Amount Of Gluten You Eat...

[JerryK]

So...like on Saturday when I pounded down Krispy Kream's, Pizza...chinese food and got really sick,

I'd eaten a LOT of gluten.

Previously I was sure I didn't have it because a couple of pieces of bread didn't make me sick.

So the question is, how much difference does it make for YOU, if you eat a little bit of Gluten, like

a piece of bread...or a lot, like I did Saturday.

Are there folks out there that can eat a little Gluten with only perhaps modest effect, but if you eat more you get really sick??

Hope this makes sense...Jerry

[Mango04]

It does make sense. The thing is, your body has never been completely gluten-free, which means you probably have to eat A LOT of gluten to feel an effect. Don't assume damage isn't constantly being done just because you don't always feel symptoms. If you ever go completely gluten-free, you'll probably start to notice that small amounts of gluten will bother you.

I don't believe a partially gluten-free diet will ever make a difference. You would need to be completely gluten-free to ever really benefit from the dietary change.

So I guess to answer your question more clearly....now that I'm completely gluten-free, any amount of gluten bothers me. That wasn't always the case before I eliminated gluten.

[4tomorrow]

I have been sick for three days and I have no idea what did it. I am VERY strict with what I eat. I have my own "kitchen" in the laundry room, my own dishes, dishwasher etc. I must have gotten a TRACE somewhere. I've had to take some of my tylenol #3 and they barely even dull the pain. Once you've gone gluten free you'll probablly be even more sensitive.

[debbiewil]

Before I went gluten free, the amount did affect me. And also, how much proportionally it was to the total amount I ate. For instance, I stopped eating pasta 10 years ago, because it always bothered me. Well, that was like a spaghetti dinner, where pasta (wheat) was 80-90 percent of the meal. The little bit of sauce or whatever didn't cut the amount of gluten that was hitting my system. But I could continue to eat say a piece of toast with eggs and bacon with out noticing anything, because it was a smaller amount, and there was enough other food so that all the gluten didn't hit my system at once. So yes, if you are still eating gluten, the amount you eat and what you eat with it will have an affect on your symptoms.

Debbie

[JerryK]

Before I went gluten free, the amount did affect me. And also, how much proportionally it was to the total amount I ate. For instance, I stopped eating pasta 10 years ago, because it always bothered me. Well, that was like a spaghetti dinner, where pasta (wheat) was 80-90 percent of the meal. The little bit of sauce or whatever didn't cut the amount of gluten that was hitting my system. But I could continue to eat say a piece of toast with eggs and bacon with out noticing anything, because it was a smaller amount, and there was enough other food so that all the gluten didn't hit my system at once. So yes, if you are still eating gluten, the amount you eat and what you eat with it will have an affect on your symptoms.

Debbie

Yeah, thanks...that's exactly what I noticed. I can eat like a piece of toast with breakfast and I don't notice anything. Pounding down a bunch of gluten all at once seems to make me much sicker. Assuming of course that it is the gluten....

[Fiddle-Faddle]

As far as I can tell, pounding down a ton of gluten would make almost anyone sick, celiac or not! Look at the number of anti-diarrhea and heartburn over-the-counter-meds there are! Or maybe all human beings are celiac, just some less so than others?

[penguin]

I stopped eating pasta a long time ago because I threw up too many times after it. I always attributed it to the tomatoes in the sauce, even if it was something like vodka sauce. Now (when I'm gluten-free, anyway) I don't get so much as a burp from tinkyada pasta and nice and acidic tomato sauce. Go figure.

I also didn't know it wasn't normal to feel sleepy after a bowl of spaghetti...

Um, now that I'm eating high gluten to prepare for testing, I'm pretty much stoned all the time. I think the amount of gluten counts, but when you've eaten high gluten for a while, your body gets used to it and compensates as best it can.

[mouse]

Hi Jerry. After your lab tests come back and if they say Celiac or gluten intolerance, may I suggest that you go completely gluten-free and not try to exist on a little bit of gluten here and there. I was diagnosed at age 62 and if you look below my signature you will notice all of the auto-immune diseases that I now have been diagnosed with. The majority of them have been diagnosed in the last 1 1/2 years. I would not wish my quality of life on anyone. This is not a hit or miss disease and should be taken seriously.

To answer your question on this thread, I react the same no matter the amount of gluten. Cross contamination gives me the same problems as when I accidently ingest a gluten filled item.

[eKatherine]

As far as I can tell, pounding down a ton of gluten would make almost anyone sick, celiac or not! Look at the number of anti-diarrhea and heartburn over-the-counter-meds there are! Or maybe all human beings are celiac, just some less so than others?

I'd like to know how many of the people who have joint pain are actually suffering because of gluten complications. I didn't have digestive symptoms when I was still eating gluten, but if I hadn't figured out by chance what was causing my joint pain, I'd still be eating bread and having trouble walking on my swollen feet instead of wearing pretty shoes.

[CarlaB]

I'd like to know how many of the people who have joint pain are actually suffering because of gluten complications. I didn't have digestive symptoms when I was still eating gluten, but if I hadn't figured out by chance what was causing my joint pain, I'd still be eating bread and having trouble walking on my swollen feet instead of wearing pretty shoes.

Same here!! It was my terrible arthritis type pain in my knees and thumbs that led me to a rotation diet, which made me figure out wheat made me sick. Then, three years off wheat, the digestive symptoms started to get worse. I always had stomach problems, including once where I couldn't even work for three months, but they finally got to the point that I was losing a pound a week. But it was the joint pain that got me started. I thought the stomach pain was normal.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

I also didn't know it wasn't normal to feel sleepy after a bowl of spaghetti...

Everybody I know gets sleepy after a bowl of spaghetti! It's been a running joke at work for YEARS--and none of THEM has celiac! When half my coworkers went on Atkins, they all talked about how much better they felt after lunch...

[wonkabar]

My 3 year-old son had a much stronger reaction to gluten when he accidentally ingested it after being strictly gluten-free for only six weeks. This reation was caused by cc from quaker rice cakes. I definately think once you've rid your body of the major amounts of gluten that you do have a stronger reaction to it.