How Long Do You Give It Before You Cut Something Else Out?

[danaf617]

Quick background:

I am blood negative, Enterolab positive for antibodies, and declined an endoscopy.

I dealt with daily, severe abdominal pain, constipation and diarrhea. I call myself gluten intolerant for explanation purposes.

I've been gluten free for almost 2 months. When I started, I noticed a lessening of symptoms but I didn't feel anywhere near "good." Week 3, I cut out dairy and felt tremendously better in a day or two. It's been about 3 or 4 weeks dairy free and I have gotten 2 or 3 stomach aches. I'm guessing CC. (My husband and 2 young children are still gluteny dairy eaters.)

I am dealing with a tightening type abdominal pain right now that is one of the symptoms of how I was feeling before.

At what point should I consider giving something else up too? Would soy be the next thing to try?

[lucia]

My reactions arose as if spontaneously over time. I was fine at first with dairy, then I found I could only eat yogurt and goat cheese but no other dairy, then I couldn't even stomach yogurt and goat cheese. After that, I started to have GI reactions to soy, then to corn.

You definitely have put enough time behind your dairy intake to try cutting out soy.

[GlutenFreeManna]

If your house is not gluten-free, it's going to be hard to avoid cross contamination. Soy is a common one, but everybody is different--some react to corn, rice, tapioca etc. Have you tried keeping a food journal to see if there are certain things that you react to? A journal can be helpful because you may have reactions delayed by a day or two. So it's hard to pinpoint if you don't have everything written down. This is also a good time to re-evaluate your food prep practices if you are still preparing gluteny food for your family. Do you use the same surfaces or do you have a dedicated gluten free prep area for your food? Do you have dedicated pans, utensils, cutting boards, colanders, etc. for your gluten-free stuff? Do you rinse gluten dishes well before putting them in the dishwasher (plates with crumbs or gluteny sauces)? Do you wear gloves or wash your hands after preparing gluten containing food before preparing your food or eating?