The First Few Signs....

[Guest ~jules~]

I'm pretty sure I've been glutened, but not sure yet...If you know what I mean (D)....I feel really tired, I have a headache, and the fog is coming on I can feel it....What are the first signs you have when you suspect a glutening? I'm relatively new to this (august), and have only been glutened a few times. Just morbidly curious I guess.

[Nantzie]

For me, the first sign is usually irritability. If I get upset about things that didn't happen recently. Like rehashing things that don't effect my life now, I'm pretty sure the rest of the symptoms will be coming soon. The last time I got glutened, I started getting mad all over again about a fight I had had with someone a year ago. Which was resolved. But I'm still all of a sudden enFURIATED about it. BUT... ONLY when I'm glutened. When I'm not glutened, if it even crosses my mind, I don't put much importance or thought into it. It's totally over and done with and I get along great with her now.

For me the progression is usually -

Irritability/anger/obsessing about things that are over and done

Horrible headache w/sensitivity to sound and light

Sleepiness to the point I can barely keep my eyes open

Loss of appetite

Stomach irritation w/ cravings for sweets.

Slight brainfog

Most of the time when I get glutened it's just those. The next layer if I get glutened really bad is all of the above plus -

Stomach pain

Diarrhea

Nausea

This next layer has only happened twice since gluten-free, which is all of the above plus -

Major brainfog

Slurred speech (my tongue feels too big for my mouth)

Body pain (my friends who have fibromyalgia describe similar pain)

When I get zapped really bad (which has only happened twice since I've been gluten-free) I end up walking around hunched overlike a gold miner because my stomach hurts so bad that I want to curl into a ball, but my back hurts so bad that I can't handle the pain of the curled up position. So my body decides on a happy medium and I look like I'm walking like an old man.

Once when this third layer happened was after eating an Amy's Meal (Black Bean and Veggie Enchilada's) which had obviously been badly CC'd. It was all I had eaten that day so I know for sure it wasn't anything else.. The second time was when I tried a dietary supplement that just had oats (you know the debate about oats and whether or not we should avoid them). Not sure if that supplement's oat source was CC'd in processing or if I was reacting to the oats themselves.

Then there are the couple weird reactions that I get -

Once, when I first went gluten-free and didn't know that Campbell's Cream of Mushroom wasn't gluten-free, we ate dinner and I started itching all over, especially my scalp and my ears. No rash. Just itchy.

I can also guarantee with 100% certainty that if I drink vodka (even unflavored) and a few other odd reactions (like those oat-containing supplements) that you can practially watch the backs of my hands, from my wrists to my knuckles turn dry and leathery to the point where when I close my hands the skin across my knuckles split and bleed. When that happens and I go run errands with a friend of mine she pushes the shopping cart because I can't grip it without my skin getting all those little splits in them.

I feel like I'm really lucky in that it just seems like gluten is the only thing that bothers me. So many people have other intolerances and/or other health issues on top of gluten. Even though some people (mostly a couple skeptical family members) may think that my "first layer" of symptoms aren't that big of a deal, I was sick for so long that I feel totally robbed of my day when I feel even just that sick. It really just pisses me off (add that to the layering list...) when I get glutened.

Nancy

[Guest cassidy]

My abdominal area usually makes a squeaking sound which I think is from gas. It is really weird, I don't know if that happens to anyone else. That usually happens after a few bites. 45 minutes later I'm usually running to the bathroom and I have a severe stomach ache. The headache starts the next day and lasts for 24 hours. I also get shaky and jittery right away and by the next day I'm very anxious and a bit paranoid. Xanax really helps with those symptoms - I was taking it regularly being going gluten-free and now I only need it when glutened.

Sometimes I don't get D at all, other times it lasts for days and things aren't right for a week or two. No mather how my symptoms come they always affect my stomach and head and nothing else makes me feel like that.

Sorry you got sick and hope you feel better soon.

[megzmc3611]

I'm pretty sure I've been glutened, but not sure yet...If you know what I mean (D)....I feel really tired, I have a headache, and the fog is coming on I can feel it....What are the first signs you have when you suspect a glutening? I'm relatively new to this (august), and have only been glutened a few times. Just morbidly curious I guess.

I have been gluten-free for almost three years and still get varying symptoms when I get glutened! To the point where it is hard to tell if I have been glutened or just have a stomach bug and or sinus headache??

Last weekend I ate out at a restaurant. This entire week I have had the exact symptoms you describe....unbelievable tiredness, terrible headaches, and extreme brain fog. But no real stomach symptoms. Usually my stomach symptoms are the worst...

I strongly believe I got "glutened"....my body just feels all over "weird".....

5 days later and still feeling it

[SchnauzerMom]

I get really bad acid stomach. It feels like a hole is being burned in my stomach. Next I get irritable and cranky. Sometimes I get depressed. Evenutally the gas comes.

[key]

Something always happens, but sometimes it varies. The very first symptom is burping alot. Then usually heartburn and reflux. If it is bad, I end up getting really bloated like I am pregnant. Usually 24 hours later or less, I have D, followed by 2-3 days of C! Along with that, alot of times I have brain fog, depression and fatigue. Also, when I am first gluttened, I usually feel anxiety with the burping.

I read somewhere that if you have an allergy (I know this isn't an allergy, but it is foreign to our bodies), it can cause your heart rate to go up, by at least 10 points. I am not sure though if the anxiety is due to the burping and knowing I have probably been gluttened. This happened at PF Chang's last time they brought me the wrong food(then told me after about 10 bites).

There are other things too, waves of nausea, stomach pain, etc. LIke someone said though, my symptoms don't always follow a clear path. I think it varies with how much gluten it is.

HOpe you feel better soon.

Monica

[jerseyangel]

My very first symptom is always gas--about two hours after.

[TinkerbellSwt]

For a mild glutening.. it will occur within 20 minutes of digesting the gluten.. I get horrible gas bubbles in my stomach.. almost like a rumble. I will eventually pass the gas, but in the mean time it hurts. Its not a terrible pain.. but it hurts. I also get irritable.. I pick a fight with everyone! I feel bad later.. but at the time I cant seem to help it.

A major glutening.. the stomach pain is unbearable. Most times I end up in the ER for some pain meds thru an IV. I now have an RX for dilaudid, to help with the pain, but the pill form doesnt work nearly as well as the IV. I will also get D, with no relief. And sleepy.. very very sleepy. I am not sure if that is just an effect of gluten or its my body saying Im way too tired out from these symptoms.

I hope you feel better soon.

[megzmc3611]

For a mild glutening.. it will occur within 20 minutes of digesting the gluten.. I get horrible gas bubbles in my stomach.. almost like a rumble. I will eventually pass the gas, but in the mean time it hurts. Its not a terrible pain.. but it hurts. I also get irritable.. I pick a fight with everyone! I feel bad later.. but at the time I cant seem to help it.

A major glutening.. the stomach pain is unbearable. Most times I end up in the ER for some pain meds thru an IV. I now have an RX for dilaudid, to help with the pain, but the pill form doesnt work nearly as well as the IV. I will also get D, with no relief. And sleepy.. very very sleepy. I am not sure if that is just an effect of gluten or its my body saying Im way too tired out from these symptoms.

I hope you feel better soon.

I get those unbearable stomach/intestine pains sometimes too! Usually I am doubled over on the ground crying for about 8-10 hours...it is just awful!

I don't always get those though..and I don't know what triggers that particular response??