Glutened?

[LuvMoosic4life]

So I htink it is finally starting to sink in the that I really cant trust to eat out at other peoples houses. From now on i am bringing my own food...as "insulting" as it may be to the people's homes I go to .

I got glutened on x-mas. My brother made deep fried turkey, string beans/with carrots and olive oil/oinions and mashes potatoes. All I ate was the turkey and veggies. Woke up feeling naucios that night (thought it was because of my sinus infection), went back to sleep and ate left overs the next day....I once again woke up naucious that night, this time dry heaving and puking mucous with a horrible burning pain just below my stomach...I had D all the next day....

A few days after new years i visited my mom and wen to my grandmas house. I purposely ate before i went there (my grandma is itailian) I survived without having to eat anything, but I'm pretty sure I got glutened by the cup I drank tea out of > I washed it out with my hand and warm water and soap before hand, but noooooo. I felt gassy for like 10 hours right after I drank it.

The day after my grandma's I visited my friend. I wasnt planning on eating there, but then they went into the questions of "can you it this, that? etc..etc...." They ended up making pork chops for me, they were just fried in a pan with olive oil and we had canned yams on the side (hah, we are poor) but anyways....she has two kids and her apt. is pretty much a gluten trap. If I didnt end up having a few drinks, I probably wouldve made the smarter desicion not to eat (even though I was starving to death after hours being there) The 2 year old was walking around with a donut and the crumbs were getting everywhere, then there were spagettios on the kitchen table, he went to eat them and they were spilling everywhere....and just the thought of gluten all over a kid who touches everything in the house...including me...ahh!! After my friend gave me my pork chop she got out a bag of flour to make a gravy sauce for everyone else....at this point I was thinking "I'm done".....It's usless trying to explain CC to people.

Anyways. I visted them 4 dyas ago and I havent been feeling well since. I cant tell if it is because maybe my sinus infection hasnt fully gone away, or in fact, gluten is really starting to bother me that much. I have just been extremely fatigued and can see my sinuses looking inflamed on my face..I dont have congestion anymore though... I've been more bloated than usual and wake up in the middle of the night with cold sweats....I was saturated two nights in a row, its the most disgusting feeling ever....and i just feel like I'm retaining water...its like PMS but my period is done. I went to the gym the past two days and can barely make it a half an hour on the treadmill....which is normally nothing for me. Yesterday i got scarred because when I stopped running and slowed to a walk, I felt like I was going to pass out and felt very "light"....I kept taking huge breaths....scary.

So I dunno if i should see the doc, maybe I still have an infection...or maybe its just really gluten. I've pretty much been eating detox foods since then....fruits veggies, very very little grains no soy no dairy, egg whites and no more than a tablespoon of peanut butter, detox tea, chicken broth..etc.but this is normally how I eat LOL I'm also worried that maybe my ovarian cyst hasnt gone away....or that maybe I got another one? b/c my other ovary hurts now and I've felt like this from that before...If I had the money I would go get an ultra sound right now, but I have to wait about month or so...grrr

sorry this is so long agian!!! I just want to move far away, build my own house and never worry about CC again..better yet, move to a planet where gluten doesnt exsist!!!!

[LuvMoosic4life]

so now I'm really wondering. my stools are really dark brown...almost black looking..like when I have pepto bismul, but I havent had any. I havent changed anything in my diet normally my stool is bright brown from all the colored fruits and veggies I eat, and I didnt have any meat yesterday or anything dark...

(sorry for the visual) lol

[flourgirl]

Hi! Sorry to hear that you are having such a hard time of it. First of all, I would recommend going to your doc, and have your sinuses checked out. If there is any possibility of an infection, you may need antibiotics to clear it up. An infection can wreak all kinds of havoc in your body, including your heart. You don't want to take chances with that.

I didn't notice how long you've been gluten free....but I do know it's a long process to learn how to avoid gluten. For myself, the only foods I eat these days comes from my own kitchen. We've tried eating out, and have just given up for now. Maybe in the near future it won't be a topic of near panic for me, but I've been glutened in places that offer gluten free menu. As far as friends and family, I don't expect them to understand my needs, nor for them to go out of their way for me. They have no concept of CC and all that we deal with, nor do they have to. I think you're smart to eat first, and to always be on your guard.

