Anyone Else Rice Intolerant?

[covsooze]

I'm pretty sure I'm rice intolerant as my stomach feels really sore after eating rice. For those of you who suffer from this, have you had to cut out rice cakes, rice flour and other things made with rice? I want to try testing via elimination, so I guess that means excluding all sources of rice, right?

[jerseyangel]

Ha Ha--I think I just answered this in your other thread about baking! As I said, I think I'm becomming intolerant to rice, also. In Dangerous Grains, the author talks about some people with Celiac not being able to eat rice, either. I posted the section--it was short--a while back. When I drink rice milk--Pacific Foods Brand--I get symptoms exactly like gluten. D, cramping, nausea, brain fog, all of it. I think that's because it's a more concentrated form. Yesterday, I ate rice several times throughout the day, and woke up very nauseous at 4 AM. I still feel itchy and a bit achey. I have an appt. with an allergist the 1st. week of March. The nurse told me they test for reg. food allergies and also do the RAST test. I will have a consult the 1st. visit to see if he will be willing to work with me to find the cause of my symptoms, as I believe other foods are affecting me. If that does not work out, I plan to have my blood tested by an independant lab.

[lorka150]

I have a rice intolerance/allergy (they say it's an allergy, but I don't think so. it's definitely not anaphylitical, I just get uber brain fog and fatigue afterwards). anyway, it makes it tough in some respects because of rice starch and whatnot being in a lot of things.

for rice cakes, I buy corn cakes. when i bake and cook, i use amaranth / soy / corn / potato / flax ... everything but rice (and buckwheat - intolerant to that too! ).

it was irritating at the beginning. it's not too hard as i focus mainly on whole fresh foods, but when you ONCE in a while want a treat and everything has brown rice syrup as the sweetener, sometimes you just wanna raise a little hell. i mean ONE day i want to try soy delicious carob peppermint ice cream.

[Ursa Major]

I am intolerant to lectins, which is present in ALL grains, including rice. I tried rice about five weeks ago to be sure, and it was awful. First I got a terrible stomach ache, by the next morning I was wheezing, and by that afternoon I had awful pains in my wrists, feet, ankles and knees and had trouble walking up and down stairs. I was also really tired and had no energy for days. By the evening I had diarrhea as well.

Every one of the lectins (and gluten is one) seems to cause a slightly different reaction, but they all make me really sick.

[plantime]

Not only intolerant, but very allergic! Last time I ate rice, I ate 2 crackers, and wound up in the ER with a bad reaction!

[tarnalberry]

no, but it's actually not *that* uncommon in countries that rely more heavily on rice - particularly the asian countries.

[jecareborn]

I was wondering if any of you have suggestions for me on the rice allergy subject. I have reduced my diet to all locally grown organic produce and meats (less processing, less chance of cross contamination – I’m extremely sensitive to gluten) but it is expensive, bland, and difficult to maintain enough variety for nutritional purposes. I have tried to eat processed food, even the organic ones that say gluten free, but I usually get a reaction and there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. I thought it may be due to cross contamination at non-dedicated facilities, but I am starting to doubt that. Since I have not been able to find gluten free, organic, unprocessed grains, I keep trying different minimally processed ones, and usually end up with a reaction. Any suggestion on how to determine if my reactions are from a rice allergy or from gluten cross contamination? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Additionally, one thing that I have figured out is that whenever I use gluten free flour mixes, even from dedicated facilities, I get a strong reaction, even if it doesn’t contain rice. The last one was from a dedicated facility that also tests all its food for gluten before labeling it gluten-free. It only contained potato starch with garbanzo bean, tapioca, white sorghum, and fava bean flours. Any ideas of what I might be reacting to in this mix?

Thanks everyone!

