Glutened - How Do You Cope With A Severe Reaction Out And About?

[T.H.]

I thought I'd been glutened once before - I've been reeeeeeally careful and had a limited diet, so it was pretty obvious. I felt kind of flattened and dazed the one time it happened, a teeny bit dizzy. It was from CC. Now I KNOW I've been glutened, off of stupid nuts, of all things, processed on machinery that processes wheat products, it looks like.

I've been gluten free, aside from the 'maybe' one time, for a year now. I thought I could likely tell if I got glutened, but I was not expecting this kind of reaction! Oh my dear lord. I will never, EVER eat gluten again with my current reaction, holy crud.

When it hit, I had sudden onset vertigo so badly I fell over and had to focus to stay upright after that. Nausea and vomiting right away and lasting for about 4-5 hours. Two days later, it's slowly improving, but I'm still dizzy and nauseous, can't move to fast or I lose my balance. The big D, of course, but mine at least has the politeness to wait until the day after gluten. But jeeesh.

I so did not expect this. It's really unsettling. I can't imagine what I would do if this happened while I was out - I couldn't even drive myself back home, in that condition! I was lucky that I WAS at home when it happened. But we have a gluten-free house, and I'm usually really, really careful with our foods - these were some old nuts mixed in with the newer nuts in a sealed container. I'd forgotten that they weren't all the ones I've called to confirm are made in a gluten free facility. I've had the 'good' nuts without issue before now, too.

My celiac daughter had the same food with no problems. I'm happy to see that she's not as sensitive, but just....crap.

I know a number of you here have debilitating reactions to gluten, and I was hoping you might have some advice! What do you do when you are out in public and get glutened? Do you have a plan for what to do, a contact person who can help you out if it happens? I take care of two kids and I'm wracking my brain over what to do if we were out and I got zapped like this. Not coming up with anything right now other than "be really freaking careful and only eat your own food."

Which is what I do anyway, but now...sigh, another worry, ya know? I was kind of hoping I'd have run into all my worries and conquered them already.

Anyway, thanks for any ideas and suggestions in advance. Much appreciated!

[srall]

I don't have advice...I need it too. I was glutened on vacation over my daughter's birthday and spent the whole of her birthday and the rest of the trip in bed. I had to take three planes (2 connections) home with just me and my 7 year old daughter and I could barely walk. It was the worst. I slept for about 2 weeks straight. I hope there is some response to this post, because it was a pretty hopeless situation. I really can't believe I got us home.

[Takala]

Oh, girlfriend, doesn't that just blow like a Santa Ana in the fall, or what ?

People may disagree with this, and that is okay, but since this is my immune system going boinkers, I will put a damper on it, I try to drink a lot of water, and I also will take a Claritin antihistamine and some sort of NSAID such as an ibuprofen (Advil type thing, make sure it's gluten-free) or an Aleve. I also will eat anti inflammatory foods/spices such as red cherries, blueberries, and ginger root. Ginger and tumeric are good for nausea, too. I will also, if I have the lovely headache/neck muscle lock up starting, put tumeric in some coffee for the caffeine, or drink a diet soda with caffeine in it. I also, in spite of feeling like $%^&*$%^ will make myself exercise to burn it out of my system faster by metabolizing it.

If I can get my endophins going thru exercise, that's a good painkiller and then I'm tired enough to sleep it off.

[Takala]

  On 9/2/2010 at 6:03 PM, srall said:

I don't have advice...I need it too. I was glutened on vacation over my daughter's birthday and spent the whole of her birthday and the rest of the trip in bed. I had to take three planes (2 connections) home with just me and my 7 year old daughter and I could barely walk. It was the worst. I slept for about 2 weeks straight. I hope there is some response to this post, because it was a pretty hopeless situation. I really can't believe I got us home.

_________

Ah, Cattle Cars With Wings.

Why I loathe flying, the stewardesses always treat me like a cross between a leper and a pariah, because I'm sure somewhere earlier during the security check they flagged me for attempting to pack trail mix, a few Lara bars, and a hard boiled egg so I wouldn't starve to death if I was taken hostage in the airline security hold for 10 hours by multiple "let's go back to the gate and fix the airplane because of the warning light" routines. You know, where everybody else is now scarfing down a Personal Pan Pizza from Homeland Security Approved Heart Attack on a Plate Airport Food Vendors, without being considered a threat to National Security.

No, I don't want the stewardesses touching everybody else's gooey gluey stuff, and then handing me a 4 oz cup of water after 4 hours and 2 trips down the handling chutes. We don't even treat livestock this way.

I will tank up like a camel on water before the flight while still in the terminal. Only don't let the security, pilot, or stewardesses see you doing this because apparently this is ALSO a suspicious activity to have taken an ibuprofen, eaten a banana, munched on a chunk of ginger root, and now be trying to keep your kidneys flushed out. For the Love of G*d, don't eat the little nut packets they try to hand out if you eventually make the flight, because they also tend to have wheat in them.

[Marilyn R]

Oh, TH, your reaction sounds horrible! I hope you are feeling better!!! I'm a newbie and appreciate the advice about having a plan for the unexpected glutening. Before knowing that I was gluten intollerant, I totalled my car by rear-ending someone at a stoplight on a busy highway after eating at a popular burger and shake place. That was shortly after I was supposed to be "cured" from my parathyroid surgery...

Here is a "Detox Soak" recipe from a book on autoimmune diseases that I recently checked out from the library. Unfortunately, I already returned the book, so I don't have the exact measurements or wording, and cannot attribute the author.

Fill your tub with the hottest water you can stand and 2 cups Epsoms Salt and 1 cup Baking Soda. Soak in the tub for as long as you can tolerate. Apply sesame oil to your feet, put on socks and go to bed.

The last time I was poisoned (I think it was from dairy vs gluten), I only had 1 of the 3 ingredients (baking soda) and the bath helped immensly. I laid there thinking about the baking soda pulling the toxins out of my body.

I bought epsom salts and sesame oil the next time I went shopping. The book mentioned that people with autoimmune diseases are lacking magnesium and epsom salts is chalk full of it ... I can't remember the other justification for the Detox Bath, but it helped me and I hope it helps you and anyone else suffering from accidental poisoning. Good luck...M

[T.H.]

Thank you so much for the ideas! I think the water would help, and the foods sound very interesting, especially the ginger and turmeric.

Waaah - can't do a lot of the others. I've been reacting to dyes and other stuff, too, so most nice pain-reducing meds aren't so good anymore.

I never thought of exercising! Heh, it'll be clumsy dizzy exercising, LOL, but it might be worth a try.

[T.H.]

Thank you so much - This is all stuff I can try, and that's so hard for me to find sometimes, it's wonderful. If you ever remember the name of that book, I'd be really interested in hearing what it was - it sounds interesting.