What Happens When You Get 'glutened?

[danikali]

Can I ask what the symptoms that you all get when you eat gluten? I am going through a problem right now. It starts out as just some regular stomach problems, then turns to 'D' (horrible all day long for like 2 days), then 'C' and then I get horrible body aches and I feel like my insides are swelled up (and my stomach is a balloon). This stays for like 5-7 days after the 'D'. That's why I'm altering my diet. Today all I'm going to have is applesauce during the day and rice at night. Can you guys tell me what happens to you? Not to mention irritable, tired and horrible cravings after the initial glutening. The whole process is like 2 weeks.

What happens to you? I just want to know if anyone has such long problems like me? And different stages? And body aches? And if when you touch your body, anywhere, it aches. Laying down and sitting down KILL ME!

[spunky]

I'm still pretty new (8 months gluten free) and only self-diagnosed, so i can't always tell if I'm still just going through the ups and downs of initial healing, or when I've actually been glutened for sure, but times when I suspected a glutening I've had both the dreaded C & D on the same days, the balloons and awful bloating in the tummy, howling wolves (or it sounds that way--loud enough for people in meetings to stop and laugh at me) inside of me everytime I eat anything, irritability and feelings of impatience, and a feeling of hopelessness. I haven't noticed the body aches. This has lasted me around two weeks (once it was 3 weeks...FUN!), when I THINK it happened...for me, as far as I could tell, the symptoms didn't really come on for 3 or 4 days after when I THOUGHT I may have ingested some gluten...if I woulnd't have been keeping notes, I don't think I'd even be suspicious enough to even know THIS much.

[danikali]

Hi Spunky,

Thanks for replying. It's crazy because I used to live every day like this! Now when it happens, I freak out because I know what it feels like to be normal. It's just so horrible and I want it to end. It's crazy because it really really really messes me up! I mean, it starts out kind of like nothing, and then it gets worse and worse and worse and before I know it, I'm back to feeling like I'm 100 years old all from ONE GLUTENING!!!!

[spunky]

I hear ya! It's amazing to me I've only been "normal," or maybe just almost normal, for a couple of months, but I totally freak whenever I get the old feelings back...kinda like, I stood that all the time for years...but now I can't tolerate it AT ALL!!!

[emcmaster]

Immediately after consuming gluten, dairy or practically any fat, I blow up like a balloon - seriously. I keep maternity clothes around so I have something to wear. The stabbing pains in my stomach start a few hours later, along with really bad back pain and brain fog. The symptoms last for anywhere for about a week, sometimes a little less, and gradually get better over that week.

Needless to say, though, it sucks.

Sorry you got glutened!

[danikali]

Thanks for your replies. Yeah, this is really horrible. Now I am back to being extremely paranoid about what goes into my mouth (which I guess is a good thing). I need to make a goal to stay completely healthy for one whole year.....okay, 6 months, and not slip up once on my diet! That means, no taking risks. But it's totally worth it because here I am, feeling like I'm back to square one!

[Deb O (UK)]

Hi

I'm very new to gluten-free living and have been gluten-free for only a few weeks. By the 2nd day I felt a big improvement - no more D or rushing to the toilet after eating. I began to think that this was wonderful. However, over the last couple of weeks I'm not feeling so good again. My stomach's nowhere near as bad as before gluten-free, but it seems more sensitive somehow - I've had an increase in going to toilet again (although no urgency) and an increase in wind and I've also felt very tired again over the last week and back ache.

I think what I want to share and ask for comments is this - I'm not sure whether my tiredness, back ache, bloating is due to being glutened or just whether I'd feel tired anyway (I am kinda busy most of the time)

Any thoughts please?

I've jsut thought as I've read over my message - for years I've had back ache and noticed that it was always worse on days when I felt very tired and used to say this to my husband - there's no apparant reason for my back to ache, has this been due to gluten do you think?

Thanks, Deb

[gabby]

I noticed in your signature that you have interstitial cystitis. I feel for you. I had it for years and years and had every test known to man and tried lots of treatments. But it kept coming back. I'm telling you this because I finally related it to gluten. If I have gluten....even a teeny weeny bit, I get sick with stomach and intestinal problems immediately, but here's the part I wanted to share with you: after about 4-7 days, I get a terrible UTI (urinary tract infection). Like clockwork. No gluten=no more UTI for me. So it has made me one of those militant anti-gluten people. If it has a speck of gluten, I won't go near it. Nothing is worth getting a UTI. Nothing.

I hope that going gluten-free helps your cystitis get better.

all the best,

[oceangirl]

I noticed in your signature that you have interstitial cystitis. I feel for you. I had it for years and years and had every test known to man and tried lots of treatments. But it kept coming back. I'm telling you this because I finally related it to gluten. If I have gluten....even a teeny weeny bit, I get sick with stomach and intestinal problems immediately, but here's the part I wanted to share with you: after about 4-7 days, I get a terrible UTI (urinary tract infection). Like clockwork. No gluten=no more UTI for me. So it has made me one of those militant anti-gluten people. If it has a speck of gluten, I won't go near it. Nothing is worth getting a UTI. Nothing.

