Celiac's In Addition To A Wheat Allergy?

[KristinL]

Hi,

I'm quite new to this. I'm 29 years old and I haven't yet been tested for food allergies (I finally go in two days). But, about a month ago, I started getting hives on my scalp, and then they progressed to all over my body. My PCP didn't see a trigger for it at first so I saw an allergist and a dermatologist. The first allergist wouldn't test me for food allergies despite my asking for it, stating that it wasn't presenting like a food allergy. The dermatologist said I needed to see someone because I definitely had hives, so she put me on Atarax and Zyrtec. The dermatologist ran blood work and found that I was anemic.

After that I started keeping a food diary. I found that on days when I ate anything that had wheat in it (Subway, Panera, Pasta), I'd break out in hives about an hour later and they would progressively get worse over the next 12 hours or so. The hives would finally stop getting worse at about 12-15 hours, and would die down completely in about 24 hours or so. Since then I've gone gluten-free, and when I don't eat it, I don't get hives. To test my wheat allergy theory though, I ate Subway after taking 3 antihistamines and broke out in a terrible case of hives and also had troubles breathing. It would appear that my allergy has gotten worse in a very short period of time.

The reason I'm posting though, is because since my last exposure to wheat in the form of distilled white vinegar in bbq sauce, (I had some ham bbq 2 days ago...I didn't know it had wheat in it) and broke out in mild hives after that I haven't had a normal bowel movement since. I felt nauseated all day yesterday and even this morning too. Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing days after being exposed to gluten? I'm wondering if in addition to a wheat allergy, if I have celiacs.

[Lisa]

Hi,

I'm quite new to this. I'm 29 years old and I haven't yet been tested for food allergies (I finally go in two days). But, about a month ago, I started getting hives on my scalp, and then they progressed to all over my body. My PCP didn't see a trigger for it at first so I saw an allergist and a dermatologist. The first allergist wouldn't test me for food allergies despite my asking for it, stating that it wasn't presenting like a food allergy. The dermatologist said I needed to see someone because I definitely had hives, so she put me on Atarax and Zyrtec. The dermatologist ran blood work and found that I was anemic.

After that I started keeping a food diary. I found that on days when I ate anything that had wheat in it (Subway, Panera, Pasta), I'd break out in hives about an hour later and they would progressively get worse over the next 12 hours or so. The hives would finally stop getting worse at about 12-15 hours, and would die down completely in about 24 hours or so. Since then I've gone gluten-free, and when I don't eat it, I don't get hives. To test my wheat allergy theory though, I ate Subway after taking 3 antihistamines and broke out in a terrible case of hives and also had troubles breathing. It would appear that my allergy has gotten worse in a very short period of time.

The reason I'm posting though, is because since my last exposure to wheat in the form of distilled white vinegar in bbq sauce, (I had some ham bbq 2 days ago...I didn't know it had wheat in it) and broke out in mild hives after that I haven't had a normal bowel movement since. I felt nauseated all day yesterday and even this morning too. Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing days after being exposed to gluten? I'm wondering if in addition to a wheat allergy, if I have celiacs.

Hi Kristen! And welcome!!!

I would suggest that you get a Celiac Blood Panel as soon as possible. It's recommended that you remain on a full gluten diet, for the optimum in accuracy in testing. You may have a wheat allergy in addition to Celiac. But, allergy testing will not tell you that you have Celiac Disease.

[Roda]

If you truely have a wheat allergy and get hives and feel your reactions are getting worse, I wouldn't challenge with wheat. If you want to do celiac testing you can stay eating gluten but I would get it from other sources such as barley and rye. I wouldn't risk having a worse allergic reaction such as throat swelling or anaphalyxis by eating the wheat.