Glutened, Dammit

[Skylark]

I went to a catered party tonight. I had talked to the chef ahead of time, he was an expert in gluten-free, and had set me up a separate gluten-free meal prepared free of CC.

Of course it got served to someone else. The head of the catering company was not on-site. The waitress goes to the kitchen, and I am assured the salmon in butter sauce, potatoes, root vegetables and some sort of beef in a light sauce are not made with any gluten ingredients. I ate a little food and something warned me to stop. A tingle, a second sense, I don't know. I realized there was a little menu card on the table (duh...hadn't looked before) and it says Guinness Braised Beef.

I call the waitress back, she goes to the kitchen, and sure enough Guinness is an ingredient in the beef. Two came back to tell me. I looked stricken, they asked if I was going to be OK, and I said probably not. I'd probably be sick for about two days. They asked if there was anything they could do and I mentioned that Pepto Bismol helps. Not 20 minutes later someone came over to the table with a small bottle of Pepto. Someone had driven to the store to get me some! (It's the one thing that calms my stomach.)

Obviously this doesn't undo the problem and the head of the catering company will get a call and the story of all the miscommunication. I have to wait a day or two to cool off first. One of the people running the event was his daughter-in-law, who got a bit of an education about celiac. She was very kind to me and very embarassed and I can tell you for sure that she's never serving something with a beer ingredient to a celiac again. We talked a little about hidden gluten and how hard it is to avoid.

I'm praying that a couple veggies in a tiny bit of Guinness sauce won't have me sick for days. At least I got some Pepto fast, which always helps me. I won't know for a couple more hours and can't tell if my stomachache now is just anxiety. The asthma certainly isn't. I guess I must be slightly gluten-allergic as well as intolerant.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. I don't really need anything other than a sympathetic audience for my tale. So frustrating!

[T.H.]

sending good thoughts for a fast recovery your way.

[vbecton]

Who the heck got your gluten-free meal? Man, after all that planning you did to ensure your meal was gluten-free and free of CC, I would be ticked too! Hope you get to feeling better

Back in the day, when I was vegan, I was on a long flight to Australia. So, I called ahead to make sure they would be serving all vegan meals to me. No problem! When the flight took off, meal #1 was about to be served. They always deliver the special meals 1st. So, I was on the lookout for mine and saw the big black lettering VEGAN. I knew it was mine because there was only one. A man raised his hand and they just gave him MY meal. I nearly came unglued. I walked up to the man, who had just opened the meal and said, "Excuse me sir, are you a vegan? (he looked puzzled). This meal was specifically prepared for me and I am a vegan and consume zero animal products. I realize you might be hungry and ready to eat, but I'm sure you would prefer something of the meaty nature. Now, may I have my meal back? (puzzled), YES." That man just took my meal because he couldn't wait for the silly cart to come down the ailse! I hope that wasn't your case because as mad as I was about that, I would be 10x more mad about my gluten-free meal being snatched!!!!

[weluvgators]

What a bummer! Thanks for sharing your experience. It helps to think through these things sometimes. And, YEAH for you - you *knew* to stop eating!! It is hardly consolation after getting glutened, but what a relief that you were able to prevent further exposure.

And what a bummer about the asthma. Our family has combinations of celiac and gluten allergy - absolutely NO FUN! And I get really pissy/anxious when I cannot breathe well, and I find it exhausting. I hope you feel better soon!!

[Skylark]

Thanks for the kind thoughts. I'm up this morning bloated, queasy, and sneezing with asthma and a runny nose. I had a bunch of bronchitis and asthma trouble this spring and wrote it off to seasonal allergies. I knew I was getting more sensitive to gluten and it looks like the gluten has become an asthma trigger.

In a way that's good news. If I'm ultra-careful maybe I can keep the asthma at bay along with the GI trouble.

[Marz]

Ah crap, so sorry you got glutened Skylark Especially frustrating when you go to so much trouble to stay gluten-free and then someone else gets your meal D:

Hope you feel better soon...

And wow, 6th sense regarding gluten??

[Ahorsesoul]

I call the waitress back, she goes to the kitchen, and sure enough Guinness is an ingredient in the beef. Two came back to tell me. I looked stricken, they asked if I was going to be OK, and I said probably not. I'd probably be sick for about two days. They asked if there was anything they could do and I mentioned that Pepto Bismol helps. Not 20 minutes later someone came over to the table with a small bottle of Pepto. Someone had driven to the store to get me some! (It's the one thing that calms my stomach

Of course they drove to a store to get the Pepto. They are afraid you might sue them. Glad you are following up on this. The more people hear us complain the sooner we might be safe to eat out.

[YoloGx]

Of course they drove to a store to get the Pepto. They are afraid you might sue them. Glad you are following up on this. The more people hear us complain the sooner we might be safe to eat out.

Hi Skylark, I am so sorry you are having such a painful and frustrating experience like this. Something similar happened to me a couple of years back at a supposedly vetted gluten-free restaurant that forgot about non gluten-free soy sauce being a problem. I quickly realized something was up (that 6th sense?) and asked about it -- after I had had a couple of bites. They got me Pepto too and some fresh pineapple and both items did help. Thanks for the reminder!

I unfortunately just glutened myself last night with what appears to be CC from carob powder in my birthday cake I made for myself! Aach! I just didn't realize. For me these days I not longer get D generally. Instead I usually get a migraine and my sinuses plug on my left side--so yes any kind of sinus problem can be way aggravated by gluten.

My head isn't as bad today as it is sometimes. My boyfriend also got a bad hit off it last night (as we both did), though today he's OK. Both of us slept longer than usual however.

The good news is that the spice sunflower meal zucchini cake otherwise turned out to be very tasty. Its sugar free since I sweetened it with stevia. I can make another without the carob...and maybe this time I will eliminate the eggs too given I am probably extra sensitive today.

Am going to have some detox tea to help my head now along with marshmallow root etc.

Hope both of us feel better soon Skylark!

Bea

[kayo]

Sorry you got gluten after such careful preparation. This makes me wonder if we should ask that our names be put on our special meals so they aren't taken by others. It's possible someone else at the event asked for a gluten free meal at the event and the server figured that was the person. Or like the airline story, someone just took it. I guess it's not enough to say gluten free or vegan but specifically, made for so&so.

[txplowgirl]

Sorry you're feeling bad Skylark. Hang in there. I didn't get glutened but I ate some potato starch and whew, it got me.

So we can both be miserable together.

[orco]

Sorry to hear about that Skylark. I know what you mean by the 'Gluten Sense' thing

[bluebonnet]

just now seeing this post ... that really stinks. i didn't realize pepto bismal would help by taking it so quickly. well, atleast i hope it did this time for ya! hope by now you are feeling better.

[Adrienne2823]

Sorry to hear you got glutened...I did too last night. It was the first time I ate at someone elses home. I won't tell my mother in law because she was wonderful and went out of her way to make me gluten-free brownies and bought some gluten-free rice...I am not sure how it happened (it could have been how they prepared/marinated the meat or what she used as ingredients in the gluten-free brownies).

It has been hard but now I know for the most part I either need to eat before I go or be there to help prepare the food to make sure I do not get sick. Immodium is my lifesaver and a bunch of water...just have to try to make it through the day of work today.