Airborne Wheat

[beksmom]

It is Saturday June12, 2010. I have been in and out of the hospital for four days with severe hives and back to back anaflactic reactions. Ive been put on high doses of prendisone, benedryl, my potassium is low so they put me on klor- con 10 mg. ive had to use an epi pen once already and theyve had to give me it twice at the hospital. Being that i have taken all wheat out of my diet can this be a new serious problem to be resolved due to airborne wheat grass. anyone please help/advise.

thank you

beksmom

[kareng]

Why do you think of air borne wheat? Where is it coming from? Any thoughts from the doc's on what is causing the allergic type reaction? Not doubting you, just trying to help you investigate.

Also, if you dont't mind - where do you live ? And is it city, suburb, country?

[beksmom]

Why do you think of air borne wheat? Where is it coming from? Any thoughts from the doc's on what is causing the allergic type reaction? Not doubting you, just trying to help you investigate.

Also, if you dont't mind - where do you live ? And is it city, suburb, country?

[beksmom]

I live in Mt Shasta, CA Its Northern California about 2hours from the Oregon border. I was thinking airborne because i have been gluten free since December and i'm thinking maybe now that i'm not ingesting wheat maybe my body doesn't have it in my system to resist it in the air??? i really don't know i'm just starting to get scared nothing has changed in my home enviroment and have not changed soaps or cleaners?

[mushroom]

I am wondering if you have ever had other allergies in your life, not just to foods but to pollens, cats, whatever??? Not saying that it is caused by anything like this but some people are more predisposed to a massive histamine response than others. It could be that you have built up an intolerance to something else, something that has never bothered you before.

As an example, I have never been bothered by the pine pollen at Lake Tahoe which is very heavy over the summer. Last year was especially bad and for the first time I started sneezing and couldn't stop. And the pine pollen is supposed to be too large to cause that kind of response . I hope I don't do it again this year. Also, the first few times I was exposed to poison oak I had no problems, but by the time I left California I was afraid to go outdoors in the summer, but not to worry, my cat used to bring it in to me I have also become intolerant to other foods as you will see from my signature as the months of gluten free have gone by. Certainly not to the point of anaphylaxis but to a very distressing degree nevertheless, so it is possible for this to happen. Some of the things like the citrus, it was obvious that I had just been eating too much of it, but the recent problem is legumes of all kinds, even green peas and beans, which I have eaten all my life without problem.

So I am suspecting that it might be another food intolerance that is getting you big time!! Have you been eating a lot of, say, corn, or something else like that? Or have you had a different kind of gluten free flour in a bread mix?? Just thoughts thrown out there. I know how frightening this must be for you and I hope that you and your doctors can pinpoint what is causing it.

[beksmom]

That is a good point i will ask my doctor to run a panel on food allergies since i've totally changed to 100 percent gluten free maybe i am over exposing myself to an ingredient that i now am allergic to. Who Knows ? But it certainly wont hurt. If you come up with any other thoughts please let me know.. Have you ever heard of anyone with airborne issues ? Or is that a far fetched possibility? They also said they cant do skin testing for airborne allergies until this episode ends, otherwise i can stop breathing right now, its too dangerous during the flare up.

Once again , thank you soooooo much for giving me some directions to go in and giving me hope,

Beksmom

[mushroom]

Well, springtime is a notorious allergy season for anything that blooms and produce pollens in spring. I would doubt that it would be wheat because harvest season is surely not upon you yet when wheat could be flying in the air. Do they grow wheat in the Shasta region? What else grows nearby you that could be producing allergens at this time of year??

[Takala]

This is some sort of allergic reaction you are having to something that you have come in contact with or eaten or drank.

Ask yourself what is different.

Medications, food, topical lotions, etc.

Insecticides, too.

