Strange Possibly Stupid Question

[Octoberme]

Okay......say you have been having stomach problems and no one can give you answers so you yourself decide to go on a gluten free diet wihtout ever having a doctor say you need to be gluten free.

After a few months now, you are feeling better and have decided that maybe it was nto gluten / wheat that was bothering you and maybe something else that has now been " fixed ". So.....you decide to eat wheat / gluten again. Will it cause you upset in this case if you actually are NOT allergic / intolerant to it? Woudl that be a good test to find out why? Or would it stil bother you plainly because you have been without it for months even if not allergic / intolerant to it?

May be a dumb question, but I am super curious.

[Ursa Major]

Your question is neither strange nor stupid. I did the same thing, due to clueless doctors. I decided to eliminate gluten on my own, and my positive response to the gluten-free diet was amazing.

I challenged myself with gluten several times, always with the same result. I now get a delayed reaction to gluten, but it is predictable that within 24 to 48 hours I will get bloating, terrible bowel cramps and diarrhea. There is no other possible answer for that but that I am obviously gluten intolerant.

I will be gluten-free for life as a result.

[Octoberme]

Lol, thanks for the reply. Glad that was not a silly question. Basically I am sick o fthe doctors here and the time wait and the way they just want to sluff stuff off and tell you to " deal with it ". So, i decided to do some fixin on my own. So far the gluten free diet has been fabulous for the most part, though I do think that I have some other triggers or something else that is bothering me. I am weaning through stuff however but ALOS not being impatient and letting this gluten free thing work ( I am told it can take a LONG while to feel totally better and you get side effects and symptoms for a while after going gluten free still?? )....

However I wa sjust curious as to what would happen if I decided to ....gluten myself :-P\

Thanks :-)

[Ivanna44]

Okay......say you have been having stomach problems and no one can give you answers so you yourself decide to go on a gluten free diet wihtout ever having a doctor say you need to be gluten free.

After a few months now, you are feeling better and have decided that maybe it was nto gluten / wheat that was bothering you and maybe something else that has now been " fixed ". So.....you decide to eat wheat / gluten again. Will it cause you upset in this case if you actually are NOT allergic / intolerant to it? Woudl that be a good test to find out why? Or would it stil bother you plainly because you have been without it for months even if not allergic / intolerant to it?

May be a dumb question, but I am super curious.

Hi Octoberme,

I agree with Ursa, and by the way, welcome back Ursa, I hope your trip/visit went well. ... From what I've seen here on the forums, there are a number of people here, that seemed to believe they had it, had the symptons, and basically played dective doctor on their own to find out if it did Truly affect them. For many of them too, it seems like they have an awful time convincing doctors just to run a few tests to see if they do have it. Cost of testing most likely being the reason for not running those tests. Heaven forbid, you actually know your body more than doctors who just peek at it . I do feel for those that have a hard time convincing their doctors just to look in that area.

I am not quite sure whether or not being "away" from a particular food can cause "upset" if it re-introduced again. Thats something I guess you could google search. I've often wondered that in my case too.

The first time I purposely gluttened myself, had reaction in 2 hours.

The 2nd time I accidently had it, was sick in 10 mins, and was crap feeling and felt its effects for 3 days.

I probably will "glutten" myself in a month time or so. again the curiousity factor so on. Cause you wonder if the first couple of times are just "flukes" so on, maybe just some virus you got at same time so on. No one IMO really chooses to be gluten-free on purpose, because it's in Everything and you do miss it. I have a big time craving now for stuff like a Tim Horton's donut. The eating out factor is bothering me now (that freedom) . Besides feeling like an "outcast" by being gluten-free for health reasons, cause not many people take it seriously like they would a Peanut allergy. Again, its lack of understanding from others, that can't understand what it's like to be off a food you love and trying to come to terms due to health reasons, with being off it for LIFE!! I sooooooooo miss breads like Rye, Focassa and cheese buns, regular rice crispie squares.

Sorry, I'm kinda "down" today :*( with this whole gluten-free thing. I know it's for my health so on, but I feel like an "outcast." Even in my own home.

Hopefully some more people will answer your posting question, Octoberme. I am rather curious myself on that question. Whether you can in essence "make" yourself gluten intolerant by taking that food away.

[Octoberme]

Thanks Ivanna44!! I am very curious about this as well and whatever I will find out I will let you know.

The doctors here....well my main thing is my general doctor can only go so far when it comes to testing. And then the specialist, well it has been already two months and i have another two months or so before I get to even SEE him. And then if he is to want some sort of colonoscopy or something, it will be a wait list for THAT here. So.....whether it is gluten or leaky guy or colitis or IBS or whatever is causing these symptoms, I cannot live like this anymore. My work is about to fire me for so many days missed. My boyfriend misses his regular gluten-free and I am snappy and cranky and tired allt he time. My friends wonder where the hell I have disappeared to, and I will go DAYS without leaving my apartment. NOT healthy. Lol, so i did some looksy on my own.

But yes, so far it is working for the most part. And once i get myself to a good point for a few weeks as I think that I also have other issues other then possibly gluten so I have to figure out those first, then I am going to gluten myself anf see what happens. I will keep ya informed.

And I am sorry to hear that you are having a bad time with all this feeling like an outcast. I knwo what you mean. My boyfriend sometimes does not seem to take ot seiously as I watch him dip his ritz cracker right into the peanut butter jer and scoop it out. What the heck?? Lol, right after he does say " ooops, I should not have done that right " ...but it is kinda too late now isn't it? Or last night when he made himself hot daogs with his nice fresh buns, and I watched as he got crumbs ALL over the counter and I nicely reminded him that THIS TIME he should clean them himself as it is best for him to do it. Two hours later I went to go make myself some cardboard gluten free toast and low and behold, bread crumbs everywhere!!

Lol, then I have the nice thing of family dinner at my mom's. Lately she just has nto been doing them because she has no clue how to organize it all so that I can eat too. before I woudl eithe rjust bring my own food, or sit and watch them eat while i munches on sweet potatoes. My friends all wanna go out for appies and then party, and ALL of those are a no for me. I am too scared to eat out anywhere, not even sure what to pick, and then as for going out to the bar....well all grain vodka's do bother me, and I am sure they will not carry the potato vodka and even then....

Ahhh, it jut sucks. So I for sure feel you and I definately look at all these people eating all this CRAP and wonder - why them not me '? Why cannot I stuff three slicesof pizza, some cookies and possibly a piece of cake in me and feel GREAT still?

*sigh*, but then I rememeber thaty being healthy and feeling good is pretty fricken awesome too!!

Thanks again for your reply