[jerseyangel]

I was wondering if any of you have suggestions for me on the rice allergy subject. I have reduced my diet to all locally grown organic produce and meats (less processing, less chance of cross contamination – I’m extremely sensitive to gluten) but it is expensive, bland, and difficult to maintain enough variety for nutritional purposes. I have tried to eat processed food, even the organic ones that say gluten free, but I usually get a reaction and there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. I thought it may be due to cross contamination at non-dedicated facilities, but I am starting to doubt that. Since I have not been able to find gluten free, organic, unprocessed grains, I keep trying different minimally processed ones, and usually end up with a reaction. Any suggestion on how to determine if my reactions are from a rice allergy or from gluten cross contamination? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Additionally, one thing that I have figured out is that whenever I use gluten free flour mixes, even from dedicated facilities, I get a strong reaction, even if it doesn’t contain rice. The last one was from a dedicated facility that also tests all its food for gluten before labeling it gluten-free. It only contained potato starch with garbanzo bean, tapioca, white sorghum, and fava bean flours. Any ideas of what I might be reacting to in this mix?

Thanks everyone!

Hi--I am going through the same thing. I feel that I am intolerant to grains. I know what you mean about sticking to the produce and meats--good stuff, but sometimes I'd give my eye tooth for a sandwich or a cookie. I get gastro. symptoms and also some skin problems. I am going to see an allergist on March 3rd. The first appt. will be for a consultation only--I'm hoping that he will be willing to work with me regarding all of these additional intolerances. I guess that's a good start. I have also looked into getting my blood tested by an independant lab. I'll start with the allergist, though, as my insurance will only cover tests ordered by a doctor in the plan. Whatever I find out, I'll post. Have you ever had any testing? Oh--about your flour mix--I'm also sensitive to tapioca flour--I don't know if that's techanically a grain. You could be sensitive to any of the ingredients--trying them one at a time would probably tell you something.

[Ursa Major]

You sound like you are intolerant to lectins. Gluten is one of them, and I react very strongly to them all. That includes all grains (including rice and corn), all legumes (including soy and peanuts), all milk products, eggs, all nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant).

And except for the nightshades (because they are high in salicylates as well, and so they're a double-whammy for me), none showed up in intolerance testing for me. When I eat rice I have pretty much the same reaction as with gluten (hopefully without the intestinal damage), the same goes for dairy and eggs. Legumes aren't quite as bad as that, but bad enough.

You might want to try excluding all high lectin foods from your diet for a couple of weeks, and then test one at a time after that, to see what (if any) reaction you will get.

For more info, follow the lectins link in my signature. There is a wealth of information there, and that lady can explain things so much better than me.

[jerseyangel]

Thanks, Ursula--I've actually been meaning to PM you because I can tell by your posts that you are very knowledgeable about this. I do seem to react to all the grains--that is definate. Legumes are ok if I eat them no more than, say, once a week. More than that, I start to have digestive problems. I cannot do soy or egg at all. Even before gluten-free, eggs gave me the very worst nausea about 4 hours after I ate them. The nightshades are mixed--I can eat potatoes and peppers, but tomatoes cause acid D (sorry!). I have looked at your link--several times. Very informative. I also noticed from your posts about your trip, you eat dinner-type foods in the AM. I am going to try that because there are no breakfast foods that I can eat that will keep me satisfied until lunch--I'm down to a banana and ice water to go with my vitamins! I figure I can do leftovers from dinner for breakfast and my usual salad for lunch.

[elisabet]

Ursula,

can tell me what you eat?

thanks

[Cheri A]

My dd is also allergic to rice ~ on the RAST test, it was actually a tad higher than wheat. It's nice to find some others that are avoiding it as well.... it's so hard since rice seems to be in almost everything that is a WF/gluten-free alternative.

I'm going to read the link in Ursula's siggy too..

[Ursa Major]

For the people who asked, this is what I actually eat - and most of you won't have to be as restricted as that, of course, since I have to cut out most salicylates, too (there is a definite limit every day for those, if I don't want to be in pain the next day).

Meat: Beef (no liver), chicken, turkey, fish (no other seafood, but I never liked things like shrimps anyway), bacon at times (but pork seems to be a problem to a degree - have to test that more, but I am TIRED of being my own guinea pig!).

