New Skin Sensitivity

[fran641]

OK, I'm certainly not a delicate lady but lately my skin thinks I am.

I have been gluten free almost 7 months. A few months ago I mentioned on these boards that I developed a rash on my elbows and knees. The only new food I had eaten was grits and when I stopped those the rash cleared up in a week. Two weeks ago I ate shrimp with my favorite seasoning, Old Bay, and my hands turned red and started itching (no GI symptoms) I wanted to tear my skin off. It must have been the seasoning because when I ate the shrimp again without this seasoning no reactions. Then yesterday I used a cream on my neck for the second time and developed hives that itch awful too. What the heck is this all about. At 61 years old I am suddenly getting all these weird allergy symptoms. I can only think it's related to the gluten-free diet. I know I must be gluten-free for the rest of my life and my Celiac symptoms are doing wonderful since I've been on the diet. Am I just going to be a delicate old lady with a flaming red neck along with the turkey neck from losing weight????? I won't be using that cream again so the rash will clear up soon. Thanks for any comments you can give me.

Fran

[Tigertail]

OK, I'm certainly not a delicate lady but lately my skin thinks I am.

I have been gluten free almost 7 months. A few months ago I mentioned on these boards that I developed a rash on my elbows and knees. The only new food I had eaten was grits and when I stopped those the rash cleared up in a week. Two weeks ago I ate shrimp with my favorite seasoning, Old Bay, and my hands turned red and started itching (no GI symptoms) I wanted to tear my skin off. It must have been the seasoning because when I ate the shrimp again without this seasoning no reactions. Then yesterday I used a cream on my neck for the second time and developed hives that itch awful too. What the heck is this all about. At 61 years old I am suddenly getting all these weird allergy symptoms. I can only think it's related to the gluten-free diet. I know I must be gluten-free for the rest of my life and my Celiac symptoms are doing wonderful since I've been on the diet. Am I just going to be a delicate old lady with a flaming red neck along with the turkey neck from losing weight????? I won't be using that cream again so the rash will clear up soon. Thanks for any comments you can give me.

Fran

Hi Fran, This rash sounds like Dermatitis Herpetaformis, which is a rash conneceted with Celiac Disease. I get this rash any time I ingest anything with gluten or use anything with gluten in it, such as creams, shampoo, toothpaste, etc..I don't always get the GI symptoms when I just get contaminated from gluten but I do break out with this rash in about 10 minutes from being contaminated. Try watching what you put on you skin and make sure all your seasonings are for sure gluten free and maybe that will keep you from getting this such annoying rash. Good luck, and good health, Lacey

[fran641]

Hi Fran, This rash sounds like Dermatitis Herpetaformis, which is a rash conneceted with Celiac Disease. I get this rash any time I ingest anything with gluten or use anything with gluten in it, such as creams, shampoo, toothpaste, etc..I don't always get the GI symptoms when I just get contaminated from gluten but I do break out with this rash in about 10 minutes from being contaminated. Try watching what you put on you skin and make sure all your seasonings are for sure gluten free and maybe that will keep you from getting this such annoying rash. Good luck, and good health, Lacey

Thank you so much for your response. I sort of skipped over the chapters about Dermatitis Herpetaformis because I've never had skin issues. I need to go back to my books and start reading about that. Take care, fran

[darlindeb25]

There are many who will tell you gluten on the skin doesn't matter, but for some of us, it does. I get these rashes from topical gluten, corn, and soy.

I also get a nasty rash on my tummy when I eat an offending food, sometimes not sure what caused it. This last time, I had raisins. Not sure if it's the sugar content that caused it or what. I do know it was the raisins though.

Being gluten free for 7 months, has allowed healing to happen. Once the gluten is out of your system, often times there are other intolerance's just waiting for their turn to be heard. Maybe you have another intolerance. Trial and error is the best way to figure them out.

[fran641]

There are many who will tell you gluten on the skin doesn't matter, but for some of us, it does. I get these rashes from topical gluten, corn, and soy.

I also get a nasty rash on my tummy when I eat an offending food, sometimes not sure what caused it. This last time, I had raisins. Not sure if it's the sugar content that caused it or what. I do know it was the raisins though.

Being gluten free for 7 months, has allowed healing to happen. Once the gluten is out of your system, often times there are other intolerance's just waiting for their turn to be heard. Maybe you have another intolerance. Trial and error is the best way to figure them out.

I went back and looked all the things I seem to be sensitive to now. The cream for my neck did have wheat germ in it. I just read that this external wheat germ would not effect my intestines but certainly would my skin if I became sensitive to it. Not sure about the spice yet it may be one of the peppers in that spice that set off the itching. The only thing I can do is avoid the exterior gluten offenders as much as I do the foods. Thanks for your comments Deb.

[Angels~Exist]

Most of the time spices have maltodextrin in them.

