Can't Breathe Out My Nose And My Tooth/gums Seem To Be The Fortune Teller

[powerofpositivethinking]

let me first say I've been feeling so much better gluten free.  The big C has faded into the sunset, and that was one of my biggest complaints!  I've still got a few lingering issues and am looking for some input, so here it goes...

 

For as long as I can remember, I've never been able to get a good, deep breath through ONLY my nose.  I feel like I have to breathe at double the rate to get the amount of air that I get in one mouth breath when I attempt to only breathe through my nose.  It becomes especially difficult to attempt to nose breathe while exercising which is unfortunate since during yoga they want you to breathe through only your nose   My nose is always stuffy/inflamed, but here's the TMI part, there's almost never any mucus that needs to be blown out.  I did a purely whole foods diet for the past month and didn't have a drop of dairy or soy hoping that would be my answer, but no luck.  I don't get sinus infections, but I always have this sense that my airways are never fully open.  Thoughts?

 

Also, I've had a lot of work done on one of my bottom left teeth and had several reactions to adhesive/dental materials used.  I noticed that when I ate gluten this area used to swell a lot.  Removed gluten and voila the swelling stopped for the most part.  However it still slightly swells when eating some foods.  I've taken that to mean that I should omit those foods from my diet for the time being since the swelling happens about 15 min. after eating the offending foods.  Would you say this reaction constitutes oral allergy syndrome?

 

I've read some on histamine intolerance, and thought it might be worth a trial run to see if it makes a difference.  I've thought about going to an allergist, but want to try the low histamine trial first to see if it makes any type of difference before paying another co-pay.  The tooth will swell about 15 minutes after eating an offending food, but again, now that I've stopped gluten it doesn't swell nearly as large.  My dental sensitivities were hypersensitivities and took a few days to develop.  If you're a Katy Perry fan my reactions are hot and cold.  It's always a surprise which one it'll be...

 

Thanks for any ideas!

[1desperateladysaved]

I would have the dentist check to be sure the tooth is sealed off good.

 

D

[BelleVie]

I completely understand that stuffy nose part. I was a mouth breather all through my childhood, but didn't realize it until my sister pointed it out to me. I made an effort to start breathing through my nose, but it felt like I was suffocating! Went on a raw foods diet a few years ago, and lo and behold, could suddenly breathe just fine through my nose, except for when I was laying down. Went back onto cooked foods/gluten and got really sick. After I quit gluten, the inflammation went away. Now I can breathe through my nose just fine, even when jogging/doing aerobic activity. And as I recall I never had much snotty stuff either. It just seemed permanently sealed! Interestingly, this also caused a lot of problems when I would drink wine or beer. I would get the sinus headache from HELL. 

 

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that gluten definitely caused a lot of the nasal inflammation for me, but I also know that alcohol, particularly red wine does it too, so I guess that would be likely to be a histamine response. Maybe you could also check into sulfites? 

[AlwaysLearning]

Painful, swollen sinuses is definitely one of the reactions I encounter from gluten, and often one of the signs that something I'm eating has trace amounts of gluten not large enough to trigger worse symptoms. Also, if I breath in dust that contains gluten rather than ingest it, I can get quite a bit of sinus inflammation.

Before going gluten free, I frequently had full-blown sinus infections, ear aches, and was constantly clearing phlegm in my throat along with dark circles under my eyes. And it did all go away after going gluten free. Some online research made me think I understood – the autoimmune reaction wouldn't be much different than any other allergy, say to pollen or the like, making everything swell and be inflamed, so yeah, histamines seemed to be the culprit - but they were just trying to do their job.

And in the first few months of being gluten free, I did worry that I may have some other food allergies as well, wine, melons, and pollen all seemed to bother me more than they ever had in the past. I haven't eaten many of these in the months since to test them out completely, but I'm hoping it was just temporary as my body was still pretty damaged.

Malabsorption from gluten allergies is also known for causing problems with the gums, including receeding gums and can deteriorate the enamel on your teeth which could mean that you are already at risk for bacterial infections (gingivitis) and/or tooth decay. The receeding gums or lost enamel don't really heal after going gluten free, but wouldn't get worse either.

And if that weren't enough, a common reaction to ingesting gluten is canker sores in the mouth. Before going gluten free, I'd get these in direct correlation to how much gluten I was ingesting, the more gluten, the less likely they'd be to heal and instead get larger, though those could appear anywhere in your mouth and mine didn't seem to occur in the same place twice that I can remember.

But if you are already gluten free and are certain that you don't have any accidental glutenings, then I'm not sure what other medical problems could be of concern, especially with the breathing because any inflammation should go away pretty quickly after going gluten free.