Vegetables: Celery, bamboo shoots, white cabbage, iceberg lettuce, rutabaga I can have in unlimited amounts (too bad that none of those have ever been my favourites ). I can have limited amounts of fresh asparagus, brussel sprouts, green peas, leek, red cabbage, shallots. And very small amounts (and not every day) of carrots, cauliflower, beets, green beans, onion, turnip, mushrooms.

The only fruit I can eat is peeled pears (the peel contains salicylates), and once in a while a peeled golden delicious apple. Bananas are supposed to be safe, but give me a stomach ache and itching in my mouth if I eat more than one a week. I can have the juice of half a lime a day (lemons contain a lot more salicylate), which is great for salad dressing (with some sunflower oil, sea salt and maple syrup).

The only safe sweetener is maple syrup, the only safe seasoning sea salt. I can have small amounts of fresh parsley. The only oil I can use is cold pressed sunflower oil.

The only safe seeds are poppy seeds, and I can have some hazelnuts and sunflower seeds once in a while.

The only things I can drink are water, chamomile tea and decaffeinated coffee (which I don't like anyway).

The absolute WORST things, that make me the sickest, are grains (which includes gluten, of course), Aspirin (which is pure salicylic acid, and could put me in anaphylactic shock I now know), eggs, milk products, tomatoes, honey, all herbs and spices, dried fruits, berries and juices (other than pure pear juice).

Anyway, for the most part, I don't mind, because I am feeling so much better, and I am losing weight. I had not been able to lose weight for nearly twenty years, and was steadily gaining (despite severe diarrhea for six months last year), and was getting desperate.

And I am not on heavy duty painkillers 24 hours a day any more, either. Unless you know what it's like to be in severe chronic pain for most of your life, you would have trouble understanding what it means to suddenly be so much better that you can stop those painkillers, that are surely slowly killing you!

[covsooze]

Ursula - I know it's probably small comfort to you, but thanks ever so much for sharing so much info in your posts about what you've ben through - it's so helpful

What I'm interested in knowing is, how did you work out what you can and can't eat? Were you on the gluten-free diet very long before trying to figure out your other intolerances? I've only been gluten-free for 6 weeks, so maybe it's too early for me to worry about other intolerances.

This evening, I had lamb stir fry with quinoa instead of rice. It was def gluten-free as I made it - in a new wok as well so as to avoid CC. Now I've got a sore stomach. Surely I can't be intolerant to quinoa as well. Reading your post made me wonder if it was the peppers. Tomatoes are definitely a no-no for me, and I think to a lesser extent, so is egg plant. I eat loads of potatoes and love them so if I found all nightshdes/ lectins are a problem, I don't know what I'd do

Funny thing is, for the first couple of weeks of being gluten-free, my GI symptoms were far better than they'd been in ages. <<sigh>>

[jecareborn]

I agree with covsooze. Ursula, thank you. The two links for lectins and salicylates were very helpful. Thank you! I realize now that what I thought was a hypersensitivity to gluten, may be other intolerances. I know I’m gluten and dairy intolerant, those were pretty obvious once I got started. However, I still have persistent issues that I thought were from gluten cross contamination. Now I suspect they might be something entirely different. So thank you so much Ursula. I am sorry you suffered so much for so long. But like you, I find joy in actually having a chance to greatly improve my health. By eliminating the source of the problem rather then medicating the symptoms I feel I, at last, have a chance to decrease my dependency on pharmaceuticals - those “helpful” little pills that seem to resolve one problem only to create two more down the road.

I do have a question though too. With all your sensitivities, has this made buying personal health care products, as well as household cleaners more difficult? What do you do about those types of items?

[Ursa Major]

Sorry I took so long to reply, I was visiting my daughter in Ottawa for six days, and then went from there on a nice visit to see some friends in Sudbury, and just got back today.

I hope I can help you find some answers. When I figured out gluten was a huge problem, and was had been causing the terrible, chronic diarrhea, I stopped eating anything with gluten, and found immediate relief from the diarrhea and terrible backaches. And within two weeks the other pains stopped, too.

