Gluten Allergy And Pulse, Blood Pressure Connection?

[motif]

Hi,

I read that you can test allergy checking your heart rate change after taking given food.

For some food it works like I tested e.g. after eating ice cream pulse increases 7-10 points.

But after eating wheat bread my blood pressure rises like 10 points within 1 minute.

Does it indicate allergy to bread too? pulse doesn't change that much. Anybody tested food that way?

thanks

[tarnalberry]

blood pressure (and pulse, but less so) is too easily influence by mental state. get anxious about maybe finding a sign that you can't have bread - boom, increased blood pressure due to anxiousness, regardless of your actual reaction to bread.

[motif]

thanks, but is there any other testing? I heard about muscle testing etc.

Testing with pulse seems to work but I need to experiment more with it.

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[BigDogz]

blood pressure (and pulse, but less so) is too easily influence by mental state. get anxious about maybe finding a sign that you can't have bread - boom, increased blood pressure due to anxiousness, regardless of your actual reaction to bread.

I have to agree with you on this although...I would like to add that I might be more inclined to say there was an actual reaction going on if the jump in values was significant - not just the few "points" noted here. As an example let me relate something that happened to me recently...

I attended an employee picnic/fun day/health fair that included screening stations. Among other things, you could get pulse and blood pressure screenings from the company nurse. I took advantage and the nurse was pleased to say that my results were great - pulse 64, BP 112/62.

My bosses and co-workers are well aware of my celiac disease and have a fairly good grasp of what I can and cannot eat. When we have work functions, they try hard to accomodate my dietary needs (as well as those of other workers) and, when they can't, are sure to make me aware of the foods that aren't gluten-free. A chicken and rice casserole was the main dish and, to accomodate those employees with cholesterol issues, the gravy/cream sauce was served on the side. I was going to turn down the cream sauce but relented when I was assured by a server that it was gluten-free. A short time into the post-meal conversations and I knew, without a doubt...and rather dramatically I must say...that the cream sauce hadn't been gluten-free. (This was later confirmed by the caterer)

The symptoms hit me like a brick wall. It was like someone flipped a switch and I went instantly from "normal" to "nasty reaction". I get a lot of neurological symptoms and they didn't disappoint this time: numbness and tingling of my hands, lower legs and feet, a hot flushed feeling that I can literally feel spreading throughout my body, pounding heart rate and a sudden, partial loss of vision accompanied by a severe headache. It's sort of a strange effect - as though there's a blank spot in my sight. Not dark or black...just blank. It eventually morphs into the loss of the left half of my vision with a ring of sparkling, wiggly lines around everything. I've had it many times before with exposure and my doc tells me they're "optic migraines".

The visual change makes it hard to know where to look and I must have been staring funny at the person I was talking to because they asked if I was alright. I said it was nothing, that I thought I was having a gluten reaction. She insisted on dragging the company nurse over and I had to spill what symptoms I was having. The nurse immediately checked my pulse and blood pressure and they had sky-rocketed from 64 & 112/62 to 128 & 145/102. The visual effect lasted for an hour and forty minutes, the bump in my pulse and BP resolved gradually over 4 or 5 hours but the headache lasted 2 days.

I've experienced the symptoms multiple times before (prior to celiac disease diagnosis and going gluten-free), they're familiar to me and don't scare me any longer so I really don't think that would have been a factor in raising my vital signs so significantly or quickly. Soooo...having had a proven experience where a gluten reaction caused a sudden, severe change in vital signs, I would have to say the two can go hand-in-hand.