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Question About Cross Contamination After Going gluten-free

diane64

By diane64
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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diane64 Apprentice
diane64
Posted

I have been gluten-free for about 5 weeks, following my endoscopy. I have a question about cross contamination:

I find myself washing my hands a lot. I worry that by closing a cabinet, touching the food bag, etc I will pick up some gluten. Is this possible?

Thanks!

Diane

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ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

If your living in a house with gluten eaters then IMHO yes you could get CC'd by picking up crumbs etc from around the house. I think your doing the right thing by washing often but don't get obsessive about it. Just make sure you are washing before you eat or touch your nose, mouth or eyes. I do the same thing as soon as I return to my gluten free home.

Aphreal Contributor
Aphreal
Posted

Hmmm I better start being more diligent about that myself.

India Contributor
India
Posted

I've been wondering about this too. My home is gluten-free - but I work with the public, eat lunch in a staff room populated with sandwich munchers and travel by public transport frequented by some very messy eaters. I get this lip tingling thing that usually only happens away from home. It's hard to know how cautious to be.

SGWhiskers Collaborator
SGWhiskers
Posted

I've glutened myself a few times by touchng something and forgetting to wash my hands. I found that the first 6+ months of diagnosis, I needed to be extremely careful and a bit paranoid in order to cut out my cross contamination. Then when I had a reaction to something, I could say, "I know it wasn't the hand washing, and it wasn't the iffy glass from the dishwasher, and it wasn't that I didn't wash that potato that rolled on the grocery belt... It must be the chips from the shared facility or the garbage bag with birdfood poofing out the top." It just helped me find my CC points faster if I eliminated as many as I could control. Now, knowing my body better, I have kept some of those good habits, let some relax a little, and gotten almost all the gluten out of the house. Best wishes to you on your recovery.

anabananakins Explorer
anabananakins
Posted

I think somehow I got glutened by my little sister this morning. Not sure how though. I got her a regular pizza last night but we were careful with that but she must have touched something with her gluteny fingers that I've since touched. Or maybe we both used the glass in the bathroom sink. I have no idea. I'm going to have to be more careful.

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