I Just Got Glutened For The 1st Time. . .

[ptkds]

So I have only been gluten-free for about 10 days. My dd's went to a bday party and they got bags full of candy. I was pumping gas when my oldest dd stuck her head out and showed me the butterfinger she was eating. I took a LITTLE bite (maybe the size of your fingertip) and then we both realized that it wasn't a regular butterfinger. It was a crispy one, and the 3rd ingredient on the list was wheat. Within 2 minutes, I was already feeling sick to my stomach! I am just in shock that I started feeling so bad so quick!

So is it normal to have such a fast reaction? I knew that gluten would make me sick, but I never imagined it would be that fast after taking such a small bite, and so soon after going gluten-free.

ptkds

[Nantzie]

I know what you mean. You just think about how many YEARS you've been eating gluten, then you go off of it for just a matter of days. It just smacks you in the face. It's the most bizarre thing isn't it?

Nancy

[lovegrov]

Your reaction was probably psychological. The vast majority of people with celiac take hours -- even up to 48 hours -- to react. I know some people are going to respond and say they react more quickly than hours, but two minutes is simply not a celiac reaction.

richard

[Nantzie]

I consistently react within 15-30 minutes. 85% of the time it's within 15 minutes. Everyone is different though.

Nancy

[NoGluGirl]

So I have only been gluten-free for about 10 days. My dd's went to a bday party and they got bags full of candy. I was pumping gas when my oldest dd stuck her head out and showed me the butterfinger she was eating. I took a LITTLE bite (maybe the size of your fingertip) and then we both realized that it wasn't a regular butterfinger. It was a crispy one, and the 3rd ingredient on the list was wheat. Within 2 minutes, I was already feeling sick to my stomach! I am just in shock that I started feeling so bad so quick!

So is it normal to have such a fast reaction? I knew that gluten would make me sick, but I never imagined it would be that fast after taking such a small bite, and so soon after going gluten-free.

ptkds

Dear ptkds,

I usually take as long as 12 hours, but it depends on the food probably. I have been gluten-free for four months or so now. I got glutened the other week, and I was so ill. It is absolutely miserable. Thank God for Phenergan!

Sincerely,

NoGluGirl

[codetalker]

Within 2 minutes, I was already feeling sick to my stomach!

I can usually tell within 3 to 5 minutes. None of the symptoms appear that fast. However, there are two sensations that are immediate. The first is the type of feeling the precedes food poisoning. It's the suspicion that whatever you ate isn't agreeing with you. The second is my stomach tenses up and starts to gurgle (not the rumbling the comes from hunger).

For example, I tried making my own Chinese food. I bought some soy sauce that everyone agreed was gluten-free. Each time I ate whatever I made, I got the reactions stated above. Very slight and within a couple of minutes. I eventually contacted the manufacturer which was kind enough to send the soy sauce to a lab for testing. The results came back at 0.006% gluten. There was no reason to suspect this so the reaction was probably not psychological.

An obvious question might be, if the actual celiac symptoms do not appear that fast, how then do you know it's celiac-related? The answer is that, even though my body's early warning system has saved me numerous times from making big gluten-mistakes, I still do get all the usual symptoms. Those usually set in within hours. Because one follows the other, I have come to link them together and consider eall of it a gluten-reaction.

What it might come down to is how in tune an individual is with their body and what it is telling them.

[Canadian Karen]

My gut doesn't react that fast - but I do get an immediate warning: My lips, mouth and throat get this burning/tingling feeling......

[Guest cassidy]

It is crazy how your body gets used to being gluten-free and really doesn't like even a crumb of it. As soon as the food has gotten to my stomach I start hearing whining noises from down there. It is weird and not like normal internal gas noises. Always a bad sign for me. Then the D starts 45 minutes later.

Congrats on going the first 10 days without getting sick! I didn't do that well at all. Hope you get over it soon.

