Anyone Ever Get Glutened From Perfume? Smell Of Wheat?

[tailz]

I get symptoms of being glutened when I go in a health food store...from the whey protein? I swear there is gluten in perfume, too, that gives me a reaction. I know my father-in-law knew someone who was so allergic to poison ivy that he'd swell up if he smelled it burning even. Do any of you react to the smell of wheat, too? Let me know:-)

[Ursa Major]

This sounds an awful lot like other intolerances to me. I will get a reaction to smells, too, because of my salicylate intolerance. Perfumes are loaded with salicylates, and make me quite ill. The symptoms are similar to some of the ones I get when glutened (headache, achiness, lightheadedness, fatigue).

[jerseyangel]

I get very strong reactions to perfumes--but I don't think it has to do with gluten.

The last time I wore perfume was many years ago--I wore it to work, and about an hour into the day, I felt extremely faint, managed to make it to my boss's office, and passed out. It probably got to me once I was inside for a while.

To this day, walking into a dept store, or being next to someone who is wearing perfume, makes me dizzy and queasy.

On the other hand, I can walk through the bakery isle of the grocery store, smell the breads and baked goods, and be fine.

[Guest Doll]

I get symptoms of being glutened when I go in a health food store...from the whey protein? I swear there is gluten in perfume, too, that gives me a reaction. I know my father-in-law knew someone who was so allergic to poison ivy that he'd swell up if he smelled it burning even. Do any of you react to the smell of wheat, too? Let me know:-)

Whey protein is casein (dairy), not gluten. Lots of people react to strong smells (my aunt vomits at the smell of vanilla perfume), so it just makes sense to avoid areas with strong smells if you can. Many workplaces and doctor's offices now have "fragrance free" policies.

Gluten has to be ingested to cause a reaction if you are a Celiac. If you have a gluten allergy, you may react to topical gluten.

[gfp]

Gluten has to be ingested to cause a reaction if you are a Celiac. If you have a gluten allergy, you may react to topical gluten.

If you breath in particulate gluten then you are swallowing it. This is the whole purpose of the cilia and trachea to trap particulate matter in the mucous and transfer it to the trachea to be swallowed.

However perfumes are full of allergens. Before I went gluten-free I couldn't even stand outside a department store without streaming eyes and headaches, now I can run through one quickly... also my IgE allergy to Lavendar has decreased significantly.... which is I think linked.

[ravenwoodglass]

Gluten is also absorbed by the mucous membranes. In some areas a rectal challenge is done with a suppository, the area is then biopsied a couple of hours later for confirmation of celiac. I am on a new computer and have lost the link to the studies and countries that use this method, if I can find it again I will post the link.

It is quite possible to have gluten containing ingredients or oils used in the preperation of perfumes and other toiletries. It is also quite possible to react to things other than the gluten. Before and for a time after diagnosis I would have a great deal of problems with allergic reactions to perfumes and lots of other stuff. On skin testing the only thing that I did not react to was beech trees, the only thing. It was one of the reasons the allergist said an 'I thought so' when I had a reaction to wheat in the elimination diet. He said my system was in hyperdrive. I still have a few allergies but have only had to use my inhalor once in the last year. I was using it multiple times a day.

I found two articles on the rectal challenge but a search produced much more. It appears they are also investigating using the mucosal membrane in the mouth for the same thing. This would eliminate a suspected celiac from needing to consume gluten and aid in quicker diagnosis

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[Ursa Major]

I found the best way to test for salicylate intolerance is by an elimination diet. For a couple of weeks stop eating and drinking food and drink high in salicylates, and then do what I did (minus the Aspirin, I realize now that was very dangerous and could have put me into anaphylactic shock). After two weeks of no salicylates (during which time all my fibromyalgia muscle and skin pain went away, the joint pains are caused by lectins), one afternoon I took six chewable children's Aspirin (not recommended, drink some peppermint tea, or fruit tea or even normal tea instead, or use a lot of herbs and spices in some food), and ate some grapes, an orance, a mint candy, some almonds, drank some juice and ate one teaspoon of honey. By the evening I was only somewhat achy, and I thought that I had been on the wrong track. Mind you, when I chewed the Aspirin, my tongue started burning and going numb (I should have spit it out right then), and when I swallowed it, my throat ached on contact (I used to get sore throats frequently, and haven't had that problem since cutting out salicylates).

