Does Anyone Think They Should Ease Off Gluten Rather Than Just Quick Cold?

[asickdaddy]

Its now one month and I feel like garbage. I am getting headaches and just feel not much better. I have had windows where I did feel better, but moments like today make me wonder if I went about this the right way. I kind of want to eat gluten to get a reaction to really convince myself that I need to stay the course. I am eating good stuff, vegetables, fruits, smoothies, nuts, and I have been splurging on some potato chips and the snickers bars. I have tested everything and I cannot find a pattern. Kind of sick of being sick and kind of sick of the process and of course the doctor is still not confirming anything. I do not really have any cravings. There has been no cc, been really careful, except I have had to handle and help the kids eat. I understand cooking dishes, spoons, and all that I have it covered. I understand hidden gluten so I have been eating whole foods. Just kind of annoyed. I would love to eat a couple of sandwiches and see if I feel better or worse and what the reaction is like. I like to push the envelope I guess.

I am sure it could be withdrawal but one month in and its so annoying. That is why I wonder if I should have cut back my ingestion for the first month, and a little more the second month and finally just let it go on the third month. I have also quit ingesting dairy.

[eatmeat4good]

You COULD eat gluten and I'm sure you would get a reaction that would convince you. But I wouldn't want to do it.

I think the way the antibodies work, if you get any gluten at all, your reactions will continue. It is true that people get more sensitive to cross contamination as time goes by because your body is sooooo relieved to be free of gluten that when you ingest it again you get all the troops called out. The antibodies that is. Therefore, if you ate a sandwich or two, you could expect quite a hellish week I would assume.

It sounds like cross contamination to be honest. I helped my sister give sandwiches and cookies to the kids, and I ended up sick with a migraine and feeling crappy for several days. It turned out that just touching those things was enough to make me sick. Because I ate my safe food after touching their food.

I don't think tapering down would work but others have suggested it here. I think a particle of gluten can cause just as serious a reaction as a sandwich for some people. I'm one of those. I thought it wouldn't be true but it is.

It could be as simple as the kids eating their gluten food then turning on the TV remote and then you pick up the TV remote and eat your gluten free snack and wa la...you could be glutened.

The trace gluten is the hardest to eliminate and the hardest to pinpoint when you have been glutened. I bet the days you had windows of wellness were days when you really didn't get any gluten.

It's really frustrating to figure out. I kept getting sick, so I don't let anyone bring gluten in the house anymore...they can eat it outside if they want to.

Is there any baking done in your home? Like cookies? If wheat flour is used it will hang in the air for days and could be breathed in and potentially swallowed. If your home cannot be gluten free, at least eliminate the wheat flour.

I'm sure others will have good suggestions.

Hang in there.

[CarolinaKip]

Its now one month and I feel like garbage. I am getting headaches and just feel not much better. I have had windows where I did feel better, but moments like today make me wonder if I went about this the right way. I kind of want to eat gluten to get a reaction to really convince myself that I need to stay the course. I am eating good stuff, vegetables, fruits, smoothies, nuts, and I have been splurging on some potato chips and the snickers bars. I have tested everything and I cannot find a pattern. Kind of sick of being sick and kind of sick of the process and of course the doctor is still not confirming anything. I do not really have any cravings. There has been no cc, been really careful, except I have had to handle and help the kids eat. I understand cooking dishes, spoons, and all that I have it covered. I understand hidden gluten so I have been eating whole foods. Just kind of annoyed. I would love to eat a couple of sandwiches and see if I feel better or worse and what the reaction is like. I like to push the envelope I guess.

I am sure it could be withdrawal but one month in and its so annoying. That is why I wonder if I should have cut back my ingestion for the first month, and a little more the second month and finally just let it go on the third month. I have also quit ingesting dairy.

I cannot remember are you DX Celiac? I can tell you from my experience, I did not feel better until about month 8th gluten-free. I had to learn how I was CC myself and what my body could handle. I got food allergy tested, that helped a lot as well. I gave up gluten-free replacement foods, then corn. I went whole foods and that helped. I do not touch gluten at all or cook it anymore because I am also allergic to wheat and barely. My

digestive track is shot, so it won't digest like a normal person would. Hence the pain, bloat etc etc... Everyone heals at a differnet rate, it took me a year to have a pain free day changing things

around. You need to think vitamins and probiotics. Keep a food diary to pinpoint possible problem foods, drop some of the replacement foods..candy...I just went soy free as well. For me, it was worth having pain free days.

Don't give up and dont cheat, you'll just end up in more pain. In time you will learn what is a gluten reaction and what is a food reaction!

Hang in there ...I've been there!

[notme]

i bet you are still in withdrawal. i was still at a month into the gluten-free diet. if you are getting cc'd it will prolong the withdrawal. try skipping the soy, too. i avoid it when i can. they have gluten-free, dairy free, (well, pretty much everything free) candy bars that don't bother me a bit. hang in there.

[Roda]

Snickers bars bother me now. I don't know if it is a cc thing or just chocolate. I'm leaning on the chocolate because I got heartburn from something else with chocolate in. What brand of chip? I don't tolerate alot of mainstream chips now that I did before. I don't know how old your children are but if they are still consuming gluten then you could be getting cc'd from them. Little kids put their hands on everything and then you touch a contaminated area and then eat then your cc'd. Some people are really this sensitive. I do think you need to give it more time also. It sounds like your body has a lot of healing to do.

[domesticactivist]

If you actually have celiac disease, then it really doesn't matter whether eating gluten has an obvious effect or not. If the antibodies are present, the damage is being done.

If you are doing it just to see if it helps with anything, then maybe a trial wouldn't hurt. But I caution you - I don't think one month in without really having eliminated cross contamination is really enough time to know whether it's helping or not. I did the diet for my son - I don't have celiac disease.

I felt like total crap one month in - worse than before, actually. Getting off sugar and doing GAPS made a huge difference for me as well. Sometimes I want to eat gluten just to see if anything changes. I have had reactions, but it's been so long since I got glutened that I almost start thinking I imagined it ever happened. I guess that's one of the down sides to getting better! (I don't even have cravings or feel sad about not eating it any more - I'm just curious.)

[GFinDC]

I got glutened by gluten-free bread recently, the Food for Life brand. It took me 4 weeks to get back to feeling right after eating one sandwich. So, I really don't think you can expect your body to be totally better after just a month, especially when you are new to the diet and still adjusting. Your body doesn't stop making antibodies on a dime. And damage doesn't heal instantly. Plus your gut flora needs to re-stabilze after a diet change too.

I suggest you don't cheat or go back on gluten. If you are celiac it won't make you feel better, it will make you feel worse.

[asickdaddy]

My doctor will not make the diagnosis and when they did the endoscopy, they didn't take any biopsies and said everything looked normal. Basically I got stiffed in the process. The doctor has suggested its possible celiac and to give it a try. I did try it for a year before. I know my body is reacting to something in my diet and I do overall get some pretty impressive improvements without gluten however its not cut and dry. I think my bodies response is cumulative.