Gluten allergies are relatively common. Some studies indicate that 1 in 167 apparently healthy children (0.6%) and 1 in 111 adults (0.9%) have a gluten allergy. When people with gastrointestinal complaints were studied, 1 in 40 children (2.5%) and 1 in 30 adults (3.3%) were found to have a gluten allergy. This makes a gluten allergy quite common, especially when people with chronically uncomfortable guts are considered.
Gluten allergy symptoms may be similar to the symptoms for celiac disease. In either case, management involved avoiding gluten. Still, I highly recommend you get a test for celiac to rule out this disease. If you have a gluten allergy, you don’t need to worry about tiny amounts of gluten in your diet as long as you feel OK.. On the other hand, if you have celiac disease, you must eliminate all gluten, even if you feel OK.
The only way to verify a gluten allergy is with a proper test, however you can use following symptoms as a guideline. If you have several of these symptoms, an allergy test for gluten is highly recommended. Insist on one even if you have a stubborn and ill-informed doctor!
Symptoms of a Gluten Allergy
- Upper repository tract problems (sustains, glue ear)
- Fatigue
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Mouth ulcers
- Anaemia
- Iron-deficiency anaemia
- Osteoporosis
- Weight loss
- Short stature in children
- Diarrhoea
- Constipation
- Abdominal bloating
- Crohn’s disease
- Diverticulitis
- Depression
- Attention and behavioral problems (in children and adults)
- Autism
- Skin problems
- Keratosis pilaris
- Asthma
- Irritability
- Wheat-Dependent Exercise-Induced Anaphylaxis
Please note several things when considering this list:
- Individual symptoms can vary tremendously. Someone with a gluten allergy will probably not have all of these symptoms, and may have other symptoms not listed here.
- Although some symptoms seem contradictory, it is possible to alternate between one symptom and another, for example between diarrhoea and constipation.
- Just because someone has one, some or all of these symptoms, does not mean to say they definitely have a gluten allergy. Other causes are possible.
Unless you have celiac, you can often decide whether to include gluten in your diet based on how you feel when you eat gluten. If eliminating gluten from your diet makes you feel better, and you find it is worth the effort, then that is enough reason to stop eating wheat, barley and rye.
For parents, it is a matter of observing your children’s behavior as well as asking them how they feel.
Doctors often think they know better. If you feel better when you avoid gluten, follow what your body tells you.
Avoiding gluten can be the key to more energy and clear thinking for many people.
There are tests to see if you have celiac disease or a type-I food sensitivity (classic allergy).
These are not the only root cause for a gluten sensitivity however. Many, if not most people who are effected by gluten will get negative test results.
This is why I strongly recommend an elimination diet, even if laboratory tests come up negative.
Gluten and Fatigue
One of my biggest complaints when I am suffering from my allergies is fatigue. Everything and anything seems like too much effort.
There are many reasons why you might feel fatigue. If you’ve looked into other causes and not come up with anything, I suggest you try cutting out wheat, rye, and barley, in other words gluten, from your diet for eight weeks and see if you get some, most or all of your energy back.
Internal Links
- Gluten-Free Diet Story by Ashley
- Gluten allergy
- Gluten Linked to Seizures and Epilepsy
- Celiac vs. Gluten
- Gluten Allergy Description, Severe Case
- Top 20 Food Allergies with Delayed Reactions
- Self-Testing for Food Allergies
- Allergy Symptoms
External Links
Gluten Allergies – What is Your Experience?
You are welcome to leave your comments below about living with a gluten-free diet, or your road towards discovery that you must eliminate gluten. Maybe you are on that road now? Tell us about it!
