Freaking Out...

[Lissa]

Hey everybody!

I am freaking out a little bit because I just ate a large bowl of wheat pasta. My mother had made two seperate pasta cassaroles and I accidently ate the wrong one. I got really upset after I found out because I knew that I was probably going to be crazy sick. I took some Pepto right away and now it's been 2 hours. I was extraordinarily gassy at first and I felt like I was going to throw up, but now I feel just slightly ill. In fact, I feel pretty okay. I got to thinking about it and it's possible that naseau and gas just stemmed from the fact that I was nervous about my impeding doom. Am I actually going to get sick? Or what is going on? I'm a little confused and freaking out a little.

I've been gluten free for almost three years. My blood test came back negative and I didn't have a biopsy until almost a year after I'd been gluten free, so I was never conclusively given a Celiac diagonsis. However, my doctor said if being gluten free made me feel better, that was good enough. Now I'm beginning to wonder if gluten really affects me at all! Before I went gluten-free I was incredibly sick every day, it ruined my life. After going gluten free, I felt much better...although I still got sick maybe once a week. I figured it was from accidental glutenings. But maybe gluten isn't actually my problem?

Still, it's only been two hours since I ate the pasta. Maybe my sickness is just to come? I don't know but this is sure making me doubt a lot of things. I'm so confused. I did experience/am experiencing some symptoms I had attributed to gluten in the past; heartburn, gas, headache, a bit of dizzyness, mild chest pain, some stabbing stomach pain, bloating, no D yet (which is my huge reaction thing and what I suffered from before glutenfree) ...maybe I do need to be gluten free, I just don't know!

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

[rinne]

Hi. Perhaps you have healed enough that it won't be an issue for you, I had problems with gluten for many years but when I hadn't had any for a long time I could handle a bit, if I kept eating it though it did become a problem again. I hope this passess quickly for you.

[Lisa]

Lissa,

You have been gluten free for three years and most likely totally healed from when you were so ill.

It might take continued exposure to gluten over an unknown period of time for you to react as you did before. Or, your reaction could be delayed for several more hours or several more days. Everyone is different.

Try not to get nervous, it might make it worse or confuse your symptoms or you might be totally surprised. Sometimes you just have to roll with things.

[Lissa]

Thank you so much for the replies!

I'm calming myself down, I think, and that's helping. I just hate not knowing what's going on! Given that I was never actually diagonsed with Celiac, I also pysch myself out and think that maybe I am just making it up, like everyone (except my family! they are incredibly supportive - my mother cried when I ate the pasta) tells me I am. Apparently since I was never diagonsed, I am not actually a Celiac sufferer, and so people tend not to take me seriously.

I do have one question though. I think that rinne and MommaGoose pose a pretty valid answer - however, if I am healed enough to tolerate a bowl of wheat pasta, how come I still get sick from cross contamination? I am just wondering.

Again, thank you so much for the replies.

[Lisa]

however, if I am healed enough to tolerate a bowl of wheat pasta, how come I still get sick from cross contamination? I am just wondering.

Sometimes that remains a mystery between all of us. There seems to be a lot of variables which I hear from others. How long ago were you symptomatic of cross contamination and were you certain it was gluten? I have heard from other that after a deliberate gluten that they had no problems, then another time a severe reaction. Why it varies, don't know.

I have been gluten free for over four years now and I don't ever react, either with full gluten or cross contamination. I consider myself, as long as I remain gluten free, in total remission.

And as we began in pain, weight loss, malabsorption, bath room issues it took a while to reach that level of discomfort. It may take some time to be symptomatic again once healing has taken place.

[Happy2bhere]

I can't tell you how I relate to what you are saying. Recently, I had the same thing happen to me. I ordered my pasta from room service and shortly later a phone call came through and told me they made a terrible mistake. I have only been gluten free since July 2008 and it took 4 weeks for most symptoms to leave me but 6 months for the joint pains to go away.

Now after this phone call, I became panicked. Do I make myself throw up? I decided against it because with all the testing they also found Barrett's Esophagus and throwing up would be worse for this condition (which I've been told is unrelated, I question this as my belching/reflux is so much better once going gluten-free). That night I had symptoms (uncontrolled belching, stomach bloating, reflux, sleep disturbances, woke it a pool of sweat (new one) and cramping but it was tolerable) that woke me up off and on most of the night but I never had the D I used to get. I've always had D with all the other symptoms I describe and it is extreme to the point of being on the floor in pain and not being able to make it up to the toilet in time due to my BP dropping and pain associated with it all until it goes through me.

This time.........What came out of it was constipation and days later nausea and joint pain. After a week, I'm still constipated with joint pains and the nausea was getting worse. I was being woke up in the middle of the night because my stomach is empty and just aching. I've been having to eat little bits all day long to keep the nausea away. I was able to go down to half dose of nexium for my Barrett's but starting taking what I was taking before the Celiac diagnosis to see if I would feel better. It's slowly improving but my doctor feels as though this sounds more like a Peptic Ulcer along with recovering from glutening. Who knows? These (Celiac and Peptic Ulcers) aren't related, are they? I'll be keeping careful watch but it sure can be confusing sometimes. Doctor said I would need to wait a month for a blood test to confirm if H. Polori was causing an ulcer. Although I've been on Nexium for some time now which I thought helped prevent this type of infection.

If anyone else has comments, greatly appreciated? And does anyone know how long the symptoms last from a glutening exposure?