VioletBlue

Well, I don't react to corn, corn oil or salt at any other time, anywhere else in any other product. What option does that leave?

....."But it happens every single time with plain old Fritos."......

When someone reacts every single time to a food product that contains no gluten ingredients, that tells me it is not a result of cross contamination.

Cross contamination is not a constant. If it exists in a production run, it is to a varying degree during that run. There will be more contamination, or less, or none in the products that are produced during that production run.

best regards, lm

I had to stop eating Fritos and Cheetos as well. I reacted, particularly to the Fritos. That truly sucks because Fritos have such a simple ingredient list: corn, corn oil, salt. But it happens every single time with plain old Fritos.

Fritos has this disclaimer on their website:

"The above products do not contain gluten; however, they are produced on the same line as our products that do contain gluten. Although the lines are washed between batches, a slight residue may remain on the lines. Individuals who are extremely sensitive may be affected."

Only their Stax chips are made on dedicated lines.

Like someone suggested, I would say give it more time gluten free to see if it gets better. I know that's a hard thing to hear. I know how frustrating non-stop itching can be, I went through that for quite some time. I tend to react to things I'm allergic to by itching. It took a while to weed out all the things that were causing it as there were multiple allergies in my case.

I'm not a big fan of allergy testing, but have you tried that? Allergy testing can be hit and miss with many people, providing both false positives and false negatives. Much as some doctors would like you to believe, allergy testing doesn't always work.

Also consider that if you are itching all the time then you could well be allergic to a substance that is either in something you eat everyday, or is an ingredient in many things. I am allergic to anything sunflower, so when I gave up potato and corn chips which all invariably use some amount of sunflower oil a lot of the itching stopped. When I gave up soy which is in a WIDE VARIETY of pre-packaged foods the occasional itching stopped. So it could be one specific food that you love and eat every day. Or it could be an ingredient like soy or corn or safflower or canola or lactose or peanuts that shows up in a lot of pre-packaged foods.

You might consider taking you diet to the basics for a few days and eating nothing but a simple whole food diet; say plain chicken and rice, to see if that helps. If it does you can then start adding things one at a time back to your diet until you add something back that makes you itch. That's basically an elimination diet. But you've got to try something because I know how the itching can make you crazy. If doctors won't or can't help then you've got to help yourself and diet modification is the first logical step.

Hi everyone,

I am 24 and 3 years ago, my body started itching all over and I had a prickling sensation all over my body like bugs were crawling on me, but no rash whatsoever. For the past three years, I have been on an endless search from doctor to doctor, blood tests, skin biopsies to no avail. Everything comes up negative and doctors look at me like I am crazy, because I look completely normal. There is no rash, bumps, hives, to see how bad I am suffering. Doctors are absolutely puzzled and don't have any answers. I've been on every anti-histamine, nerve drugs, psychotropic medications, etc and I am still suffering. I feel like my situation is only getting worse. I used to be able to function and carry out my day but it has become so bad, I am unable to work or do anything.

My sister is a celiac and I have recently cut out all gluten/dairy from my diet, even though the doctors said it wouldn't make a difference. I have not noticed any difference yet, so I am discouraged - but it has only been 5 days.

Has anyone else been suffering with this horrible itching all over and NO RASH?? I am going out of my mind and don't know what to do, where to go to get any relief!

ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED!!!! I need to get better and will do anything!

Meghan Reilly

I'm pretty sure my grandfather had it and he lived to be 96. He also suffered with severe arthritis from his forties on, was overweight and had memory and coordination problems. He ate fried eggs bacon and white toast every day of his life for breakfast too. I think Celiac is just part of the picture and not neccesarily the determining factor in how long someone lives.

I read a lot of posts, but most people have been newly diagnosed or haven't been gluten free for more than 10 years (at least very few that I have read about!) Does anyone know of anyone with Celiac Disease that is in their late 60's or 70 years plus of age? Just wondering if people with Celiac can live to be 80 plus? And I know it depends on how well you do staying gluten free, but I haven't heard of any elderly people with this! Is this because people with Celiac Disease may die sooner than someone without Celiac?

It could be you've answered your own question. If your breathing improves when you take the Xanax and if anxiety is an ongoing problem for you, the anxiety could be the issue.