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I have always had stomach issues my whole life. I have acid reflux, and over years I have always had stomach pains followed by diahhreoa. When I finally saw a doctor she told me I was lactose which was false. Then a couple of doctors told me I had IBS. My final doctor gave me an endoscopy and saw that I had a stomach infenction, but even after that I still would have these stomach pains, sometimes they would happen often sometimes I would go months without having them. Over the years I have limited myself to foods and am always afraid to get a stomach ache when I eat something. Recently I have been trying to get over that fear. Also recently just last week I had a week full of diahrreoa and stomach pains, then I had a fever and also very gassy I eventually went to the emergency room. They weren’t really much of help they got my fever down but nothing seem to ease the pain. They gave me a sonogram and took my blood and said everything was normal, leaving me with no reason for my pain or my fever! The next day I was in terrible pain. I was curled up in a pall hysterical. I have also been constipated so I believe this was where the pain was from. Some friends suggested that maybe it was a gluten allergy. I do have some of the symptoms that I see I am usually fatigued and I do forget things often and I am either constipated or sometimes have diahrreoa so I definately want to get tested and I am going to try the gluten free diet. Is abdominal pain a symptom, because that is my biggest problem is the pain. I am afraid to eat anything I have lost 6 pounds in a week because I haven’t really ate and anything I do eat seems to bother me. The little things I do eat are pretzels so maybe I am allergic. I hope this works!
While it is possible that you have a gluten allergy, celiac disease is also possible.
I suggest you get tested for celiac as soon as possible. This should be done before you go on a gluten-free diet. If you have been on a gluten free diet for some time before taking the test, discuss this with your doctor.
Have them test your Gal bladder. I was having many of the symptoms you had and they were associated with certain foods. I had unbarable pain that would come and go and not around for months and then have a bad spell. Do you ever have shoulder pain before the stomach pain? If so that could be it. It took them a while to find it in me because i was 19 when I had mine out! I had been having the pains since middle school.
Hi! I too am overweight. I discovered I had gluten, casein, soy, and egg white intolerance through a test w/ Enterolab done w/ a Chiropractor. I’ve done a lot of reading and I found that on celiac.com there are articles listed concerning celiac/gluten intolerance and obesity. It is a common misconception amongst doctors that it only affects the skinny. I have PCOS and I read somewhere that gluten intolerance affects 85% of people with this condition and most people w/ PCOS have weight issues.
I have abdominal migraines, Yes, migraines in my abdominal area. Right around the belly button, like a knife being slowly twisted with no relief. This has been on-going for 14 years now. I have a very sensitive nose for food smells when I don’t feel well *which is often* and I wake up every morning feeling like I have IBS.
I can identify with your fear of being in pain, I have had many comments said behind my back about eating disorders merely because of my reluctance to eat, ESPECIALLY away from home.
I’ve had a baby with an epidural that did not work, and the pain from my migraines are still MUCH worse.
I am now in a Pain Management program, I’ve been using narcotic pain medication to feel good when I leave our apartment.
I have a friend who just recently asked me if I’ve ever been tested for Celiac. The one test I’ve never had! I’ve always tried to eat as “healthy”as possible, (i.e. whole grain, fresh fruit/veg) and I never considered my diet as a reason for my unexplainable ill health.
I’ve been gluten-free for 8 days as of today, I have been feeling better with each passing day to the point that I haven’t been taking my pain medication. I know I will have to talk with my doctors about the test, but for now I am enjoying a feeling of well-being that I haven’t had since I was a young teen.
DON’T GIVE UP!!!!
Patricia, Happy that you are feeling better on a GF diet. You should be checked for celiac disease, but beware that if they do a blood test to check for antibodies, and it comes back negative, it does not mean that you definitely don’t have the disease. There are many reasons for a negative finding. The second test that doctors routinely recommend is a stomach biopsy, where they put a flexible tube down to the intestines, like during an endoscopy and take small samples of the lining of the intestines, to see if there is damage there. This too, though can come back as negative for various reasons. The only test with high accuracy to determine if you have this is a through a gene testing (need a small amount of blood). If after all you don’t happen to have the genes that predispose you to be a celiac, you could still have a gluten sensitivity which is called “non celiac gluten syndrome” and the diagnosis is made based on your report to the doctor, that your symptoms improved on a gluten free diet.
