Igg Reaction Vs. Iga Reaction

[Cinnamon]

I don't know if anyone can help me on this, as IgG reactions are poorly understood, but I trust you guys over the doctors any day, so here goes:

Last Sunday I had a terrible glutening. I decided I would take communion at my church. They only have it every 3 months, and I thought that if Christ could die on the cross for my sins, I could do this for Him. So I took the 1-inch square piece of white bread. At first I had my usual mild glutening symptoms, tingling and burning in my mouth, mild stomach pains, a mild headache. No big deal. But about 4 hours later, I suddenly started sweating, felt like I might pass out, my heart was beating wildly, had trouble breathing. I took some benadryl, and that helped my breathing. I felt weak and shaky for days afterward and the whole thing was really scary. I thought I might have a wheat allergy, so went to an allergist and had skin prick testing but it was negative for wheat. The doctor didn't seem to believe me, but she said it could be an IgG reaction rather than an IgE reaction and I go back next friday for further testing. Celiac is an IgA reaction, and many times people have negative blood tests for IgA but find they do better on a gluten free diet. Maybe it's an IgG allergic reaction for them rather than the typical celiac IgA and that's why there are so many false negatives on the blood test?

Has anyone here had a seemingly anaphylactic response to a glutening? Does anyone know anything about IgG food allergy reactions? I don't have a diagnosis of anything, I just went gluten free when my kids did and felt tons better.

Also, I just want to say to those who take the wheat communion, I felt that the Lord just showed me, DON'T DO IT.

[fedora]

I can't answer your question. But some celiacs are IgA deficient. They are celiac but have an IgG reaction.

I have had bad reactions to things and I think it can be adrenilin and hormone related. It can be so scary.

Jesus does not want you to suffer.....You could bring a gluten free cracker next time.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Hi, Cinnamon!

I can't speak for anyone upstairs, but here are my thoughts:

It's one thing if you are sure that God--or Jesus-- has specifically asked you to poison yourself for Him.

But otherwise, I believe that God has granted you Life, and a healthy body. To deliberately harm yourself in His name seems to me to be well, contrary to all Judeo-Christian teachings.

Aren't we here on this earth to do good and help others as much as possible? In order to do that, we need to stay healthy! If we don't take care of ourselves, then we can't take care of others.

[Cinnamon]

Yes, I don't know what I was thinking. If one of my kids told me they were going to hurt themselves for my sake, I would be upset, no question. It's great to be able to bounce these kinds of things off others. It really helps see things more clearly.

[trents]

Cinnamon,

Are you Roman Catholic? There has been some recent deliberation done by Roman theologians in response to the growing awareness of the problem of gluten intolerance that makes some concessions for celiacs. Can't remember the specifics but I could probably hunt it up for you. I am not Catholic but a former Catholic coworker of mine at the Catholic-based hospital where I minister as a chaplain recently sent me something about that. I don't know if I still have it or not.

Steve

[Cinnamon]

No, I'm not a Catholic, but I could probably speak to the pastor about it. Maybe I could just do the little cup of wine (actually it's grape juice), or maybe bring my own piece of bread. They just use regular white bread cut up into little squares instead of the wafer that some churches use. I just don't know if it's just as good to pop your own bread into your mouth if they haven't prayed over it as they have the wheat bread. Maybe it doesn't matter. I don't know!

[trents]

At our Baptist church the couple who prepare the communion elements know I cannot take the wheat-based wafers so they break up some rice crackers for me and put the pieces into the dish along with the wheat wafers. I suppose some celiacs might cringe at that because of cross contamination fears but I'm not a particularly sensitive celiac and asymptomatic with a little incidential cross contamination. Besides, the wheat wafers are pretty hard and shiney, like styrofoam and I doubt they give up much cross contamination if any. The only problem with the rice crachers for communion is that they are very crunchy and I always wonder if people are distracted by my chewing them.

Steve

[Cinnamon]

Lol!! That sounds like a good idea, though!

[ShayFL]

IMHO all Jesus really asked of us was for us to believe in him as our Lord and Savior. Everything else is just ritual and symbolic. They are not required.

But I dont want to get into a religious discussion.

Think about what bread must have been like in Jesus's day. The wheat had a much lower gluten content and they relied heavily on other grains (more than wheat) like millet and even lentils.

There was no genetic engineering and foods were often fermented or prepared in special ways. Definitely nothing like the bread we eat today.

So I dont think that the Lord would mind if you munched on a rice cracker. IT is the meaning that you attach to the "bread" that matters.

[Cinnamon]

You're right, that's the heart of the Christian gospel, to believe. It's not our good deeds that save us, but believing in Christ's death to pay for our sins. That's what our religion is all about, not doing all the little things that go along with it. Thanks for helping me focus on what's important about the communion.