Gluten Slip Ups

[Diann Polchinski]

I have just started my son and myself on the gluten free diet. I am in my late 50's he is mid 20's, We are supporting each other. My question is, if we slip up and eat something with gluten will it wipe out all the days we have been gluten free. What happens if we get a small amount and do not know it? I know we are on the right track but just so new to this and reading the labels and all, I intend to get books and read as much as I can. I hope my son will start to put on weight soon now that he is watching out for foods he can't have. How long before we can start to see a change in our health or does it vary? This is week two for us and most of you know how it was when you started out. Any advice would be very welcome, Thanks, Diann

[Lockheed]

This is where I say that every little bit you are eliminating is helping. Focus more on your success than on your failures when it comes to becoming gluten free. Even the experts at being gluten free get "glutened" once in a while despite the best attempts to be diligent. But every bit you reduce from your diet is a tremendous help.

I think I really started to feel better after about a month. I didn't feel like I still had that chronic achy flu like symptoms that I had always had. But I didn't have a good grasp of a gluten free diet then either and I was doing a full elimination diet. So I didn't really feel human again until six months down the road when I felt like I was really having meals again. After a year, I felt the best that I have ever felt and five years later I feel in control and don't even want gluten containing foods (especially since Ener-G has those potato cookies that don't have lecithin in them! Thank you for that!).

[Diann Polchinski]

Thank you for your advice, I guess it is one day at a time. I am just so glad that in the end I will feel so much better and maybe return to my old self, energy and feeling overall just plain good, thanks again Diann

[birdhorse]

Is there anything one can do, (like drinking a lot of lemon water, for example) to lessen the symptoms or move the food through quicker if one does get "glutened"? I was having great progress, but then had had several "accidental ingestions". Thanks! birdhorse

[Lockheed]

I was on Miralax when I started the gluten-free process and that helped me but I don't have the leaky gut issue.. I have exact opposite when I get glutened. Maybe someone else has another suggestion but drinking water is just always a good idea.

[birdhorse]

Lockheed, I have the same thing happen to me. Senna tea might also help, as needed, not as a regular thing. Also good old fashioned prunes have been a life saver for me. It took me a while to start figuring all this stuff out. I am on a breast cancer drug, herceptin, and had lots of "minor" symptoms: constipation, sores on my feet and in my mouth and nose, cramping in legs, foggy brain. Some of this I put down to side effects. I was beginning to feel as if I was falling apart and turning to stone at the same time. And yet as a fourth stage breast cancer survivor, I was alive! What more could I want? While I was doing some research on thyroid problems for a friend who has thyroid cancer, I came across a bit of description dealing with symptoms and not eating wheat, and the penny just dropped. I stopped eating wheat a few months ago, and although not totally free of symptoms, the turn around has been dramatic. But since then I have had several mistakes and just wondered what I could do as an "antidote". Recurrance of former symptoms does not make one happy. Thank you for your help. birdhorse