So, it it probably best, not to go back to eating gluten, because even if you are not a celiac, you could still cause a lot of damage to your health if you keep eating gluten. If nothing else, the gluten you ingest regularly is causing an inflammation in your body, and if you’ve read any recent medical reports, you know that this inflamed state is not beneficial for you. Good luck to you!
My daughter has had stomach issues for many years, lately she is quite fatiqued, IBS symtoms on occasion and her hair is falling out by the handfuls. She is very distressed about this. She has been to several doctors and all testing is normal. Wondering if it could be gluten-intolerance or celiac disease. Thank you!
check for thyriod or hashimoto thyriod disease.
It sounds like classic symptoms of Celiac. Visit their website and read carefully about the testing process to make sure she is tested properly.
After 20yrs, multiple ER visits yearly, illnesses no one could pin down, I was referred by my MD to see a Chiropractor/Nutritionist. He ordered a gastrointestinal function profile by Metametrix and though I did not have Celiac my test revealed a high sensitivity to gluten. By the elimination diet I already knew soy, high fructose corn syrup and most deadly to me, food dyes were culprits but even dropping all of these from my diet, I still had problems but when I stopped the gluten my life became almost normal. The celiac test did not show a gluten sensitivity. Symptoms are not the same for all. With all of my illness and allergy’s, MD’s seemed to think it was all in my head because I was not skinny and I looked healthy, but when I was laying on my bathroom floor so sick, with chills or heading to the ER with my B/P on the rise and rashes I would get there, they would do an ekg say it was all normal and I was having a panic attack. Well in the last two years since diagnosing the gluten intolerance, I have not seen the inside of an ER and have fewer ills. One thing I have done, is kept a medical journal for these 20yrs which was advised by my family physician. It helps me when looking back determine what many of the true culprits where in making me ill.
I’m researching possible culprits for the constant nausea and random bouts of vomit that I keep having. Along with that, I do constantly feel tired. This has been going on since January. My doc did blood tests and also checked out my gallbladder, and found nothing wrong. It is very frustrating to feel like this and not know why.
While your doctors are looking, it would not harm to try an elimination diet and see if you feel better when you cut out certain foods. Gluten is a common problem, but not everyone has the same problem. Milk/dairy is another common problem.
Background:
I’m a 30yr old Indian born male living in London from past 6yrs.
I’m a 69kg fit person and I workout a lot (probably 5-6 times a week) with no medical conditions. (Although I’ve had a sinus operation about 15 years ago, not sure if that is relevant).
History:
Since last 1.5 years (from May/June-2010) I have had hacking cough and skin urticaria (dermatographism).
Following were some symptoms I had in July/Aug-2010:
- Bad taste early morning.
- Choking and wheezing after having dinner.
- Slight pain in the chest.
- Running made everything worse.
- Cold made things worse too.
- Skin dermatographism (urticaria).
I starting visiting GP’s and NHS doctors in Sept-2010; they asked me to use their favourite drug “paracetamol” which didn’t improve anything. After a while they referred me to a chest specialist who made me try different cough syrups, nasal sprays and also did some chest x-rays, lung function tests, CT-scans of chest etc and said everything was normal. (NOTE: NHS docs did not X-rayed or scanned my skull). Eventually NHS docs in London diagnosed the problem as “sarcoidosis” which I think was a total BS, but anyways… (I can sit here and rant about NHS docs but that is pointless)
In Dec-2010 I went to Delhi (Apollo Hospital, one of the best private places). They also did number of tests but they also did a skull x-ray and said I was suffering from allergic-rhinitis and sinusitis.
They give me good medications and everything was honky dory in 2 weeks (apart from skin urticaria), I returned to London in Jan-2011 and the symptoms started to come back slowly and in a month I was back to square one!
Early this year, I gave up and just accepted that I’ll have to live with the conditions; well time and again I try to Google it and get to the bottom of it; but it seems like I’m swimming in Atlantic (no visible bottom and I keep drowning rather than identifying the cause).