Anyway, when I woke up the next morning, I felt like I was on fire! The pain all over (including my skin) was so intense, that for two days I had to go back on codeine (I used to be on that 24 hours a day, for four years), and was still in agony. Obviously, I had my answer. Now, if I don't watch the salicylates (or eat something like an orange, because I love them), those pains come back. I rarely give in to those cravings, because it simply isn't worth it.

[Ursa Major]

Dried fruits are very high in salicylates. If I'd eat them with orange juice, I'd be in agony within hours. You sure sound like salicylates are a huge problem for you! I agree, try eliminating them, and then test yourself. But really, it sounds like you already know the answer.

[Guest Doll]

If you breath in particulate gluten then you are swallowing it. This is the whole purpose of the cilia and trachea to trap particulate matter in the mucous and transfer it to the trachea to be swallowed.

What? No. You would COUGH it up. I don't swallow my phlegm. Yuck!

[gfp]

What? No. You would COUGH it up. I don't swallow my phlegm. Yuck!

Doll, this is an involuntrary action. You produce about 100cc of mucous a day.. do you spit it all out?

The reason I ask is because you seem so sure you can't ingest gluten by breathing it.

Its a long time since I was at school so perhaps this has changed since I studied the process of the 'mucociliary escalator' however we still use this in lab safety training all the time.

Is it not possible you missed this class?

[Guest nini]

I react very strongly to fragrances... particularly anything with an artificial baby powder scent. But I don't react to essential oils...

[ravenwoodglass]

What? No. You would COUGH it up. I don't swallow my phlegm. Yuck!

Since the offending molecules can be ABSORBED into the mucous membranes you don't have to swallow it. Even spending the day with a spitton at your side won't do any good because as soon as it hits that membrane you have been got. There is lots of info on this in the Lancet and there may even be some by the NIH even though the US is far, far behind many other countries in the recognition of celiac and the methods of transmission and effects of gluten.

[tiredofdoctors]

Typically perfumaries add Orris Root to their product to stabilize it and to make the fragrance last longer, etc. THAT is the thing that causes most people's allergic reactions. That's why most people DON'T react when they wear essential oils.

[ravenwoodglass]

Typically perfumaries add Orris Root to their product to stabilize it and to make the fragrance last longer, etc. THAT is the thing that causes most people's allergic reactions. That's why most people DON'T react when they wear essential oils.

Many perfumes also use grain derived alcohols in their processing. These can also cause problems for celiacs. I check what the oil is derived from also when using essential oils.

[gfp]

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Mucus lines the respiratory tract, and cilia beat to remove the mucus out of the lungs. This is a continual process so any particles that penetrate into the lungs are trapped in the mucus and swept out up to the epiglottis where they can be swallowed.

Just in case anyone wants to read up.

[eKatherine]

Perfumes bother me when somebody else is wearing them. I remember once I had a bad cold, and the woman at the other end of the office decided to wear enough perfume so it was very strong in the whole office. I had trouble breathing that day, and she was really mad at me, for making it up to annoy her I guess.

I never wear perfumes, only essential oils and blends I make at home.

[munchkinette]

My allergies freak out when I breathe in women's perfumes. I'm not sure what is in them, but I don't have as much of a reaction to men's colognes or other scented products.

[gfp]

Thanks, gfp. I thought you could swallow glutens that entered through the nose and were breathed in. I don't wear perfume either. I avoid it like the plague. I put my house up for sale back in January and the woman who listed my home had a lot of perfume on. You could literally hear what her perfume had done to my voice in one hour. So now whenever I smell perfume, I make sure I exhale as much as I can. I've even gone so far as to hold my breath.

Well I hate to contradict a pre-med student (I hated biol and paleo biol) or even MD but this particular misconception has gone on long enough.

