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Exhausted After Gluten?

tkm831

By tkm831
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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tkm831 Rookie
tkm831
Posted

I was wondering if anyone experiences sever exhaustion after ingesting gluten? It seems like within a half an hour or so from the time I ate I can barely keep my eyes open. I don't usually intentionally eat something with gluten but the one time recently I did this happened. So when this happened after eating other meals that I "thought" were gluten free it got me thinking. I don't have the "typical" symptoms so I thought this might be a telltale sign for me to know when I have accidentally ingested it. Any help would be appreciated.

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JillianLindsay Enthusiast
JillianLindsay
Posted

H yes! Fatigue is my absolute worst glutened symptom. My GI symptoms aren't too bad, but the fatigue is just debilitating. I feel like I'm trying to wade through water or have weights attached to me, my body just feels so heavy.

I was wondering if anyone experiences sever exhaustion after ingesting gluten? It seems like within a half an hour or so from the time I ate I can barely keep my eyes open. I don't usually intentionally eat something with gluten but the one time recently I did this happened. So when this happened after eating other meals that I "thought" were gluten free it got me thinking. I don't have the "typical" symptoms so I thought this might be a telltale sign for me to know when I have accidentally ingested it. Any help would be appreciated.
tkm831 Rookie
tkm831
Posted
  • Author

Does it happen to you shortly after eating it like me? Thank you so much for you response it really helps to know this is not all in my head and now I can be even more careful.

hannahp57 Contributor
hannahp57
Posted

i get the fatigue too! its starts about hlaf an hour to an hour after and lasts for DAYS. the lest time i got glutened it was on a monday...and i started working that friday and my head was still foggy from exhaustion. you definitely are not alone!

Ahorsesoul Enthusiast
Ahorsesoul
Posted

Very common side effect that is often overlooked as pertaining to eating gluten.

jerseyangel Proficient
jerseyangel
Posted

Yes--fatigue is a common reaction. Everyone's reactions and reaction times are different--I tend to feel absolutely exhausted the next day and for another day or two after accidental cross contamination. My reflexes are slower, and I'm a bit more clumsy.

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

Me too, unfortunately for me it continues for up to three weeks.

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amandabear20 Rookie
amandabear20
Posted

Fatigue/exhaustion is something i get almost immediately also. It lasts for 3 to 5 days. All this week I've been so tired and sleeping in really late when im normally up by 9:30, 10 at the latest. Monday I was glutened, and Im just now starting to feel normal again, still moody though. but the exhaustion is getting better. Waves of nausea still come and go. Im just glad I didn't get the sever symptoms. Hope it gets better for you!

NorthernElf Enthusiast
NorthernElf
Posted

Usually the extreme fatigue is the first sign of glutening for me too. Within 15-30 minutes of eating something I shouldn't have I pretty much just want to curl up in a ball and sleep - and want everyone to leave me alone. I get very miserable !! Often a headache comes in as well, and then the stomach cramps. There have been times when I don't realize I glutened myself until hours afterwards - then I look back and realize ugh ! I think it's stupid I feel so bad and don't make the connection ! That's when I start looking at ingredients or brands on the internet to find the culprit...

I live a very active lifestyle & that seems to help pull me out of it. It doesn't last for days for me, usually just hours or until the next day, where coffee and a bit of activity help to snap me out of it. The stomach issues definitely last longer, so can the headaches. Generally, if I find myself needing tylenol and it doesn't have much effect I KNOW I got glutened. Unfortunately, only advil can really kill those headaches...for a couple of hours...but its pretty hard on the stomach too so I usually am stuck with tylenol and watch the clock for the next dose !

linuxprincess Rookie
linuxprincess
Posted

I get the fatigue, but it usually comes within the next few days for me. I have a frantic rash for two days that subsides into the exhaustion and inability to stay out of bed. haha

I think most people have a slight form of this they refer to as 'brain fog' when they are glutened. Just like all they varied symptoms of Celiac's, some individuals have a more severe reaction than others, like yourself.

angieInCA Apprentice
angieInCA
Posted

fatigue and brain fog are biggies for me as well, along with deep muscle pain, shooting pain in arms and tingling and itching (DH). Starts within an hour and can last 3 or 4 days for me.

brigala Explorer
brigala
Posted
fatigue and brain fog are biggies for me as well, along with deep muscle pain, shooting pain

Me too. You can find a list of my pre-gluten-free diagnoses in my sig, and the WORST of it was the fatigue.

My first symptoms of accidental gluten are GI-based, severely exacerbated by dairy intake. If I know I've been slightly glutened once and can stay off dairy for a week or so, I can sometimes avoid acute symptoms all together; but that only goes so far.

A couple weeks ago my naturopath prescribed two supplements to help with my asthma. She read the back of one bottle out loud to me to make sure it was OK; I stupidly assumed she had looked at both bottles. A simple oversight on her part, and sheer stupidity on mine. I was on both for a week, wondering why I was feeling lousy even while avoiding dairy, before I read the back of the other bottle. Of course, it contained wheat as a key ingredient. My best friend laughed at me when I told her, because she knows how compulsive I normally am about reading labels on everything.

Anyway, the fatigue and pain started just before I found out about the wheat in the supplement. That was after about a week of chronic glutening I didn't realize I was getting. I've been off the supplement for a week now and I'm not feeling much better yet. I don't know how long it's going to take me to recover. I slept until noon today and couldn't keep my eyes open after 4. Slept until 7, fixed dinner for the family, and I'm back in bed with the laptop now and it's barely 10. I thought I was having hot flashes, too, which would be a new symptom, but hubby just realized the AC had been turned off. ;-)

I haven't had more than occasional single-incident glutenings since I went gluten-free a couple years back, so this is new territory for me as far as recovery. :( Usually, one glutening, one major bout of D with cramps, and if I avoid dairy for a week I'm ok if I can avoid a repeat.

For what it's worth, my sister says her major gluten symptoms are brain fog. In hindsight, I suspect gluten may have been at the root of her severe learning disabilities; if she'd been diagnosed as a young child she might even be normal. But there's no way to get back 40 years lost to chronic brain fog. :(

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