Weirdness! - Suddenly I'm Bloating After Eating

[lucia]

I posted about bloating and cramping that began immediately after breakfast, then was triggered by lunch and dinner. I accidentally erased the original post, but have posted with more details below.

[GlutenFreeManna]

What did you eat?

[rosetapper23]

Yes, good question--what did you eat? Did it have xanthan gum or guar gum in it? Did you eat something with grains...and I mean any grains?

[shadowicewolf]

you need to keep track of WHAT you eat so you can get an idea of what it might be.

Also, there is no reason to doubt a new intolerence coming on.

[lucia]

I woke up this morning with bloating and cramping. I didn't even need to eat to trigger it.

Since the symptoms yesterday started immediately after breakfast, I'm guessing it was this meal:

ricotta cheese (new brand)

plums

flax seeds

drizzle of honey

I'm guessing now it was the ricotta cheese:

Milk, Whey, Vinegar, Salt, Xanthan Gum, Locust Bean Gun, Guar Gum

-Could any of these ingredients have gluten?

-Rosetapper23, why do you ask about guar gum and Xanthan Gum?

I thought they were safe:

Open Original Shared Link

[GlutenFreeManna]

  On 9/7/2011 at 1:05 PM, lucia said:

I woke up this morning with bloating and cramping. I didn't even need to eat to trigger it.

Since the symptoms yesterday started immediately after breakfast, I'm guessing it was this meal:

ricotta cheese (new brand)

plums

flax seeds

drizzle of honey

I'm guessing now it was the ricotta cheese:

Milk, Whey, Vinegar, Salt, Xanthan Gum, Locust Bean Gun, Guar Gum

-Could any of these ingredients have gluten?

-Rosetapper23, why do you ask about guar gum and Xanthan Gum?

I thought they were safe:

Open Original Shared Link

Gums are safe gluten-wise but some people don't tolerate them well and they often cause GI issuses (bloating, camping, gas, etc). If other brands of ricotta have not bothered you I would guess it's the combination of the three different gums in that brand causing the bloating. The milk and whey could do it for someone lactose intolerant too (which you can become at any time). If your other meals had cheese or milk perhaps you should suspect those. You are probably still bloated today because the guams (or cheese) have not passed through your system yet. If you are not having D, you may want to take some milk of magnesia to get things cleaned out faster. Be sure to drink lots of water as well.

[kwylee]

About 6 months after removing gluten (and dairy/soy) I started introducing some of my old unprocessed foods back. One thing I found was an immediate bloating/nausea/achy reaction to raw stone fruit, like peaches, plums (especially), etc. Same now with raw almonds, where before I munched them all the time. But I do recall prior to going gluten free, whey protein would immediately make my stomach bloat like someone had put a balloon in it.

Guess my point is that even if you could eat it before without any obvious problem, doesn't mean you can eat it now that you've removed gluten - seemed like my system rebooted itself and now is able to give me clear indications that were masked before.

[lucia]

Turns out that it could be a gluten reaction to the vinegar in the ricotta too. It's possible that the vinegar was 1) made from wheat and 2) not distilled (which would make it safe even if it had been made from wheat).

So many possibilities. Eating is like a digestive minefield. Well, I am definitely suffering.

[GlutenFreeManna]

  On 9/7/2011 at 5:54 PM, lucia said:

Turns out that it could be a gluten reaction to the vinegar in the ricotta too. It's possible that the vinegar was 1) made from wheat and 2) not distilled (which would make it safe even if it had been made from wheat).

So many possibilities. Eating is like a digestive minefield. Well, I am definitely suffering.

Are you outside the US or Cannada? Wheat or malt vinegar has to be labeled here.

[lucia]

No, I'm not.

It could be so many things, seems like.

But I'm cycling through the stages of being glutened: first, bloating & cramping, then chills, muscle aches, and now sore throat.

[anabananakins]

It could well be the plums! I had the same thing happen. I was strictly gluten free and certain I wasn't being contaminated but I was having a lot of bloating and pain. It turned out I need to (at least try) to follow the low FODMAP diet. Onions (fructans), apples, plums (sorbitol) and chewing gum (also sorbitol) are particularly bad for me.

Have a look in the other intolerances thread - there's a few posts on fructose malabsorption.

[lucia]

Update:

It happened again. I bloated suddenly again last night after eating dinner. Today I woke up with cramps and a sore throat. I'd speculate that the sore throat indicates not just difficulty with digestion but an actual immune reaction.