[Guest nini]

in your signature it says your daughters are gluten-free too... they need to be much more careful about eating candy from parties before you've had a chance to go through it.

that being said, my gluten reactions happen within 20 minutes of eating. I'm not going to say that 2 minutes isn't enough time for a reaction, but there is a possibility that at least some of the reaction was psychological. Everyone is different though and the only way you can really tell if it's a legitimate reaction or not is by keeping a very detailed food journal.

The first few months that I was gluten-free I probably made a series of mistakes like that, one was when I was making two pots of spagetti, one gluten-free and the other with wheat (I've since stopped this and only make gluten-free pasta) and not only was I using the same spoon to stir it with but I tasted the wheat pasta to make sure it was done. There is a pretty steep learning curve with this though, so don't be too hard on yourself.

A tip for birthday parties, send your children with gluten-free goodies that they can eat when everyone else is eating regular stuff and instruct them not to eat any candy from goody bags until you've had a chance to verify the gluten-free status of the candy, keep a supply of safe gluten-free candy at home to trade out with.

[tea-woman]

Hi. I have been diagnosed with celiac sprue about 2 months ago. Since then I have had a fun time finding food that I can eat. I thought I was doing fine until today....I have had the runs for 3 days. I am not sure is it is the flu or the disease. I suspect it is the disease but don't want to believe it. My stomach makes an awful gurgling sound when it does not like what i have put in it. It's nice to know that there are other people I can bounce this off of. Do you think it's the flu?

[JoeB]

I've only been glutened twice in almost 2 years, but the reaction is fast and furious. Both times, I got a really bad stomach cramp within about 1/2 hour of eating and I know I don't have to explain what happened next. The other symptoms (headache, brain fog, unsettled stomach, etc.) last for about 3 days. I understand the longer you're off gluten, the more rapid and severe the reaction is when you do eat the wrong thing.

[Guest nini]

Hi. I have been diagnosed with celiac sprue about 2 months ago. Since then I have had a fun time finding food that I can eat. I thought I was doing fine until today....I have had the runs for 3 days. I am not sure is it is the flu or the disease. I suspect it is the disease but don't want to believe it. My stomach makes an awful gurgling sound when it does not like what i have put in it. It's nice to know that there are other people I can bounce this off of. Do you think it's the flu?

it's hard to know sometimes if it is the flu or if you've been glutened... just keep yourself hydrated and rest, if you don't start feeling better very soon you may want to go to the Dr.

[2wheels4eyes]

I've had two major glutenings in my four months on the diet--my mistake afterwards was eating whatever I wanted/had on hand while I was getting over the gluten. I think this may have prolonged things. The second time I stuck to whole foods, grits, water, peppermint tea, etc., stayed away from packaged/prepared stuff and felt much better. I've heard from other people that fruit is a bad idea while you recover and I certainly found that to be the case also. The other bonus of keeping your eating simple for the first few days after a run-in with gluten is that it might be easier to determine the source.

[tea-woman]

I've had two major glutenings in my four months on the diet--my mistake afterwards was eating whatever I wanted/had on hand while I was getting over the gluten. I think this may have prolonged things. The second time I stuck to whole foods, grits, water, peppermint tea, etc., stayed away from packaged/prepared stuff and felt much better. I've heard from other people that fruit is a bad idea while you recover and I certainly found that to be the case also. The other bonus of keeping your eating simple for the first few days after a run-in with gluten is that it might be easier to determine the source.

Well, I can trace it back to this past Tuesday.....had gravy with my fries. I don't know what I was thinking....it seemed so natural....didn't cross my mind that it was made out of flour. When I realized it...that I was having gravy.... I said in my mind "What the heck...might as well enjoy this". The sorrow of it all was the three days in the washroom three days later. hahaha I can laugh over it now but I was crying then. I drank peppermint tea yesterday, added honey in my tea, ate apples, and rice crackers. Blah. But I am much better now. Up until this episode I really started to question if it was all a fabrication made up by the doctors - maybe they got my colonoscopy results mixed up with someone else's. Guess not!