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Gluten Challenge

annie76

By annie76
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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annie76 Apprentice
annie76
Posted

I'm coming up on my two year anniversary dx, I haven't been here in quite some time. Anyway, I'm doing a gluten challenge, just curious if any of you have tried this, and what were your results. I've had a ton, and I'm fine, which we all know doesn't mean squat. I think its only a matter of time...

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YoloGx Rookie
YoloGx
Posted

My eldest sister got inadvertently glutened staying at my mother's after being completely off gluten for over two years. She became ill with a virus as well as D. It took her one and a half months to get over it. Not saying this will happen to you, but be forewarned. I suggest you have plenty of digestive enzymes around plus pro-biotics and either marshmallow root or slippery elm to help counteract the effects.

Bea

darlindeb25 Collaborator
darlindeb25
Posted

I have been gluten free 8 yrs last month. This last January, I was glutened by an OTC medicine. I was sick for 3 months.

Why do you want to do a challenge? Are you questioning if gluten is really the problem?

gfp Enthusiast
gfp
Posted
I have been gluten free 8 yrs last month. This last January, I was glutened by an OTC medicine. I was sick for 3 months.

Why do you want to do a challenge? Are you questioning if gluten is really the problem?

I think you hit it on the head .... Why ????

There are numerous reasonbs not to .... including provoking a rection to something or developing a condistion that is not reversible. Although these are rare it seems like rolling the dice purely for the sake of it?

NorthernElf Enthusiast
NorthernElf
Posted

I think I understand the desire to do a gluten challenge. Wouldn't it be nice to have a piece of paper that simply states that you are celiac or cannot tolerate gluten ? To have it in black & white ?

I've been dealing with this for four years. There are many stages to acceptance. At first I was ill, had reflux, ached, was so tired & crabby, had big sinus issues, nausea, and a life long history of stomach issues. An illness triggered it all - magnified it. My doc decided I couldn't have celiacs and bungled my testing. I had a negative blood test after about a month of no gluten...my biopsy was over 3 months after that...so no positive celiac test.

HOWEVER - the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. I eat gluten, I get sick. It's that simple.

Unfortuanately, it's even worst than that. My reaction to gluten is very sensitive these days. Just one example - last month I had poached eggs in England & noted that second egg tasted vinegary. My SIL tells me they will use vinegar to keep the eggs together if they just make them in boiling water. Within half an hour I'm cramped, nauseated, and just want to go lie down. It doesn't occur to me until the next day that in England they use malt vinegar on pretty much everything. All I'm saying is - that was a totally blind test, so to speak. Whatever little bit of gluten is in whatever little bit of vinegar they used on my eggs was enough to wreck my morning. I went on holiday and lost a couple of pounds, this in England where they have quite a few gluten-free products. I'm convinced - I don't need a challenge to prove it.

I do agree it would be nice if they came up with a test like a pregnancy test that showed for sure that a person is celiac or intolerant. But as to a challenge, I couldn't handle it - and it would be murder on my intestinal tract (damage!).

annie76 Apprentice
annie76
Posted
  • Author
I have been gluten free 8 yrs last month. This last January, I was glutened by an OTC medicine. I was sick for 3 months.

Why do you want to do a challenge? Are you questioning if gluten is really the problem?

Thats just it. I do have celiac disease. I was dx with an upper endoscopy, biopsy. I have been "trace" glutened about 4 or 5 times in my two years being gluten free, and now, I've done this and I'm feeling fine. Its just strange to me. I've been asked why several times so far, I just want to see what happens, I don't even miss the food that much, being gluten free is so much healthier I have no intention of going back to it. I guess I'm just oddly curious.

samcarter Contributor
samcarter
Posted

If I had a definitive diagnosis, I would never want to eat gluten again. Not even out of curiousity. You don't need to do a gluten challenge for a test, so I'm not understanding this desire to make yourself sick. Or to cause damage to your body, even if you don't feel it.

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YoloGx Rookie
YoloGx
Posted

I suggest perhaps then you just save it for that rainy day for when somehow or other you get glutened by accident. It happens. Maybe you won't react because you have healed so much. Even the Merck Manual says celiac is insidious after all. It takes a while to develop on either end no doubt.

Bea

ShayFL Enthusiast
ShayFL
Posted

I just dont understand some things, because I am not that way. On a similar note, my Sis was just dx with BC in Feb. and she quit smoking cold turkey because she doenst want the cancer to come back. I was so very proud of her because she has been smoking for 30 years. And she has been feeling incredible. Losing weight. Exercising. Eating right. Getting healthy. Then 3 days ago, she tells me she had 1 cigarette at a bar with a beer just to see what it would be like again......***sigh***

Dont forget.....just like cigarettes...gluten is a drug. :(

annie76 Apprentice
annie76
Posted
  • Author
I suggest perhaps then you just save it for that rainy day for when somehow or other you get glutened by accident. It happens. Maybe you won't react because you have healed so much. Even the Merck Manual says celiac is insidious after all. It takes a while to develop on either end no doubt.

Bea

Exactly, thats what I'm thinking. I remember it all started with reflux, and went downhill from there for about 2 years. I'm not going to do that again thats for sure! FYI, to you all...It wasn't all you think it would be, the cravings and missing the food that is. I think it just gets built up after years of not eating gluten. I'm done with it, after all its only food. Thank you for the friendly advice, and keeping the torches and pitchforks at bay!

ShayFL Enthusiast
ShayFL
Posted

We arent all angels....but we have good hearts. I just went grocery shopping......and saw the Bobboli pizza crust. I didnt eat that. But I used to make the most amazing homemade pizza. And I had a memory......***sigh***......My sourdough crust was to die for........but no more. :P

YoloGx Rookie
YoloGx
Posted

Yeah, similarly I was at whole food tonight and saw all the goodies they sell and felt a moment of sweet nostalgia. But I reminded myself how its a good thing I don't eat that stuff anymore. I am in much better shape than most people my age after all largely due to avoiding gluten, sugar and a variety of allergens -- as well as continuing to go for walks, do yoga etc.. Thankfully when I really get a sweet tooth I can bake myself a gluten free stevia sweetened goodie.

Bea

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      Thank you! That's helpful. My kids eat very little processed food. Tons of fruit, vegetables, cheese, eggs and occasional red meat. We do a lot of rice and bean bowls, stir fry, etc.  Do you think with all the fruits and vegetables they need a vitamin supplement? I feel like their diet is pretty healthy and balanced with very limited processed food. The only processed food they eat regularly is a bowl of Cheerios here and there.  Could shaking legs be a symptom of just a one-time gluten exposure? I guess there's no way to know for sure if they're getting absolutely zero exposure because they do go to school a couple times a week. We do homeschool but my son does a shared school 2x a week and my daughter does a morning Pre-K 3 x a week.  At home our entire house is strictly gluten free and it is extremely rare for us to eat out. If we eat at someone else's house I usually just bring their food. When we have play dates we bring all the snacks, etc. I try to be really careful since they're still growing. They also, of course, catch kids viruses all the time so I  want to make sure I know whether they're just sick or they've had gluten. It can be pretty confusing when they're pretty young to even be explaining their symptoms! 
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