Hi Chris. I have a similar situation to the one you described. In the past year or so, I’ve had massive anxiety, but I believe that the anxiety is caused by the physical symptoms, not the other way around. After eating certain foods, I get a rapid heart rate, constricted airways (to the point that I was diagnosed with asthma), sore through, acid reflux, and a fidgety, nervous feeling of restlessness. Sometimes i awaken in the middle of the night with these symptoms. I eat a pretty good diet (no fast food or junk usually) but I recently eliminated gluten on the advice of my celiac sister. I have tested negative for celiac, but my symptoms improved dramatically after eliminated gluten. Recently, however, the symptoms seems to return after I consume rice. I am wondering if I have to look at yeast or sulfite or other things like that. I am starting with a Naturopath in a few days, so hopefully some answers will emerge.

Hi Chris,

Sounds like you’ve had a lot of expensive but inconclusive tests.

The elimination diet doesn’t cost anything, hence its unpopularity in the health industry.

If you suspect a particular food, and it seems you suspect wheat/gluten, just try cutting it out for a couple of months and see what happens. You aren’t looking for “every time I eat gluten, I get this effect”, you’re looking for “if I never eat gluten, I never get this effect”.

Of course it may not be the bread but what you put between it that’s causing the problem so take note of what else you eat. Keeping a food journal and recording how you feel would also be helpful, keeping in mind that there may be a delay of hours or days between eating a particular food and having an effect.

Hi Charlotte,

You’re not alone. I discovered my gluten allergy the same way and it has not been confirmed by medical tests. However an elimination diet is more accurate than medical tests for a gluten allergy. Celiac disease is another matter and you might consider being tested for that, unless you plan to avoid all gluten, even in trace amounts, for the rest of your life (which is what I do).

There are tests for gluten allergy, but they are not particularly accurate. You are better to cut out gluten for two or three months and see if you feel better.

You may actually be celiac. This is a genetic condition. If your parent s are diabetic, then that may actually be caused by celiac disease. There does seem to be a connection between the two conditions.

You can get accurate tests for celiac disease.

If you cut out gluten and you feel better, you won’t know if it is a gluten allergy or celiac disease, but it is important to find out since you need to know if you can cheat on a gluten free diet. If you have a gluten allergy, the price you pay is feeling lousy for as long as it takes to clear from your system. If you have celiac disease, there are much more severe, long-term consequences.