How Long Will It Take?

[Artemis-03]

I've had the most miserable 48 hours beginning with a lunch out with friends at a sushi restaurant. I've only recently been diagnosed with Celiac, and I've more than recently encountered my share of road-bumps while trying to ease off of it, so bear with me as I go into detail. While the week had been fine, by Thursday afternoon I thought I could find my way around a Pan-Asian restaurant. Being as such, I ordered the chicken fried rice and only after a few little stabs of it, I discovered the meal to be tainted by very salty and very gluten-ed, soy sauce. Then, my parents were in town and took me and my roommate out to dinner and they all insisted upon the oysters rockafeller. See, both my father and mother have undiagnosed Celiac's Disease (they suffer from acute anxiety/depression disorder, father from eczema, mother from Sjorgan's disease) and think I'm just being "trendy" and "arty" when I tell them, honestly, that I have Celiac (even though my uncle suffers from it as well). So they ordered the oysters which were dressed in hollandaise sauce and Japanese bread crumbs, and I ate it, due to a large amount of peer pressure and the weakness of an empty stomach. Then came dessert, which everything was cake and father looked at me dolefully when I didn't eat any of it and asked for the creme brulee instead. By Friday, I was suffering in full-bloom and didn't get to sleep at all that night. I was fogged and in a daze, and my joints were sore and crunchy. Then, came Saturday and my weekend home. My parents are now empty-nesters and thus, the fridge, the pantry and freezer were all void of anything I could eat. Mother, in a huff, was angry when (due to my agitated state from Friday) I railed into her for us having nothing for me to eat. Vainly, she bit the bullet and bought some Amy's Dinners. Which, I ate, but then-- due to the fact that I had fasted all day (and still felt groggy) when out with my friend Victor, I ate McDonalds whose menu does not allow you to consult whether anything is gluten free or not. So I wonder:

If I've eaten small amounts of gluten (a few bites of fried rice+contaminated oysters+contaminated mousse+contaminated fries+glutened sauce+span of 48hrs+gluten-free for 3 weeks) equals how long a recovery time?

All I know is the anxiety is heinous, and that's what's plaguing me, and my agitated state makes me feel like an old villain from a Disney movie.

[ravenwoodglass]

Noone can really tell you how long it will take you to recover as it takes different people different amounts of time. Some will start to feel better in a day or two for others it can take a couple weeks for all the symptoms to abate.

You HAVE to stand up for yourself no matter how hard it is. If you know the restaurant that folks want to go to call ahead and ask if they can make a gluten free meal for you. A steak or broiled fish or chicken cooked in a seperate clean pan with you seasoning with salt and pepper at the table and with a baked potato should be safe in most places. If your in doubt about the places ability to feed you safely eat before you go and just enjoy the other folks company. When you go to Mom and Dad's bring food with you and perhaps even some of your pans from home to cook it in. Be firm that you will not eat gluten, period, not even a crumb and don't let anyone bully you into consuming stuff you think isn't safe. Many of us carry a gluten free supply of snacks in our car or bags for times when a safe place isn't available and we just need some food.

I hope you are feeling better soon.

[sandsurfgirl]

Okay first of all, not sure how you got diagnosed but if you are self diagnosed, then here's your confirmation that gluten is BAD for you.

So... don't tell people your diagnosis story if you are self diagnosed. It's okay to lie and say you had a blood test or whatever to get people to take it seriously. Nobody but you knows how it happened.

That being said, you must be your own advocate here. At a restaurant explain your situation and ask them for something you can eat. MANY restaurants have gluten free menus, so you can suggest a safer place to eat but if you end up somewhere that doesnt' ask for the manager or chef. Tell them you are allergic (USE the word allergic because it scares them into taking it seriously) to gluten which is wheat, barley and rye. Ask them if they can help you figure out what you can eat. I've had managers and waiters bring out tubs and tear off labels for me to read and go to great lengths to help me out.

