Ate A Little, Then Ate A Lot!

[creighton22]

Hello, Im new on here. Hope I put this in the right section and its not a repost.

Ive been gluten free for 6 years now. I probably accidently eat gluten 5-10 times a year, usually when I go out to eat so I rarely do. Eating gluten gives me sever diarrhea.

On to tonight, I went out with a friends family. I explained to the restaurant that I could not eat wheat and they assured me that the only things cooked in the fryer was the chicken wings. After eating the wings I came to find out that the sauce that was "gluten free" was actually fill with lots of gluten. Shortly after that I could feel my stomach rumbling and I knew what was coming. After that I looked at the delicious pizza that everyone around me was eating and then decided go for it seeing as I already was in for a long night. I then ate one of the best tasting pieces of food I have had in years. That one slice is by far the most gluten I have eaten since I began this diet.

My question is, if I already have eaten gluten and am going to have sever diarrhea, is eating more going to do extra damage to my intestines?

[irish daveyboy]

My question is, if I already have eaten gluten and am going to have sever diarrhea, is eating more going to do extra damage to my intestines?

Hi Creighton 22,

A quick analogy,

If you burn your finger on a match, nobody in their right mind

is going to put their hand down of a red hot plate of a stove and wonder

will it really do more damage than a match ?? It's likewise with the gut.

.

In a week or so when the 'D' has subsided,

the bloating, the chronic fatigue and brain fog are all gone.

.

I doubt if you're going to say " that deliberate slice of Gluten Laden Pizza"

was worth the hassle!

.

Best Regards,

David

[Medz]

But I think he's saying he's going to get the symptoms anyway because of the contaminated sauce, so does it really make it worse if you eat something else too?

It's something I've been wondering too - not that I'm going to deliberately gluten myself - but if you do get "hit" by something really annoying like a stray breadcrumb in a salad (which is the least tasty thing on the menu but the only thing that's safe so you choose it and munch through it without a great deal of enthusiasm while all your dining companions are tucking into lovely freshly-made pasta), there's a real temptation to throw caution to the wind and take a big ol' bite of garlic bread.

How much difference does quantity make to a glutening? Or is it one of those things that's different for different people?

Creighton22 - how are you doing now? Are your symptoms worse than you expected?

[codetalker]

Ive been gluten free for 6 years now. I probably accidently eat gluten 5-10 times a year, usually when I go out to eat so I rarely do. Eating gluten gives me sever diarrhea.

....

My question is, if I already have eaten gluten and am going to have sever diarrhea, is eating more going to do extra damage to my intestines?

IMHO, you are missing the point. Your question focuses on a single glutening. Looking at the entirety of your post, there is a much more important issue. You say you have been gluten-free for 6 years but eat gluten (albeit accidentally) 5-10 times a year. Taken literally, that is an obvious contradiction. The reality is that someone is only gluten-free since their last glutening. Imagine an alcoholic saying they've been sober for 6 years but accidentally get drunk 5-10 times a year. Would that make sense?

What you actually mean is that you "sort of" follow a gluten-free diet but you consume gluten on an infrequent but nonetheless regular basis.

That's the real danger. The thing that you really should be asking is, what will be the cumulative effect of all these glutenings over the years and decades of your life?

Again IMHO, this post is about cheating on the diet and whether it is OK. Especially for the sake of those who are new and/or are struggling with the diet, I feel it is important to say that cheating is not a good idea. The best chance for success and any kind of "normal" life is to believe gluten-free means just that: gluten-free.

Best of luck with the diet.

[creighton22]

Again IMHO, this post is about cheating on the diet and whether it is OK. Especially for the sake of those who are new and/or are struggling with the diet, I feel it is important to say that cheating is not a good idea. The best chance for success and any kind of "normal" life is to believe gluten-free means just that: gluten-free.

Best of luck with the diet.

