Gluten Reaction Or Another Allergy?

[lynnelise]

I have been gluten free for about a year now and have unfortunately gotten glutened several times. What usually happens is around an hour after eating I get sharp stomach cramps and bloating and then D. I usually have about 20 minutes to find a bathroom after the cramps start. Then I hang out in the bathroom for about an hour and later the fatigue starts. The next day I'll get joint aches and then a rash on my legs. Very predictable cycle. Well the other night something weird happened. I went to eat at a Mexican restaurant that I frequent and trust. This time I had a burrito bowl (no tortilla). All of the ingredients in the bowl I have eaten in other entrees except for the pico de gallo which should be safe. Anyhow about 15-20 minutes after I finish my meal I get a super sharp pain in my stomach and literally had less than 2 minutes to get to the bathroom with D. I don't want to be too graphic but we'll just say this was definately the food I'd just eaten. Well I made a few more (less immediate) trips to the bathroom but the next day there was no joint pain or rash.

So basically I'm wondering if this was gluten or if the reaction was too immediate? The whole situation has me terrified to go out to dinner. Two minutes isn't a lot of time!!!

[lynnelise]

Oh well. No ideas it seems. Guess there will be no more dinners out with friends.

[Mari]

When I am glutened the reaction occurs about 6 hrs later. If I get stomach irritation soon after eating it is a food sensitivity I tested neg, for a wheat allergy which seems to give some people more immediate problems than the autoimmune response. I became allergic to hot peppers rather suddenly - I had been picking up take-out Mexican after Farmers Markets -then burning/swelling around my lips and stomach irritation. At first I thuoght I had eaten too much of the salsa but later found the antibody test to be positive. Other allergies can come on suddenly too.

Some food poisioning can produce a rapid onset of D Staphlococcus and Bacillus toxins come to mind. Even if another person had the same dish and didn't react, your portion may have had more of the toxin in it. Usually this type of food poisoning clears up rapidly with no lingering after effects.

[T.H.]

Huh - I honestly don't know if the reaction of D is too immediate. I know that I will get reactions that quickly, or more so, but not the D. Any D, on the rare occasion I get it, is always a bit later. Everyone's different, of course, that's just my own experience.

But with no joint pain or rash - and that's normally what you get, yes? - I'd wonder if it was a food poisoning issue, you know?

Could have been something else, a CC moment, but the quickness coupled with the lack of other symptoms would make me suspicious of a non-gluten intestinal distress moment.