I believe that was, because my intestines were so damaged, that I wasn't absorbing most of the lectins and salicylates, and at that time, the gluten was the biggest problem. Somebody had put the link to the lectins into a post here, and when reading about them, realized that they had been a problem. At that time I didn't realize how huge a problem they were. But I stopped eating all lectins within two weeks of cutting gluten out of my diet.

As my intestines started healing, I was absorbing not just the good things again, but also the other things I am intolerant to. Within three months, the awful body aches started coming back. That's when I started doing more research, and happened onto the salicylates site, I don't remember how I found it. I decided to eliminate salicylates from my diet, to see what would happen, and the pain stopped. When I experimented, and took Aspirin and ate some foods high in salicylates, the pain returned in full force. The same happened with lectins. The evidence speaks for itself.

Personal health care products are definitely a challenge, as are cleaning products. Somehow I don't seem to have too big a problem with tea tree oil, so I clean with Lame Advertisement products. The laundry soap, dryer sheets (unscented) and lotion don't bother my skin. The household cleaners bother me less than the chemical ones, and the allergic effect doesn't last as long as from other cleaners.

I find that using ivory soap and dove hair products works for me. My head isn't so itchy any more that I feel like I am going crazy. In fact, its rarely itchy now, and it used to be terrible.

Susie, the peppers might be your problem. It's probably not the quinoa (even though anything is possible). You might be able to tolerate peeled white potatoes, which would be very low in salicylates. My problem with them is, that they are high in lectins as well.

And in case you wonder what I did when visiting............I travel with my own stainless steel frying pan. I go to a store before getting wherever I'm going, and shop. I buy stir fry beef and other meat, the vegetables I can eat, lots of pears and some pear juice. I have told the people what is safe for me for supper, and usually they are very careful. I just make my own food for every meal, or help with the cooking, making sure my portion is safe. I politely decline the wine, dessert etc. when those things are offered. When tea or coffee is prepared, and I'm asked what I would like, I get out my chamomile tea bags, and have chamomile tea (or else I just drink water).

People always feel sorry for me, but that's too bad for them. I usually don't mind, because being sick is much worse than not having all the treats.

[covsooze]

Ursula, thanks for the reply. I'm glad you had a good break

As my intestines started healing, I was absorbing not just the good things again, but also the other things I am intolerant to. Within three months, the awful body aches started coming back.

Yep, pretty sure that's what's been going on for me.

Thanks for the tip about Dove - I've just started using some Dove conditioner and find it to be great. An itchy scalp is a problem for me too.

I got my York test results back today, and I'm intolerant to so many foods (over 40 of the 113 tested!) that I'm wondering what on earth I can eat. Particularly with veggies, as the only one I'm not intolerant to is mushrooms - and that's not even a vegetable The worse thing of all is that potatoes seem to be the worst offender They are my absolute favourite. Sigh. I suppose it's not too much of a surprise, as I've got problems with all the nightshades. I'm hoping cutting out that whole family will bring great improvement.

What does surprise me most though, is that I had no reaction to rice However, I've realised that the things I always have with rice are nightshades, onions, carrots and soy sauce, all of which I'm intolerant to. This would also explain why I can eat rice in an Indian resteraunt and be fine - coz the rest of the food doesn't contain any offenders. Also, the soy problem explains why gluten-free bread has caused me probs - not the rice. What a revelation!

As there's so many offenders, I'm going to cut out the worse first and keep a food diary alongside to see how I go. My family are very sceptical about the York test so it will be interesting to see if it's proved correct.

