Can You Make Yourself Sensitive To Gluten By Avoiding It?

[Chakra2]

My husband and I were gently debating this topic the other day. Both my 2 yr old and I went gluten-free before celiac testing (and got life-changing results) so now my husband wonders if the kiddo and I react so strongly to gluten just because we've been avoiding it. I understand that people with true gluten intolerance can get more sensitve to it the longer they stay away so I'm really trying to ask about a different phenomenon: what happens if you don't start off with any gluten problem, but then you avoid gluten for a long time and try to eat it again? Could "normal" people become gluten-sensitive just by avoiding it?

[nora-n]

Yes what happens is that you got something called freshly activated T cells.

Several places are even doing trials on it, to develop a new kind of means to test for celiac. Only celiacs get this reaction. (freshly activated T cells)

[Jestgar]

My husband and I were gently debating this topic the other day. Both my 2 yr old and I went gluten-free before celiac testing (and got life-changing results) so now my husband wonders if the kiddo and I react so strongly to gluten just because we've been avoiding it. I understand that people with true gluten intolerance can get more sensitve to it the longer they stay away so I'm really trying to ask about a different phenomenon: what happens if you don't start off with any gluten problem, but then you avoid gluten for a long time and try to eat it again? Could "normal" people become gluten-sensitive just by avoiding it?

No, I really don't think so. I avoid brussel sprouts for long stretches at a time and have never managed to develop a sensitivity to them. But seriously, my brother and SIL did a full elimination diet and didn't eat gluten for about a month, since it was one of the last things added back in, and neither of them had any reaction whatsoever.

[ravenwoodglass]

No, I really don't think so. I avoid brussel sprouts for long stretches at a time and have never managed to develop a sensitivity to them. But seriously, my brother and SIL did a full elimination diet and didn't eat gluten for about a month, since it was one of the last things added back in, and neither of them had any reaction whatsoever.

I agree completely. If folks reacted to stuff just because they don't eat it elimination diets and challenges would be worthless as folks would react to everything they added back in.

[GlutenFreeManna]

Many people here have gluten free households, meaning their entire family eats gluten free at home whether they need to or not, but outside of the house they can eat whatever. If going back to eating gluten was a problem with everyone, then there would not be people that can eat gluten free at home and indulge in gluten while at parties, restaurants, etc. without any symptoms. Or another way to look at it would be to look at populations of the world where their main staple is rice (or other grains) instead of wheat. They may not eat products with wheat very often but they don't react to it when they do eat it.

I think what you are really trying to ask is, is this a placebo effect or do you really need to avoid gluten? Or another similar question might be, is this all in your head? The answers are no and no. I think everyone goes through a denial phase at first. Or everyone has a point where they have to convince a family member this is real. I hope your husband reads up a bit on celiac disease/gluten intolerance and comes to the conclusion that this is a real illness. This is not something that you "caused" to happen to yourself by avoiding gluten. And it's not something that you chose. Be sure to explain that, you are not just choosing to do this, but that you MUST do it for your health. I'm sure if we all had the choice to go back to eating gluten and not feel sick after a while of trying it again, we would do it. But sadly it doesn't work that way.

[jerseyangel]

I don't think so either. When you think about it, we all have things that we only eat once in a while--like at holidays and such.

Also, I've been retested twice by blood and had a repeat endoscopy in the 5 years I've been gluten-free, and while I react to trace amounts of gluten with unpleasast reactions, I have always tested in normal ranges with the retesting.