First "serious" Reaction

[Eric-C]

Well I finally had my first very serious reaction to gluten....but as with all things I learned something.

About 2 years ago I had a severe reaction to Cipro...I had severe anxiety, muscle aches, cramps, you name it I had it.

It took nearly a year and a half to go away and honestly afterwards I never felt better.

Last night it all returned but now I have an idea that maybe the Cipro wasn't the only culprit. I know now from going back I was gluten sensative for about 7 years. Never anything that severe, stomach cramps, maybe some related issues. About 4 times per year though I'd get pain so severe I almost went to the emergency room.

What I learned was it was from a lack of fiber. Ate more fiber and dealt with the once in a while problem.

When we went gluten free about 3 weeks after we decided to go gluten/sugar free also. I never have a problem with dairy, soy bugs me a little(wheat free even), but when I was going through the Cipro episode I gave up sugar.

I noticed that when I ate sugar my symptoms, especially the muscle tension and tremors got much worse. When I ate foods low on the GI index I did OK.

Eventually I did notice a correlation between wheat and my stomach problems, plus bread is high on the GI index so as I took that out of my diet things got better. I always assumed it was the low GI index foods I was eating.

I now know, or at least am pretty sure that it was the gluten intolerance during that time. Anti-biotics damage the intestine like Celiac's does. I think I had a version of leaky gut where carbs were going directly into my blood stream or being absorbed incorrectly.

Eating a low GI diet helped control that and my physical symptoms were masked. Eventually I was able to add back in sugar, pop, candy, you name it and felt great, but I was for the most part gluten free by that time and my blood sugar was rock solid, no problems.

So we give up sugar and give up flour, all flours, corn, rice, anything that is pulverized.

We both feel great and I felt 10 years younger.

Things unraveled starting last week. We tried oats and I had some stomach issues. So that led to some initial damage which did not bother me a whole lot but figure I'm already down a bit.

Saturday night we goto our favorite restaurant and I order Veal Marsala as I always do and they always make it with corn starch instead of flour for me. This is the same restaurant that sent me to the emergency room about 13 months ago that lead to my finding out I was allergic to gluten.

We go back because they have great veal and always make sure its flour free. Except this time.

So normally not a big deal. I have some serious stomach pain and things follow their course.

However I decided to have a drink with dinner but it was too sweet for me to drink because of the fact I've been sugar free so I switched to a glass of wine.

I swear I woke up with severe stomach pain that night but then thought I was dreaming...went away no problem.

Sunday I have breakfast and all is OK. Then dinner comes and we have London Broil with a portabella stuffed with crab meat and artichokes. It looked like it had bread crumbs but the guy at Whole Foods insisted it did not. CC does not effect me so I wasn't worried about that. On top of that we had corn, another high carb food.

Make matters worse we decide to go grab a single scoop of ice cream for dessert...a ton of simple sugar.

Later that night we split an apple with Agave drizzled on top...another bad idea as I found out. Agave has a very low GI index, 19 with a load of 1.9. However when eaten within a certain timeframe of another high GI index food it takes on that characteristic, so even more high GI food going into my system.

That night I start to feel a bit shaky but figure it was the ice cream and sugar rush.

Making lunch for Monday afternoon....Whole Foods is out of our normal corn tortilla's which are made with whole corn, not corn flour. We said OK once we'll get the corn flour ones because we were in a hurry and they are impossible to find.

So more simple carbs going in. Ate those for lunch on Monday.

Monday night we had to go pick up an important package which is next to our favorite Mexican restaurant...so we stop there...and eat more simple carbs.

By the time dinner was done my neck and face muscles were so tight the were twitching. All of my muscles were tight and I wasn't able to sit still.

That night the stomach pains came and things just progressed....I woke up with a racing heart beat like a diabetic might.

I had all the symptoms of severe hypoglycemia but I'm not hypoglycemic or diabetic.

I think all those carbs went straight into my blood stream and were not digested right. It was like I reverted back 25 months.

My endocronologist was very concerned about me waking up with the racing heart but back then I told him it only happens with certain combinations. I hadn't had sugar for a while and before I knew about the gluten problem I went out for pizza and had my first pop in 6 months, woke up with the racing heart and other issues.

So now through all of this I suspect that most carbs go straight in and are not regulated when I have gluten and a simple carb.

We've lost 17lbs on this diet and its worked well. You can cheat and they even encourage it once in a while. We've had sugar a few times the past couple of weeks and we just get the normal sugar rush because your pancrease is making up for it.

Here however it seems like when I mix it with Gluten I just absorb it directly and because they are carbs not glucose insulin either is not produced or does not help.

It'll take a few days for me to settle down. This morning I can hold my hands still and I haven't lost progressed into the worse physical symptoms. Strangely enough I lose my rythym I'm a big music fan and cannot follow music when it gets worse. My muscles are losening up and I'll go for a massage at work in a few hours.

I've had simple carbs/sugar and gluten before but I was regularly having it so I assume my body got used to it. I suspect that was part of my slow recovery was my body adjusting. Being sugar free this came as a total shock and everything went haywire.

The more and more I go through this I wonder how many others have various symptoms their doctors cannot pinpoint. I was poked and prodded for months on end with my initial reaction and I ended up solving it myself with my diet. After a time I could go back to eating anything I wanted.

I always noticed a worsening of symptoms with white bread but just thought that was the high GI count...I always knew it was related to how my body was regulating things but I never realized until last now the final piece of this.

Normally I'd wait a few weeks and try this again to see if it repeats but the episdoe was bad enough to make sure I double check my food before eating.

I'll go back to the same place...if I had asked then it would have been different but I did not confirm it was flour free and I should have. Also if I had not stuffed myself with crap food the next 2 days the results would have been much different.

Some food for thought.