How Do You Tell When You're Glutened?

[jennifer47]

I've read many people mentioned being glutened on these boards, and I'm curious as to how you know? I'm only 2-3 weeks into this, and I have good days and bad days. I'm trying to keep a food diary to link things, but so far I have no idea! I don't know if it's accidental cross contamination or eating gluten in something or just a bad day.

Pre-diagnosis, my symptoms were somewhat vague and I never totally linked it to gluten. And even so far, I can't say for sure I feel confident that it's working. Good days and bad days. I do feel more energy, but I've also been really focusing on taking my iron and thyroid pills ( both of which were kind of wiped out). I guess I'm wondering if I'll ever get to the point where I know it's gluten, or if there are some people who just never do. Since I feel like I might never figure out what's going on!

[bincongo]

I've read many people mentioned being glutened on these boards, and I'm curious as to how you know? I'm only 2-3 weeks into this, and I have good days and bad days. I'm trying to keep a food diary to link things, but so far I have no idea! I don't know if it's accidental cross contamination or eating gluten in something or just a bad day.

Pre-diagnosis, my symptoms were somewhat vague and I never totally linked it to gluten. And even so far, I can't say for sure I feel confident that it's working. Good days and bad days. I do feel more energy, but I've also been really focusing on taking my iron and thyroid pills ( both of which were kind of wiped out). I guess I'm wondering if I'll ever get to the point where I know it's gluten, or if there are some people who just never do. Since I feel like I might never figure out what's going on!

Good question but not always a simple answer. Like you I didn't have many symptoms before being diagnosed 6 months ago so for me I still don't know if I have been glutened. I am very careful so if I feel bad I have no idea if it is gluten or something else like too much coffee or just something normal. The only way I may know is if I on purpose eat something with gluten and see what happens and I am not ready to try that.

When I first went gluten free I had good and bad days for about 2 months and then things leveled off more. I actually felt worse some of the time after being gluten free but then my good days were better than how I felt before being gluten free. The trick is to learn all you can about how to be gluten free and avoid cross contamination. That in itself is huge and I am still learning. I did have to cut out lactose for awhile.

I think it would be easier if I could really tell if I was glutened like some people who know right away but I not sure I will ever be able too.

[GuyC]

The majority of problems I have from being celiac are nerve related. If I get glutened, within 20-30 minutes I feel a buzzing in my upper spine and sometimes in my arms and hips. It's weird. I've been gluten-free 11 weeks yesterday and have only been "poisioned" twice - both times from eating out.

[bk-63]

I think most people react differently to being glutened, and after being gluten free for a year I'm still trying to figure out all of my tells, but I think the longer you're gluten free the easier it will be to tell. I know for me personally, I have different reactions depending on how and what kind of gluten I get into. The first way I can always tell I've gotten into any gluten is my palms begin to peel. It sounds really weird, but when my palms start to peel in thin layers I know I've gotten into gluten. My stomach also gets very loud and gurgley when I get into it. If I get CC'd in little amounts I end up experiencing constipation, but if I accidentally eat gluten in a larger amount I end up getting the big D for about a week. Those are my reactions and the ways I can tell when I get glutened, but it took me a few months after going gluten free to figure it out. This is just my experience, but I definitely believe that in time it will get easier.

[rnjenren]

Mine is super-obvious... relentless headache usually starts within hours of eating gluten, but definitely is present the morning after. My biggest "a-ha" moment came before my gene testing, when I realized that eating gluten-free for just 2 days left me headache-free for the first time in over 3 years. It never occurred to me that my general malaise could be dietary. Now that I am mostly gluten-free (still having issues with "cheating"... horrible, I know) I am aware of other quick-to-appear symptoms as well, such as bloating, intestinal churning and noise (embarrassing!), gas, and alternating constipation/diarrhea. My upper chest near my neck also turns splotchy red as a tell-tale sign for everyone around me to see. You would think with all this I would not cheat! What an idiot I am.