Newbie Help!

[joanne23]

Hi All! So glad to have found this site. I was just diagnosed a few weeks ago and I was finally feeling pretty close normal for the first time in almost a year. I don't know if I'm in the right section, but here's my question. Tonight I went to Outback and ordered off their gluten free menu. I felt fine afterwards. Several hours later, I was feeling a little bit hungry so I went for a snack. Had a piece of motzarella cheese and some black olives. I feel TERRIBLE now. Am I missing something? Is there something in the cheese or the olives that could have caused this? Or could it be the Outback from much earlier? I HATE this feeling and don't want to deal with it ever again!

[missy'smom]

It could be the restauraunt but is it possible that the cheese was cross-contaminated from someone touching bread, crackers etc. and then touching the cheese?

[cruelshoes]

It generally takes me a few hours to feel the effects of a gluten exposure. What did you order off the Outback menu? If you got the vegetables, did you make sure to ask that they were unseasoned?

[gf taz]

Hi All! So glad to have found this site. I was just diagnosed a few weeks ago and I was finally feeling pretty close normal for the first time in almost a year. I don't know if I'm in the right section, but here's my question. Tonight I went to Outback and ordered off their gluten free menu. I felt fine afterwards. Several hours later, I was feeling a little bit hungry so I went for a snack. Had a piece of motzarella cheese and some black olives. I feel TERRIBLE now. Am I missing something? Is there something in the cheese or the olives that could have caused this? Or could it be the Outback from much earlier? I HATE this feeling and don't want to deal with it ever again!

have been gluten free for about a year now and still to scared to eat out. have become a bit obsessive about reading labels but did get caught out with some wine gums of all things!

It may be the food you ate or could it be coincidental that you have a bug that is giving the same symptoms

[MN-Newbie]

I'm a newbie too!! I'm really glad to have found this as well, I'm still in my first week. I have eaten out twice, which is probably not the smartest, but it's gone well so far. I haven't cut out dairy, might have to, but if you are still eating dairy and meat, Chipotle is *supposedly* gluten free without a tortilla (burrito bowl). I had one with all my usual fix-ins and didn't have a problem. Good luck!

[joanne23]

Thanks for the responses. I'm still not sure what caused the problem the other night. At Outback, I ordered off the gluten free menu- I had the lobster tail- steamed, a baked potato with butter, and a salad- no croutons of course, with oil and vinegar as the dressing. I had this at about 5pm. It wasn't until around 1am that I had the cheese and olives (I work nights so I don't get to bed until about 5am). The cheese was a brand new package and the olives were in a freshly opened can. I started feeling sick around 2:30am. I stayed up feeling miserable until about 6am, woke up at 12pm and felt better. So I guess the only thing I can think of is cross contamination at the restraunt. I'm scared to eat anywhere and anything right now!

[happygirl]

Two main possibilities:

1. You are new to the diet, so you probably aren't fully healed. Even when eating gluten-free foods, your body may still just be having "issues" because you aren't 100% healthy. It may take a little while for your body to heal and be able to process foods normally.

2. You were cross contaminated at the restaurant. It may have just been a small bit, and you'll probably never know. Once your body heals further, you'll probably be able to know very specifically if you were glutened, and will be able to trace it back to something. (i.e., if you never eat out and are always safe at home....and you go out to eat and then get sick, you'll know it was eating out).

Good luck and welcome to all the newbies!

[Kamper]

I read that the D and soft stools are caused buy the malabsorbed food not being digested properly. Depending on the level of damage to your small intestines you might not have been glutened but just had additional wast that would have normally been absorbed.

[Mom23boys]

While tasty, cheese and olives can be a difficult food for even a solid system when eaten alone. Next time maybe try that snack with a bit of meat, corn tortilla, rice cake...and see if you get more desirable results.