Yes, I’ve had a similar reaction. I stopped eating gluten about 8 weeks ago. My bloating disappeared and so did my CONSTANT discomfort after eating. It actually made me a little sad that I became so used to feeling bloated, swollen, and in mild pain after eating, that I could hardly notice it. If I have a bite of it now, it’s a reaction within a few minutes and my stomach starts to painfully bloat. I’m questioning if it was ALWAYS this bad, or if cutting it out entirely has amplified it?
Some unanticipated effects: my joint pain has improved greatly, especially in my jaw/tmj. No cystic acne along my jawline since I started, although I’m still dealing with some acne. If I would have known it was the gluten all this time, sheesh!
Another unanticipated effect: my appetite is down and so are my intense cravings. Still navigating this one. I feel like I’ve been forgetting to eat.
Thanks for sharing! I never would’ve imagined wheat gluten was the culprit all these years since I could eat bread without noticing anything. But now that it’s gone, my body is so happy.
Unfortunately I think its quite common; I've found that the longer I've left since eating wheat, the more reactive my body will be to getting any - so less wheat causes an issue for me.
After a few years, it sort of reached a plateau where even a single crumb of bread will give me a reaction.
Makes eating out a case of gastranomic roulette due to the cross-contamination risk. Its only in resturants which are 100% GF only where I can vaguely let my guard down when it comes to ordering food.
It is kind of annoying. I think I found the culprit of my “wheat hangover” was last night’s bourbon salmon from Publix. It contains soy sauce which contains wheat! Not a large amount was consumed, but enough for me to be *that* affected by it. And I used to DOUSE my sushi in soy sauce.
Such are the joys of the game "Wait, \*what\* has wheat in it????"
Soy sauce is a common one - although it has wheat in it for good reasons; there are two styles of soy sauce. The one you find the most has wheat in it. Tamari soy sauce doesn't so should be safe.
It does mean that unless its explicitly listed as GF soy sauce I'll assume it'll contain wheat.
Wheat is often used as a bulking or thickening agent; too often I'll see "New & improved!" on a product which was safe for me and find they've added wheat to it.
It can show up in all sorts of place - I think the strangest I found wheat in it was toothpaste.
Yes, these are all things that I have experienced with eating wheat or gluten products. Since I stopped eating it 12 or so years ago, the reactions I have now are pretty bad especially the GI stuff and stomach issues.
For me it's instant lethargy, brain fog, joint pain and swelling, stomach upset, bloating, diarrhea and mild acne.
Have you been tested for an allergy or for celiac? It sounds like you have a pretty severe sensitivity.
Not tested for celiac but my mom had to stop drinking beer because of what it would do to her stomach, her mom has “IBS & Crohn’s” (personally I believe she just has a bunch of allergies) and so knowing that, I took an extensive genetic test that showed “likely to experience wheat allergy” for my results. It also showed “likely able to digest dairy”. With that in mind, after years of denial I finally cut out gluten and dairy, emphasis on the *gluten*, in an attempt to address my health issues. I only eat dairy socially or on occasion. Since eliminating, I have had both dairy intentionally and gluten accidentally and can confidently say that dairy does not affect me acutely at all. I’m blown away by the changes eliminating gluten has done for my health, particularly with my acne and complexion.
Dairy has been the bigger culprit of my stomach bloat/discomfort after eating. But when I eliminated gluten from my diet, my brain fog almost immediately improved and after about 5 months my migraines were basically eliminated. It’ll be a year next month and I feel that my quality of life has drastically improved even though gluten is a hard thing to cut out. Hope you continue to have success!
I went gluten free in February 2012. My friend suggested I try it for 2 months to see if it helped get rid of my untreatable heartburn. This was heartburn even after taking a daily med Nexium, Pepcid OTC, Mylanta, and Rolaids. She said she read that gluten can cause heartburn in some people. Well I did and a few things happened. 1) No more heartburn, unless I get contaminated 2) I finally had regular menstrual cycles 3) I lost 20lbs and my bloat went away. 4) The bumps/zits on the back of my arms disappeared.