In my lifestyle its extremely difficult to not accidently cross the path of gluten. I am constantly traveling and on a low budget. I would never intentionally eat anything knowingly that had any gluten in it. If I lived in one place it would be much easier to sustain a gluten free diet. I think anyone who has to travel as much as I do will find that no matter how hard you try, eating gluten still happens unknowingly.

Im simply asking if you find out soon after eating something that there was actually gluten in it, is it going to be more harmful to myself to eat more seeing as what's going to happen is already inevitable.

Analogy, someone is allergic to carrots and gets hives if they eat a carrot. They are going to inevitably get hives so can they eat another carrot for the same outcome or will the hives much worse if they have another.

[tarnalberry]

Unfortunately, you're still missing codetalker's point - getting glutened once a month to once every other month is tantamount, from an "effect of celiac disease on life expectancy" to not following the gluten free diet at all. I've done plenty of traveling gluten free, and never got glutened, myself. (This was both work and personal travel.)

To strictly answer your question - yes, it makes a difference. A little will still start the immune reaction, a lot will add more fuel to the fire, and give the immune system more to react to, hence more antibodies that attack the intestines. You may or may not feel a difference in symptoms at all.

[codetalker]

I think anyone who has to travel as much as I do will find that no matter how hard you try, eating gluten still happens unknowingly.

I know where you are coming from. I have traveled a lot due to business and also because I like SCUBA diving. When it was just gluten I had to avoid, it was hard enough and I usually lost 15 or more pounds per trip. About 3 yrs ago, I suddenly developed allergies to a long list of common foods. The addition of that pretty much ended travel, at least anything more than local day trips. Fortunately, I'm getting a handle of the source of the allergies and they are clearing up. I'm looking forward to traveling again in the near future.

In regard to your question, it is certainly valid. My answer would be that any gluten is bad and any more after that is worse.

Going beyond that, it may be worthwhile to consider other sources of possible harm, ones that are not physical in nature. For example:

1) New celiacs struggling with the diet.

As difficult as it is to be successful with the diet, do we really want to add the complexity of, "Well sure, you have to be gluten-free but if you get a little gluten it's OK to have some more". Don't we then end up on a slippery slope? If more gluten would somehow be OK after a glutening, then, how much more? Can I have a slice of pizza? How about 2 slices? How about 1 slice and a glass of beer? The problem becomes, where do you draw the line?

My contention is that to be successsful a celiac must draw the line at zero gluten.

2) Willpower

I cannot remember the last time I was glutened. However, I do fight with a little voice in my head which regularly tempts me to cheat. The last thing I want to do is provide that little voice with an additional approach to trip me up. Somewhere down the road, there is no doubt an accidental glutening waiting for me. When that happens, I do not want a little voice saying, "Well, you might as well take advantage of this and enjoy yourself. Eat a little more (fill in the blank)".

3) Non-celiacs

Your post raises the question of whether after an "accidental" glutening a celiac might safely be able to "deliberately" consume additional gluten.

Anything deliberate presupposes choice. What message would the non-celiac world receive if they were to see celiacs choosing to consume additional gluten after an intial glutening? Would it help or hinder our argument that gluten-free is essential to our well-being?

4) 20-20 hindsight

I'm in my late 50's and have struggled with celiac-related problems for decades. Most of that time, I neither knew I had celiac disease nor did I know any other celiacs. It has been relatively recently when the DX has become more common that I bumped into other celiacs. One was a programmer at work. As mentioned in a previous post, I saw him walk out of the cafeteria from time to time with items such as a hot dog on a wheat bun. When that happened, he invariably became a mirror in which I saw myself at his age. I could remember back to the time when I was not gluten-free and had few, if any, overt symptoms. Those that I had, I learned to live with. My immediate thought when seeing him would be,

"If I only knew then what I know now"

The truth that most celiacs on this board know is that celiac-related problems are hell. If I knew earlier in my life the problems I would suffer later on and in fact suffer today, I would have treated gluten like a vampire treats holy water. If gluten came anywhere near me, I would have run away screaming, "It burns! It burns!"

Bottom line, I opt for zero tolerance in regard to gluten.