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Could Hand Sanitizer Cause A Gluten Reaction?

holiday16

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holiday16 Enthusiast
holiday16
Posted

Lately my daughter has been showing signs of gluten exposure. Gets worse during the week, gets better over weekends, cleared up totally over spring break which tells me it's most likely from school. We e-mailed her teacher who said the only changes she has noticed with my dd is she uses her hand to erase her dry erase board more than her eraser and has started using the hand sanitizer. My dd mentioned this to me last night and I told her to try not using it.

I had been sending in non-toxic germicide wipes for her and when she ran out she decided to use the hand sanitizer so she had not used it at all before except for a few times at the start of the school year and she complained it made her nose stuffy. I e-mailed the teacher back asking for the brand so I could check on it, but from what I read on-line about them they seem to be made up mostly of alcohol. Could it be grain based and that's the source of the problem?

The time frame of when she started using the sanitizer and started reacting might fit. Even if not a gluten reaction I'm wondering if she is reacting to it on another level. We use no chemicals/fragrances at home at all because I react so maybe there's a connection there. My oldest used to act terribly whenever she was around cleaners and for some reason esp. Lysol. Looking back the reaction behaviorwise is a bit similar to gluten...

Paulette

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MySuicidalTurtle Enthusiast
MySuicidalTurtle
Posted

Sometimes I feel ill if I use hand sanitizer but I thought it was just me.

holiday16 Enthusiast
holiday16
Posted
  • Author

Well, she didn't use it today and so far so good. Whatever it is it seems to build up through the week so I'm not sure yet. I thought maybe it was just a reaction to the product, but she has the tell tale accidents by the end of the week which tells me for sure it's gluten related. She told me the brand and it should be gluten free so I'm thinking maybe there are crumbs on it since it's shared by the whole class? She also said she stopped using the soap in the bathroom so maybe that was it, but I don't think that's likely since she used it before without problems.

home-based-mom Contributor
home-based-mom
Posted

Can you visit the classroom and observe for a day? Being on "heightened alert" so to speak you might spot areas of concern for cc or something else that no one else would notice because they don't even think of it.

I hope you get to the bottom of it, soon! :)

gfgypsyqueen Enthusiast
gfgypsyqueen
Posted

I react to things like dish soaps, wipes, etc. Haven't tried the gels in years. Waiting to hear if anythign from Bath and Body works is safe. Anyone know?

Try some "green" products. I now use Seventh Generation (buy it at grocery store) its a green eco friendly dish soap and my hands don't break out.

I use JJ Baby soap for bathroom soaps.

Just in the last year, my hands have been split open and bleeding for the better part of 6 mths before I made the changes to the soaps.

Is it possible to bring homemade wipes to school? (baby soap, baby oil, and water and pour it over paper towles.) I'll find the recipe if you want it.

MNBeth Explorer
MNBeth
Posted

Please forgive me if this is a stupid question, but she's not using the hand sanitizer instead of washing her hands, is she? If she had gluten on her hands, the sanitizer wouldn't take care of it. You probably knew that.

rpf1007 Rookie
rpf1007
Posted

I also had the same question about hand sanitizer. Bath and Body works emailed me back and gave me a list of scientific names for Wheat, rye barley oats and soy and said to check each individual product.

I actually called Purrell- because I was convinced I was glutened by it and they said that there is no gluten in their product, however there is also basically no control over the lines and thus products could contain trace amounts. I'm not sure what to think. It seems strange to me that I hand sanitizer could make you sick-but you never know!

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okgrace Apprentice
okgrace
Posted

I've wondered about handsanitizer at the hospital I work at making me sick. I am a germaphobe, plus it is important to make sure I keep all germs away from patients and don't spread them and of course I wash my hands afterwards. I have noticed that if I wash my hands, but then use handsanitizer in the office before I eat that I end up with D. I thought I was crazy. Maybe it is the handsanitizer.

Esther Sparhawk Contributor
Esther Sparhawk
Posted
I also had the same question about hand sanitizer. Bath and Body works emailed me back and gave me a list of scientific names for Wheat, rye barley oats and soy and said to check each individual product.

I actually called Purrell- because I was convinced I was glutened by it and they said that there is no gluten in their product, however there is also basically no control over the lines and thus products could contain trace amounts. I'm not sure what to think. It seems strange to me that I hand sanitizer could make you sick-but you never know!

Hey rpf1007,

I'd love to see that list of scientific names for wheat, rye, barley, and oats. Could you post that on this thread? I'm always wondering about hygiene products, because I'm not as familiar with those names for gluten.

