Help! I Am New To This And Glutened Myself.

[jabberwife]

I have been gluten-free for over a week (suspecting intolerance) and just accidentally glutened myself. Dang imitation crab meat. I grabbed some sushi from the grocery, and looked carefully at the soy sauce ingredients, and the soy sauce actually WAS wheat-free (a miracle!) but didn't look until afterwards at the imitation crab. wheat starch. Dang it. So....I have a presentation in 2 hours, am I going to make it through? I haven't tested with gluten since going gluten free....didn't want to test unintentionally! Yikes.

[Nantzie]

Yikes is right. I'll cross my fingers for you that you get through your presentation.

Good luck!

Nancy

[CarlaB]

You'll make mistakes along the way, but each one will be a learning experience. Last mistake I made was with charcoal, who'd have thought charcoal would have wheat in it????

Keep hydrated, it's all you can really do.

[jabberwife]

Well, the fact that I have almost immediately had some reaction (although mild--bloating and gas, mostly) probably confirms the intolerance question, I'm hoping that since I'm probably not THAT sensitive yet, since I just went off of it, that this will be the worst for the next few hours. Here's hoping! Thanks for the support.

[Rikki Tikki]

How are you feeling now? It usually hits me within a couple of hours and lasts a couple of days. It is just a learning experience. I found myself eating a UNO candy bar yesterday and felt ill, looked at the package and on it is wheat flour. So here I am home sick missing work

One would think after all of this time I would know better, but it just happens.

I was just noticing how many people are signed up on the boards, and all I can say is wow. People are becoming aware of celiac and I think that is just great, more foods available. Over 9,000 wow

[Daxin]

Being fairly new to this myself, I glutened myself a couple times. It gets easier, and it has taught me the importance of reading labels.

I hope your presentation went well. It does get easier with time. Promise.

[Guest Robbin]

Welcome. I hope you made it through the presentation. It is awful to have to be excused because of D in the middle of something like that. Keep immodium on hand for emergencies and if D is your major symptom, I recommend eating bananas, they help me-maybe will help you. I hope everything goes well and you start feeling better soon. Let us know how it went.

[tarnalberry]

If it makes you feel any better, I've been doing this for almost three years, and go glutened yesterday. I tend to get plenty of sleep, plenty of water, and plenty of *healthy* food that I KNOW is safe because I cooked it myself.

[jabberwife]

Well, thanks for all the well wishes. I think I still am not used to this gluten-free diet...I glutened myself today. Forgot that egg roll wrappers are flour (duh). Did well with the whole not eating Hoison sauce in my vietnamese soup, no soy sauce, read labels, but then chowed right down on an egg roll. At least it was only one.

Fortunately, I think I have been so new to this that the worst I got yesterday and today was bouts of bad bloating and gas. I imagine if I truly challenged myself after a few weeks being gluten-free, which was my intention, I would have eaten a bagel or something so that there'd be no question as to the results. Bloating and gas only seems somewhat inconclusive to me, but being otherwise gluten-free except for these 2 boo-boos, I am starting to see a pattern as to where these issues come from. Evil gluten!

I did get my Enterolab stuff today in the mail...so I figure I'll get an official diagnosis. I'm not sure that's truly necessary, but I do want to know if lactose or casien has anything to do with my issues as well.

I WILL get the hang of this!