DDD

  luciddream928 said:

It's spread now to my face and around my neck and my throat feels swollen. I just took some Benadryl because it's not going away by itself. I don't think it's chiggers because it's spreading and with a swollen throat it sounds more like a reaction. Thanks for everyone's help in figuring this out...

I wonder why it has taken a few days to get worse? I thought with food reactions/allergies the reaction is immediate, say, within ten or fifteen minutes?

I'm sorry it's spreading, a swollen throat is the worst!

As far as time is concerned, I heard that with food allergies (I'm not sure about other allergies) there sometimes isn't a reaction for 24-48 hours! I know my very first breakout from gluten didn't come until like a day and half after I ate several slices of homemade bread.

  luciddream928 said:

I recently took a vacation and though I ate out, took precautions to tell the waitstaff what I needed. However, the likelihood of CC is pretty strong.

My recent symptoms are insomnia, irritability (probably because I'm not sleeping), and itchy bumps within the past 2 days all over my body.

Does DH look like chicken pox? And, shouldn't it have shown up sooner? (I've been back for 5 days).

I don't want to spend $$ on the doctor if it's "just eczema"... and if it's gluten/wheat related, then I'll guess I'll just have to wait it out.

What do you all think?

One of my main symptoms is a itchy rash similar to what you described. I get itchy all over the place, even my scalp and then break out in to red welts on my legs. Throughout the rest of my body I break out in patches that looks like hives. At first, before I knew this was gluten related, I scratched them so bad they did look like chicken pox. Are they painful too? When I got it on the bottom of my feet it hurt and I could barely walk.

One of the first signs I got glutened (or ate casein) is this rash. Plus I get a swollen throat and what looks like acne among my jawline but they hurt, among like 10 other symptoms. I am trying to figure out if I have celiac, an allergy or both. I just graduated college so I don't have health insurance as I job search but to be honest it doesn't matter to me. I just know that I can't have gluten.

What works for me is exercise and trying to detox. I try to sweat it out. I also use my parents hot tub to sweat it out too. I don't know if you have a favorite detox drink but mine is kombucha tea. I drink the synergy brand sold at most health food stores. It tastes like vinegar but it is a wonderful detox. I used to try and cover up the bumps with clothes but now my close friends and family know about it. Anytime I break out they ask me what I ate.

You probably got it at a restaurant. No matter how many times I am careful when going out to eat I usually come home with a rash. I can only think of 1 or 2 instances where I didn't. Or if you were on vacation, there could have been gluten in your sunscreen, chapstick, who knows! It's everywhere.

I suggest a good detox, going on a super strict gluten-free diet for a few days and waiting it out before you spend any money. Mine usually goes away in 4 days from last glutening.

Yup. All that happened to me after knee surgery except I was a mess mentally as well and couldn't sleep. This could have been to due the fact that I was so itchy. I scratched so hard I made myself bleed. The hives were on the bottom of my feet and some days I couldn't walk (not good for some one had physical therapy to do on a daily basis for knee surgery. ugh)

On some places the hives were like welts. It was so weird. My joints also hurt and my lips and throat swelled up. I had my first panic attack, which is what my friend said it was but I think it was because I ate a loaf of bread that morning and then ate sandwich and my throat swelled up so I couldn't breathe.

I went to the emergency room and they gave me steroids and told me to see a counselor (because they know how to cure hives?!?!?! still don't get that one!)

luckily my mom came up to school and was like heck no and took me back home to see my holistic doctor. she gave me some homeopathic medicine, put me on a Gluten-Free and casein free diet that i have been on ever since (after 6 weeks i tried to eat gluten again and broke out in hives). I also took a probiotic and an intestinal repair complex. eventually the hives became less itchy and went away in a couple months all together. when i get glutened however it flares up again and my skin gets super sensitive.

say what you want about holistic doctors and alternative medication but i believe that everyone is different and in this case it saved my life, of that i am sure. it takes some people 10 years or longer to get diagnosed with celiac and i did not have 10 years to spare in my condition.

either find an allergist, a doctor that is open to and familiar with celiac, gluten allergies and intolerances or find a trusted holistic, alternative or integrative doctor. some may be whackos but we have been going to mine for a very long time and she has helped me as well as everyone we have recommended to her.

remember, we are all unique and built different, a concept that don't like to teach in medical school.