Mechelle

rpf1007 Rookie
rpf1007
Posted

These are the names that Bath and Body Works sent me:

Wheat: or any ingredients containing the genus species name Triticum Vulgare

Oat: or any ingredients containing the genus species name Avena Sativa

Barley: or any ingredients containing the genus species name Hordeum Distichon

Rye: or any ingredients containing the genus species name Secale Cereale

Soy: or any ingredients containing the genus species name Glycine Soja

They said they would identify the ingredients by the above names.

holiday16 Enthusiast
holiday16
Posted
  • Author

Thought I would update on this situation. My daughter stopped using the hand sanitizer and we did see a slight improvement. However, this week she was o.k. for the first part, but midweek she had what was obviously a gluten reaction with more accidents than we've seen over the past few weeks.

This Friday I had a meeting where we invited some of her friends and their mothers. Part of it was so they could try some gluten-free food since they always see her eating it and want to try it. As I was giving it to one of her friends she made a comment that she had tried it before because my dd is so nice that she shares even though they can't trade with her very often. Red flag with that comment so I asked more about what kinds of things they trade and the one that stuck out was potatoes from the school lunch. These tend to be hashbrowns, tator tots and that sort of thing which I always assume have gluten unless proven otherwise since it's so common.

I talked with my dd about it and even though we had discussed this she thought they were o.k. because she says there are other kids in the school that can't have wheat and they eat them (I don't think that's accurate). Her big reaction this past week was after she had some potatoes from another childs lunch. So, this week I need to call food service for the school and see what I can do about finding out what lunch menu items really are o.k. and then I would have to see how her particular school serves it to see about cross contamination etc. I didn't want to do this because packing is safest, but if she's going to be tempted at least I can find out for sure which ones are unsafe.

What I learned from this is if I think she's getting gluten from somewhere the best people to talk with are her friends because they see more than the adults. I do think the hand sanitizer played a role whether it was gluten or a reaction to the ingredients, but this explains the days when I would see more severe reactions.

holiday16 Enthusiast
holiday16
Posted
  • Author
I react to things like dish soaps, wipes, etc. Haven't tried the gels in years. Waiting to hear if anythign from Bath and Body works is safe. Anyone know?

Try some "green" products. I now use Seventh Generation (buy it at grocery store) its a green eco friendly dish soap and my hands don't break out.

I use JJ Baby soap for bathroom soaps.

Just in the last year, my hands have been split open and bleeding for the better part of 6 mths before I made the changes to the soaps.

Is it possible to bring homemade wipes to school? (baby soap, baby oil, and water and pour it over paper towles.) I'll find the recipe if you want it.

Everything we use is non-toxic and biodegradable. I did send some germicide wipes with her to school. She started using the antibacterial soap when she ran out of the wipes. I just sent some more in with her. That's what made me question if the reaction could have been chemical rather than gluten since we use no chemicals at home. I'm very sensitive and have to be careful what I'm around. Anything with fragrance is bad for me. I know there are bath and body works that are o.k. as far as gluten, but their products make me feel very ill. My other daughter has a few things from there and it's terrible.

If you look in my profile and click on my website link and then click Home Care on the left that's what we use. The only thing is the hand wash has wheat in, but I never used that anyway. You can actually take the H2 and put it in foam bottles and use it for hand wash. I figured out once how much it costs to do that and it was something like 2 cents. We also use it for insect repellent, bubble bath, to wash the cars etc. I haven't tried the new formula (they made it more concentrated last year) for this yet, but last year my dd has poison ivy terribly and I tried all these expensive things and what ended up working was I put some H on it and it cleared right up.

It was interesting that I was talking with some of my cousins a couple weeks ago and I didn't realize they have the same sensitivities so it must run in the family. I also didn't know they use the same cleaners I do and one cousin said if they use anything else all her kids end up with sinus issues or rashes. I have to wonder if it's gluten related at all because talking with them some had the same symptoms that suggest celiac and there is a celiac gene on that side of the family.

Paulette

kbtoyssni Contributor
kbtoyssni
Posted

If your daughter is sharing her food with other kids, that could mean other children's gluten fingers touching her food. Even if you do find out the potatoes are gluten-free, I wouldn't let her trade for them because of the risk of the other gluten food on the tray getting crumbs in the potatoes, too. Maybe you could occasionally send food with her to share, but not allow her to trade and eat other kids' food.

gfpaperdoll Rookie
gfpaperdoll
Posted

you can also pack tater tots in a thermos.,one of those short wide mouth ones...Kids like to trade & share, so maybe send stickers for her to share with her friends

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