Current State:
Recently, I tried to understand from Mr Google and “chronic coughs due to post nasal drip” is the one that makes the most logical sense of underlying cause of my painful 1.5 years. Over the last 3 months I’ve tried cutting out various food items, stopping the protein shakes, bought a couple of air purifiers, moved to a new house!!!!!, started taking different antihistamines and doing nasal irrigation (doing Neti using Salt and baking soda powder), and started applying vicks vaporub on my chest before sleeping every night (been doing that for almost 2 months).
Some of these things help like Neti and acrivastine antihistamine but not for long; after 2-3hrs I feel the nasal drip at the back of my throat! Vaporub helps me breathe well when I’m sleeping without which I’ll get up in the middle of the night and cough like a mad dog. The True-HEPA air-purifier from Honeywell (£150) was a waste of money.
Something tells me this forum might help me (well I’ll find out soon enough). I still have the following symptoms:
- Feeling of something dripping at the back of my throat ALL THE TIME.
- If I snort it and spit it out, it is yellowish green in colour.
- Early morning my chest feels clogged with this drip.
- Early morning chest pains.
- I cant go for my 5km runs, because it makes nasal dripping worse and makes me cough a lot.
But is this due to allergies? Is this due to something I eat? Does this problem have a name? Or is simply hay-fever and I just need to put up with it?
Is there something you can advice?
MSM
To MSM: let me start my reply by telling you, that a food allergy can definitely be the cause of your symptoms! This may sound really unlikely, but food allergy can be the cause of your “post-nasal drip”. One of the first symptoms I get when I eat an offending food, such as gluten, my nose starts to drip into my throat, and if I happen to be lying down, I feel like I am going to drown. It is very unpleasant. The tightness you feel in your chest could also be a symptom, because an allergic reaction will dilate your blood vessels and your heart has to work harder. Your body produces histamine to fight the “invaders”. The problem is, that this dripping down your throat can easily turn into a sinus infection down the road, and you will have to be put on antibiotics. This journey is very difficult because you can develop a never ending quest of taking antibiotics, feeling a bit better for a few weeks and then getting a new sinus infection. This is what happened to me, until I figured out that all the bread products and wheat pasta might be making me sick. I would start my day feeling relatively OK, but by late afternoon I would be deadly sick. I would wake up with a horrid headache, pressure in my scull, the bones of my face, a stiff neck (the lymph nodes under my jaw and the back of my head swollen). After I got up these symptoms would improve since I was now upright and not lying down. As the day progressed, my stomach would start to act up, and by the evening, whatever food I ate, would sit in my stomach undigested. My heart would be racing, my blood pressure would go up and down. My heart rate would go from a resting 70-80 to 200-220 while I was sitting down! The way I figured out the problem, is by using logic. I said to myself, that whatever was the root of my misery, it was something that I did everyday and it had to be food, because my stomach was OK after a 12 hour or so of a break (overnight). The obvious culprit was wheat (and also rye and barley) because this was the only ingredient that was potentially highly allergenic and something I ate every day, whereas other things I ate varied from day to day. Plus, whenever I tried a diet, such as the “candida diet”, where you have to cut out all sweets and bread, I had lots of energy, and felt better for it. So I cut out all gluten, which wasn’t easy. Until you make a conscientious effort to do that, you don’t realize how many products are made with gluten. For example soy sauce, the constant ingredient in Chinese food is made with wheat. If you want to try this elimination diet though, you have to do lots of reading, gathering lots of facts, you have to also learn to read the label and know the ingredients of every piece of food you eat. My situation was desperate and I was very sick, so I was highly motivated to get better. You would need at least a month on this diet, although you could find vast improvement in a fortnight as I did. My energy level is way up, my heart feels fine, and I haven’t had a sinus infection in over 2 years. And in the future you start to feel the old symptoms propping up sometimes, that might mean that you ingested some ingredient that contained gluten, or that you are developing a new allergy (that can happen unfortunately) to milk and milk products, or nuts, or tomatoes etc. I for example only drink rice milk, soy milk, hemp milk or coconut milk now. Can’t drink almond milk because it gives me blisters on my tongue, inside my mouth and on my lips.
