Ate Gluten Just To See!

[LoriG]

Ok, I've been gluten-free 7-1/2 months, but haven't gotten better. My main complaint is chronic fatigue. I also have Hashimoto's. So I decided to try some gluten because I really don't have an obvious symptom when I eat it. Last night we went to Pizza Hut and I ate pizza/breadsticks. I was expecting something awful to happen, but honestly no reaction!! After avoiding it for this long, something is wrong! I am meticulous about where it is in my food, don't eat at restaurants, careful in the kitchen..... I am so paranoid that I must be getting it in, but cannot figure this out at all. Why wouldn't I feel terrible from eating all of that? I was diagnosed by enterolab. Maybe they mixed me up with someone else? How can I continue this process when this happened? Any thoughts?

[Ursa Major]

After being gluten-free for 2 1/2 years, I have a very delayed reaction from gluten. The D and stomach cramps don't usually hit me for 24 to 48 hours after being exposed to gluten. So, your reaction might still come. Some get reactions nearly a week after the fact.

If you haven't had a reaction within a week, you can be sure you didn't react. Also, some people have to consistently eat gluten for a few days to a couple of weeks before it catches up with them and they get sick. Everybody is different. Just because you haven't reacted doesn't mean that you didn't do intestinal damage by eating the pizza.

[JNBunnie1]

  Ursa Major said:

After being gluten-free for 2 1/2 years, I have a very delayed reaction from gluten. The D and stomach cramps don't usually hit me for 24 to 48 hours after being exposed to gluten. So, your reaction might still come. Some get reactions nearly a week after the fact.

If you haven't had a reaction within a week, you can be sure you didn't react. Also, some people have to consistently eat gluten for a few days to a couple of weeks before it catches up with them and they get sick. Everybody is different. Just because you haven't reacted doesn't mean that you didn't do intestinal damage by eating the pizza.

Ditto. For me it's 48 to 72 hours.

[AliB]

The fact that you haven't really recovered after going gluten-free may suggest that some other food or foods could also be preventing your recovery. Those who are gluten-intolerant often also have problems with other things like dairy, corn, soy, etc. If the other foods are preventing recovery and still making you feel ill they could also be masking any reaction from the gluten. Because there is no noticeable improvement, you can't assume that your problem is not gluten.

There is also the possibility that you are getting a continuous 'supply' of hidden gluten without being aware of it, which would also restrict recovery. The stuff is so insidiously ingratiated into so many seemingly innocuous products that it is very difficult to avoid it at times.

You might get a better response by doing an elimination diet. Eating simply will help your body start to heal. It can take a while but is worth the effort. Try and restrict your diet to plain unprocessed and unadulterated meat, fish and poultry, fresh fruit and vegetables, some tolerated nuts and a little honey if you want something sweet.

It's annoying when you have gone through all this and don't seem to be getting anywhere, but there is likely to be a reason behind it somewhere!

[kbtoyssni]

It could also be that you get very mild reactions. I also had mostly chronic fatigue and joint/muscle pain as symptoms. My joints have been really painful recently, and I finally discovered I was eating some packaged Indian food with CC issues. It took a few weeks of eating the stuff for my joints to get really bad. But that doesn't mean it wasn't doing damage! It seems like non-GI symptoms take longer to show up.

[Annaem]

I get a reaction several days after. Your symptoms don't have to be stomach related it may manifest in another way. My mom gets joint problems and heat to her feet. Also i dont know if 7 1/2 months is enough time to completely heal. Some people take longer than that, depending on age and how long youve had it. I wouldn't judge my body's response based on 7 1/2 months. I'd say give it another 4 months.

[LoriG]

  Annaem said:

I get a reaction several days after. Your symptoms don't have to be stomach related it may manifest in another way. My mom gets joint problems and heat to her feet. Also i dont know if 7 1/2 months is enough time to completely heal. Some people take longer than that, depending on age and how long youve had it. I wouldn't judge my body's response based on 7 1/2 months. I'd say give it another 4 months.

Thank you all for your responses. I did have a long talk with both my ND and nutritionist about this and why I didn't seem to react at all and neither one of them were surprised at all. They said based on how much damage I still have and because I have the chronic fatigue. I was just disappointed because I am paranoid I'm getting gluten in even though I'm so careful and now I truly won't know because I don't have an immediate reaction. I guess I'll keep plugging along like everyone else

[MELINE]

  LoriG said:

Thank you all for your responses. I did have a long talk with both my ND and nutritionist about this and why I didn't seem to react at all and neither one of them were surprised at all. They said based on how much damage I still have and because I have the chronic fatigue. I was just disappointed because I am paranoid I'm getting gluten in even though I'm so careful and now I truly won't know because I don't have an immediate reaction. I guess I'll keep plugging along like everyone else

hello LoriG

Just want to say that for me too the reaction can take up to 2 days and has to be more than one gluten accident to realy feel it......