[Ursa Major]

I am glad you're finally getting some answers. I would be slightly skeptical about being completely intolerant to all vegetables. It could very well be a salicylate intolerance, which means that you can tolerate small amounts, infrequently, of carrots for instance (depending on what you have the rest of the day). I ordered the Salicylate Handbook from the site (including the postage, it was less than $20.00 and worth much more than that as far as I am concerned), and it's amazing. It arrived within four days from England! Sharla gives all vegetables a value. Celery has a value of zero, so do rutabagas and iceberg lettuce. You can eat unlimited amounts of those (ugh, why of all things my least favourite veggies?). Carrots have a value of 3, leeks a 2 I think, etc. I can have five points a day without a problem. If I go beyond those I end up aching. But she says that everybody is different, you have to experiment to see how you, personally, react to things. She can't handle anything with tea tree oil, while I seem fine using it as a disinfectant on wounds ((I AM clumsy and cut myself frequently). On the other hand, I cannot drink the tea made with tea tree leafs, it gives me an instant sore throat. You will have to be your own guinea pig, and undoubtedly will make yourself sick, and aching, as you test different things. But eventually you'll figure it out, get used to your diet and into a routine, and will be fine.

While I was at my daughters, she made the whole family eat my diet (poor little ones). Then, starting the second day, she started saying, "You said some parsley is okay, so I can add some parsley? And how about some green beans, and carrots, and cauliflower................" Well, I didn't have the heart to tell her that all that was adding up to over ten by the end of the day, because I didn't want to condemn the kids to my boring diet. Needless to say, I had a VERY bad day the next day. And when I just ate a peeled pear for breakfast, Sarah got angry with me, because she thought I should eat more than that! By then I was on codeine and extra strength Tylenol, and the salicylates plus the painkillers make me emotionally unstable, so I ended up crying, telling her that I must have had a value of about ten to fifteen the day before, and I wasn't doing so well.

Then she was arguing, wondering how that was possible, where would it have come from, she didn't cook anything I couldn't have? You can't win with her.

Fortunately, since I hardly ate a thing that day, and stuck to all 'zeros', I was fine the following day, except for a migraine that's still not entirely gone (after five days). Plus my energy is low.

[covsooze]

Thanks for all your helpful info Ursula I will take a look at your salicylate link later. It's not all veggies everywhere that are a problem - they only test a certain number and they are the ones which are most likely to cause probs.

Quick question - are sweet potatoes nightshades? they weren't in the test, and I rarely eat them so I'd like to try them out.

Do you have to be careful not to develop more intolerances if you are eating such a restricted diet?

Thanks again for your help

[Ursa Major]

No, sweet potatoes are not nightshades as far as I know. But they are high in salicylates.

The way to be on this diet is, to not eat the same thing every day, but to rotate things. That way you don't become intolerant. And actually, that's the way it should be on any diet, no matter what. I try to vary things as much as possible, which is hard but doable.

Okay, I thought they tested for ALL vegetables, and you were intolerant to everything! That's my typical Asperger all-or-nothing thinking, taking everything literally. I am glad that misunderstanding is straightened out.

[covsooze]

Thanks for your support Ursula This is such a great place to come for the info and help I just can't get elsewhere.

[henry777]

So yes rice is a gluten cross reactor,  but does that include "rice flour"  that should also be avoided?? 

[cyclinglady]

1 hour ago, henry777 said:

So yes rice is a gluten cross reactor,  but does that include "rice flour"  that should also be avoided?? 

Welcome!  This is a really old post, so I am going to respond as the other members have not been active for a while.  

Many celiacs (due to intestinal damage) are intolerant to many foods other than gluten (wheat, barley and rye).   Rice is not a gluten cross reactor, but you could be allergic or intolerant to it.  If so, you should probably avoid all forms of rice (including flour) for a while and hopefully not for long.  I have no issues with rice and use it in my household.  

 

[GFinDC]

I had a problem with rice after going gluten-free, but after 9 or so fun-filled years I can eat it again.  At least I can eat rice cakes.  I haven't tried other forms.

[henry777]

33 minutes ago, cyclinglady said:

Welcome!  This is a really old post, so I am going to respond as the other members have not been active for a while.  

Many celiacs (due to intestinal damage) are intolerant to many foods other than gluten (wheat, barley and rye).   Rice is not a gluten cross reactor, but you could be allergic or intolerant to it.  If so, you should probably avoid all forms of rice (including flour) for a while and hopefully not for long.  I have no issues with rice and use it in my household.