Before I went off wheat and gluten I was hypersensitive to a lot of things, especially cosmetics like shampoos, now, not so much, except I welt up when I handle certain types of hay, so I wear long sleeves and I rinse my arms off immediately afterwards. We have one horse who is allergic to one kind of hay, the kind that he can eat, that does not contain this in the mix, I am allergic to. But I can go from just starting to turn pink to it immediately going away just by washing it, the reaction goes as fast as it starts. I petted the dog today, who had been outside, and my wrist got one welt, I immediately washed it and five minutes later it was gone. There is some kind of dry summer pasture weed coming up that I react to big time, just starting to make its move, I can smell the stuff outside now. It is a very sticky plant, that blooms in the fall. I have another horse who reacts to this stuff, too, I have been trying to find the botanical name.

The other type of reaction I've had where I had to go to the prednisone / massive amounts of benedryl route is to poison oak, to which I am hyper hyper sensitive. The last time I managed to pick it up while doing a fence repair, and then it spread to places you can't imagine- I had it on my face and eyelids, too. It took over a month to get over it, and my skin didn't really react normally to anything for several more months.

I've also gotten it from the dogs. We ended up making the one dog an outside on the enclosed porch dog at night because of this because she gets into it more than the others. You can also pick this up from burning brush, the smoke will spread it. DO NOT BURN POISON OAK you can die from breathing the smoke fumes.

Gluten does not typically cause this sort of reaction, and you probably are allergic to something else, which I hope you figure out.

[kareng]

I asked where you live because of the different types of pollen. Here around now or in the next few weeks, corn pollen can be big in the air. I know a few people that have problems with it. When I lived in Sacramento but worked up in Placerville, pine pollen was big. I know it bothered people and my dog. You might email the local TV weatherman and see if he can tell you what has been heavy in the air. The ones here keep track of and report that.

Any bug bites? Maybe you are having a reaction.

It really sounds like an allergic reaction and allergies can develop or go away over time.

[dilettantesteph]

I am sensitive to airborne gluten. I got very sick when I accidentally breathed in some flour when I threw mine out. The other day I went biking in the country and got worried when I saw farmers turning over their fields, maybe winter wheat? I was fine. I am much more sensitive to trace gluten in food. Unless you have some obvious source of airborne gluten, like you work in a bakery or something, I would look first at what you are eating. Also what you might be eating by accident in terms of lotions, shampoos etc.

[kwylee]

Sounds like everyone has given you some good leads in solving this, so happy about that. Like many on this forum, I know what it's like, how scary it is to have something going on in your body that you just can't figure out, so I'll be sending strong positive thoughts your way. Please write and let everyone know when you are better.

[Skylark]

Please find a good allergist and get there as soon as you possibly can!

Anaphylacic type allergens can be identified really easily with skin tests, and you don't want to try to diagnose a life-threatening allergy without help. You can't assume this is wheat. Your body may have changed since you went gluten-free and you'll need a full allergy panel to figure out what you're reacting to.

[beksmom]

I just want to thank all my friends hee on this forum for throwing out your advice and giving me some directions to try. I love you all and will be keeping you posted as tests are done.

God Bless!

Beksmom

[kareng]

I just want to thank all my friends hee on this forum for throwing out your advice and giving me some directions to try. I love you all and will be keeping you posted as tests are done.

God Bless!

Beksmom

Yes, please keep us posted. We are extremely nosy and love the gory details. . (OK, that's a joke). Hope you get some help soon.

[Skylark]

I just want to thank all my friends hee on this forum for throwing out your advice and giving me some directions to try. I love you all and will be keeping you posted as tests are done.

God Bless!

Beksmom

God Bless! I hope you get some answers before you get sick again. Good luck.

[lovegrov]

Just wanted to assure folks with celiac that the reaction you're reading about in this post is an allergic reaction, not a celiac one. That doesn't make it any less scary for beksmom, but the vast majority of us don't have to worry about going into shock.

richard

[whitey]

Just noticed this thread air born, i was wondering,i do metal detecting which is in farmers fields of all different crops after being harvested, will it affect me ???? gosh another thing to worry about.