[Gemini]

There are many who will tell you gluten on the skin doesn't matter, but for some of us, it does. I get these rashes from topical gluten, corn, and soy.

I also get a nasty rash on my tummy when I eat an offending food, sometimes not sure what caused it. This last time, I had raisins. Not sure if it's the sugar content that caused it or what. I do know it was the raisins though.

Being gluten free for 7 months, has allowed healing to happen. Once the gluten is out of your system, often times there are other intolerance's just waiting for their turn to be heard. Maybe you have another intolerance. Trial and error is the best way to figure them out.

To give you gluten-free food for thought.....in Peter Green's book on Celiac Disease, he clearly states, and I admit it surprised the hell out of me, that those with DH can touch gluten without a DH reaction. Any other reaction is an allergy, not an intolerance. A person has to ingest gluten for the autoimmune reaction to occur and then the reaction erupts to the surface of the skin. It's totally an internal to external reaction, not the other way around. It can also take a very long time for the IgA deposits that form in a DH reaction to go away and this is why is takes so long for DH to clear up sometimes, making people think it comes from touching gluten and not ingesting it. It sounded to me that healing takes longer with DH than GI based Celiac symptoms.

I am not doubting whatsoever that some people cannot touch wheat/gluten, etc. without getting a rash but it's not from what many think. I also believe that if you have the skin version of celiac disease, you are going to be extremely prone to other skin issues like allergies.

[Carybear]

Yes my skin has gotten more sensitive over time.

I have discovered I am really sensitive to Sugar and fructose. I will get hives and or blisters on my body in odd places. Sometimes if someone touches me, i get a red itchy rash.

Yet there are some wheat containing products I can use topically, no problem.

I don't look at it as just celiac anymore.

I have a mast cell disorder. That is what ANY auto immune disease is. My immune system is like a wild fire. It will burn and burn without anyway to put it out except time. Sometimes it's not that bad at all. It's a confusing affliction.

[JoH]

I get skin reactions to food allergies - both contact reactions and reactions if I eat a food I'm allergic to. Strangely enough, the one thing gluten doesn't do to me is cause my skin to react. So if I break out in a rash, I go looking for one of my allergens.

My best guess is your immune system doesn't have nearly as much gluten to go looking for, so it's spending a lot more time on a search-and-kill mission for your other allergens...

[1desperateladysaved]

Aren't grits corn?

[Itch Be Gone]

I am experiencing the same thing - flare-ups for seemingly no reason. Thanks so much to all of you for your comments. They are helpful and, there is also a strange kind of comfort in knowing that I am not alone in this - that other people are going through the same sort of hell. ;o)

[weluvgators]

I just wanted to share that we have found Zyrtec to be really helpful in managing our skin flare ups. It has been trial and error, but we now use Zyrtec as a first line of defence in helping to relieve the pain and itching that we get. Daily Zyrtec for a few weeks cleared up a chronic elbow rash that was not responding to anything else. And the Zyrtec has been an immediate course of action for flares due to incidental airborne exposures. I am managing myself and three kids with gluten hypersensitivity with each of us having slightly different reactions to exposure. Three out of four of us have to manage the skin reactions, and the Zyrtec works great for us. We try to minimise use, but we are no longer reluctant to use it as needed to provide relief. I would love to hear what others use to help provide relief for the skin rashes. In our experience the topical treatments have proven to only make things worse.

[designerstubble]

Omg, this thread is a relief. I have been suffering from skin reactions (to creams and cosmetic stuff that I have used for years), I get bad asthma reactions from various food including all citrus and tomato. And some teas contains spices. I get hives from other food like celery and eggs and I now bad eczema on my eyes from pumpkin seeds... All new. Been gluten free for 4 months or just over.

I don't understand it all. Also I have slowly become corn intolerant. I wish all these allergies would go away, gluten free would be easy compared to ALL of this. Has anyone lost their allergies at all?

[pricklypear1971]

Omg, this thread is a relief. I have been suffering from skin reactions (to creams and cosmetic stuff that I have used for years), I get bad asthma reactions from various food including all citrus and tomato. And some teas contains spices. I get hives from other food like celery and eggs and I now bad eczema on my eyes from pumpkin seeds... All new. Been gluten free for 4 months or just over.

I don't understand it all. Also I have slowly become corn intolerant. I wish all these allergies would go away, gluten free would be easy compared to ALL of this. Has anyone lost their allergies at all?

I started reacting to cosmetics I had used for years - which had gluten in them. Swelling and itching. They had wheat germ oil and or oat oil (no gluten-free but who knows). I stopped using them and haven't retried them...because of the gluten. I did react very badly to a shampoo that's supposed to be gluten-free, also...but I've always had a picky scalp so who knows....

It has calmed down - the reactions. My body does not freak out so easily.