How do I know if I am allergic to gluten or any other foods?
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George
waitin' fer rabbits
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Here's an easy way to test for wheat. Just eat a piece or two of bread well after your last meal and well before your next meal. If you notice that your nose runs, or the back of your throat feels a little tight or your gut swells and is uncomfortable or tight within an hour after then you have a wheat allergy.
You can do this with most foods. If you suspect a food, then eat only that food, like say a tomato and then watch your bodies reaction to it over the course of an hour. The hard part comes in if you had say spaghetti for lunch and you have a wheat allergy then you wouldn't notice a difference if you eat the tomato or bread because you would already be bloated and have some nasal discharge from lunch.
So sometimes you have to pick a couple of foods that you enjoy and don't produce a reaction and eat only those for a week or so as you try out different foods and see how your body reacts.
Or if you have the money just go get the tests done. (grins)
You can do this with most foods. If you suspect a food, then eat only that food, like say a tomato and then watch your bodies reaction to it over the course of an hour. The hard part comes in if you had say spaghetti for lunch and you have a wheat allergy then you wouldn't notice a difference if you eat the tomato or bread because you would already be bloated and have some nasal discharge from lunch.
So sometimes you have to pick a couple of foods that you enjoy and don't produce a reaction and eat only those for a week or so as you try out different foods and see how your body reacts.
Or if you have the money just go get the tests done. (grins)
leaves
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For me the best thing was to just not eat it for two weeks, then you can try it and see how you react (or maybe you feel so different as was the case with me, that you dont need to try it to know it was causing problems). That way you make sure that all the allergens have left your body. Also a lot of gluten problems do not present themselves as allergies, but cause problems through their opoids (same holds for casein). So I'd say, just say no to dairy and gluten for 2 weeks and see how you feel!
leaves
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lol yes it does mean that ... but you can have dark chocolate..no m&m's but not bad either... trader joes sells fruits and nuts covered in dark chocolate... pretty good...
When you want to check for all allergens you could try an elimination diet. Easiest is to just eat only hypoallergenic protein shakes (e.g. revitalx http://www.iherb.com/Natural-Factors-RevitalX-1-lb-Drink-Mix/2629?at=0 for 2 weeks and then slowly start to introduce new foods (consisting out of one ingredient, otherwise you dont know what you react to) , with the one you think that is least likely to cause you problems first, then you wait a day, see if you have symptoms and if no, add another one. If you do have symptoms wait until you don't have symptoms anymore and add the next food. But this is quite intense, if I were you I would first start the gluten free, then you get used to adjusting your diet and it is less 'scary'
When you want to check for all allergens you could try an elimination diet. Easiest is to just eat only hypoallergenic protein shakes (e.g. revitalx http://www.iherb.com/Natural-Factors-RevitalX-1-lb-Drink-Mix/2629?at=0 for 2 weeks and then slowly start to introduce new foods (consisting out of one ingredient, otherwise you dont know what you react to) , with the one you think that is least likely to cause you problems first, then you wait a day, see if you have symptoms and if no, add another one. If you do have symptoms wait until you don't have symptoms anymore and add the next food. But this is quite intense, if I were you I would first start the gluten free, then you get used to adjusting your diet and it is less 'scary'
Sallysblooms
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I stopped eating gluten. I have no allergy symptoms. SO many people are sensitive though. I havet read a lot about how it can be bad for the autoimmune and nervous system etc. Testing isn't always accurate so I just stopped eating it.
This thread might help.
http://www.forums.aboutmecfs.org/showthread.php?3009-How-long-to-try-gluten-free-diet
Jenny
http://www.forums.aboutmecfs.org/showthread.php?3009-How-long-to-try-gluten-free-diet
Jenny
lancelot
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the best way is to go see an allergist and get a blood test. there is a big difference between the symptoms from gluten intolerance and celiac disease.
leaves
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I would disagree; there are iga and igg allergies, moreover there are 'delayed' allergies that normal allergiststs dont recognize. Then there is the problem with opoids, that you can not test for, there are also lectin problems that you can not test for, for example my family can not tolerate night shades because we cannot break down solanine, similarly I can not tolerate kidney bean lectin (causes huge inflammation, swollen ear etc) again you cannot test for it, only an elimination diet will point them out. Then there are intolerances to substances such as lactose or other sugars, grain brans etc etc. Not allergies but avoiding them can for sure help a lot.