I haven't seen one but maybe I should. I still suffer from a lot of the stomach problems associated with celiac which is why I figured I had it but they become secondary to the other stuff I mentioned. Now I wonder if it's possible to be allergic and have celiac too?

Thanks for the your help though. It all started after the meds from surgery! Anesthesia, femerol, vicodin, percocet and two types of antibiotics that they had to change because of an allergic reaction to the first one (I don't remember some type of spore I think). Needless to say I am very very apprehensive to take any pill and painkiller after that. When the itchiness began for the very first time I took Benadryl but it did not help one bit and it kept me up all night long. I know of only one other person that has an adverse effect to Benadryl but apparently it does happen to a few people.

The only thing that cured this was a Gluten-Free and casein-free diet, and a super strict one at that. It's like I have the symptoms of both an allergy and celiac...I wonder if there is anyone else that has happened to???

Thanks for your responses so far!

Yes and my gluten-free experience has made me an even more spiritual person than before going Gluten-Free!

Instead of thinking why would He do this to me, I thought there has to be a reason this happened to me.

Sometimes bad things have to happen in order for good things to happen = Karma

Now that being gluten-free has given me a clear head, I can fulfill God's purpose for me.

Everything happens for a reason.

drink peppermint tea. or better yet buy a peppermint plant for your herb garden and just chew on it or dry it to make your own tea. it will cure the burping and it makes me feel better knowing there is not chance of gluten in it

I felt the same way as you about relationships. Only had one boyfriend my whole life, and it was a silly high school thing that lasted for a month and a half.

I have just been best friends with boys my whole life.

Then I tore my ACL and had to have knee surgery. downward spiral, see my signature.

I went Gluten-Free. A year later I feel like normal human being now that I am super strict.

Now for the coincidences: After going Gluten-Free and "finding myself" as many of us on here have said happened only once we went Gluten-Free, I started dating one of my guy best friends who I had a crush on for three years! Plus all these wonderful professional oppurtunities have sprung up now that I am Gluten-Free. I feel like its because I have a clear head and I know what I want to do now.

Also, I don't know if it's practice from being gluten paranoid but I feel like my judgment is so much better after being Gluten-Free.

When I went to the emergency room in my college town because I thought I was going to die with all my "downward spiral" symptoms (see below) they gave me steroids and recommended I seek counseling. Luckily, my mom rushed up to school to visit and scheduled an appointment with a holistic doctor. I started to feel better so there was no need for steroids and counseling, especially because my mom and doctor were so supportive and I got my closest loved ones on board with me too.

IF YOU GET ANYTHING OUT OF MY RAMBLING POST IT IS THIS: if you go see a counselor make sure they are supportive and educated about celiac and gluten and each and every side effect. otherwise, they are going to make you feel worse! my one roomate was a nutty skeptical (go figure his mom was doctor that would rather hand out a pill than listen to you) and when i tried talking to him he made me feel like a whack job! he said being a celiac was all in my head!?!?!?!? grrrr i have found that it is better to talk to supportive people. you may be able to find that on these boards.

hah! i just told my mom today that i realized i havent bitten my nails in a year. i bit them for 21 years before going Gluten-Free.

i thought it was just because my anxiety went away but i guess the fact that i absorb all my nutrients now makes sense too. prob a combo of both, for me at least.

i notice i dont feel the need to chew gum anymore, which i feel was probably i stress/anxiety thing. regardless, i went Gluten-Free had the best check-up at the dentist i have ever had in my life! i usually always have tons of cavities even though i am ocd about my teeth.

coincidences? i think not.

  Matt007b said:

i'm in the same boat dogle..i'm undiagnosed but my doctors/specialists have a hunch i'm celiac. Too poor to get a scope done so i'm week 3 into the diet..my problem is anxiety of bills/unemployed..i've def. improved and my nausea levels are down on this diet but anxiety/insomnia is a killer when you're looking for work

but anyway i'm in the same situation..it's hard hang in there.. i'm temped to sell my car and buy a clunker just to give me some breathing room financially...

that's how i feel when i get glutened. most people spend it in the bathroom, i spend mine crying and paranoid. usually my boyfriend and my mom get the worst of my emotional episodes but that is because i did some research and showed some of the testimonies of people on these very message boards who had the same mental symptoms as me before going gluten-free.

i really think going Gluten-Free completely and strictly would help you alot. i wouldnt have been able to graduate college had i not gone Gluten-Free. but once my body felt better then all these wonderful oppurtunities started popping up! it was like i figured out my life all because of some silly diet but its true!

