Can Going Gluten Free Develop Allergies

[mitchmoose]

I have been gluten free for approximatley 4 months. Over the past month I have developed an allergic reaction to something which has caused welts and lip swelling. Benadryl seems to help. This allergic reaction is new to me. Would going gluten free make me sensitive to foods that didn't bother me before? Now that I am gluten free are there ingredients that are now new to me that could be causing this. I am working with my doctor now. I am off my blood pressure medication, aspirin, vitamins, etc. before going to allergist.

Does anyone have any experience on this? I would greatly appreciate any information.

Thanks!

mitchmoose

[Babygirl6915]

Mitch,

You should really go see an allergist. When I found out about my wheat allergy there was a list of other things I was allergic to also but never got a reaction from. Now that I am gluten free I have noticed I get a reaction from these things that I did not before. My allergist describes it as you body can only fight back so had so it fights the hardest against the things that will really hurt you. If the wheat it what hurts you the most & you have eliminated it from your diet, your body has the chance to focus on your other allergies. It may seem like a bum deal (or @ least I thought it was) that you have acquired these "new" allergies but really you had them the whole time. You body is just now healthy enough to fight back.

On the allergist topic, make sure they give you a blood allergy test & a skin test. A skin test will not always tell you what digestive allergies you have.

I hope this helped a bit!

[sneezydiva]

I totally agree with Jessica. Unfortunately, you've always had these allergies, but your body was too preoccupied with fighting the wheat. I also think our poor bodies can only fight so much. And now that it has more energy, it can fight the other allergies harder, so it does-unfortunately for us. I have had a simialr experience. At first, going gluten-free seemed to calm down my pollen allergie completely. Then ragweed season came, and it was my worse one ever.

Is your breathing okay when you have these reactions? You may have Oral Allergy Syndrome. It is when a food that is related to certain pollens you are allergic to causes your immune system to react, causing lip and mouth tingling and swelling. But you don't test positive to having an actual allergy to the food. This is something I have always had trouble with, but I have noticed it more so since going gluten free. If you google it, you can find a list of foods that it most commonly happens with and the pollen that it is related to.