Gluten intolerance symptoms?

[DevaMajka]

I'm wondering what types of symptoms I would look for for a gluten intolerance. I did a google search, but I've found that you mamas are smarter than google , so thought I'd ask here too.

Is the fact that ds is super sensitive to some foods I eat (sals is all we know so far) enough to suspect gluten intolerance in me? Could that be due to leaky gut?

I don't seem to have any symptoms, except gassiness (but I've always blamed that on beans). I was anemic during pregnancy.

I've been gluten free for a couple weeks now (just as part of my ED to see what ds is sensitive to), and don't feel any different, but I now that gluten can take a long time to heal from.

Thoughts?

[mamafish9]

I'd stay gluten free two weeks longer, and then trial it, assuming your babe's rash is still really good. Reactions can be hugely varied, the gold standard is if you react when it's added back in... basically, it will be a trial for both of you .

[kjbrown92]

The symptoms can run the gamut like any food intolerance. Some symptoms my dd2 has had from food: eczema, screaming at night, waking all night long, vomiting, diarrhea, folliculitis, bedwetting, flushed cheeks. Some symptoms my ds has had from food: projectile vomiting, "growin pains", night terrors, diarrhea, constipation, excessive crying, bedwetting, takes a long time to go to sleep, leg cramps, stomach cramps, screaming all night long, rash on his upper lip, tantrums. For me, when I went off dairy and gluten, my back spasms went away and I lost my bloated belly (those things didn't happen when I went off dairy alone). Since I've trialed dairy since, I've gotten diarrhea and nightmares. Oh, my anxiety lessened a lot when I went off those too (and didn't when I went off just dairy).

It sometimes takes 4-6 weeks to get out of your system, so yes, I'd wait a little longer before trialing it.

[DevaMajka]

So I just won't know until I try it again. lol
I'm really glad I found some good rice bread! It makes it easier to be gf

Thanks!

[talitha]

Can I ask you what brand of rice bread you like? I haven't been able to find one that my son will eat. Thanks!

[DevaMajka]

I'm eating Kinnikinnick bread. I've had both the white bread, and the honey brown rice bread. I like it.
Dp tried it and didn't like it, but it was a piece that ds had "toasted" for too short, so it wasn't toasted all the way, and by the time dp tried it it was already cold. So who knows. lol.

[Aletheia]

The hearty whole grain bread mix from bob's red mill is hands down the best commercially available GF bread I've had. And it worked nut free, egg free, and dairy free, too. I think I will still eat it if I ever go back to gluten. It's just expensive- 5.19 a loaf.

Anyway...
yes, the symptoms are varied. Hugely. And it's a tricky one to go off of, because you can go off of it, and then, you can seriously go off of it. A celiac body will often react to shared cookware and toasters... even residual flour in the air. Some celiacs too have a hard time with other grains (rice, etc).

We've been off gluten for 6 months with little change. But we have not been a celiac household, so now I am wondering if we were wasting our time. (Well, not completely, as it did give us a chance to sort of rev up our dietary menu-planning know how!)

Good luck.

And yes, the mamas here are not only SMARTER than google. They are friendlier. And funnier, too.

[DevaMajka]

I have a followup question- I finally added gluten back in, after a month of none at all. Things seem to be going fine for ds, so this is about me again. It's been 3 days, I think.

My lips are...wierd and chapped. Not just dry chapped like I need chapstick, but sort of flakey and a little bit swollen.

A while back, I noticed on 2 occasions that they got tingly feeling. Both of those times, and this time, I had consumed gluten and lime juice. I'm thinking it's the lime juice, since I actually made lime-ade out of fresh lime juice the other day. But otoh, I've had lime in the last week or so that didn't make my lips feel wierd at all.

Could this be a gluten reaction? or does it seem to fit better with lime, being citrus and acidic?

[kjbrown92]

If you had lime and it was fine. Then had lime and gluten and it happened, I'd suspect the gluten. My DS gets very chapped lips (looks like he's been licking them non-stop for a week within 30 minutes) when he has soy.

