Happy To Be Glutened?

[T.H.]

When I was diagnosed with Celiac, I had no overt symptoms when I would consume gluten. And when I went gluten free, I realized that this lack of reaction made me nervous. How would I tell if I was getting damaged if I don't notice a reaction to the gluten?

So last week, I ate something that I found out later had gluten. Before I went gluten-free, again, I wouldn't have noticed any reaction. Now, 6 months gluten free, I actually HAD a reaction. I was miserable; nauseous, fuzzy headed, general bleh for days.

And it makes me happy. All I can think is that now I have a way to tell when I am eating something bad for me.

I'm curious if anyone else experiences this? Does anyone else have symptoms to gluten, now, that they didn't before they went gluten free? And if you do, how do you feel about it?

If you don't have any symptoms, how do you make sure you stay safe? My daughter still has no symptoms if she has gluten, and I'm scared to death that I'll be giving her something bad for her and we'd never even know!

[Reba32]

I had symptoms before, I just had them for so long I figured I always felt like crap because it was normal! After going gluten free and I felt so much better, it was easy to know when I'd been glutened!

[gaingus]

I have to agree that I had been feeling like crap for so long, it was "normal". Now that I have been on the diet, it is more easily noticeable than before. It's funny too because my family can tell also. The best advice to avoid being glutened is to get really good at reading labels. When you decide to go out to eat (if you haven't started doing that yet) be up front with the resteraunt staff. I have found out that they can be very accomidating. Also, there is an entire tread dedicated to gluten free menus and restaraunts.

As far as your daughter, its a good bet that she is genetically pre-disposed to get it, but there is a possability that it won't happen. When I found out about mine, it took my family a long time to think back to who may have had it in the past. One day my grandfather was talking and he remembered his dad going to the doctors about once or so a month to be "blead out". He then remembered how irritable my great grandfather would be after meals that contained a lot of bread/breading, so we figured it out from there. Of course this was long enough ago that celiac wasn't known about.

[T.H.]

Oh, I think I gave the wrong impression! While I was hoping that my daughter might not have it (no gut symptoms), I pestered the whole family to get tested after I was diagnosed. Both she and my brother came back positive already. :-( My son was the one with some 'possible' symptoms, but he came back negative!

Sigh.

At least I took everyone off the gluten; regardless of diagnosis, my son's symptoms went away after going gluten free, so I figure that's it for gluten in my family, ya know?

I just keep worrying that my daughter will get the gluten without my knowledge, when she doesn't have that immediate physical symptom. I suppose I'm lucky in that she's really embraced the diet, after seeing all that I went through. She's become the super experimental cook in our family. She doesn't try to sneak gluten in when she's at friends houses or anything, phew!:-)

Thanks for the advice. :-) And I had not realized there was a restaurant thread. I'll have to go check that one out!

I have to agree that I had been feeling like crap for so long, it was "normal". Now that I have been on the diet, it is more easily noticeable than before. It's funny too because my family can tell also. The best advice to avoid being glutened is to get really good at reading labels. When you decide to go out to eat (if you haven't started doing that yet) be up front with the resteraunt staff. I have found out that they can be very accomidating. Also, there is an entire tread dedicated to gluten free menus and restaraunts.

As far as your daughter, its a good bet that she is genetically pre-disposed to get it, but there is a possability that it won't happen. When I found out about mine, it took my family a long time to think back to who may have had it in the past. One day my grandfather was talking and he remembered his dad going to the doctors about once or so a month to be "blead out". He then remembered how irritable my great grandfather would be after meals that contained a lot of bread/breading, so we figured it out from there. Of course this was long enough ago that celiac wasn't known about.

[Bobbijo6681]

I also thought that I had very few symptoms prior to going Gluten Free, but the first time that I ate Gluten after being gluten-free I found out what a reaction feels like. I agree with the others that I just didn't realize how bad I felt, until I started feeling better. It took one intentional glutening and I have swore off of it since. I couldn't believe how badly I felt for eating something that just a month before was perfectly fine, or so I thought. I hope you can work with your daughter to understand the consequences of eating gluten and hopefully she won't have to deal with all of the problems that you faced.

Good Luck!