Multiple Cross-Contamination Glutenings?

[bridgetm]

I'm 3 or 4 weeks into the gluten-free diet and have been keeping a food journal. I had an obvious glutening on Easter; I hadn't told my family yet and wasn't sure how sensitive I am. It took me about a week to recover from that. However, last week I started getting the lower abdominal pain that's not noticable unless my belt is a little too tight or immediately after I eat. It's mainly lower left but if I apply pressure it shoots out along my intestines. Also, I'm noticing more bloating and discomfort every day. This is how I felt for months before starting the diet.

I'm pretty sure I had recovered from Easter and I've been careful since then, but I know I'm at some risk for cross-contamination since I still eat one or two meals a day in a school cafeteria. I plan on being more vigilant this week and to eat only simple, safe foods to hopefully settle it down.

But could these recent symptoms be a result of recurring cross-contamination???

[gary'sgirl]

I think it's a definite possibility that it is a cross contamination issue. If I were you I would definitely not eat from the cafeteria for at least 3 months and then only eat there if you talk to the cooks in detail about how they cook and prepare the food.

Cross contamination is extremely easy.

I hope you can figure it out soon. Being in pain is no fun!

[Korwyn]

CC is very easy. Look at it this way: A single slice of wheat bread contains ~4800 milligrams of gluten on average. May people with celiac disease or GI are sensitive to amounts so low as to be virtually undetectable ( less than 10 mg ). So....a single, invisible, unseen crumb can contain more than enough gluten to cause you problems. I can't even eat a potato chips produced in a shared facility even though they are produced on a different production line just because of dust in the air from other gluten containing foods.