An elimination diet gives your system some rest, it is all the time in overdrive, and (at least in my case) overwhelmed with all these allergens and intolerances. Before I always felt sick and anxious, now I feel sick (and very much so) only if I consume a food I am intolerant to.
An elimination diet gives your system some rest, it is all the time in overdrive, and (at least in my case) overwhelmed with all these allergens and intolerances. Before I always felt sick and anxious, now I feel sick (and very much so) only if I consume a food I am intolerant to.
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There are blood tests that you can get for food allergies. If you get the blood test for food allergies make sure it is a delayed food allergy test so that it will be more sensitive. There are also blood tests for gluten intolerance. Gluten testing seems to be more difficult though. It seems that it is harder to detect. You an also do stool testing for some food intolerances including gluten. I think for gluten that is probably better than blood testing. Enterolabs is supposed to be very good for detecting antibodies for gluten through stool testing. You can also have an endoscopy done where they can do intestinal biopsies to determine if you have celiac disease.
At any rate a combination approach would probably be best as far as testing goes. Do as many as possible. It may also be a good idea to do the food elimination as others have mentioned.
OH and for the stool testing I believe that you need to be eating those foods before you have the test done or you may get a false negative. So don't stop eating those foods until after you do the stool test. That actually probably applies for all of the testing methods but not positive on that.
At any rate a combination approach would probably be best as far as testing goes. Do as many as possible. It may also be a good idea to do the food elimination as others have mentioned.
OH and for the stool testing I believe that you need to be eating those foods before you have the test done or you may get a false negative. So don't stop eating those foods until after you do the stool test. That actually probably applies for all of the testing methods but not positive on that.
caledonia
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I would have given an answer similar to the ones above, until I discovered self muscle testing. You can learn it for free in a few minutes from YouTube videos. Then you can test all the foods you're eating and see what jives with your body or not. So useful!
Hope123
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I agree with this somewhat. Gluten intolerance from what I understand are less black/white and more a spectrum with celiac disease being at the extreme end of the syndrome. There are good standardized blood tests to diagnose celiac disease and this should at least be eliminated as a cause of CFS-like or other symptoms. Also, celiac disease is well known to increase the risk of certain other illnessess and it would help if both you and your doctor were aware of these. And tests can be done to monitor how well your diet is resolving celiac disease if that is indeed what you have.
Although I had no GI symptoms and still don't so far, one of the first things my doc did was to check blood work for antibodies indicative of celiac disease when I came down with CFS.
I'm not sure if it was mentioned, but if you go gluten free it is all or nothing. You can't go to a fast food restaurant and order a hamburger and simply take the bun off and call that a gluten free diet. You must treat gluten as if it were e-coli or raw chicken. If there's any way gluten touched the food, then you can't eat it no matter what.
There's a lot of potential contamination issues especially if your entire house isn't gluten free. I think it's impossible to be fully GF and live in a house that is still eating gluten. You have to throw away all condiments where a knife or spoon was dipped in because there will be traces of gluten left behind. You have to buy a new toaster, cutting board and strainer (for pasta). If you choose to eliminate it from your diet, make sure you are doing it right or you'll never seen any improvements.
