Gluten Withdrawal

[josh052980]

I've been 100% gluten free for 3 weeks now, and last week out of nowhere I started feeling like I was having very mild glutening symptoms... For me when I get glutened I seem to get bloated, nauseous and have headaches and general body aches. It hasn't been really crazy bad, just enough to annoy me and not feel tip top like I have for weeks now. I'm also wondering if slight amounts of stress (nothing bad, just the normal work week stresses) and that heat wave last week could make things worse. Anyone else go through anything like this?

[Poppi]

Probably not withdrawal since you should be past that.

My guess would be that you are becoming more sensitive as you heal and your system cleans itself out. You may now be reacting to the type of low grade contamination that comes from non-stick pots or older wooden utensils. Maybe crumbs or flour residue from a shared kitchen?

That happened to me. A month into being gluten free I started to get sick again. I got rid of my old non-stick pots, baking pans and wooden and plastic utensils and cutting boards. Replaced everything with stainless steel, glass or ceramic and I started to get better again.

[Jeff In San Diego]

I've been 100% gluten free for 3 weeks now, and last week out of nowhere I started feeling like I was having very mild glutening symptoms... For me when I get glutened I seem to get bloated, nauseous and have headaches and general body aches. It hasn't been really crazy bad, just enough to annoy me and not feel tip top like I have for weeks now. I'm also wondering if slight amounts of stress (nothing bad, just the normal work week stresses) and that heat wave last week could make things worse. Anyone else go through anything like this?

Josh, a couple things here...

1) how did you go gluten-free? Was it by removing gluten, or by substituting gluten free alternative products for the things you used to eat that had gluten in them? Could be a reaction to something new you have added to your diet to replace the gluten-laden previous menu items. Things like soy products, more dairy, etc. Look over the new things you have added to your diet over the past 3 weeks and see if any of them might be the cause.

2) at about 3 weeks, some of us experience some new GI symptoms which we have surmised are caused by the nerves in the intestines starting to heal and send lots of confusing data back to your brain that has been missing for several years while your intestines were damaged. Week 4 thru 8 were miserable for me in this way. It looks like you are a lot younger than me, so probably had less intestinal damage to start with, so hopefully it won't be that bad for you.

Just cut out all non-essential processed gluten-free stuff (gluten free pretzels and cookies pasta and also soy milk and dairy) -- and in general, just hang in there. It does get better with time.