Good luck to you. I hope you are feeling better soon

[flourgirl]

Should have mentioned.....your fatigue and stool changes may be from a sinus infection, if that's what it is...or may be from being glutened. If you have no infection, then perhaps all you need is time to heal from being glutened.

[LuvMoosic4life]

thanks so much.

Is it possible to have a sinus infection and not even know? I thought it cleared up but i still feel a popping feeling in my sinuses once and a while...

[YoloGx]

Last winter/spring I got CC several times and developed a bad lung and then kidney infection. It can happen. One's immune system is down when glutened.

One trick I learned is to take my nice smallish (but large enough!) sleek thermos with hot tea in it plus take emergency food in an insulated, zippered bag with some blue icewhenever I go over to someone else's place or to work etc.

Just having someone touch the plate with their unwashed glutenous hands is enough to get me ill the next day. Be warned. This may well be the case for you.

I wish the various celiac books would talk about this matter of CC more. Its always how wonderful it is to be social but sometimes you have to define your limits in order to be wonderful... Don't make it even an option for others to prepare food for you unless they know the whole nine yards and have a gluten-free area of their kitchen etc. Ditto with eating out at a restaurant with a supposed gluten-free menu... People will respect you for it and you will feel a whole lot better. It requires thinking ahead but its way worth it.

Bea

[LuvMoosic4life]

thanks. so true. It was around this time last year that I started realizing gluten was a problem for me. I didnt go completely gluten free until May, but even after all that time I'm still learning, I definitly have the diet down, I'm just realizing how hard the social aspect of it is, especially now that I am becoming more sensitive to CC since I havent had gluten in so long... I knew before it would be hard, but it seems I always have to learn the hard way with everything until it sinks in!

I told my mom about the CC at my friends and she said "thats crazy" as if witnessing me puking and becoming sick after eating on x-mas wasnt enough to convince her.....its true, some people will just never get it...

[YoloGx]

My family is the same. Many of them think I am nuts. Several of them have the same condition but choose to ignore it. Me, I would rather be energetic and healthy rather than sick and achy all the time. I am finally starting to get some respect from them, but it comes slow. I have made about every mistake possible it seems with dating too but am finally getting the hang of it. Eventually it gets easier. At first you feel like a pariah however...

Bea

[robillm]

Hi! Sorry to hear that you are having such a hard time of it. First of all, I would recommend going to your doc, and have your sinuses checked out. If there is any possibility of an infection, you may need antibiotics to clear it up. An infection can wreak all kinds of havoc in your body, including your heart. You don't want to take chances with that.

I didn't notice how long you've been gluten free....but I do know it's a long process to learn how to avoid gluten. For myself, the only foods I eat these days comes from my own kitchen. We've tried eating out, and have just given up for now. Maybe in the near future it won't be a topic of near panic for me, but I've been glutened in places that offer gluten free menu. As far as friends and family, I don't expect them to understand my needs, nor for them to go out of their way for me. They have no concept of CC and all that we deal with, nor do they have to. I think you're smart to eat first, and to always be on your guard.

Good luck to you. I hope you are feeling better soon

Flourgirl (and others): I do not have issues with gluten, but rather have a dairy allergy. I am 48 years old and have been a hostess and entertained for years. A good hostess knows about and plans her menu around ALL of her guests, not just the majority. If someone has an allergy to something she learns about it and how to take it into consideration when inviting this person(s) to her home to eat. This is true no matter what food proclivities her guests have. I have a dairy allergy, I have two aunts with celiac's and a nephew and several friends who are either vegan (nephew) or vegetarian (friends). This being said, I too have had problems going to other's homes to eat. Sometimes all that is there to eat is the raw veggies sitting precariously close to the french onion dip! My nephew has been a vegan for 15 years and even his mother does not take this into consideration (he has to bring his own food). Yes, most people have no idea about what we go through with food, but this doesn't mean that they don't have to take the time to learn. It isn't too hard in this day and age of the internet to find out about issues that pertain to our friends and family and to do what we can to extend our hospitality to all of our guests!! If we can go on the internet and find out everything there is to know about our favorite musician or Twilight, then we can do this for those we love.

We will always have to be on our guard, that is just the way it is. But we are not the sum total of our allergies. Good luck to you all and I pray for people around us to learn to be more diverse in their thinking about food!!

I wish you all good health, great love and tasty food!!