Good luck to you, hope this information helps. If you have questions I’d be happy to answer.
Thanks Agnes,
Your reply has been exactly what I have been thinking.
I have stopped taking gluten related products from last 3 days but like you said, its a long and horrible journey when cutting out gluten from your system.
Well, I guess only time will tell me if gluten is the cluprit for my problems.
Thanks once again
MSM
Hi MSM,
Give the GF diet a couple of months, it can take weeks before you notice any difference at all, but then the difference may be huge.
Hi Allergy Guy & Agnes,
Thanks to both of you for your responses. Really appriciate this.
There’s one quick question I have if you have time and care to answer:
As I’ve moved on to GF diet, I was also thinking of getting a food intolerance test done (some people call it allergy test, although I dont quite understand the difference between allergy and intolerance).
My question is, do you think being on GF diet and getting an alergy test at the same time may be counter-productive and wont bring out true results? i.e. Do I need to be on my regular diet (and of course stop antihistamines) before taking such a test?
MSM
Such tests may not be accurate for gluten, you’ll have to ask your allergist. However they should be as accurate as they can be (not very I’m afraid) for everything else.
Use such tests as a guide but don’t depend on them. They can produce false negatives and false positives, for example it may show that you are allergic to something you are not, or miss some food that you should cut out.
The best test is to do an elimination diet and see how you feel.
Good luck with it!
A year ago I heard a speech by a man with celiac disease. Some of what he described got me thinking. I recalled my long history of sensitivity to foods and air-borne substances. I wondered if I should get tested. Then one day I decided to eliminate gluten from my diet.
I cannot tell you the difference it has made in my life. At 68 years I feel like a new man! This is no exaggeration and I have no incentive for saying this except that it feels good to tell my story to anyone who might listen.
When I was a kid I was called lazy. All my life I’ve had difficulty concentrating. I did well on IQ tests but was criticized for doing poorly in school. I had to repeat two high school classes because I slept through them. I now realize that I was “lazy”. I was chronically lethargic. I had little energy. I didn’t go out for sports because I couldn’t keep up with the other guys – low energy and little ability to concentrate. I’m a musician, but did not stick with any instrument long enough to maximize the use of my talents.
Now that I am gluten free I feel better than I have in years – in some ways better than ever! I have energy, I can concentrate better, my thinking is more clear and my post-nasal drip is gone, but bouts with colds and flu are less frequent. As long as I stay away from gluten I am now more tolerant of other foods and am less sensitive to air-borne substances. I wake up every day with gratitude for my new life, gratitude to the man who gave the speech on celiac disease and thank you for informing people aware of this silent enemy!
So glad you have discovered the secret to your health, Tom. I must say, I like to hear when someone tells me a story that proves my theory that wheat and gluten are evil! Too bad your long life so far was so marred by low energy due to gluten. At least now, at 68, you can feel younger than you did years ago.
I have the following symptoms (every day/all day):
* itching without rash (but sometimes flushing of the skin and I feel warm)
* acidic/metallic taste
* acid stomach (gets worse with stress and some foods etc., but always there and no acid reducers help)
* appearance of fuzzy/fungus-like globs/coating and thread-like strings in my stool
* bowel pain (under diagphram and in sigmoid of large intestine)especially if a BM is missed, delayed or incomplete
Symptoms that come and go:
* extreme fatigue and flu-like symptoms when I have missed a BM or it is incomplete (so whenever there is feces in the sigmoid, feels like a brick is in there) Happens 2-4 days per week and often need to be bed ridden due to fatigue.
* brain fog
* depression
* anxiety and lack of concentration
* thirst and burning mouth and lips
* frequent urination
I have been tested by an immunologist/allergist/rheumatologist; GI doctor and several upper, lower GI’s and colonoscopies; neurologist who tested me for MS and no findings!
