Need A Little Guidance

[CecilyF]

I've been sick for a year. Just diagnosed with celiac disease last week. I've been gluten-free for 6 days now and have felt fantastic! This afternoon, my stomach started cramping. Does that mean I've eaten something with gluten in it or what? I ate for lunch what I fixed for supper last night. It didn't bother me last night.

Could use a little guidance on knowing when I've gotten something bad.

Thanks a bunch!

[StacyA]

I've been sick for a year. Just diagnosed with celiac disease last week. I've been gluten-free for 6 days now and have felt fantastic! This afternoon, my stomach started cramping. Does that mean I've eaten something with gluten in it or what? I ate for lunch what I fixed for supper last night. It didn't bother me last night.

Could use a little guidance on knowing when I've gotten something bad.

Thanks a bunch!

Hi Cecily. Over a hundred people have viewed your post, but no one has replied. I think it may be because you're asking such a global question, and because you're in the 'products' section. I'm new to gluten-free, so I don't know all that much, but I wanted you to have someone reply. 6 days is very early into gluten-free, and if you've been sick a whole year it's going to take time to heal - therefore I bet you won't exactly be able to tell yet if it's just part of the ups and downs of healing or if you've been exposed to gluten. The 'coping with' and 'post diagnosis' forums have a lot of threads that echo some of your frustrations and might help you figure out what's going on or at least not feel crazy or alone. From what I can gather, everyone is different in how quickly they respond to gluten, and it will take time for you to figure out how your body responds. Check out those sections. - Stacy

[Wolicki]

I've been sick for a year. Just diagnosed with celiac disease last week. I've been gluten-free for 6 days now and have felt fantastic! This afternoon, my stomach started cramping. Does that mean I've eaten something with gluten in it or what? I ate for lunch what I fixed for supper last night. It didn't bother me last night.

Could use a little guidance on knowing when I've gotten something bad.

Thanks a bunch!

Did you have dairy with that meal? It's tough to do dairy for most of us until we are healed.

[jrc121]

Hmmm. It's quite possible. Since you're new to the game you need to prepare yourself to expect being glutened a few times, unless you get really lucky and avoid all cross contamination possibilities and hidden glutens. I would probably avoid what you ate at least for a while just to be safe, unless you're 100% sure of no gluten (say if you ate fruit or something). Search the brand name of what you ate online and/or call the company about gluten content. Could also be that you can't handle soy or corn.

[New-To-This]

From one newbee to another. My husband got so sick he ended up in the hospital. Have you gotten a new, toaster for your gluten free breads? A new cutting board? A new frying pan? Etc... You can get glutened at home by not replacing the MANY items that you use to prepare your meals. Anything wooden or scratched needs to be replaced. Yes it can and will make you sick if you don't. You could be contaiminating yourself unknowingly. It took my dear husband ending up in the hospital for us to realize, yes, even our cooking untensils can make him sick if they where used with wheat products in the past! I just had the scariest week of my life. My husband had such sever intestinal cramps Saturday the 12th I had to take him to thw hospital and he was in so much pain, I thought I was going to lose him. It took 3 shots of morphine to get the pain to where he could tolerate it. I don't mean to scare you, I just want to make sure you realize how serious this can be.

Also here are a few web sites you might find handy:

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

There are tons more. I have used and saved a few of these in my favorites for my own personal use. I have even foud lists ingredients to watch for on your food labels, and before printing these lists I would have bought products that would have made my husband sick all over again. An example MSG has at least 20 differnet names and if you didn't know that you could eat something and get sick and have no idea why. And Gluten bi products and products have names you would not realize have gluten in them. Research is you best friend and your guide to preventing getting glutened again.

The people on this web site are absolutely wonderful, without them I don't know what I would have done. I just hope this information is as helpful to you as theirs has been to me!

[New-To-This]

Oh and I forgot, if you see a name of a book listed anywhere see if you can check it out of your local library. I have checked out at least a dozen books so far and gotten tons of information. Do realize that some of this information is old but still worth the read. I have found a few I want to buy for my personal library at home after reading several I didn't find very interesting. I found a wonderful cookbook too.

I wish you the best of luck!

[CecilyF]

Thank you all so much! Stomach cramps subsided after that one bad day. I feel like a new woman after being gluten free!!

I appreciate all the info. What a life-changing experience this has been.