Mowing The Lawn?

[catfish]

What about lawn mowing? Well, lot of lawn grasses are in the rye family, and mowing creates a huge mess of debris. I have always broken out in a sort of minor rash on my arms or other exposed areas after mowing the lawn, although I of course never connected it to possible wheat intolerance before. Might this be related or am I just being nutty?

[tarnalberry]

I don't think you're being nutty at all. I would encourage you to either see if someone else can do the mowing, or resow with a different type of grass.

[lovegrov]

This is not one that would concern me from a gluten aspect. Many, many people get itchy or develop a rash from grass. It's a very common allergy. Some people can't mow the grass at all or have to wear a mask.

richard

[jeanzdyn]

I think I got glutened today, by driving on a highway where they have been mowing in the right of way and median 'grasses' recently and still are today. (who knows what grows wild out here in Wisconsin!) About 45 minutes to an hour later I suddenly had some old, familiar intestinal symptoms.

I cannot figure out what else could have caused my body to react this way. I tracked back for 48 hours and cannot think of anything I consumed that has ever made me sick before.

My intestines started gurgling and I thought I was going to have diarrhea, and then I had intestinal cramping. All this while driving a truck... so it was not as bad as it could have been, obviously, as I did not have to pull over. I did make it to a rest area, where I used the facilities and then took some immodium, because what else could I do? It's a 90+ degree (farenheit) day and I had a few more miles to travel before I could stop.

I was able to continue to sip water to stay hydrated and by the end of my drive, about another hour, I was feeling much better.

But those symptoms --I had not experienced anything like that in a while, so it was scary and a bit of a shock!

[bartfull]

All you need to do is sneeze or cough and you are going to take a breath with your mouth open. If there is a little bit of this grass dust in the air, you just sucked some of it into your mouth. I never thought of it, but I can definitely see where it might be a problem. I'm never home when my friend comes and mows my lawn for me. Now I'm glad.

[Lisa]

I've never heard of cut grass being a concern, regarding ingesting gluten. But, I don't have allergies, either, which might be another issue.

Nor, have I ever known of concern from the National Foundations for Celiac Disease.

[JNBunnie1]

It seems to me that a big machine shredding a very tall stand of grasses that include wheat grasses that are mature enough to sprout might be a valid concern. Those things can throw off major dustclouds, and depending on what state you're in there are certainly gluten grains growing wild. Not too hard to hit the windows when you see the equipment up ahead, though.

When it comes to residential lawns, how often do you let it get tall enough to go to seed? Not very likely. It's completely normal to get a skin rash from the grass. My hubby would tell you to mow with sneakers and long pants on, no matter how hot it is. He does this for a living, and sends anyone who shows up in shorts home. Shorts are a good way to get hurt if the mower throws a rock.