Embarrassing Question

[New-To-This]

I have an embarrassing question to ask all those who are not celiac but eat gluten free because of a family member. I find that if I go out with friends now and have a pizza or something with wheat in it, I get severe gas. And I mean severe! Not an few minor farts, but long ones every minute or so, and this lasts for hours after eating gluten. If I hold it in, I end up with cramps. This is accompanied by bloating as well. Is this normal? I have had to ask to eat "same" foods and my friends say, you don't have to eat that way, your husbands not here. Is this a side affect of being of glutens and then going back on them? I used to get gas like this on donut fridays at work. To the point I was in severe pain from holding it back. I always thought it was the sugar and bread from the krispy cremes, now I'm not so sure. When I passed on the donuts on Fridays I seemed fine most of the time. Am I a silent sufferer because I don't get the other symptoms that so many celiacs show?

[cyberprof]

I have an embarrassing question to ask all those who are not celiac but eat gluten free because of a family member. I find that if I go out with friends now and have a pizza or something with wheat in it, I get severe gas. And I mean severe! Not an few minor farts, but long ones every minute or so, and this lasts for hours after eating gluten. If I hold it in, I end up with cramps. This is accompanied by bloating as well. Is this normal? I have had to ask to eat "same" foods and my friends say, you don't have to eat that way, your husbands not here. Is this a side affect of being of glutens and then going back on them? I used to get gas like this on donut fridays at work. To the point I was in severe pain from holding it back. I always thought it was the sugar and bread from the krispy cremes, now I'm not so sure. When I passed on the donuts on Fridays I seemed fine most of the time. Am I a silent sufferer because I don't get the other symptoms that so many celiacs show?

Well, fortunately or unfortunately I think you are a potential celiac or at the least are gluten intolerant. Your body is telling you that it does not like gluten. From what I understand, once you go gluten free, you get more sensitive and what your body was able to tolerate becomes intolerable. I used to get terrible gas, bloating and cramps from Krispy Cremes and I thought it was the grease.

You may have other symptoms that go away if you totally eliminate gluten.

At least you know how to manage the diet, right? Good luck!

[domesticactivist]

I used to think fat was what did it. Boy, was I wrong! Now I eat way more fat without any problem. I actually haven't dared try eating gluten on purpose since Christmas. At the time we'd been "gluten-free" for about a month, but I'd been cheating and eating other grains and getting cc'd. We've been extremely vigilant ever since the new year. Part of me wants to try it just to see what would happen. We ate at my mom's last week. My son wasn't there so I thought I'd try eating someone else's cooking. We had salmon, salad, and strawberries - all things I eat at home, except the fish was farmed, the fruit not organic, and the red pepper on the fish was a powdered thing. (would have declined had I known it wasn't actually red pepper!) of course all utensils and cookware were cc'd. But it took over three days for my digestion to return to normal. I felt a lot like I did before the diet, and

not in a good way.

[cahill]

I would suggest going totally gluten free. Sounds as if you could be celiac or at the very least gluten intolerant.

Being gluten lite would effect any type of testing so some of your choices are :

go back on gluten fully (the equivalent 3 to 4 slices of bread daily for 3 months) so you can be tested,

or have genetic testing done to see if you have the celiac gene

or go totally gluten free without official testing.

[ravenwoodglass]

It does sound like you have an issue with gluten. If someone doesn't have problems they wouldn't get symptoms when they consume it after having been gluten free. You could do the 3 month gluten challenge and then test but your body is really giving you the answer and you would still have up to a 30% chance of a false negative. As far as gene testing goes that can sometimes just add to the confusion. There are folks that have one of the 2 most common celiac associated genes and never develop celiac and there are diagnosed celiacs that don't have one of those two celiac associated genes. Gene testing can be part of the picture but it is not diagnostic. Your reaction to gluten, however, is.

[Juliebove]

I don't think that's normal. I went totally gluten-free when my daughter did. Eventually I went back to eating regular pretzels, occasional bread and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. Doesn't cause any problems for me. I do still eat gluten-free pizza and pasta.

[New-To-This]

Thanks for the honest answers. I know I can live with the gluten free diet, it just means I need to follow it when I go out with family and friends even if the dear hubby is not with. After I put this out here it got worse for a few hours, I was passing gas every minute or two. I went to the spare room to sleep just so I wouldn't gas my poor husband. Than I could let it flow freely so to speak. Forutnately I did not get the severe cramps that I used to get. So A lesson learned. I read somewhere a few months ago women over 40 are at risk of becoming gluten intolerant even if the never had a problem with it before. I feel this is do to the grenetic changes they continue to make on our foods so they can mass produce them. I grow my own garden and use heritage vegetables whenveer I can find them. So that helps, and I raise my own chickens both for our meals and for laying eggs, plus we raise our own turkeys too. An organic turkey is soooo much taster than a store bought. I don't know if I could ever go back.

Again thanks for your answers and have a great week!

[T.H.]

Hope the diet goes really well for you!

OH, you might want to take some care with the poultry - most of the time the feed is full of lovely, lovely gluten, sigh. I know of a few people on farms who had to start wearing a mask when feeding, because the dust from the feed in the air was enough to inhale, get down the throat, and swallow a little. Not fun!

[Ev7777]

Try taking an anti-gas medication when you eat foods with gluten and see if that helps in social situations.

[mushroom]

Try taking an anti-gas medication when you eat foods with gluten and see if that helps in social situations.

I shouldda bought shares in whatever company makes Gas-X

[ravenwoodglass]

Try taking an anti-gas medication when you eat foods with gluten and see if that helps in social situations.

That might help the gas symptom but it won't stop damage from being done. If you do go this route do make sure the antigas med is gluten free but IMHO better to simply avoid the gluten as eventually you may go from just having gas to having D. That is no fun if you are out for a pleasant night with freinds or family.

[allceliacs]

I'm with all the other comments. Obvious gluten intolerance and yes, I too should have bought stock in Gas-X. Best med for a Celiac!

[viviendoparajesus]

I agree sounds like you are at least gluten intolerant. I have gluten intolerance and celiac's minus the official diagnosis because my doctor and I did not want to expose me to gluten for the test given the false negatives and the obvious harm gluten was doing to me at that point. My boyfriend heard about the benefits of going gluten-free, so he tried going gluten-free with me. When he went back to eating gluten on occasion, he did not have any noticeable problems. I have to agree that you must have some problem with gluten even if it is not as severe as celiac's you seem to have gluten intolerance or gluten sensitivity. If I were you I would avoid gluten. I would only take an anti-gas medication if needed after cross contamination. There are also enzyme products that help with digesting small amounts of gluten from cross contamination, but it does not allow people with gluten problems to eat gluten without negative repercussions. Best wishes!

[cap6]

That sounds a lot like me. My gas was so bad that it seemed like a constant flow. Since going gluten-free it is little to none.