Recently tested for Celiac and the blood test was negative.
Waiting for lyme, wester blot results.
All blood work (sugar, hormones, thyroid, mastocytosis) all fine or negative.
What the heck is wrong with me!!!
www.integratedobgyn.com/intmd/int_yeast.htm
Much of it is indeed candida yeast infection, which I am treating and seeing slow improvment. I was also diagnosed with Lyme Disease, which can lead to gluten/wheat intolerence. I was on Nystatin for the yeast,but now am using Syntol and caprylic acid and doxycyline for the Lyme’s.
Hello, I first commented on this site about 3 months ago, after finding out my children ages 9 months – 11 years. we have battled with excema, asthma, always sick, attention problems, mood swings, fits, stomach problems, anxiety, depression etc over the years. So we originally started out going Corn and Yeast free along with little Dairy, only hormone free organic products. But it seemed that almost all the foods have some reaction and since we have eliminated most.
When they do have something bad there behavior suffers bad! My question is could it be more of one or two kind of allergies rather than so many???? Here is our list that we have found. I am now leaning toward the Feingold Diet or ADHD Diet,
Here are the bad reactions, Chocolate, Gluten, Corn (not sure if its all or just like High Fruc. surup), Red apples, green grapes, raisens, wheat (i think?) red dye, blue dye, additives, pesticides, even uncured bacon, carrots, yeast, dairy, wondering about Celiac too?
They keep getting rashes too but not sure if its from detoxing or food? Im sure I forgot something but seems like everything were allergic too. Ive changed things even down to salt, detergent, rice milk, hemp milk, So anyone with info or have gone through this please let me know, I have spent close to 3 hours at least a day reading and researching allergies and how to cook everything from scratch. Please help anything? Thanks! Also the Feingold diet, why is it so expensive to find the info.
It is possible that some allergens are worse than others, that the minor ones push them over the edge, and the major ones are primarily at fault. Or it could be that all the allergens are just about as bad. The only way to find out is experimentation.
Keep in mind that some allergens, i.e. foods they are allergic to, can stay in the body for weeks. If you switch foods in and out too quickly, you won’t really know what is problematic and what is not.
When you cut out a food, cut it out for at least two months. That gives time for it to be flushed from the body, and also to see the change in behavioral patterns. Many things affect a child’s behavior, they may have bad days for any number of reasons. You need to see if they have more good days, and if the bad days are less bad.
If possible, eliminate all the foods you think are problematic, then reintroduce them one by one, every two weeks or so.
Ive had somach problems for years and they are getting worse. could this condition get worse over the years?
Considering that you are getting worse, I’d say so unfortunately. I’d recommend for you to see a gastrologist if you haven’t started to do so already.
I have suffered from what i thought was IBS for years. Excruciating .pain and extremely offensive diarrhea. It was really getting the better of me. I finally decided to go on a gluten free diet. Within two days I was a different person. The only trouble is now if I get the smallest amount of gluten the symptoms return with a vengeance. I just have to be vigilant. Life certainly has improved. Has anyone else had this experience?
I never had diarrhea, but I had plenty of abdominal pain, bloating, GERD like symptoms, always tired and off focus, depressed, moody, etc. I went gluten free and by the end of the day was my complete old self again. But currently as we speak, if I do have the smallest amount of gluten, my symptoms go haywire. You are not alone.