Never assume because it's grilled meat it's safe. Many grilled meats have gluten filled marinades on them, so always always ask.

You now know your parents are not supportive. So, tell them ALL of your symptoms after being glutened by the food first of all. Then remind them that this lifestyle is terribly difficult and you would never choose to make your life this hard on purpose.

And then don't eat at their house. Bring food with you when you go. If they are insulted too bad.

When I bring food to go, unless I have leftovers handy I don't bother making "meals." I just grab foods. Maybe some Glutino crackers, some lunch meat, an apple, a container of cut up melon, baby carrots, and lettuce leaves to wrap my meat in. Having stuff like that around makes it so much easier to take food with me and it's healthier anyway.

[Artemis-03]

Thank you for responding so quickly to me! I know there is a variation of symptoms among sufferers, and about a month ago when I was "glutened", I had the symptoms for 2 days after eating some Ritz crackers. Today I feel groggy, but I ate some probiotic yogurt last night, slept off some of my symptoms (the anxiety was heinous), and woke up and tried to right my B-Vitamin intake by making myself scrambled eggs, tomatoes, fresh juice and also by taking a Multi-Vitamin and a B-Vitamin (my multi doesn't have B in it). I wonder if I did the right thing? I know the only cure-all is a completely gluten-free diet, but I feel that sometimes becoming "glutened" is inevitable, and so it's better to detox somehow and fight the symptoms with the good stuff.

[ravenwoodglass]

Thank you for responding so quickly to me! I know there is a variation of symptoms among sufferers, and about a month ago when I was "glutened", I had the symptoms for 2 days after eating some Ritz crackers. Today I feel groggy, but I ate some probiotic yogurt last night, slept off some of my symptoms (the anxiety was heinous), and woke up and tried to right my B-Vitamin intake by making myself scrambled eggs, tomatoes, fresh juice and also by taking a Multi-Vitamin and a B-Vitamin (my multi doesn't have B in it). I wonder if I did the right thing? I know the only cure-all is a completely gluten-free diet, but I feel that sometimes becoming "glutened" is inevitable, and so it's better to detox somehow and fight the symptoms with the good stuff.

Yes you are doing the right thing by eating what you ate this morning. The supplements should help also.

I do not think that sometimes being glutened is inevitable though. At least not when you are being glutened by eating what you know you shouldn't. You do want the antibodies to resolve as they can do a lot of damage. I don't think we can really detox from gluten. The antibody reaction just has to run it's course. As you have found out being glutened is far from pleasant and we do run into accidental glutenings on occasion but you do need to do your best to stand up for your health and well being by being firm with family and friends who pressure you. By being firm I think you will find that pretty soon they will respect your wishes and hopefully stop the insistance that you consume stuff that you know you shouldn't. It is hard especially when we are new to the diet but it does get easier with time.

I hope your feeling a lot better soon.

[Artemis-03]

Yes you are doing the right thing by eating what you ate this morning. The supplements should help also.

I do not think that sometimes being glutened is inevitable though. At least not when you are being glutened by eating what you know you shouldn't. You do want the antibodies to resolve as they can do a lot of damage. I don't think we can really detox from gluten. The antibody reaction just has to run it's course. As you have found out being glutened is far from pleasant and we do run into accidental glutenings on occasion but you do need to do your best to stand up for your health and well being by being firm with family and friends who pressure you. By being firm I think you will find that pretty soon they will respect your wishes and hopefully stop the insistance that you consume stuff that you know you shouldn't. It is hard especially when we are new to the diet but it does get easier with time.

I hope your feeling a lot better soon.

Thank you so much. I feel the B-Vitamins help ease down the grogginess, as well as sleep and natural healing.