It helps to understand what happens when you breath. You breath in oxygen. The oxygen saturates the little air sacs in your lungs and the oxygen is difused through membranes in the sacs into the blood. The primary waste product in the blood, carbon dioxide difuses through the same membranes back into the sacs and is breathed out when you exhale. So you breath in oxygen and breath out carbon dioxide. The body needs a balance there however, with X amount of carbon dioxide and X amount of oxygen in the blood.

When someone starts to breath rapidly, as people tend to do when they're suffering from anxiety, the process can go haywire. Carbon dioxide can be expelled too rapidly from the body and a person could start to hyperventilate. Someone who is hyperventilating can have trouble catching their breath and may not be able to slow their breathing down, hence the breathing into the bag trick. You exhale into a paper bag and inhale from the same bag repeatedly so that you inhale more carbon dioxide and restore the balance needed to breath normally. Yawning or sighing can have the same effect.

Symptoms of hyperventilation can include chest tightness, numbness or tingling, balance issues, racing heartbeat and lightheadedness.

Also remember that anxiety is a symtom of Celiacs for many people here so I wouldn't be surprised if many Celiacs have a problem with hyperventilation at some point.

I feel like it's getting easier now.. For a few days it was really bad but I'm sure it was worse because I was thinking about it. I took a Xanax at one point so I would calm down. I think it was a mix of anxiety and maybe iron loss (my aunt was in town). I still have the issue but compared to those couple of days I feel much more normalized.

Thanks for the feedback!

Oh hey, thanks. Never had a name for it before, LOL. I used to have blotches of it on a regular basis. Now it's just a once and a while thing. It shows up mostly on my hands for some reason, particularly my fingers. I've just always lived with it as far as I can remember. But then it's never been real bad for me, just a couple spots at any time. So yeah, I guess the gluten-free diet has helped cut down on the frequency, from always to once every couple months.

It's a rare skin disease, no cure, non- itchy (usually) - just ugly. Looks a LOT like ringworm (doctors will often misdiagnosis as ringworm). Little kids often get it and it'll go away. Adults can have it a long time. I've had it about 30 years now. There are many variants of the disease - big circles, little circles, splotches (generalized, localized, etc). Both men and women can get it, goes away in pregnant women so is most likely an autoimmune disease. Could be worse.

Anybody else afflicted? If so, did you find a gluten free diet helped in any way?

Was the pan you baked in free from CC? Do you just use that pan for chicken? Have you had it since before you went gluten free? Metal pans and non stick coated pans can harbor enough gluten to cause CC.

I've used this sauce in the past and never had a gluten reaction. I did however subsequently become intolerant of nightshades, and tomato of course is a big component of most all BBQ sauces. Add mashed potatoes to that meal and there's a double dose of nightshades which would send me into agony all night.

Thanks. I will not be using it again. I do not think it would be the other things that I ate..... I had chicken (baked in the oven with only SBR sauce) and homemade mashed potatoes. I only ate about 4-6 bites as I wasnt too hungry.

I REALLY think it is the sauce.....just would love to know what ingrediant it is. OOOOO to have a crystal ball

Shannon

I've had ear problems most of my life. Once I went gluten free the stuffiness and pressure in my ears started to clear up. It only returns now if I get accidentally glutened. I don't know that Meniere's Disease is associated with Celiacs, but I do know that some of the symptoms of Celiacs can mimic Meniere's. Meniere's was a tentative diagnosis for me many years ago when I was having frequent dizzy spells and positional dizziness. But the dizzy spells are pretty much gone these days along with most of the ear problems. It has unfortunately left me with some significant hearing loss in one ear and persistent ringing that never really leaves me. That was most likely the result of repeated ear infections over the years; at least that is the medical geniuses best guess.

I had the flu a month ago and got an ear infection. My ENT put me on an antibiotic and the infection went away - but the fluid did not. So they did a myrinotomy (put a hole in my ear drum) to make the fluid go away. The fluid went away but I still can't hear well. I can hear myself breath and talk - like a finger is in my ear - and have pressure in my ear and I am terribly uncomfortable - a month later. I read something about Auto Immune Ear Disease (AIED) and or Meniere's Disease which can be associated with or brought on by celiac.

Has anyone had problems with their ears like this?? Or know anything about the diseases above - or have any suggestions on how to fix it!!!