[DevaMajka]

Ok, so good to know that gluten is still a potential culprit. There are 3 possibilities atm- gluten/wheat, lime, or the shea butter/safflower oil combo I made for ds that I've been putting on my lips. But I'd been using that on my lips for a few days before I started lime and gluten, with no problems.

I now have a rash on my wrist. So something is *definitely* causing me trouble. I know I dabbed some lime juice on my arm somewhere, but I can't remember where. lol. I'm thinking it was not on the arm that my rash is on, but I'm not sure. Great experiment, right?

Ds has "ring around the anus" - bright red. And he has a red rash in his leg creases. He hasn't had a rash on his bum in months (since he stopped pooping multiple times a day). He hasn't had a rash in either place since I started my ED. (maybe some really light pink in his creases, but it goes away really fast- we use thin fitteds coverless, and change after every pee).

So maybe those rashes could be connected to whatever is causing trouble with me?

[mamafish9]

Could be him reacting to gluten, or him reacting to your reaction...

[DevaMajka]

So...my wierd chapped lips and rash on my wrist have turned into rashes on my other hand, and my whole torso. Not hives, I don't think. They are just little bumps everywhere, some are mildly itchy, some don't itch at all. I also had a welt on my cheek that went away in a day. But my lips and wrist are still rashy.

I didn't cut out either gluten or lime right away. It was way easier to rationalize eating things when it was ME it was affecting. I'm not sure why I didn't think that my reactions could get worse. I haven't eaten either for a couple days now.

Can gluten intolerance cause rashes like that?

Someone also pm'ed me to let me know that cashews are related (allergywise anyway) to mango, which I am allergic to. I ate mango and my face and neck swelled up, and I have hives all down my arms, and I went to the ER. I don't think my *throat* actually swelled up, from what the nurses said.

I've been eating LOADS of cashews recently. So my guesses are cashews, lime/citrus, gluten, cilantro, or the new deodorant I started using about a week ago. I'm sensitive to something in haircare products, but have never been very sensitive to body care products or deodorant.

[dannic]

For us, gluten was the magic link; dd began reacting to lots of things but once we took out gluten and casein, she's pretty much gotten everything back. So I guess what I'm saying, is that gluten could be kicking over the kettle, so to speak--giving you a higher immune load and creating an environment that easily reacts to other things...and watch your beauty products! these days many have wheat germ, hydrolized wheat protein, ect. So, it could still be a possibility. With dd, we went off for 6 mos then added it back in and everything seemed fine for awhile...then symptoms started creeping in; some the same ol' ones and other new ones. We've been off for 3 yrs now, and NOW it is very obvious when she's reacting. Just my thoughts! GL!

[DevaMajka]

I was wondering that about gluten, too. The longer I was off gluten (but my whole diet changed, so I wasn't sure if gluten was the key or not, yk?), the better his rash kept getting in general. We still had bad reactions to sweet potato, etc, but in general it kept getting better.

HIS reactions haven't gotten worse since I added gluten back, but it's only been a week or so, and I've read that it can take a while for gluten reactions to occur. Maybe if it has something to do with leaky gut, then my gut hasn't been damaged by the gluten yet.
That seems to be what you experienced with adding it back in and your dd not reacting at first.

It's a lot of work getting to the bottom of delayed reactions! lol.

[Boobs]

Look up dermatitis herpetiformis. It's the rash associated with Celiac Disease. A rash like you are describing is the symptom that tells me I got into gluten and not something else I don't tolerate. I think it is most typically found on the legs, arms, and face. Mine shows up in different areas each time, but I had it for 2 years on my breasts before going off gluten.

[Koalamom]

I actually got rashes on ya rem after going off gluten but over a week ago, I started taking B6 that I keep hearing to take and the rashes went completely away. B6 is up there with molybdenum and mag for Sals reactions. I guess it is related with histamine foods that I am sensitive to.

I would continue with all the usual foods and then cut just one thing out (but not the gluten) just to see if the gluten is not the issue. Then I would go easy, very easy on the gluten anyway.

We are GF but trial wheat the other day. Nothing big happened but I didn't feel that great so I have concluded that we are not terribly sensitive and we will only have gluten when we are out at a special occasion and there is nothing else to eat but still not bring it into our house.