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Working Near Wheat Straw

Fire Fairy

By Fire Fairy
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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Fire Fairy Enthusiast
Fire Fairy
Posted

I work at Home Depot and I'm usually in the garden center. My station is separated from the straw trucks by a large corral big enough to house a lot of product and still have room for customer vehicles to drive through the center. No one ever brings the straw in to me it is always picked up at the straw truck. Last Summer pre-diagnoses I spent an average of 17 days a month suffering from migraine. It isn't possible my proximity to the wheat straw truck played any role in my illness is it? I need to know because if that is the problem I will need to get a Dr's note and tell my supervisor as soon as possible.

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quincy Contributor
quincy
Posted

I work at Home Depot and I'm usually in the garden center. My station is separated from the straw trucks by a large corral big enough to house a lot of product and still have room for customer vehicles to drive through the center. No one ever brings the straw in to me it is always picked up at the straw truck. Last Summer pre-diagnoses I spent an average of 17 days a month suffering from migraine. It isn't possible my proximity to the wheat straw truck played any role in my illness is it? I need to know because if that is the problem I will need to get a Dr's note and tell my supervisor as soon as possible.

my best guess would be that perhaps you are reacting to mold or an allergen that is in the straw. My understanding is that it is the grain kernel of wheat (someone please correct me here if inaccurate) so it doesn't seem like you would be exposed to any gluten in the sense that we understand gluten ingestion/exposure. I have a terrible grass pollen allergy which kicks in in the spring when the grass is starting to sprout.

I would to to an allergist and inquire about this as well. anyway, just some thoughts but certainly no expert here on medical issues or airbourne gluten.

Skylark Collaborator
Skylark
Posted

I agree. Working near bales and bales of straw would give me all sorts of allergy problems which may or may not be wheat-related. I wouldn't be surprised if there were gluten dust on the straw though. Combines kick up all sorts of dust and debris as they harvest wheat kernels that's probably on the straw. Working with an allergist sounds like a really good idea.

Fire Fairy Enthusiast
Fire Fairy
Posted
  • Author

Thank you Quincy and Skylark.

  • 1 month later...
sahm-i-am Apprentice
sahm-i-am
Posted

I would never have thought that straw/hay would bother me but yesterday we went to see some baby goats at a local Goat Dairy Farm and it was a very windy day. I even mentioned to my daughter jokingly that all this straw dust flying around wasn't good. Two hours later I was throwing up - my tell-tale sign that I've been glutened. (I've just recently found out that I do react to gluten physically if enough is ingested - I throw up two hours later). I didn't eat anything with gluten and there was no possible cross contamination so it had to be the straw/hay. And I wasn't ill because afterwards I was totally fine.

I hope your reaction wasn't straw though. It would be hard to work around it all the time.

sahm-i-am Apprentice
sahm-i-am
Posted

my best guess would be that perhaps you are reacting to mold or an allergen that is in the straw. My understanding is that it is the grain kernel of wheat (someone please correct me here if inaccurate) so it doesn't seem like you would be exposed to any gluten in the sense that we understand gluten ingestion/exposure. I have a terrible grass pollen allergy which kicks in in the spring when the grass is starting to sprout.

I would to to an allergist and inquire about this as well. anyway, just some thoughts but certainly no expert here on medical issues or airbourne gluten.

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bridgetm Enthusiast
bridgetm
Posted

I've been wondering the same thing. I go to school in Mankato on a campus surrounded by crop fields. Most of them are corn or soybeans but I know there are quite a few wheat fields as well. When the wind picks up and we start to smell manure I have to wonder what else is being carried in the air.

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julandjo Explorer
julandjo
Posted

Open Original Shared Link

So I'm going to go ahead and assume that my grand plans for planting a straw bale garden this spring are ill-conceived? (This is where you plant your veggies into a layer of dirt on top of and into the sides of straw bales to maximize your garden space.) I don't know why I never asked "what exactly IS straw?", but I'm totally crestfallen here!

sahm-i-am Apprentice
sahm-i-am
Posted

So I'm going to go ahead and assume that my grand plans for planting a straw bale garden this spring are ill-conceived? (This is where you plant your veggies into a layer of dirt on top of and into the sides of straw bales to maximize your garden space.) I don't know why I never asked "what exactly IS straw?", but I'm totally crestfallen here!

Here is one wheat straw alternative: Open Original Shared Link

and that was found with just a quick google search. Don't give up your garden dreams; there are always alternatives!

  • 5 years later...
daltman Newbie
daltman
Posted
On 2/15/2011 at 9:09 AM, sahm-i-am said:

 

Here is one wheat straw alternative: Open Original Shared Link

and that was found with just a quick google search. Don't give up your garden dreams; there are always alternatives!

I'm in the same position.  Have been researching straw bale gardening all morning just now to find out that it is wheat.  Does this mean that as someone with Celiac we can't garden using this method?  I'm afraid to do it now.

 

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