How Long Does It Take To Feel The Effects Of Being "glutened"?

[Elfbaby]

This afternoon, (or late morning), I came round with a bad headache, intestinal cramps, diarrhea, and blisters on my fingers. I feel like I may have accidently had some gluten, my question is, which meal is suspect? Should I be examining my breakfast or last nights dinner?

[ravenwoodglass]

Unfortunately different people react in different time frames. For some it can be a couple of days for a reaction to set in some react within minutes or hours. In the beginning it can be helpful to keep a food and symptom log to see if there is a pattern.

If you tell us what you ate that might be helpful in pinpointing what it could be also.

[Elfbaby]

I was afraid of that... lol.

Last night I had a pan fried pork chop, boiled broccoli, and rice

and this morning I had gluten-free "Whole O's" (kinda like cheerios) sprinkled with sugar and milk.

Late last night (between breakfast and dinner) I had brown rice crisps with garlic hummus. When I started feeling ill, I ran to check the ingredients, but it says "wheat/gluten free" right under the ingrediant list.

Thanks for looking at this for me. I want to succeed at the diet, but when gluten is so sneaky, it feels like its an uphill battle!!!

[sa1937]

It might not even be gluten. Is it possible you're lactose-intolerant? Many of us are when we are first diagnosed. I pretty much avoided all dairy right away but found I could tolerate Lactaid milk. It's just in the past few months I've started eating more cheese...and how I missed that!

[Elfbaby]

It might not even be gluten. Is it possible you're lactose-intolerant? Many of us are when we are first diagnosed. I pretty much avoided all dairy right away but found I could tolerate Lactaid milk. It's just in the past few months I've started eating more cheese...and how I missed that!

Would going gluten-free cause me to have reactions to milk? I have been gluten free for 2 weeks and have had a bowl of cereal (not this kind) every morning and havent reacted this way. Would it be possible to "become" lactose intolerant?

[JanR]

Since you are so new at being gluten free....it could really be a lactose thing too. Might be time to find out and visit the doc. That would give you a definative answer. The whole thing on the fingertips is odd....better check that out....sounds like time to see the doc!

Would going gluten-free cause me to have reactions to milk? I have been gluten free for 2 weeks and have had a bowl of cereal (not this kind) every morning and havent reacted this way. Would it be possible to "become" lactose intolerant?

[eatmeat4good]

I didn't think I was lactose intolerant either in the beginning. Cheese, milk and dairy products were my gluten free foods. Or so I thought. At first I got better off of gluten. But the progress stopped and I had to eliminate dairy. You might want to try it.

The other thing I can think of is sugar bowl conatamination. If someone made cinnamon toast and dipped their spoon in the sugar twice, the sugar could have gluten in it.

[T.H.]

Okay, couple of questions. :-)

1. Do you live in a gluten free house, or do you share with someone who eats gluten? If you share, it's possible you got hit with cross contamination. Shared wooden pieces (cutting boards, wooden spoons) or collanders that didn't get scrubbed completely (sometimes you just can't) or the pan was non-stick and had scratches (scratches can get gluten in them that you can't scrub out and they release back into the gluten free food you cook) or - and this one is just fun - if you kissed someone who just ate gluten and they hadn't brushed their teeth directly after the meal, or were wearing lipstick or chapstick with gluten on it.

Who knew kissing would get ya, eh?

Also, since you mentioned you were just doing this very recently - do you have gluten free hygiene products yet? Flavored floss can have gluten, and toothpaste and mouthwash. Also, if shampoo is rinsed off and runs down your face and a little gets in your mouth - glutened if it has gluten. If you have lotion on your hands and eat finger foods, or chew on your nails, that can gluten you. Loads of fun, eh?

- you may be a bit more sensitive to gluten than average. Unfortunately, gluten free food is not actually 'zero' gluten. It's an extremely low amount of gluten, but not zero. Some Celiacs are having trouble with the amount of gluten in processed gluten free foods and can only use certain brands that have lower levels of gluten. Also, if you live in the USA? We have no law in effect that regulates what gluten free means, so there are a lot of companies that don't add gluten 'on purpose' to their product, but may actually have gluten contamination, and they are still calling their product gluten free.