[Jestgar]

gfp,

You do such a nice job of slapping around those smart-mouthed little kids

[lovegrov]

"Many perfumes also use grain derived alcohols in their processing. These can also cause problems for celiacs."

"Grain derived" isn't usually wheat and is distilled anyway. Don't know why this would cause problems for people with celiac. Mind you, I'm not saying perfume isn't a problem for some, but I doubt it's a gluten thing.

Not a direct reply to this poster now. I can imagine that some people might have a problem if they're in an area where flour permeates the air, say a bakery where fresh stuff is being made or a mill. But some of the other speculation on this thread is nothing but pure paranoia. If some of the stuff on here were true, people with celiac wouldn't be able to venture out of their homes. After all, there are probably gluten molecules drifting everywhere.

Alarming people needlessly just doesn't make sense.

richard

[eKatherine]

I'm the same! I was told I may be reacting to the salicylates in perfume and high-salicylate foods, too. Either that or my pancreas, liver, kidneys just aren't filtering right, so my eyes and nose freak out instantly. I don't know what it is, but every time I go to the health food store, even if it's just me and the clerk, I walk out with my one eye tearing profusely. I honestly believe Celiac is an offshoot of some serious infection that has me in overload already. I called a lab in CA and they are going to mail me a kit to have a Western Blot for Lyme done. Too many people have been misdiagnosed with Celiac's or MS or something autoimmune, and later Lyme. I don't know if I'd react to men's cologne. But whatever they put in perfume is the equivalent of Raid to me.

You can be sensitive to perfumes and nothing else. Perhaps the health food store you are talking about has one of those open racks of boutique soaps that sits their constantly perfuming the store. Actually, that wouldn't bother me, but a scented candle display I would stay far away from, and if they were burning a scented candle, I couldn't even enter the store.

[gfp]

"Many perfumes also use grain derived alcohols in their processing. These can also cause problems for celiacs."

"Grain derived" isn't usually wheat and is distilled anyway. Don't know why this would cause problems for people with celiac. Mind you, I'm not saying perfume isn't a problem for some, but I doubt it's a gluten thing.

richard

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Alarming people needlessly just doesn't make sense.

Its not really alarming people to let them know others have the same experience, indeed I think many people are relieved if they find others have the same reactions.

I'm not trying to be all psycho & "anti-distillation" here - this all started because I have had (and my sister has had) independent from one another reactions to distilled alcohols. So then I asked my friend, because it didn't make sense as to why, if this stuff is safe, we were reacting to it.

[penguin]

There are plenty of irritants in perfume, it's pure chemicals. Anyone with a nasal allergy will likely have a problem with at least some perfumes. The esters are pretty potent chemicals. I, like Richard, seriously doubt it's gluten related.

[gfp]

There are plenty of irritants in perfume, it's pure chemicals. Anyone with a nasal allergy will likely have a problem with at least some perfumes. The esters are pretty potent chemicals. I, like Richard, seriously doubt it's gluten related.

The effects might not be directly gluten related but I wonder if they are celaic related.

Considering most people don't have strong reactions to most perfumes (or people wouldn't wear them) I find it more than coincidence so many of us suffer from perfumes and so many suffer more when glutened or before gluten-free Diet

[ravenwoodglass]

The effects might not be directly gluten related but I wonder if they are celaic related.

Considering most people don't have strong reactions to most perfumes (or people wouldn't wear them) I find it more than coincidence so many of us suffer from perfumes and so many suffer more when glutened or before gluten-free Diet

I agree completley with this. Before diagnosis I had allergies so bad that my inhalor was my best freind. I was able to wear a couple of VERY expensive perfumes with no problems but even a trip into a wonderful shop with lots of soaps would kill me, figuratively of course, within a few minutes. I, of course, did not believe my doctor when he said so much more than D would go away but after about a year on the diet I found I no longer needed my inhalor. Unless I get a severe glutening and am them exposed to an allergen. I have had gluten symptoms on occasion from when I have gotten some perfume in my mouth. Most of the time prediagnosis my symptoms were more related to my immune system being in hyperdrive because of the untreated celiac. I've become a great fan of incense and flowers in the last year.