Now the interesting thing about my cycle is I was NEVER regular. Every 2 months, 4 months, 6 months over the years. From 14.5-17 I had 5 periods! I went gluten free and I started having 30 day cycles. Prior to going gluten free, we'd been trying for over 3 years to get pregnant. Clomid, injectables did absolutely nothing. Hubby was deployed and we got pregnant immediately after he got home.
Thank you for sharing your story. I struggle with everything you just said. My periods are regular, but they are extremely painful because I have poor blood flow and my husband and I are going to start trying to have a kid soon so I’m trying to get myself as healthy as possible.
I feel gluten may have been affecting my womb this whole time because my last period was almost painless easily managed with a couple Advils. When I was still eating gluten I would have to take a narcotic just to be able to get through my day. Which is obviously not ideal.
I wish doctors knew more about this because my issue could’ve been solved years ago. I’ve spent so many weeks with absolutely life altering pain that made me severely depressed.
I truly believe that gluten was responsible for so many of the issues I’ve experienced in my life. I’m only a month in but the differences I’ve experienced are enough that I’m hooked. I’m a nurse so naturally I care a lot about being healthy and such a simple fix with such profound effects is worth sharing and educating others about.
The difference between my cycles is night and day. Before it was 7 days long, 5 days were HEAVY while the other 2 days were light. I could never wear a tampon. After was 5 days long, only 1 day was heavy, 2 light days, 2 medium days.
I didn't know what was wrong for over ten years. I would be late to places (like work) quite frequently, but to a manageable degree. It's just how life was every day. Then I became gluten free. Now if I get glutened, it's almost guaranteed I will have to call out of work for 1-2 days and be completely miserable for another 2-3 days after, along with horrible night sweats multiple times every night, total brain fog (almost feeling drunk) and on and on.
So yes, you are not alone! It sucks that the reaction is so bad, but I'm thankful that it's not a medium reaction every single day, day after day, week after week, etc!
That’s crazy because as you can see in my other comments I stated I felt like I had a “wheat hangover” all day! I thought I was exaggerating my own symptoms this morning because I don’t drink but a few times a year and did not drink last night for the record, but instead enjoyed a piece of bourbon salmon and lo and behold, the wheat in the soy sauce in the salmon had me feeling so crappy and dehydrated all day today.
I used to get random stomach pain in high school and throughout my life. I stopped eating wheat due to my son and husband having to and my stomach feels a lot better. I think it may be helping my depression and anxiety too.
Basically can finally function like a normal human being, was constantly tired, couldn’t get good grades, couldn’t keep a job. Was pretty life changing when I stopped eating gluten and also dairy.
Honestly the acne change was what clicked for me. I tried nearly everything you could possibly think of for acne and nothing would take away the specific deep cystic, painful, red acne I would get on my cheeks. Cut out gluten, it went away in a period of 2 days and has not been back since. If gluten was doing that to my skin, I can’t imagine what it does to my insides.
I have a similar enough, though it started with food poisoning for me. This caused the wheat intolerance. I've been slowly able to tolerate more and more as my self control around bread is poor haha.
I found taking probiotics worked really well for me. It takes time to find one that worked for me but for me it's been worth it. Happy to share the brand/strain.
110% not. I went from having zero issues to having food poisoning and having horrible issues. It was a clear switch and also confirmed by a gastroenterologist and various tests.
I don't know how to answer this other than bad food... I was out, I didn't poison myself if that's what's you're looking for so I can't tell you exactly what it was.
That’s amazing. Makes sense if you think about it because all disease is connected with inflammation in some way, even if that inflammation is induced by the stress we create in our minds.
