Gluten Food Allergies

Happy Wendesday WW!

My g/f has been feeling pretty ill over the past few months and we recently discussed the fact that she might have developed a food allergy.

She first got real sick about six months ago after dining at a local italian restaurant (so yes, tons of pasta and carbs for dinner). And for the past 4 months she has felt constantly tired, sore, groggy and uncomfortable.

Just this past weekend we made pasta for dinner and once again, w/in the hour, she became really ill. We woke up the next morning and we both started discussing the fact that there might be a food allergy that she developed.

For as long as we have been together, eggs, bread, pastas, and cereal have been a constant in her diet.

I know that this is basic information, but can anyone out there with a Gluten allergy give us some pointers? Does this sound like she could be suffering from a food allergy??

Please, any words of advice would be great!!

Kyle,

Hard to say. Our daughter (10yrs) was diagnsed with Celiac Disease in December. CD is Gluten intolerance. There is a blood test which will indicate for this and then they did an endoscopy to view and take pictures, this confirmed the diagnosis. So we have had her gluten free since January and the doctor did see improvements in her last tests. She complains of stomach aches, but less now then before as she is healing.

So I would say see the doctor and have them run the test. If she does have CD not the end of the world, tough but not impossible to manage. Although much harder for a 10 year old, as they don't understand.

Good luck.

My wife and my 11 yr old son have Celiac's disease. The symptoms vary. My son get stomache aches and immediately has to use the bathroom but it end there. My wife will get groggy and feel fuzzy and dizzy for 2-3 days if she has any Gluten.
We found out with my wife after many trips to the FP doctor, ENT, Neuroligist and finally a nutritionist. She had 6 different blood tests and 3 different allergy test . Found out she has Celiac's and is also allergic to Casen ( dairy ).

My advice would be to go get her allergy tested for food products ASAP. It sucks feeling that way and it also sucks dealing with someone who feels that way!!!

This is more and more common as people eat more processed foods. Often, for women, it will be triggered by pregnency. A good friends wife was diagosed recently.

Like these guys say, get tested ASAP. A lot of foods have gluten that you would never suspect. Ketsup, salad dressings, etc....grains are used to thicken a lot of basic foods. The sooner you know, the sooner you can start feeleing better.

I'm a celiac and have held pretty strictly to a gluten-free diet for a long long time, well over 10 years (and lactose free for about the same length of time, corn free for about the last 2 years).

I gave a long discourse on this under the old format when 'Non-wakeboarding' discussions were not archived, and I haven't the time to do it again right now.

But, to me, getting sick within an hour seems to point to something else (she may have gluten intolerance too, but the getting sick so quickly -- in my experience -- is a sympton of something else).

Jon, are you lactose intolerant as well? Raw milk distributors claim raw product is okay for lactose intolerant people. I was curious if you had tried raw milk, raw butter, or raw cheese.

Thank you for all of your input. We will have to get her in to a doctor and go from there.

KD

Many of my GF books remark that gluten and lactose intolerance commonly occur together.

Which is odd.

One is an intolerance to a protein (the ‘glue’ of wheat who’s dough not only forms but also holds a foam structure caused by the aspiration of gas from yeast ... all the while during baking ... which needless to say results in, bread). The other being the lack of a particular enzyme to digest a particular sugar (which missing enzyme can be supplied by a supplement.)

(As an aside, trivia Q: Which mammals continue to drink milk as adults? Would our first guess be, cattle? Nope.)

(Maybe we really are descended from possums.)

I eat wheat, sorry me. I eat cheese, sorry you.

Here locally is a big dairy area. Local lore holds it that the Kraft Swiss cheese plant here produces all the Swiss cheese for the US. (This is not local lore but, I’ve often wondered which poor dude is made to put the Swiss cheese smell into Swiss cheese, just like the unlucky guy who drew the straw to add the concentrated stink to natural gas, which is otherwise odorless.)

The local lore might be wrong but, there are cheese scientists in the area. I’ve met one. We had an amusing chat. He is an Egyptian-American, he has a Ph.D. from U. of Georgia in something agricultural (and I think something more particularly related to dairy products and production), and has spent his whole 30 year career in cheese-making processes both here and in Wisconsin.

I mentioned to him that, I really like cheese but, I’m lactose and gluten intolerant.

He replied quickly this way. “Eat aged Wisconsin cheddar. All the lactose has been digested.”

Have not done. Cannot testify thereto.