications of vitamin D deficiency on the immune system have become clearer in recent years and in the context of vitamin D deficiency, there appears to be an increased susceptibility to infection and a diathesis, in a genetically susceptible host to autoimmunity."

     Surge of information on benefits of vitamin D   "A lifeguard study that found vitamin D levels in the 70 ng/mL range up to 100 ng/mL (nature’s level) were associated with no adverse effects;...  Colon cancer data showing a reduction in the incidence of new cancer (linear) with postulated 0 point at 75 ng/mL..    

[ISAG]

On 4/2/2023 at 4:56 PM, hoosierfarmer said:

Hello, I was hoping to get some advice as I am receiving contradicting opinions from my medical team. I was diagnosed with celiac disease last August. The Doctor who ordered the test said i was extremely senstive and should do everything in my power to never come into contact with gluten again. As my user name states i have recnetly gotten back into the farm life i grew up with as a child. My question is this. Should i be worried about corss contamination from my animals feed. My primary care doctor says to uust wear gloves and I'll be fine. But the specialist who ordered the tests for my diagnosis did say i should elimate all chances of comming into contact with gluten as i am extremly senstive. Does anyone have any experience with this aspect of celiac disease. Any adivice is welcome

I would advise you to try to drink water Kefir. This is what a vet told a Farmer I knew in France, as she was reacting to animal feed. She was lucky to have the issue fixed that way. 

[Maria Deal]

On 5/26/2023 at 12:18 PM, Wheatwacked said:

Maria hi,

Have you tried raising your vitamin D plasma level.  Low vitamin D is the primary cause of compromised immune system.    As I approached 80 ng/ml I was less and less affected by cross contamination.

Doctors consider 29 ng/ml as sufficient, but that is based only on what we need to avoid Rickets, not mental health, other bone health and immune system health.

At 10,000 IU a day it took me about 4 years to get me to 47 ng/ml and another 2 years to increase to 80 where I currently am holding steady, still taking 10,000 IU everyday.

42% of Americans have low or deficient vitamin D.

Many studies have been done on kidney transplant patients where they recieved a single dose of up to 1,250,000 IU of vitamin D. The only difference between them and those who had daily 2000 IU a day over a year is the higher dosed patients reported being happier.

This might help. Zinc gluconate (Cold Eeze) lozenges coat the mucous membranes in the mouth and nose, and the antiviral effect of zinc protects against airbourne infection. I have not suffered a cold or flu since 2004.  It might help protect you from the chicken dust.  By the way I have worked on a large chicken farm so I know the dust you speak of. Can't hurt to try.

Worth reading the complete articles:

     Vitamin D and the Immune System     "The immune system defends the body from foreign, invading organisms, promoting protective immunity while maintaining tolerance to self. The implications of vitamin D deficiency on the immune system have become clearer in recent years and in the context of vitamin D deficiency, there appears to be an increased susceptibility to infection and a diathesis, in a genetically susceptible host to autoimmunity."

     Surge of information on benefits of vitamin D   "A lifeguard study that found vitamin D levels in the 70 ng/mL range up to 100 ng/mL (nature’s level) were associated with no adverse effects;...  Colon cancer data showing a reduction in the incidence of new cancer (linear) with postulated 0 point at 75 ng/mL..    

Thanks. I am taking 5,000 1 day then 10,000 next day (got a good deal on 5,000 iu pills & was afraid to take 10,000 every day). I’m in Sun more this time of year & live in SC. Your comments make me not so afraid now. Thanks. I lived up north when I was on the 50,000 a day script and getting checked every few weeks.

Yes on the zinc lozenges! Great idea. I’m just not sure if we are going to continue if we cannot find safe feed. Might have to find a local beef farmer & eat more beef.
Ketovore / Carnivore are good to do for 90 days or more to heal & eliminate inflammatory things… I did AIP before & still avoid certain things I found inflamed me.

[Wheatwacked]

I get tested by my doctor 4 times a year and have never been higher than 86 ng/ml. 

More good news to ease your concern:  

   "Ekwaru et al recently reported on more than 17,000 healthy adult volunteers participating in a preventative health program and taking varying doses of vitamin D up to 20,000 IU/d. These patients did not demonstrate any toxicity, and the blood level of 25(OH)D in those taking even 20,000 IU/d was less than 100" ng/mL."   https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(15)00244-X/pdf