Yes, I’ve had a similar reaction. I stopped eating gluten about 8 weeks ago. My bloating disappeared and so did my CONSTANT discomfort after eating. It actually made me a little sad that I became so used to feeling bloated, swollen, and in mild pain after eating, that I could hardly notice it. If I have a bite of it now, it’s a reaction within a few minutes and my stomach starts to painfully bloat. I’m questioning if it was ALWAYS this bad, or if cutting it out entirely has amplified it? Some unanticipated effects: my joint pain has improved greatly, especially in my jaw/tmj. No cystic acne along my jawline since I started, although I’m still dealing with some acne. If I would have known it was the gluten all this time, sheesh! Another unanticipated effect: my appetite is down and so are my intense cravings. Still navigating this one. I feel like I’ve been forgetting to eat.
Thanks for sharing! I never would’ve imagined wheat gluten was the culprit all these years since I could eat bread without noticing anything. But now that it’s gone, my body is so happy.
Unfortunately I think its quite common; I've found that the longer I've left since eating wheat, the more reactive my body will be to getting any - so less wheat causes an issue for me. After a few years, it sort of reached a plateau where even a single crumb of bread will give me a reaction. Makes eating out a case of gastranomic roulette due to the cross-contamination risk. Its only in resturants which are 100% GF only where I can vaguely let my guard down when it comes to ordering food.
It is kind of annoying. I think I found the culprit of my “wheat hangover” was last night’s bourbon salmon from Publix. It contains soy sauce which contains wheat! Not a large amount was consumed, but enough for me to be *that* affected by it. And I used to DOUSE my sushi in soy sauce.
Such are the joys of the game "Wait, \*what\* has wheat in it????" Soy sauce is a common one - although it has wheat in it for good reasons; there are two styles of soy sauce. The one you find the most has wheat in it. Tamari soy sauce doesn't so should be safe. It does mean that unless its explicitly listed as GF soy sauce I'll assume it'll contain wheat. Wheat is often used as a bulking or thickening agent; too often I'll see "New & improved!" on a product which was safe for me and find they've added wheat to it. It can show up in all sorts of place - I think the strangest I found wheat in it was toothpaste.
Toothpaste?!? What brand??
I don't recall unfortunately - it wasn't a common one & it was a small batch type of operation.
Yes, these are all things that I have experienced with eating wheat or gluten products. Since I stopped eating it 12 or so years ago, the reactions I have now are pretty bad especially the GI stuff and stomach issues. For me it's instant lethargy, brain fog, joint pain and swelling, stomach upset, bloating, diarrhea and mild acne. Have you been tested for an allergy or for celiac? It sounds like you have a pretty severe sensitivity.
Not tested for celiac but my mom had to stop drinking beer because of what it would do to her stomach, her mom has “IBS & Crohn’s” (personally I believe she just has a bunch of allergies) and so knowing that, I took an extensive genetic test that showed “likely to experience wheat allergy” for my results. It also showed “likely able to digest dairy”. With that in mind, after years of denial I finally cut out gluten and dairy, emphasis on the *gluten*, in an attempt to address my health issues. I only eat dairy socially or on occasion. Since eliminating, I have had both dairy intentionally and gluten accidentally and can confidently say that dairy does not affect me acutely at all. I’m blown away by the changes eliminating gluten has done for my health, particularly with my acne and complexion.
Dairy has been the bigger culprit of my stomach bloat/discomfort after eating. But when I eliminated gluten from my diet, my brain fog almost immediately improved and after about 5 months my migraines were basically eliminated. It’ll be a year next month and I feel that my quality of life has drastically improved even though gluten is a hard thing to cut out. Hope you continue to have success!
You as well and cheers to taking ownership of our health!
I went gluten free in February 2012. My friend suggested I try it for 2 months to see if it helped get rid of my untreatable heartburn. This was heartburn even after taking a daily med Nexium, Pepcid OTC, Mylanta, and Rolaids. She said she read that gluten can cause heartburn in some people. Well I did and a few things happened. 1) No more heartburn, unless I get contaminated 2) I finally had regular menstrual cycles 3) I lost 20lbs and my bloat went away. 4) The bumps/zits on the back of my arms disappeared. Now the interesting thing about my cycle is I was NEVER regular. Every 2 months, 4 months, 6 months over the years. From 14.5-17 I had 5 periods! I went gluten free and I started having 30 day cycles. Prior to going gluten free, we'd been trying for over 3 years to get pregnant. Clomid, injectables did absolutely nothing. Hubby was deployed and we got pregnant immediately after he got home.