I hope that going gluten-free helps your cystitis get better.

all the best,

Danielle and Spunky and all,

You sound very much like me when I'm glutened and it is NO fun! Now I often can't find what did it because of either a delay in symptom-onset or because the symptoms go on for so long. But it usually happens when I try to add in a processed food that SEEMS gluten-free, but I'm not sure. (Like a chocolate bar that seems like it's all dark chocolate til I finally call the company and they tell me it's NOT gluten-free- that one was "Terra Nuestra %73 cocoa bar)

Yes! Backache! Very low, deep pain- had it a lot before going gluten-free, now only when I eat something wrong. Yes to the horrible bloating, pain, depression and hopelessness! And now my tolerance for those symptoms is nil because I've had a little taste of feeling more normal. Hang in there and know you are not alone!

lisa

[danikali]

Hi everyone.

YES, I used to have horrible back pains when I was eating gluten. Honestly, I had horrible EVERYTHING! I mean, everything ached. That's why I felt like I was dying! I really thought that my life was going to end in my early 20's. Anyway, the only time I get any kind of ache is when I eat something bad. Other than that, I am so 100% perfect. I'm not joking. If I stick to veggies, fruit, meat, fish and rice (and I also use the food combining method which helps), I don't get sick AT ALL! I don't take any supplements anymore, unless for a short while, like acidopholis when I get glutened or something, but going from feeling like you're dying to feeling like there isn't anything in this world world I CAN'T DO, it's an amazing feeling. The only thing that gets me down these days is that I have to live so restricted to feel this way. I can't drink with my friends anymore when we go out (because of the cystits, I get horrible kidney pains if I drink, and of course the regular UTI symptoms), I can't eat junk food, processed, I can't have coffee (IC), I can't have dairy of course, and then I get mad and 'even' and decide to 'treat' myself and end up over doing it and making myself sick. Of course not on gluten, raaarely dairy, and I get stomach problems for a few days. Not gluten sick of course, I would never ever intentionally do that to myself.

Gabby, yes, I've had IC pretty much since I started puberty but the doctors never figured it out. HORRIBLE. But doing my own research, I figured it out and got myself tested. (just like with celiac disease-same thing). The doctor gave me Elmiron, but right before I was going to take it, I found something on the IC Network forum. A girl posted her sucess with food combining and IC. So, I tried it, and it works! So I never actually took the Elmiron. It's sitting in my med. cabinet and I told my doc. about the food combining and said I would call him if I was going to start the meds. (I'm actually really against mainstream medical meds. unless it is the last option available and all else has completely failed.) And yes, if I have gluten, it also kills my kidneys, bladder and urethra for about a week! It's weird because I never know if gluten is going to affect my IC or the digestive system. Sometimes it's both. One time, my fiance's Mom made a ham for our pre-Thanksgiving Dinner and she put bourban on it. We all thought that bourban just comes from corn, plus we thought it would burn off in the oven. Well, that night I got up to go to the bathroom and I tried to pee and nothing came out but a drip and I looked down and my stomach was a balloon and my whole lower back and kidneys were throbbing, not to mention it burned down there! Then for the next 2-3 days, I had all of those symptoms and bleeding.....abdominal cramps like I had my period (I didn't of course)......oh my gosh, that was one of the worst. Anyway, a few months later I decided to check on bourban, because I still didn't understand why that happened to me. Sure enough, bourban is only about 40% corn derived (not totally sure on the percentage, so don't quote me) and the other 60% usually comes from rye or barley!!! These days, I eat EVERYTHING PLAIN, COMPLETELY, unless I can season it myself.

[MistressIsis]

Oh yeah, the back pain & joint pain. I've been gluten-free since Oct '2004 and I only figured out recently that that was where the elbow & hip pain came from. Actually from reading posts here!

For me sitting was worse. Standing was ok even though I hunched over all the time. Laying down on my left side was the only way I got relief.

A close friend had an incident with cheese not too long ago & I could tell how badly she felt just by her face. We talked about it & as I was describing my gluten symptoms (which were similair for her) she looked at me in horror and said "OMG! This is what you felt like all that time?? EVERY DAY??"

She actually saw me at 1 of the worst times when it was still intermittent and I wasn't used to the pain yet. Amazinghow I just got used to it and got through my day'cause what else can you do?

[ironic]

Are the symptoms worse if you've been on the diet and then get glutened. Or is it how you used to feel all the time?

As for bloating and shooting pain - if you get on your knees and rest on your forearms, it helps a LOT with cramps. I have no idea why, but it does. At least for me. It even helps with bloat.

And who said they have maternity clothes?!! Cause I do that too!!!! Its awful though, because *we* know we don't really look like that, but try to tell someone else, and they think your in denial.

Pasta is the worst for bloat with me.

[ÆON]

At first (when I was first on the diet) it felt like the flu and quickly moved onto bloating and burping and horrible gas pain. Before the pain really set in I would feel distressed (despondent, I guess really) and just wanted to sleep, after about a few hours it turned from muscle aches to joint aches.

Now, it's gotten worse - goes pretty much straight into stomach pains, tremors, hands and feet that feel like they're asleep (sort of like food posioning) and it' about 6-8 hours of that.

Can't really eat anything for about a day after without bloating, burping, C and I feel really tired and mindless. Oh and the backache that some people have mentioned, I get that too.

Some painkillers seem to help (percoset) and hot baths (go figure?) but nothing else.