There's a lot of potential contamination issues especially if your entire house isn't gluten free. I think it's impossible to be fully GF and live in a house that is still eating gluten. You have to throw away all condiments where a knife or spoon was dipped in because there will be traces of gluten left behind. You have to buy a new toaster, cutting board and strainer (for pasta). If you choose to eliminate it from your diet, make sure you are doing it right or you'll never seen any improvements.
if anyone is considering having the blood test for celiacs its important to know that if you havn,t been eating food with gluten in it before the test you will probably get a negative resualt. the test picks up the bodies reaction to gluten, so no gluten no resualt. the test also isn't always accurate so even if it is negative you may still have celiacs!!
IntuneJune
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Gluten and celiac
Ditto on the last two posters.....
" but if you go gluten free it is all or nothing. You can't go to a fast food restaurant and order a hamburger and simply take the bun off and call that a gluten free diet. You must treat gluten as if it were e-coli or raw chicken. If there's any way gluten touched the food, then you can't eat it no matter what. "
Well said Calico!!! So eating out is scarey, restaurants are hopping on the gluten-free craze, but to do it right, they need a DEDICATED area in the kitchen which is used only for the GF foods. Well intentioned friends and family make errors also.
Note: Look at your kitchen.....do you see TWO toasters? Yep, separate utensils, mustard jars, etc.
RIC, my test came back negative, I told the doctor I had not had wheat for sometime.... he replied, "well there is other information we can gather." Then when the test came back negative, he said I did not have celiac EVEN THOUGH the villae on endoscopy were BLUNTED. Out of desparation, I threw myself on a GF diet and, then, only then, the symptoms were relieved.
June
Ditto on the last two posters.....
" but if you go gluten free it is all or nothing. You can't go to a fast food restaurant and order a hamburger and simply take the bun off and call that a gluten free diet. You must treat gluten as if it were e-coli or raw chicken. If there's any way gluten touched the food, then you can't eat it no matter what. "
Well said Calico!!! So eating out is scarey, restaurants are hopping on the gluten-free craze, but to do it right, they need a DEDICATED area in the kitchen which is used only for the GF foods. Well intentioned friends and family make errors also.
Note: Look at your kitchen.....do you see TWO toasters? Yep, separate utensils, mustard jars, etc.
RIC, my test came back negative, I told the doctor I had not had wheat for sometime.... he replied, "well there is other information we can gather." Then when the test came back negative, he said I did not have celiac EVEN THOUGH the villae on endoscopy were BLUNTED. Out of desparation, I threw myself on a GF diet and, then, only then, the symptoms were relieved.
June
Snow Leopard
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I think it is not so much a continuous spectrum (discrete maybe), but the fact that there are many possible sensitivities.
Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease that is associated with an IgA reaction to Gliadins - there is more than one variety and so there are a few different types of Coeliac disease. Interestingly, IgA is associated with viruses - essentially the body thinks compoents of gluten are a virus! Tests include serology and endoscopy - though this merely indicates damage, rather than the cause of the damage. You must have another endoscopy after a long period of being on an elimination diet to confirm diagnosis.
But you can also have typical allergic reactions - IgE reactions. Serology, skin prick and skin patch tests are used to diagnose this.
With regards to IgG antibodies, the body creates these antibodies against everything we eat, so the existence of such antibodies is not indicative of disorder (so a lot of those off the shelf colour change type IgG 'allergy' tests aren't very useful). However, in principle very high levels
(way above normal), may be indicative of disorder.
Some people may be sensitive to Prolamins in general, which means they will be sensitive to wheat, barley, rye, corn and oats.
But there may also be other nonspecific sensitivities to wheat, potentially due to microflora interactions or 'leaky-gut' etc.
I for example get Dermatitis herpetiformis from wheat, but have not tested positive to coeliac or allergy tests (skin prick, patch test and anti gliadin serology).
To confirm you need to go on an elimination diet - the problem is that you have to be really careful about what you eat - many processed foods have wheat derived ingredients, or contain incredients processed on the same production lines as wheat derived ingredients. In Australia, food labeling is very good, but occasionally, they will not mention wheat derived products and merely say something like "natural flavours" (some manufacturers explicitly state "(contains wheat)" after specifying "natural flavours".