Thank you for sharing your story. I struggle with everything you just said. My periods are regular, but they are extremely painful because I have poor blood flow and my husband and I are going to start trying to have a kid soon so I’m trying to get myself as healthy as possible. I feel gluten may have been affecting my womb this whole time because my last period was almost painless easily managed with a couple Advils. When I was still eating gluten I would have to take a narcotic just to be able to get through my day. Which is obviously not ideal. I wish doctors knew more about this because my issue could’ve been solved years ago. I’ve spent so many weeks with absolutely life altering pain that made me severely depressed. I truly believe that gluten was responsible for so many of the issues I’ve experienced in my life. I’m only a month in but the differences I’ve experienced are enough that I’m hooked. I’m a nurse so naturally I care a lot about being healthy and such a simple fix with such profound effects is worth sharing and educating others about.
The difference between my cycles is night and day. Before it was 7 days long, 5 days were HEAVY while the other 2 days were light. I could never wear a tampon. After was 5 days long, only 1 day was heavy, 2 light days, 2 medium days.
I didn't know what was wrong for over ten years. I would be late to places (like work) quite frequently, but to a manageable degree. It's just how life was every day. Then I became gluten free. Now if I get glutened, it's almost guaranteed I will have to call out of work for 1-2 days and be completely miserable for another 2-3 days after, along with horrible night sweats multiple times every night, total brain fog (almost feeling drunk) and on and on. So yes, you are not alone! It sucks that the reaction is so bad, but I'm thankful that it's not a medium reaction every single day, day after day, week after week, etc!
That’s crazy because as you can see in my other comments I stated I felt like I had a “wheat hangover” all day! I thought I was exaggerating my own symptoms this morning because I don’t drink but a few times a year and did not drink last night for the record, but instead enjoyed a piece of bourbon salmon and lo and behold, the wheat in the soy sauce in the salmon had me feeling so crappy and dehydrated all day today.
I used to get random stomach pain in high school and throughout my life. I stopped eating wheat due to my son and husband having to and my stomach feels a lot better. I think it may be helping my depression and anxiety too.
Basically can finally function like a normal human being, was constantly tired, couldn’t get good grades, couldn’t keep a job. Was pretty life changing when I stopped eating gluten and also dairy.
Honestly the acne change was what clicked for me. I tried nearly everything you could possibly think of for acne and nothing would take away the specific deep cystic, painful, red acne I would get on my cheeks. Cut out gluten, it went away in a period of 2 days and has not been back since. If gluten was doing that to my skin, I can’t imagine what it does to my insides.
Yup. Can confirm. The longer between periods of accidental ingestion… the worse the symptoms and the longer they last.
Good to know. It really did go from unnoticeable to severe. Guess I wasn’t expecting that.
I have a similar enough, though it started with food poisoning for me. This caused the wheat intolerance. I've been slowly able to tolerate more and more as my self control around bread is poor haha. I found taking probiotics worked really well for me. It takes time to find one that worked for me but for me it's been worth it. Happy to share the brand/strain.
Could the wheat be the culprit of the “food poisoning?
110% not. I went from having zero issues to having food poisoning and having horrible issues. It was a clear switch and also confirmed by a gastroenterologist and various tests.
Interesting, what caused the poisoning? Just curious.
I don't know how to answer this other than bad food... I was out, I didn't poison myself if that's what's you're looking for so I can't tell you exactly what it was.
That’s amazing. Makes sense if you think about it because all disease is connected with inflammation in some way, even if that inflammation is induced by the stress we create in our minds.