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Allergies, Intollerances, And Celiac

Googles

By Googles
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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Googles Community Regular
Googles
Posted

Hello,

I was wondering if someone could explain the difference between intollerance to a food, a food allergy, celiac, and an allergy like hay fever so that I can explain it to other people who ask? I just want a lay explination of what the similarities and differences are. Are they all auto-immune disorders? Mostly questioning about allergies and celiac.

Googles.

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CGally81 Enthusiast
CGally81
Posted
Hello,

I was wondering if someone could explain the difference between intollerance to a food, a food allergy, celiac, and an allergy like hay fever so that I can explain it to other people who ask? I just want a lay explination of what the similarities and differences are. Are they all auto-immune disorders? Mostly questioning about allergies and celiac.

Googles.

From what I know (someone else please correct me if I'm wrong!),

Allergies can actually go away as you get older, whereas an auto-immune disorder doesn't. You'd have to wait for a cure to come out for the auto-immune disorder if you want to get rid of it.

There's also a difference in symptoms. Celiac's symptoms are diverse, and different people experience different things. But allergies cause, well, "allergy" symptoms. I've heard of stuff like watery eyes, throat closing up, stuff like that, occuring with food allergies of any kind.

Both react severely even to trace amounts of the thing in question. Allergies and auto-immune disorders alike.

But "intolerances" often mean that you can have very small amounts of the problem food and not cause powerful symptoms. That is not the case with allergies or auto-immune disorders.

jststric Contributor
jststric
Posted

boy, good luck with coming up with a reasonable explanation on that!!! When I started having problems, I went through a battery of allergy tests and NOTHING that bothers me showed up positive. But I did get a few positives on a few items that don't seem to bother me at all!! Go figure! I have not been officially diagnosed at all, but have serious intolerances to not only glutens but other food groups too. Just in the past 3 yrs all of this has popped up on me and I'm nearly 51. I have suffered with hayfever kind of allergies most of my life....dust, grass, mold, pollens, etc. And some of my food "poisoning" symptoms are very hayfeverish-sytomatic. My sinuses KILL me! Very weird to me! If it's a true allergy, then no, I don't think that counts as an auto-immune problem. But Celiacs, as Crohns, IBS, and simply intolerances are, IMO.

TotalKnowledge Apprentice
TotalKnowledge
Posted
Hello,

I was wondering if someone could explain the difference between intollerance to a food, a food allergy, celiac, and an allergy like hay fever so that I can explain it to other people who ask? I just want a lay explination of what the similarities and differences are. Are they all auto-immune disorders? Mostly questioning about allergies and celiac.

Googles.

If you ask a 100 different doctors you will probably get a 100 different answers on that subject. I do not believe they have done enough research into those problems to authoritatively tell you. In short you will get something about an allergy being an IgE response, and an intolerance being an IgA or IgG response. IgA, IgG, and IgE are all types of antibody that the body uses to deal with bad stuff that enters into the body. An allergic reaction is where there is an "abnormal" antigen response to a foreign substance that does not typically elicit that same response in the average population. When the response happens the IgE causes histamine to be release in too large of an amount. This is why a histamine blocker such as Benedril helps with mild allergic reactions, and why adrenaline helps with sever reactions. Adrenaline will rid the body of histamine very rapidly.

Abnormal IgG and IgA responses also release extra histamine into the body. But IgG and IgE have different foci. IgA is typically found in the mucous membranes, and IgG is normally a defense against pathogens.

YoloGx Rookie
YoloGx
Posted

OK--here's what I think:

Intolerance to a food is often caused at least initially to leaky gut syndrome. If one has damage to the intestinal lining (as in celiac) leaky gut is more likely to happen. What then happens is that undigested proteins go into the blood stream, and the body attacks them like they are foreign invaders. Down wind of that, the liver has to work harder due to a toxic build up, as does the lymphatic system which gets clogged up. After a while the body often becomes very sensitized to the more offending foods... Its possible eventually to become less sensitized to these various foods, especially as the leaky gut stops leaking and is repaired (as in avoiding the offending foods and gluten if one has celiac for instance).

Food intolerance can also be caused by poor or slow digestion. This can be remedied to a great degree by taking bitters (like yellow gentian) half an hour to 15 minutes before eating (helps digest proteins and fats esp.). Other food intolerances can be alleviated by taking digestive enzymes (bromelain/papain, pancreatin etc.).

Allergies like the previous note said, make the body produce histamines in reaction to whatever it is stimulating the allergic response. In this case antihistamines do help...

Celiac does not produce histamines. It is an auto immune response to gliadin which then causes the immune system to attack the lining of the intestines, flattening or scarring the villi. Anti-histimines unfortunately do not help counteract celiac.

Am meanwhile wondering about the role of baking soda and either lemon juice or vinegar (taken at least an hour apart to avoid "fizz"!!). They often seem to balance the system after a "leaky gut" intolerance experience, as well as a cross contamination glutening... The digestive enzymes seem to help too as do the detox herbs (which help out the liver etc.). So therein lies the confusion....when so many of the same remedies help for differently caused things.

TotalKnowledge Apprentice
TotalKnowledge
Posted

Histamine may actually help in the bodies fight against gluten. I have noticed that drinking wine after accidentally eating gluten seems to help. My mother, who had/has worse lower extremity neuropathy than mine, would sting her self with bees to relive the symptoms. I have also heard of people with arthritis (another condition at least partially linked with gluten problems) also using bee stings to help alleviate their symptoms.

YoloGx Rookie
YoloGx
Posted
Histamine may actually help in the bodies fight against gluten. I have noticed that drinking wine after accidentally eating gluten seems to help. My mother, who had/has worse lower extremity neuropathy than mine, would sting her self with bees to relive the symptoms. I have also heard of people with arthritis (another condition at least partially linked with gluten problems) also using bee stings to help alleviate their symptoms.

Wow! I have heard of bee stings working for gluten intolerance and arthritis but not for celiac. That must take a lot of forbearance!!

Am wondering if the wine works for you due to the extra enzymes??

Bea

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greendog Apprentice
greendog
Posted

Some good answers and information but as you can see it varies. Damage to the immune system by antibiotics, chemo, surgery etc. can bring about allergies and intolerances and the key is to try to heal and strengthen you immune system to correct some of these problems. Probably won't get back to where you were before it happened, but could minimize the effect and prevent some down the road.

glutenfreeinminnesota Contributor
glutenfreeinminnesota
Posted
Hello,

I was wondering if someone could explain the difference between intollerance to a food, a food allergy, celiac, and an allergy like hay fever so that I can explain it to other people who ask? I just want a lay explination of what the similarities and differences are. Are they all auto-immune disorders? Mostly questioning about allergies and celiac.

Googles.

I just tell people it's an auto immune disease and that its not allergy...I don't have an allergic reaction...my body truly can't process it correctly. Some people just dont get it though :P

Googles Community Regular
Googles
Posted
  • Author

thank you all for your help in trying to sort out what is a much more complicated interconnection than I realized.

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