anyways, showing a close friend or family member who would support your Gluten-Free diet and take the time to read or listen to some research you did on how gluten affects your mood would really help for those times you accidentally get glutened (and it probably will happen because there is gluten EVERYWHERE). the next time you feel like crap think about what you ate. then you go to you trusted friend or family member and say, "hey i think i got glutened and you know how that makes me feel!" and they make you feel better and reassure you that everything will be much better tomorrow (as long as you stay Gluten-Free!)

hope this helps and if you need me to be your first testimonial i gladly will because i dont want anyone to go through what i did.

not sure why it says lame advertisement. i eat s-a-l-b-a in my smoothies because it is good for digestion for me.

I know most celiacs feel it in their stomach when they are glutened. Believe me, I do too. But the worst part of an accidental glutening is itchiness. I also break out in a huge rash on my inner thigh (all over my body too, my skin becomes super super sensitive but I get these red welts on my thighs that are so ugly!)

Also, my throat swells up within a few hours and doesn't go away for a few days.

Then, there is one night where I go back to my emotionally unhealthy, crazy, bad gut feeling, doom and gloom old self before I went gluten free. Luckily my family and boyfriend know this is coming and help me deal with it and are super supportive but just that one night of crying for absolutely no reason is so draining.

Usual the last one only happens is if I ingest gluten in large quantities (like I don't realize my drink has gluten or if a stupid restaurant manager completely lies to me; there are good ones and bad ones that only want your business and will lie to get it). It very rarely happens to me anymore because I am so very carefuly now.

BUT the itchiness and swelling happens with the slightest accidental glutening, like bread crumb sneaks in there or the grill wasn't cleaned.

Anyone else get itchy or have throat issues? What do you do to help? I've look in to DH but they don't blister up, it just looks like hives. I can handle bloating and GI issues because I take an intestinal repair complex that works wonders and I eat lots of flax and Lame Advertisement but the hives are so ugly and drive me nuts. and swollen throat makes it hard to sleep. any suggestions???

Have you tried going casein-free too? Both gluten and casein give me hot flashes (I'm 22) and certain types of gluten makes my joints so sore that it feels like what most people describe as fibromyalgia (which is what my grandma suffers from and i have read that fibromyalgia is a long-term effect of celiac disease). Both also trigger UTIs, which is a candida problem for me and it only flares up after dairy and gluten poisoning. Even so much as a splash of butter will get the symptoms going! My mom's first sign that she was glutened is sore joints and fever-like symptoms (she starts roasting).

Also I went gluten-free a year ago but didn't realize all the cross contamination stuff I had to worry about. Or never worried about BBQ sauce or dressings or soy sauce or anything like that. i had no idea that malt beverages like smirnoff ice and mikes hard lemonade had gluten in them! and the cheap liquors! (hey i was in college and i just thought it was a hangover) When I first when Gluten-Free i was at complete rock bottom: i felt like i was crawling out of my skin and was a complete mess psychologically so i didnt even realize all the GI problems i had. the really horrible stuff definitely improved. Then after i graduated college a year later i had more free time on my hands and started reading books: elisabeth hasselbecks the Gluten-Free diet and one called healthier without week. plus i started checking out website and blogs and this message board. now i am super strict and really careful and i am starting to feel 100% better, like my normal self that had been hiding all my life!

what i am trying to say is the time frame is different for everyone since everyone's symptoms are so different. plus, it depends on how strict you are and you begin to realize there are other intolerances too (like for me it's casein and artificial sweeteners. i havent had a headache since i cut out aspertame

I know exactly what you are talking about. When I eat gluten or dairy or aspertame, one of the side effects are painful bumps along my jawline. It looks like a pimple, but it's not. I think it's just my body releasing the toxins of what I ate. My aunt gets them too. It looks and feels awful and it's definitely a side effect of gluten for me.

I bet people who suffer from acne would benefit from going gluten free. If only omitting food from your diet was as profitable as harmful drugs

i don't do fast food but i highly recommend pizza fusion if there is one in your area.

Open Original Shared Link

they have Gluten-Free pizza, cooked in its own Gluten-Free kitchen on special Gluten-Free ovens. they are very conscientious. they also have Gluten-Free beer! and soy cheese too which is awesome because dairy makes me sick as well. their pizzas are very pricey, especially if its Gluten-Free and dairy free but i think its totally worth it because its really good and its the only place i can get a pizza around here.

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