Gluten Intoxication?

[Enkagi]

So I have been gluten free for 9 months since having a horrible reaction in March (after being gluten clean for 2 months due to low carb dieting). My Endo and I have decided to try for the blood test, and this requires me to eat wheat for two weeks minimum in order to register a positive antibody. I started Christmas Eve.

The aches and stomach pains I expected. I expected worse of a headache than I have, and I expected mild brain fog. What I didn't expect was feeling intoxicated, as though I had been drinking or partaking in other intoxicants. Does anyone else experience intoxication symptoms with gluten or wheat exposure? I know wheat glutens can mimic opioids, but can they make you feel intoxicated?

Ugh, I have to go through two more weeks of this stuff! Ick!

[mushroom]

I cannot relate to your intoxication experiences, I'm sorry. I suppose it could be possible from the opioid effect??

I did want to warn you, however, that two weeks of gluten eating is unlikely to have any effect on your testing results. If you have been gluten free for nine months then most medical experts recommend a two-to-three month return to gluten eating, at the equivalent of three to four slices of bread per day, in order to reactive the antibodies in the blood and cause the typical intestinal damage that is measured by the biopsies. Not the news you wanted to hear, I know, but so many doctors really do not know the gujidelines and put their patients through needless suffering for negative results. And the other bad news is that even if you eat gluten for 2-3 months, you may still test negative -- about 20-30% of gluten intolerants do.

[revenant]

I'm afraid that mushroom knows her stuff :/ 2 weeks is way too short.

Glutenous grains feed candida yeast in the intestinal tract, which produces alcohol by-products and can cause people to feel intoxicated. This can also happen when a person which a candida-overgrowth problem eats a lot of sugars. Gluten I believe is one of the most potent foods for these colonies of bacteria. Maybe that's what it is?

[ravenwoodglass]

Well your reaction is certainly giving you the answer as to whether you tolerate gluten or not. As the others have said 2 weeks isn't going to do it as far as testing goes it needs to be more like 2 or 3 months. Even then you could have a false negative. If is quite possible to feel intoxicated if you are someone who has brain impact. I used to wonder why I would get 'drunk' off alcohol free beer and feel hungover the next day. No matter what the test results say when they are done you sound like you need to be gluten free.

[eatmeat4good]

Intoxicated feeling? Oh yes, I know that one well. I lived that way for a few long years in fact. But recently after one year gluten free, I just had a gluten disaster where I was working with an elderly man who wanted to show me how he makes oyster crackers like chex party mix. He put them in a container to shake them and lo and behold the lid came off and he dumped them in his lap, on the floor and all over the place. I was the only one there so I had to help. It was a godawful mess. That was a week ago. I was horrified. I didn't have gloves or a mask (which I now carry in my purse) The first day I felt fear. the second day anxiety and swelling and rumbly tummy and one new DH sore. By day 4 I was feeling intoxicated and had 6 DH lesions. I was unable to remember how to get ready for work. Couldn't remember what I do in the kitchen before my shower. I make coffee. Then I made a stupid traffic mistake because I was so foggy I couldn't figure out what to do at a light. Unbelievable. I bump into walls if I've had gluten too. Uncoordinated. I have read about it and know it does happen to other people too. It is one of the neurological symptoms of Celiac. You are not alone. My reaction has gotten more severe the longer I am off of gluten. Fortunately it doesn't happen very often. Only twice this year and both were accidental ingestion. So I'm sure you can expect to feel lousy for the whole gluten challenge if the intoxication symptom is happening to you. And then because it is only 2 weeks you can expect to test negative. Be careful.