Egg Whites

[radgirl]

Happy New Year to you all! I hope the NY is treating everyone well thus far.

Question to the group. Have you found that since being a Celiac, you can no longer tolerate EGG WHITES? Please chime in on this one. I'm trying to see if egg whites are now causing me issue. Is there such a thing as an intolerance/sensitivity to egg whites? If so, what are some of the symptoms?

[Ursa Major]

An intolerance to eggs doesn't really have anything to do with celiac disease as such. However, I have many other intolerances, and eggs is one of them.

I react to eggs almost the same as to gluten (diarrhea, joint pain, back pain, knees and ankles will buckle on the stairs). Eggs are part of the lectin group of foods, and I can't tolerate any lectins.

Here is a link to find out about lectins: Open Original Shared Link

[lizard00]

I am actually allergic to egg whites. When I eat eggs, they give me a pretty bad stomachache- kind of like a burning sensation that usually lasts for a few hours and will sometimes ease up after I eat again. Somethings I can tolerate that are made with eggs and somethings I can't. I recently bought some gluten-free bread from Trader Joe's that had egg whites in it and it really tore up my stomach.

But I've had a problem with eggs since childhood and was only recently dx'd with an egg allergy. Maybe you should look into that?

[GF931]

  radgirl said:

Happy New Year to you all! I hope the NY is treating everyone well thus far.

Question to the group. Have you found that since being a Celiac, you can no longer tolerate EGG WHITES? Please chime in on this one. I'm trying to see if egg whites are now causing me issue. Is there such a thing as an intolerance/sensitivity to egg whites? If so, what are some of the symptoms?

Yes. I can't eat eggs, either. Seem OK in baked goods but no more egg while omelettes, etc. I'm so annoyed!!!

[GlutenWrangler]

I'm allergic to egg whites. When I was in the hospital they made me eat egg whites for a gastric emptying study. My blood pressure ended up dropping to 70/30. The funny thing was that I told them I was allergic to egg whites but they made me eat them anyway.

-Brian

[radgirl]

If you are allergic to eggs does that mean the entire egg or only the white or only the yolk? It seems I'm finding that many are bothered by the whites only. Does the amount of whites make a difference in your symptoms? I'm trying to sort through the possible details.

[lizard00]

You can be allergic to the entire egg, although egg white allergy is the more common. I've wondered about amounts too, but I think an allergy is an allergy; any exposure is going to produce a reaction. Some people have more severe reactions like going into anaphylaxic shock, or it could just give you GI discomfort (like me). My cousin is allergic to dairy products and it breaks her whole body out into hives.

[LRgirl]

  radgirl said:

If you are allergic to eggs does that mean the entire egg or only the white or only the yolk? It seems I'm finding that many are bothered by the whites only. Does the amount of whites make a difference in your symptoms? I'm trying to sort through the possible details.

Hi radgirl,

This is so weird! I'm also allergic to egg whites. When I took an allergy test, egg whites only came up. Any amount of egg whites seem to set off the symptoms. In the past, I've tried to seperate the whites from the yokes. I'd even wipe off any residue from the yolk. But, I'd still have a reaction because you can't completely seperate the two. There's always some bit left on the yolk. I hope that helps.

[Darn210]

  GlutenWrangler said:

I'm allergic to egg whites. When I was in the hospital they made me eat egg whites for a gastric emptying study. My blood pressure ended up dropping to 70/30. The funny thing was that I told them I was allergic to egg whites but they made me eat them anyway.

-Brian

Brian - a bit off topic, but when my daughter had the GES done, they used eggs. I asked if there was something else (because she hates eggs) and the other choice was cream of wheat or oatmeal or something like that. I know it was something with gluten. So they may have figured you were better off with the eggs than with the gluten. I know that the radioactive isotope has to bond with a certain kind of protein and eggs work the best. They said they tried to do it on a hamburger once for someone but it didn't work and the test was a waste. OK . . . carry on . . . back to eggs!

[hathor]

I may be wrong, but I'm remembering reading that the protein is in the white. So it would make sense that an allergy would be to that part.

There can be problems with eggs other than allergies, at least from my experience. I used to eat eggs at the time when I was young. Then I started having problems with things like omelets. Next pancakes and the like became a problem. I ended up just having a few desserts with eggs in them a year (we are talking occasions I can count on one hand's fingers). I would feel bad, but I wasn't sure if it was an unaccustomed amount of fat, sugar, etc. So I decided to get tested and Enterolab still found a positive result for egg antibodies, just with that little amount.

So the problem can grow over time. I've run across a few people with similar experiences, although I haven't read any medical authorities explaining the phenomenon.

Now, I actually get sicker from eggs than gluten or anything else.

In terms of symptoms, I think they can vary, just like the symptoms of an intolerance to gluten can vary. The only way you can tell if you have a problem is to eliminate eggs and then challenge or to get tested by someone like Enterolab.

If you do have a problem with eggs, there are substitutes you can use in baking, like ground flax seed or EnerG egg replacer.

[Piccolo]

I had my blood drawn for 96 food sensitivities. Egg white was one of them. When the sensitivity is the egg white you can either just eat the yolk or as a food list recommended duck eggs. I tolerate duck eggs very well. The last time I bought them they were $6.00 per dozen. Hope that helps

Susan

[McGluten]

Looks like I'm running out of foods to eat!

Over time I think I've just built up too high a level of contamination which really triggered several food sensitivities.

I'm DH for gluten. Egg white sensitive too...yolks seem to be fairly ok.

I'm technically only allergic to hazelnuts. Myriad of grasses and trees.

[GlutenWrangler]

Yeah originally they were going to have me eat toast. Either way I would have felt horrible.