If you're early in the gluten-free process, still eating out, or haven't been all that diligent about a shared kitchen, then I'd definitely suspect continued glutenings. It really did take me a full month to decontaminate my kitchen despite thinking that I had done well right away. And to be honest, I really didn't believe how minute a trace of gluten it can take to cause a reaction.

But I'd get checked for vitamin deficiencies because they are so common with gluten allergies and would keep the body from healing properly. And if you're due for a teeth cleaning, it can't hurt to have that done. Basically, start with the simple things first. And a food diary that tracks what you ate and how it was prepared in correlation to your reactions may help you pinpoint cross contamination sources or foods that still contain gluten, or even other food sensitivities. 

[powerofpositivethinking]

thanks for the replies!

 

When I first tried gluten free for about three weeks in October '12 my nose opened up pretty quickly and I noticed the mucus in my throat went away within that time.  Then I read about being tested, so I went back on it.  Fast forward to March '13 and after all my celiac testing was complete, I was expecting the same quick response, but not so much.  I don't want to sound negative because bloating and constipation were my biggest complaints and they seem to be a thing of the past, and I stopped taking Citrucel a few weeks ago, but everything is still working correctly, so I am extremely happy about that!  It almost makes me think that putting loads of gluten into my body for testing made for bigger problems sinus wise.  

 

Here's my dental history...Never really had problems with my teeth, but I started getting a few cavities in college I think.  I've been diligent about 6 month cleanings, and all in all, I think I've had 5 or 6 cavities in total.  I have a few spots where enamel is missing, but they're on places that you wouldn't chip off with food, so it could be celiac related.  Here begins my dental problems...I had a composite filling done in March '12, and that's when things started to go haywire.  I let a month go by as the pain started to get worse until I was taking pain meds every day and thought that wasn't a good idea.  Honestly that was the worst pain I've ever felt!  My left ear really hurt, but upon visiting a walk-in clinic I was told that it wasn't infected, but they would give me an antibiotic to be on the safe side, and I was to go back to my dentist.  That's the last time I've taken an antibiotic.  I went to the dentist and he replaced the composite with a sedative filling.  A few weeks later I went back after the sedative had calmed the tooth down and he left a thin layer of the sedative filling closer to center of the tooth and placed the composite back on top.  It continued to be swollen, but started to go down some.  Basically because there wasn't shooting pain radiating through my jaw, cheek and ear, I was happy.  Again that was the worst pain I have ever felt, so because I was able to sleep again without a heating pad glued to my face, I was a happy camper!

 

At my sixth month cleaning in the fall of 2012, I told the dental hygienist the area was still swollen, but the gums weren't red and after checking and more x-rays, nothing was found.  Then I went to my cleaning this spring and mentioned it was still a bit swollen, and a little bubble had formed.  I didn't know the bubble meant an infection, so then I had the "pleasure" of getting a root canal.  After the pain from the initial cavity filling, the root canal was a cinch.  So I got the root canal and everything was healing up, and there wasn't any pain!!  Then I went and got the temporary crown and had a reaction to the adhesive bonding agent, so the temporary crown was taken off and the bonding agent was switched out for another brand and it settled down.  Then I finally had the permanent crown put on, which had to be a completely porcelain crown because I'm allergic to nickel.  My wallet took quite the hit this spring...ouch 

 

I think timing issues are important for this.  I went gluten free on 3/10/13 and then had my appointment where they realized the bubble meant a root canal on 3/27/13, so the whole time they were doing these root canal/crown procedures, my body was already on the fritz trying to figure out where the gluten went, so I know that played into the length of healing time.  Now the slight swelling only seems to happen when I eat the offending foods which from what I've read seem to be on the avoid list for the low histamine diet.  

 

I've had other composite fillings in my mouth, which is something my dentist found strange with my reactions, but do you think it's possible that because my celiac symptoms were strong during this time, my body wanted to reject anything foreign put in it?  Is that why the other composite fillings aren't a problem because my body accepted them before all the gluten symptoms came to light?  My dentist has been great, and I know it's not because of his errors, but I've given him a run for his money haha

 

BelleVie-I will look into sulfites too because I really haven't read much about them.

 

alwayslearning-I did get tested for vitamin deficiencies and am deficient in Vitamins D and K, which seem to both have links to bone health.  I get the D retested in a week or two after supplementation, and the K will be checked in a few months.  I do have a shared kitchen, but I am extremely careful about CC and I haven't eaten out since the beginning of March.  

 

This typing everything helps me sort stuff out too.  I think at this point, I will try a low histamine diet, read more into sulfites and possibly try that, and see if things improve.  I guess it's also possible that even though I'm not having pain in my mouth besides the slight swelling, my body doesn't like the materials used in my permanent crown, and that could be causing the inflammation in my nose.  Anything is possible at this point.  I feel like trying to sort this out through diet instead of going to a doctor for a pill at this point.  That's just my personal preference right now 

 

Thanks for listening!