Here's what I ate:

-pureed carrot soup, with buttermilk

-kale, corn, cherry tomato salad with a simple vinaigrette

-oven roasted potatoes with a vegan pesto

It's likely the soup that did it, since I was recycling ingredients we ate previously for the other dishes. It could be dairy then, except that since my last incident I've had mozzarella cheese, asiago cheese and yogurt without incident. That said, all of these are considered easier to digest than buttermilk or ricotta cheese. I also wonder (per anabananakins comment) if it could be an issue with fructose. In that case, I'd guess the intensity of the carrots did it. However, I've been making and drinking raw carrot juice without issues. Did cooking make them sweeter?

Of course, another possibility could be a delayed reaction. Which is rather trickier. In that case, I wonder about wine: in both instances, I had wine the night before. (An unusual occurrence, I'd been avoiding it.) But in that case, the reaction was delayed for 12-24 hours.

I'm open to any suggestions. This is really frustrating!

[GlutenFreeManna]

Was the buttermilk pure buttermilk or did it have any additives? Perhaps you are reactign to the acidity of the buttermilk and also the vinegar in the ricotta. Do you have other things with vinegar without any trouble?

It could be a problem with milk even if you don't have it will ALL milk products. When I was still able to eat milk (before allergic) I noticed that I was okay with a little bit or low lactose cheese or yogurt every few days. But if I ate milk products several days in a row the effect would be culmulative and I could have the bloating, gas, etc that is characteristic of lactose intolerance.

[Skylark]

Since dairy seems OK I'd go off wine and challenge with that first. Wine has yeast, sulfites, and all sorts of food chemicals.

[lucia]

I think it very well might be the wine. I didn't have any alcohol for two months. I had some wine two weekends ago on Saturday night, and was sick starting on Monday morning. I had some wine last Saturday night, and was sick starting on Sunday night. The timing between drinking wine again and my sudden reactions are conspicuous.

On the one hand, I'm relieved to think maybe it's not dairy. On the other hand, I really, really like to have wine sometimes (as I used to like to drink beer once in awhile). Even if I can't eat anything at a party, a wedding, a potluck, it's been easier to deal with knowing I can have a glass of wine. It's hard to have yet another pleasure taken away.

[kwylee]

  On 9/12/2011 at 10:50 PM, lucia said:

I think it very well might be the wine. I didn't have any alcohol for two months. I had some wine two weekends ago on Saturday night, and was sick starting on Monday morning. I had some wine last Saturday night, and was sick starting on Sunday night. The timing between drinking wine again and my sudden reactions are conspicuous.

On the one hand, I'm relieved to think maybe it's not dairy. On the other hand, I really, really like to have wine sometimes (as I used to like to drink beer once in awhile). Even if I can't eat anything at a party, a wedding, a potluck, it's been easier to deal with knowing I can have a glass of wine. It's hard to have yet another pleasure taken away.

I couldn't tolerate wine again until about 8 months into it - maybe sooner. Now I'm good as long as I don't overindulge. Totally agree about the wine additives. I was bummed too at first thinking I couldn't have wine, and ready to make a special purchase to try sulfite free wine. I remember during a (pre-gluten free) trip to Italy a few years back, I noticed how great I felt the morning after having what would usually be a glass too many. So before I would give up wine entirely I was going to see if the sulfite free versions were any more tolerable - but obviously in time it's fine. Maybe give it more time?

[lucia]

Turns out it was wine. On Saturday night, I went out to dinner and had a slice of manchego cheese for a starter but passed on the Pinot Noir. I realized I'd much rather be forced to give up wine than dairy!

[GlutenFreeManna]

  On 9/19/2011 at 5:03 PM, lucia said:

Turns out it was wine. On Saturday night, I went out to dinner and had a slice of manchego cheese for a starter but passed on the Pinot Noir. I realized I'd much rather be forced to give up wine than dairy!

I'm glad you figured it out!

[glutenfreegift]

Funny thing about having celiac disease... we tend to believe that every symptom we have is related to it. The reality is that perfectly normal people have off days with their digestion too... something could have been a little "off" or the combination of foods didn't sit well with you. I've found that with each year there are more and more foods that I once tolerated well are now problematic and not in any way connected with gluten (like mushrooms or oranges)... turns out I have a sensitivity to mold. Good times!

[lucia]

Well, yes, it was the wine, but because it was alcoholic. I had some cider last night (again - Saturday night), and woke up with bloating and stomach cramps. I feel kind of stupid, like why did I test it? But at the same time, I was bound to try a cider or a gluten-free beer sometime. I found it really hard to be in a bar with everyone else having a drink and not have anything. I'm trying to forgive myself for being human.