Is it rice sensitivity?

[Ailen]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and wanted to know if anyone had a similar experience, or if anyone knows what could be happening to me.

A couple of years ago I was diagnosed with gluten sensitivity, my main sign was brain fog. At the beginning of this year I started having dizziness and I read that the casein in milk and the zein in corn could cause cross-reaction with gluten, so I stopped consuming them and the dizziness went away.

Now it's been two weeks since I feel very dizzy and have brain fog again. It occurs to me that I may have developed an intolerance to rice, do you think that's possible? 

[trents]

Welcome to he forum, Ailen!

Yes, it is certainly possible to develop an intolerance to rice but that can also be said for any food. What makes you think it is rice you are reacting to?

You say you were diagnosed with gluten sensitivity. Were you also formally tested for celiac disease and was that ruled out?

[Ailen]

9 minutes ago, trents said:

Welcome to he forum, Ailen!

Yes, it is certainly possible to develop an intolerance to rice but that can also be said for any food. What makes you think it is rice you are reacting to?

You say you were diagnosed with gluten sensitivity. Were you also formally tested for celiac disease and was that ruled out?

Thank you!

I was tested for celiac disease and the results came negative, although I was already on a gluten free diet and the doctor told me to eat gluten for three weeks before getting tested (I'm not sure if that is enough time for the results to be accurate)

I thought about rice since I read that any grain may cause a crossed reaction with gluten, and that's the only grain that I'm currently eating... What else do you think it could be? Could any food cause these symptoms?

[trents]

The Mayo Clinic gluten challenge guidelines for those having already embarked on the gluten free journey but want to get tested is two slices of wheat bread (or the gluten equivalent) daily for 6-8 weeks leading up to the day of testing. But recently there is some doubt that even that protocol may not present enough exposure to give reliable test results.

Having said that, at the end of the day the same antidote applies to either celiac disease or gluten sensitivity - total avoidance of gluten.

But back to your question. "Sensitivity" is a very elastic term and can mean different things in different contexts. Intolerance? Allergic reaction? Sensitivity? The real question is what immune system pathway is being engaged in the reaction? Some of these things just don't fit into our neat categories since we don't have much knowledge of how the immunes system is being engaged.

Your body's immune system can react negatively in some way to any protein and essentially, all foods contain protein.

Edited September 19, 2023 by trents