[rdunbar]

Sorry to hear you've gotten sucked into a gluten vortex involving your family, but at least maybe it's an oppurtunity to realize how very bad it really is. One thing that really helped me was reading the book "the Gluten Effect" by drs Petersen , you can get it from Amazon. When you understand the science behind how gluten is doing all this stuff to you, you'll see it for what it is, and hopefully grow to be more protective of yourself. It's really shameful for your family to pressure you to eat what is essentially the equivalent of a poisin. Not to mention them being dismissive about your suffering. It does take some time to adjust to really being strict about avoiding gluten completely, as there are so many changes you have to make, it can be overwhelming, but... You really need to do this if you want to get better.

I've had horrible anxiety too, so I know how much it can impact your life. As I slowly get better I'm starting to realize how much my reaction to gluten has effected me throughout my life, and the anxiety, and panic attacks I've always had throughout my whole life have been so destructive and have hurt me in so many ways. It's no joke, and it really sucks when your family wants to minimalize your problems; I go through the same thing, and I feel like a lot of people here do as well. You may not be able to make all this clear to them, if they are just not open to it, which is sad. Sometimes I think people just have a mental block with seeing a diet as a medical treatment, and therefore they have no respect for it. They hear the word "diet" and think it's a new trend or they think, " o yeah, like atkins" whatever.

But it's not a diet in that sense of the word, what you are doing is to constantly monitor what you ingest, and even breathe and make sure that the trigger to your reactions is not present AT ALL in what you are being exposed to. When you say those oysters were contaminated, I'm a little concerned, because a few panko bread crumbs doesn't look like much , but it is a huge amount of gluten in reality, you have to get used to this idea. Studies have shown that even one sixtyith ( not one sixteenth, or one sixth)of a teaspoon of gluten can cause damage, and there is no proof that an even smaller amount doesn't cause damage. In theory, one molecule of gluten could be hurting you, causing antibodies to be produced. Contamination is when there is an invisable amount, like someone touched some bread, and then prepared your food, or a cutting board had some bread on it before your food was prepared on it.

Robb Wolf in his podcast, the Paleolithic Solution,said that the inflammation from one glutening can linger for 6 months! You may only feel it for a few days or weeks, but the damage it is doing to you lasts longer, so it's good to take it seriously,

ultimately, only you can protect your health when it comes to this,

I find that I get more motivated, the more I recover. It's like, before, I didn't even know how bad I felt, because I didn't know what it felt like to feel normal, especially when it comes to the anxiety. I thought that's who I was. It's really exciting when you realize that the anxiety can go away, that you can have a future without it, it's just

amazing to me!

There is kind of a snow ball effect, where the better you feel, the more motivated you get, because you are getting the rewards, and as a result, you continue to improve.

It can be really daunting, all the precautions you have to take to live this way, and it can be discouraging, but I promise you that it is more than worth it.

For me, I feel like I've discovered a new " me" that I didn't know before, and I like this one a lot better than the old one, and I'm just starting to get better! It's so exciting to me, right now I would do anything, just anything , to continue getting better; avoiding eating certain things,and preparing all my own meals, though a pain in the ass, just seems like a trifle when I put it into perspective.

Please don't ever feel pressured to eat anything you shouldn't; don't worry about offending people, they will survive if you abstain.

[Skylark]

Please don't ever feel pressured to eat anything you shouldn't; don't worry about offending people, they will survive if you abstain.

This is such good advice. There really isn't a social situation where it is polite to insist someone consume something that will essentially poison them. Or for that matter food that they simply dislike. Somehow we end up feeling pressured and rude, as if we're the ones being offensive, but the person applying the pressure is the rude one! Food is something you're supposed to offer, not force down someone else's throat. (If you want to cook for someone and be sure they want to eat it, you ask what they like, no?) Say "No, thank you" as many times as it takes to avoid getting glutened.

As far as recovering, drink lots of water to flush your system. L-glutamine is good for your intestine, and I find Immodium and Pepto Bismol (brand name is gluten-free) to be helpful for the diarrhea and digestive upset. Extra B vitamins are always good too, especially B12 for me. I take more fish oil for the anxiety and if it's bad, I'll make some kava kava tea in the evening. For me a glutening lasts 2-3 days, with the anxiety hanging on for as long as 5.