- Where did you get your pork? If it was from the meat counter, it could have picked up contamination when it was being chopped up, if it was cut up near other meats that were being coated with flour at the same time, or if it was near flour-coated meat in the display case. We've had that get us a number of times with meat from our meat counter. I know of many people who give special instructions to the butcher, to get out a new piece of meat and handle it with new gloves, or go in when the store opens, so that's easier to obtain.

- What brand rice and rice crips did you use? If it was Lundberg, you may want to avoid that and see if it makes a difference. About 10-15% of Celiacs react to oats about like they react to wheat, rye, and barley, even if the oats are completely free of gluten. Lundberg uses oats as their cover crop, and the few oat sensitive celiacs I've met say Lundberg rice always makes them feel a bit glutened. We're assuming the cover crop is the reason.

- Was the sugar a brand new bag, or an old one? If it was an older one, considering how often most of us use sugar and flour together, there's a good chance it could have gluten contamination.

That's all I can think of at the moment. Hope you feel better soon!

shauna

[sandsurfgirl]

At 2 weeks you might just be having some withdrawals. Around week 3 I couldn't eat anything all of a sudden. Then a week later I was better.

Dairy is hard to digest because the tips of your villi are damaged and they produce the enzymes to digest it. I was severly lactose intolerant and about 8 months into being gluten free I was able to eat dairy again. Now I eat it all the time with no problem and I'm gluten free for a year and a half.

[Elfbaby]

Ok, well, I will do my best to answer all your questions and then I will tell you about my "OMG, duh" moment this morning.

Okay, couple of questions. :-)

1. Do you live in a gluten free house, or do you share with someone who eats gluten? I do not live in a gluten free household. My baby and I moved back in with my mom, stepdad, and sister. All of whom eat gluten. Even my 8 month old has foods with gluten in them that I prepare and feed her. This is where I felt like a total idiot. The night before I posted the post about having all the issues even on the gluten free diet I had been feeding the baby dinner. And since her meat, vegetables and MACARONI AND CHEESE had been warmed, I was putting each bite to my lips to make sure that they werent hot. I must have done this with the pasta at least five times. Touched it to my lips and then licked off the sauce. When I figured it out, I could have smacked myself. The second moment happened this morning. We were in the doctors office waiting to have my stepdads cornea transplant checked and I was bouncing the baby up and down on my lap. When she started fussing, I pulled out a bag of cheerios, which she eats all the time and started feeding them too her with my fingers. Every 3rd cheerio or so, I would reach over, grab a grape with the same hand and pop it in my mouth. Total Doh! moment.

Also, since you mentioned you were just doing this very recently - do you have gluten free hygiene products yet? Flavored floss can have gluten, and toothpaste and mouthwash. Also, if shampoo is rinsed off and runs down your face and a little gets in your mouth - glutened if it has gluten. If you have lotion on your hands and eat finger foods, or chew on your nails, that can gluten you. Loads of fun, eh?

I admit that I havent checked my hygiene products yet. I know I really should call around, but I am having patch testing done on the 19th and they are going to check me for reactions to all the products that I come in contact with. I know I need to avoid stuff with gluten in it, maybe tomorrow I will round everything up and check it all.

- - Where did you get your pork? The pork came from Costco. They usually cut it in front of you, so cross contamination is a total possibility. However, with my other big goofs, I think I will try to eliminate the stupidity befor I go on a witch hunt for the source.

- What brand rice and rice crips did you use? I don't know about the brand, but I know that they dont have oats in them. They did a skin test on my and I reacted to the oats, so I am not allowed to eat those either.

- Was the sugar a brand new bag, or an old one?It was old sugar. It could definitely be contaminated. I have since bought new sugar and now have my own peanut butter, my own mayonnaise and my own sugar bowl and butter. I hope this helps!

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I am doing better with the symptoms. I have been super strict about what kind of food I eat and I think its working.

[Seante Wilson]

I have found to react to carl buddig meats...upon looking at the ingredients I noticed(too late) that there was modified food starch in it and nothing stating what that starch was.And then I also picked up some sunflower seeds and on the back of the bag it says wheat starch. *smacks self in head* I got too trusting of stores and didnt check and that was my bad. One of the reasons I like to shop alone. That way I am not bothered or rushed.