Gluten Or Virus

[Bonnie]

Need some advice.

Been gluten-free about 4 weeks or trying to! Had a really bad weekend. Started feeling sick Saturday afternoon, really bad headache at the front, bloated, 'gurgly' stomach. Saturday night couldn't sleep, terrible aches in arms and legs. Then I started getting stabbing pains under my ribs. Never had that before.

Its now Monday and I still feel really unwell - headache, nausea. Have I glutened myself by mistake or is it a virus? The sore arms and legs and the stabbing pain are new to me.

I am so confused and feel really down. I think everyone thinks I am a total hypochondriac. They must be sick to death of me complaining when they ask how I am. Think I need to start lying and saying I'm fine. I'm convinced they all think I'm a pain in the butt!

I feel worse now than I did before going gluten free.

How do you know if its gluten or a virus?

[KaitiUSA]

Well sounds like you could have been glutened. It does take time to feel better though. Took me 3 months to get alot of improvement and then 6 months to get back to normal. It just varies from person to person. Have you seen improvement before this happened?

You also may want to keep a food journal and see if anything else may be bugging you as well.

Have you had gluten free products too? Like things like lipsticks, toothpastes, shampoos, lotions, etc? Things you put on your head, hands, and face should be gluten free because they have high chances of getting into your mouth.

I hope you feel better...if you have any questions or help with anything let me know

[jknnej]

I feel terrible for you! I know how you feel-I, too, tell people I'm fine b/c how many times can I say I'm sick without them thinking I'm making it up or just a wimp?

Only the people that really matter will know how you feel. My husband is so good with that...my parents and siblings, on the other hand, not so great.

Can you stay in bed and rest or do you have a lot to do? If you have a lot to do maybe you can try some of the products we all use to help with the nausea/stomach pain.

And, like Kaiti said, look back at what you ate to see if you could have possibly had gluten.

Keep your chin up-it will get better!!!

[Bonnie]

Thanks so much for the responses.

Katie, I haven't checked make-up etc. yet. I was concentrating on the food aspect first but I will definitely look into it now.

Was feeling very sorry for myself this morning obviously!! I know it will take time - I can see from this site that everyone goes through these 'teething problems' and accidentally gluten themselves from time to time. It's just frustrating when you are trying so hard to do it right!

I have been using buscopan and spasmopep (peppermint capsules) which do help a bit. Yesterday I took a buscopan and a nausea tab together and ended up with needle point pupils and was totally 'goofed'. I can't understand why people would want to feel like that! Ha ha.

Another thing, I have read that after you have been off gluten a while, when you do ingest the symptoms are worse but I really didn't realise how bad they would be. Teach me to be more careful in future if nothing else.

Thanks for the advice. It makes such a difference knowing there are others who know how you feel.

Yvonne

[KaitiUSA]

If you need any help with makeups and other products you can look in the product section or just contact me and I can help you out with some brands.

Lipsticks are extremely important because alot of them contain wheat starch and they are right on your lips which is pretty much guaranteed to get traces into your digestive tract.

I actually had a horrible reaction to some lip balm I was using that turns out it had vitamin e derived from wheat.

When I get glutened I get nausea really bad and I use this homeopathic spray that you put under your tongue and it works like a charm for me.

When you are not feeling well try drinking peppermint, ginger, or chamomile teas.

Rice is also good for the stomach as well as mashed and baked potatoes.

Feel better soon

[judy05]

Bonnie,

You might try going Dairy-Free for a while. A lot of my symptoms disappeared after removing these foods from my giet. A lot of Celiacs have a problem with this because of the damage done to the villi. I myself have an intolerance to wheat and dairy but am now able to eat Cheddar Cheese.

[Merika]

KatieUSA, what is your homeopathic spray?

Bonnie, if you don't want to be "goofed" (not sure what the meds are) try just some gluten-free peppermint candies, or the teas that katie mentioned. They work too!

Also, if you are newly gluten-free, it's so easy to goof and ingest gluten. And I'm looking at the post date of your message and it's Sunday night, and I'm thinking you probably went out to eat this weekend or ate at someone's house, or....did something that increased your odds of being glutened.

Hope it all passes soon,

Merika

[cdford]

In our cases, there is a specific pattern that a gluten incident causes. We went through that period of time when we weren't sure until we realized the pattern and one key difference...we usually don't run a fever with a gluten incident. In our cases, we also will break out with the DH spots but that can take several days to show up.

A typical reaction for me begins within minutes with tingling and swelling in my mouth. It then moves through the varying gastro problems and then the DH breakout.

Jenn's pattern is very different. She often does not react for days or weeks. She gets bloated and has relatively mild gastro symptoms prior to breaking out. Boy does she ever get irritable and difficult. Her immune system kicks into high gear and she picks up the first bug with which she comes into contact. If no bug is hanging in waiting, her sinuses start up. She also craves gluten and will beg, borrow, or steal to get it.

You will soon figure out your specific pattern and learn to recognize it. When you do, the question of gluten or virus will be more clear cut.

[Bonnie]

Thanks so much everyone.

I have thought of coming off dairy for a while but I've been avoiding it - hard enough coming off gluten! I did go dairy free for about 6 weeks but at the time was still eating wheat so obviously the symptoms persisted.

I will take all the advice. Merika I actually ate at home - too scared to eat out - but as I'm still so new and don't understand labelling too well, I probably ate something I shouldn't have. The only thing that was different to normal was some gluten-free bread - store bought.

Anyway, I am going to Cape Town this weekend, staying in a hotel and I'm so worried about what to eat in the restaurants. Its my first time away since going gluten-free.

I'll just stick to plain meat and veg.

Thanks so much guys!

Yvonne

[cdford]

Be sure to take a restaurant card with you or at least print out the information for the chef. If they know what to do, they can usually give you something acceptable. Some places are better than others. If you are not sure where to get a card, e-mail me and I'll send you a sample of one of mine.