Reaction? Heart Racing, Itchy Throat, Panic Attack?

[yumyummum]

I have gone gluten free for about 3-4 weeks now and have felt great!! Better then I have in years! Last night I took about 5 bites of clam chowder and I started getting that "feeling".

My heart started beating harder and a "warmness" started setting in my body like a panic. My throat was itchy inside and out and I got the sensation of suddenly needing to go to the bathroom.

I was at a baseball game and I started getting nervous. After about an hour, things had "calmed" down I was REALLY tired but my heart had stopped racing.

Is this a symptom that happens or is this in my mind?? Was this a panic attack?

Thanks

[Mother of Jibril]

It could have been an allergic reaction to something in the clam chowder. Even if the soup was gluten-free, dairy and shellfish are common allergens.

[Hydrokube]

Anxiety is definitely a symptom:

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If you feel much better, I think that's a good indicator that you have an issue with gluten. Just a thought, but maybe you could try ingesting a small amount of gluten and see if the symptoms return. You could also be allergic to shellfish or dairy though, as the other poster mentioned. I've been reading that many newly gluten-free celiacs can get very sesitive to dairy temporarily until they're fully healed.

[Mother of Jibril]

Tachycardia (a fast heartbeat) can be a symptom of allergies as well as panic attacks, but the itchy feeling in your throat and urgency to urinate sound more like an allergic reaction.

Just my two cents... I know what they both feel like.

[yumyummum]

Thanks for your responses. I do not have a dairy or shellfish allergy as I eat both all the time. I was eating wheat/gluten also but have cut it out for about 4 weeks now.

I did feel the rapid heartbeat one other time at Easter dinner when I accidently ate boxed scalloped potatoes that I later checked and they contained wheat.

Is this kind of a rapid heartbeat something that happens to others after an accidental ingestion?

The bathroom was not a urinary sensation but rather...

[mushroom]

Well, I don't know about a temporary rapid heartbeat; this was one of my worst, most constant symptoms. Not just rapid but pounding. It sure used to make sleeping difficult Don't get that any more.

[thleensd]

I did a search for "anxiety" to see if any one else has a similar issue. (Minus the throat itching, though...that's a little worrisome). I've been tested for 80-something food allergies, and am not allergic to anything. Not even a little.

When I was first diagnosed, I'd been having "anxiety attacks" very much like you describe...interestingly enough, they completely went away when I went gluten free. Also, I'd been having adrenaline surges--just sitting there calmly, and WHAM! Not a psychological thing, didn't freak me out, just adrenaline. That also went away.

Until last night. I ate two new foods...thought they were safe, but then this happened. I thought, "boy, this is a familiar feeling". Very irritating. The striking thing to me is that it seems to be worse now that I'm completely gluten-free. I believe I got glutened one other time, and it was similar, but not nearly as severe as last night. Only lasted a couple hours. But I'm still tired today. I'm trying to be so careful! Grrrr!

Be careful, though...my brother's shellfish allergy didn't hit until he was over 30. Consider getting allergy tests to be sure.

-K

I have gone gluten free for about 3-4 weeks now and have felt great!! Better then I have in years! Last night I took about 5 bites of clam chowder and I started getting that "feeling".

My heart started beating harder and a "warmness" started setting in my body like a panic. My throat was itchy inside and out and I got the sensation of suddenly needing to go to the bathroom.

I was at a baseball game and I started getting nervous. After about an hour, things had "calmed" down I was REALLY tired but my heart had stopped racing.

Is this a symptom that happens or is this in my mind?? Was this a panic attack?

Thanks

[Mother of Jibril]

The bathroom was not a urinary sensation but rather...

Right I wonder why I was thinking #1...

Allergic reactions can definitely cause digestive symptoms. The GI tract has a lot of mast cells. One thing to know about shellfish is that it has naturally high levels of histamine, so even if you don't test positive for any food allergies that could explain why you had a reaction to clam chowder.

[one more mile]

I have never seen a gluten free calm chowder in a public place. Most use wheat to thicken it.

To me it sounds like an allergy, maybe to shellfish. Eating it all the time does not mean you are not allergic to it today.

My kid ate it all the time also until one day she was at a fish bake of some sort and turned all pretty colors. Now she cannot even eat the clam chowder that at one time we ate once a week with no problem. Allergies change.

Also I know for me that my body was so messed up that I rarely noticed some symptoms. D from soy was good then cause I was usually constipated. Some times coffee was the only way I could Poo and now I am thinking that may not be healthy for me. As I said before I did not know I had TMJ until all my other pains went away. My tongue swells a bit when I drink raspberry tea It has been swelling occasionally for years but it was not till I was of the gluten that I could figure out what was causing it.

Perhaps you had the reaction before but did not notice it because your body was so overwhelmed by everything else that the reaction just blended into the general chaos.

I do not think the itching is anxiety unless you have it so bad that you are practicably paralyzed by it.

Good luck with this one. Just take it a step at a time.

[ang1e0251]

I'm going to let another worm out of the can. Are you sensitive to MSG? That sounded like an allergic reaction to me and I'm betting that soup had MSG. I've read other posters report some pretty severe symptoms from it.