Very Painful Glutening

[newceliac]

I apparently ate something at a restaurant today that caused an accidental glutening. I am in SOO much pain from my chest to lower abdomen (worse than ever before). I have taken zegrid (antacid) and phenergran but the pain hasn't been touched. Has anyone ever felt like going to the emergency room they feel so bad?

[Jenny (AZ via TX)]

I know the pain you are talking about. It was excruciating. It felt like it started around my belly button and would move up to my chest. I had this for hours. Anyway, I did go to the emergency room where they did a CT scan. It turned out I had an infection in my small intestine as well as an inflamed small intestine. They gave me some antibiotics. I would go to the emergency room if you have had this pain for several hours. Of course, I am new at this too so I don't know how long the pain usually lasts after being glutened.

I apparently ate something at a restaurant today that caused an accidental glutening. I am in SOO much pain from my chest to lower abdomen (worse than ever before). I have taken zegrid (antacid) and phenergran but the pain hasn't been touched. Has anyone ever felt like going to the emergency room they feel so bad?

[kbtoyssni]

Gosh, I'm sorry you're in so much pain. I've never been in that kind of pain so I can't really relate, but I doubt an ER could do anything for you if it is just gluten. Unless you get dehydrated (maybe drink some Gatorade to help with that). I'm not even sure that some strong pain killers would help digestive issues. Feel better.

[gfpaperdoll]

I would go to the ER & get everything else ruled out - just to be on the safe side. It could be appendixs - anything...

[Gluten-Free Guy]

I have been on a gluten-free diet for over six years and have been very careful to avoid accidental glutening. I've only been glutened two or three times.

Regarding the pain, before I was diagnosed, the pain was so bad that I often could not eat for 24 hours or longer. I even had trouble drinking water because it made the pain worse. I'd get over the pain, eat something wrong, and go through the whole thing again. I was getting so skinny I looked like the men in the Holocaust photos. I would sometimes double over in pain and often could not sit back in a chair, but had to remain standing or sitting upright. This went on for close to a year before the doctor finally diagnosed me. (Pain wasn't my only symptom--I saw list of symptoms one time and I had had 18 out of the total list. Things such as diarrhea, hair loss, pitting of the teeth, osteoporosis, inflamed gums, mild dermatitis herpetiformis, hypoglycemia, cracks in the corners of my mouth, bone and joint pain, etc.)

You mentioned eating at a restaurant. Eating out is probably the riskiest thing a celiac can do. Restaurants, delis at food markets, homes of family and friends, school cafeterias, snack days at work, etc., are all good sources of gluten. You have to ask a lot of questions and even try to read product labels, if they're available. There's a joke that illustrates the point: At a dinner party, do you know how to tell who the celiac is? It's the person in the kitchen digging through the trash to read labels.

For your first six months or longer, you need to consider letting your body heal. You may want to consider eating only what you prepare until you are better informed about safe and unsafe foods and products and how to ask the right questions.

If your problem is only gluten, waiting it out is the only solution to the pain. However, as others have suggested in their posts, it might be good to rule out other problems. Going to your doctor will be less expensive than the emergency room.

[newceliac]

I have been on a gluten-free diet for over six years and have been very careful to avoid accidental glutening. I've only been glutened two or three times.

Regarding the pain, before I was diagnosed, the pain was so bad that I often could not eat for 24 hours or longer. I even had trouble drinking water because it made the pain worse. I'd get over the pain, eat something wrong, and go through the whole thing again. I was getting so skinny I looked like the men in the Holocaust photos. I would sometimes double over in pain and often could not sit back in a chair, but had to remain standing or sitting upright. This went on for close to a year before the doctor finally diagnosed me. (Pain wasn't my only symptom--I saw list of symptoms one time and I had had 18 out of the total list. Things such as diarrhea, hair loss, pitting of the teeth, osteoporosis, inflamed gums, mild dermatitis herpetiformis, hypoglycemia, cracks in the corners of my mouth, bone and joint pain, etc.)

You mentioned eating at a restaurant. Eating out is probably the riskiest thing a celiac can do. Restaurants, delis at food markets, homes of family and friends, school cafeterias, snack days at work, etc., are all good sources of gluten. You have to ask a lot of questions and even try to read product labels, if they're available. There's a joke that illustrates the point: At a dinner party, do you know how to tell who the celiac is? It's the person in the kitchen digging through the trash to read labels.

For your first six months or longer, you need to consider letting your body heal. You may want to consider eating only what you prepare until you are better informed about safe and unsafe foods and products and how to ask the right questions.

If your problem is only gluten, waiting it out is the only solution to the pain. However, as others have suggested in their posts, it might be good to rule out other problems. Going to your doctor will be less expensive than the emergency room.

[newceliac]

I have been on a gluten-free diet for over six years and have been very careful to avoid accidental glutening. I've only been glutened two or three times.

Regarding the pain, before I was diagnosed, the pain was so bad that I often could not eat for 24 hours or longer. I even had trouble drinking water because it made the pain worse. I'd get over the pain, eat something wrong, and go through the whole thing again. I was getting so skinny I looked like the men in the Holocaust photos. I would sometimes double over in pain and often could not sit back in a chair, but had to remain standing or sitting upright. This went on for close to a year before the doctor finally diagnosed me. (Pain wasn't my only symptom--I saw list of symptoms one time and I had had 18 out of the total list. Things such as diarrhea, hair loss, pitting of the teeth, osteoporosis, inflamed gums, mild dermatitis herpetiformis, hypoglycemia, cracks in the corners of my mouth, bone and joint pain, etc.)

You mentioned eating at a restaurant. Eating out is probably the riskiest thing a celiac can do. Restaurants, delis at food markets, homes of family and friends, school cafeterias, snack days at work, etc., are all good sources of gluten. You have to ask a lot of questions and even try to read product labels, if they're available. There's a joke that illustrates the point: At a dinner party, do you know how to tell who the celiac is? It's the person in the kitchen digging through the trash to read labels.

For your first six months or longer, you need to consider letting your body heal. You may want to consider eating only what you prepare until you are better informed about safe and unsafe foods and products and how to ask the right questions.

If your problem is only gluten, waiting it out is the only solution to the pain. However, as others have suggested in their posts, it might be good to rule out other problems. Going to your doctor will be less expensive than the emergency room.

Gluten Free Guy.....I understand everything you are telling me....I did not post this question to receive a lecture about what I should or shouldn't have done. I know all about that and I am careful and regardless it happened. I, too, had most of the other symptoms identically that you referred to prior to diagnosis. Please don't judge me based on how I handle the celiac because I am careful. My question was whether I should go to emergency room if pain was so bad. Sorry I asked.