Situational Illness

[ErraticBinxie]

I know that inhaling flour can make you sick. It has happened to people I have known before. It gets into your body, it makes you sick.

I have had a rather unfortunate thing happen to me. I just started college and moved into the dorms. The dorm I was assigned shares a fence with a BREAD FACTORY. I was appaled. It smells like bread baking ALWAYS. They even make it in the middle of the night. The smell makes me sick to my stomach because I have been gluten-free for so long, the thought of wheat bread makes me want to vomit. That's not the problem though. I have had really bad stomach aches since I moved in. My stomach seems to be more sensitive than usual. I'm wondering if living next to this bread factory is making me sick. Could there be like the constant presence of flour in the air that I am inhaling? Any ideas would be appreciated.

[MySuicidalTurtle]

It is probably just the move and change that has made you sick. You aren't actually in the bread factory inhaling flour so it should be okay.

[Lisa]

I am not sure that inhaling flour can "gluten" you, but many people on the site do feel that it is possible.

How long have you been gluten-free? I do think that the longer you are gluten free, you may be more sensitive to glutens that you digest and possibly inhale. Could you work through your college and get a dorm transfer?

Hope that you can work something out. The smell of bread every day would drive me crazy and I never liked bread to begin with.....Kooties in the air, ooooh. But it sure smells good when baking, I will have to give it up to that.

Lisa B.

[cornbread]

  Lisa Baker said:

I am not sure that inhaling flour can "gluten" you, but many people on the site do feel that it is possible.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It makes sense to me - flour is dusty. Any room where there has been flour will contain tiny airbourne particles of flour for a while. If you inhale them you will get some in your throat, either via your nose or mouth. If licking an envelope is enough to gluten someone (it is for me!) then breathing in flour certainly would be.

Scary!

[KaitiUSA]

  Lisa Baker said:

I am not sure that inhaling flour can "gluten" you, but many people on the site do feel that it is possible.

Loose flour can for sure gluten you...particles get into your digestive tract through your nose and mouth.

[jenvan]

I wonder if your feeling sick is related to anxiety--that the smell of bread, reminding you of gluten is making you a bit anxious and keeping your system on edge...

[Guest Ziggy10]

There are different tolerances for different people right? I've heard that there are some celiacs who can handle up to an 8th of a teaspoon of gluten or something like that. So inhaling may not cause it.

[KaitiUSA]

  Ziggy10 said:

There are different tolerances for different people right? I've heard that there are some celiacs who can handle up to an 8th of a teaspoon of gluten or something like that. So inhaling may not cause it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Some may not react to small amounts but ANY amount of gluten that gets into your system will cause damage.

[celiac3270]

Well, any amount within reason. 10 ppm, for example, would not get ANYONE sick--you should not feel symptoms and there would be no intestinal damage from that amount.

[KaitiUSA]

Yep, celiac3270 completely agree...some people have different opinions on amounts though.

Some people may also be more sensitive. There are amounts they say celiacs should be able to tolerate but thats very very minimal amounts.

Some people may say that gluten amounts in products would not be significant too but in my opinion that is way too much.

[celiac3270]

But surely no one could react intestinally to 10 ppm. You'd need at least around 100ppm to have a possible autoimmune reaction. And I'd bet over 95% of people here are getting over 10 ppm daily (just the number I chose before). Unless you eat 100% non-processed, have a dedicated gluten-free kitchen and no gluten in your house, you're bound to have at least 10ppm.

[KaitiUSA]

  celiac3270 said:

But surely no one could react intestinally to 10 ppm.  You'd need at least around 100ppm to have a possible autoimmune reaction.  And I'd bet over 95% of people here are getting over 10 ppm daily (just the number I chose before).  Unless you eat 100% non-processed, have a dedicated gluten-free kitchen and no gluten in your house, you're bound to have at least 10ppm.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yea, I bet almost everyone gets that amount daily..it's almost inevitable.

[Guest BERNESES]

I reacted to 33 ppm!

[sonear]

I believe it's possible that smelling bread can makes celiacs sick. My family recently bought take out from a wonderful Lebonese restaurant. They make their own flat bread. We ordered it because we were going to a dinner party and wanted to share. It was still steaming and my little boy and I both got several full breaths of the fragrant steam. Almost immediately my boy started showing symptoms. By an hour later I was symptomatic too.

We have also had several incidents of our boy getting glutened at school while someone else in his classroom is making bread. No matter how careful, flour does carry and then settle on surfaces, where it gets touched and moved around.

Trust your gut!

[luvs2eat]

I lived in Miami many years ago and every time we drove past the Holsum Bread factory, this bready yeasty smell would almost overwhelm you!! It took a long time to get used to the smell, but we eventually did.

As far as situational illness goes... I know I sure feel like barfing when I have to spend any time in the same room/ ANY room w/ my jerk of an ex-husband... does that count? ha ha

[Squidge]

Considering how little gluten it can take to make you sick, it's quite likely. Get a dorm transfer! Gluten can be ingested by inhaling flour. When you do that particles of flour, and thus of gluten, get stuck in you mouth. The next time you eat, you ingest those particles. A bread factory could quite possibly get gluten in the air nearby. Get the transfer and see if it makes you feel better.

[Squidge]

  On 10/17/2005 at 9:11 PM, celiac3270 said:

Well, any amount within reason. 10 ppm, for example, would not get ANYONE sick--you should not feel symptoms and there would be no intestinal damage from that amount.

Actual research has shown that as low as 0.02 ppm of gluten can cause intestinal damage and most Celiac's patients should stick to less than 2 ppm of gluten to be safe. And even if the threshold really was 10 ppm, flour has 80,000 ppm. Bread factory, still a problem.