Allergic Reaction To Gluten After Going Gluten Free

[jerseylinda]

Hello

I was diagnosed Celiac about five months ago and have been Gluten Free since. I had a full on allergic reaction the other day. I need emergency treatment as my throat closed. I traced back everything I ate, drank and did for the last few days. Only one thing was different.

I was jonesing for Hint Of Lime CHips from Tostitos. So, I read the label and looked at thier online. It said the product didn't contain wheat. I assumed it was Gluten Free. I ate them three days in a row. The first two days I noticed mild gastro problems. The third days was the full on reaction: throat closed, bp and heart rate sky rocketed, face turned red and I started vomiting. I went back and check the Hint Of Lime chips as they were the only thing out of the ordinary. I realized they are recognized as Gluten free by the company because they are produced on the same line as wheat products(they wash the line between runs) but even the company can't say for sure they are not cross contaminated.

My question is has anyone experienced a full on allergic reaction when exposed to gluten after being gluten and wheat free for an extended period of time.

Linda

[Adalaide]

I'll start by explaining the Lay's thing because I've contacted the company. If you view their website they'll have two types of "gluten free" products. Those they list as having no gluten containing ingredients and those that are gluten free. The ones you ate simply have no gluten containing ingredients. The ones they offer that are gluten free are run on the same lines as everything else, but the difference is that every patch is tested to ensure that they are in fact gluten free. The lines are cleaned between every run, for every product but only the ones listed as gluten free are tested, every batch, every time. Open Original Shared Link to a page listing both gluten free and no gluten ingredients foods and it also explains at the beginning of each list on the page very briefly the difference.

So, anyway... on to your issue specifically. The chips you ate don't contain gluten but because they specifically aren't batch tested could have contained some. But, do you know what you had an allergic reaction to? Having celiac and spending any significant amount of time not consuming any food (not just gluten) will not cause you to develop an allergic reaction to it. Is it possible you have developed an actual wheat allergy and that that batch of chips was CC'd? Sure. It's also possible that something else entirely caused your problem. Because you had a life threatening reaction you should consider talking to your doctor about allergy testing.

For many of us, me included, we've been sick a long time. We finally get a celiac diagnosis and see a light at the end of the tunnel. But we need to remember that gluten is not the only evil in the world. We need to not blame every single thing wrong with us on it. It can't and shouldn't be the first and/or only thing we look at to blame. You should examine your entire meal before your reaction, anything you ate could be the culprit. I know you say only one thing was different but even on the ingredient list of that it could be something other than the possible CC. It is also possible, must like developing a new allergy to wheat that this is a new allergy to something you could safely eat 2 weeks ago. The only way to be sure, really is probably allergy testing. It sure beats risking another life threatening reaction to who knows what.

[justlisa]

Ditto Adelaide...

[shadowicewolf]

i don't think it was the gluten dear, it was probably something else.

Before i went gluten free, tomatos would cause me to have stomach problems. Afterwards, it moved into more of an allergic reaction type thing. Now i'm allergic to them.

Removing something major from your diet will cause other things to come out of the woodwork.