Hi, for the last 4 months I have had extreme fatigue and pretty much constant diarrehea, and I have to wee many times a day. Even if I have a sip of water I have to wee. I am now suffering from anxiety as I’m scared to go out in case I have to go to the bathroom and can’t find one. If I don’t wee straight away I get diarrhea. The doctor has performed many tests including a colonoscopy which came back normal. He has found that I pretty much have no vitamin d or iron levels (I have had high iron levels all my life) and that I have high hormone levels in my thiroid but he said not enough to worry about. I recently saw a different doctor for a second opinion as I just want my life back and he said he’s sure I’m gluten free. My first doctor tested me for this but it was negative. Second doctor said that I could still have it. I have been gluten free for 3 days and I just want to know if anyone with it thinks I have it? I don’t get the stomach pains that everyone mentions. I do have really low blood pressure so do feel dizzy a lot. I am desperate for answers and a cure – please help me!!! Thank you!!! I am doing a gluten free diet for 30 days under my doctors advice. Thank you for any advice!
Hi Molly,
I suggest you stick to a strict gluten-free diet for at least two months, and see if you get better. If you do get better within that two months, you will probably want to remain gluten free permanently. Tests are not 100% accurate. Celiac does not always come with stomach problems. Stick with it and see how you make out. Good luck!
I am 13, and i have had stomache pains since 5th grade. i have been tested for many different things. everything turns out positive. my stomache hurts after i eat alot. and i feel bubbles in my stomache. it stops me from doing what i like. i had to cancel a b day party in 6th grade because my stomache hurt so bad.. any suggestions?
Canceling a party is no fun!
Since the tests you have had are not helpful, I suggest you try eliminating different foods from your diet and see if that helps.
The most common problems seem to be milk/dairy and gluten, but they are not the only foods that might cause people problems. We are each unique and almost any food might be a problem for someone out there.
Please read Elimination Diet for another way to find the problem.
Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
Symptoms:
odor emitting from body – smells like fecal matter
stomach pains
Constipation
indigestion
anxiety and social retraction
depression
weight flux weekly
Can someone make a suggestion
I was told years ago I have IBS – I don’t get diahrea, rather I get completely backed up espcially under stress. For two years now i have had issues with smell. I smell bad and get told i smell bad…the smell gets worse with stress sometimes. I shower daily, sometimes twice…it’s in my breath, and from my skin and others
Hi Joe,
That’s really tough, you must feel really bad when people tell you about the smell.
I hope you’ve followed up with a doctor lately, and maybe got a second opinion. Your comment is under the gluten allergy symptoms thread, so I assume you suspect gluten. It is worth cutting it out for a couple of months, along with dairy and sugar.
It would be a great idea for you to visit a nutritionist, they may be able to help you out as well.
With luck, someone else will see your comment and respond based on personal experience with those symptoms. Good luck! Do come back and comment as you discover more. And do make sure you see a doctor.
I think some questions I would have for you are: Are your symptoms get better overnight? Do you feel better in the morning than the night before? Has it ever happened that you couldn’t eat for a while, during a bad cold? Did the smell get less or went away? Was there ever a time when you noticed that you were feeling better?
The reason to ask these questions and to find an answer, is to get a clue for what makes the symptoms worse. F.ex.: if you feel better in the morning after your stomach had the chance to recover, it could very well be that the cause of your discomfort stems from something you eat habitually, and everyday. Gluten is one of the worst allergens, and it does cause many divergent symptoms, including neurological symptoms. Whether you have celiac disease, gluten sensitivity or gluten allergy, you can find out about is from a blood test. Your body produces certain antibodies which show up in the blood. It can be measured. As far as celiac disease is concerned the only certainty would come from genetic testing, because you can have a false negative test with a blood test only. If your symptoms are as severe as you described, these simple test could give you an answer.
But, before I finish my comments I have a few more questions: have you ever been on a prolonged antibiotic regimen? Have you had repeated infections?
The reason I ask, is that you could have developed a systemic candida infection, when the balance of beneficial bacteria was upset by repeated antibiotic treatment. The candida infection in the gut changes the structure of the gut lining, allowing pieces of undigested protein to get into the blood circulation, which sets up your immune system to react to these invaders and start an immune reaction to foreign bodies such as gluten. So, every time ingest gluten in a piece of bread, pasta, beer, cookies, soy sauce, etc. your whole body goes crazy.
If you did take some antibiotic for a while, your best bet is to see a doctor specializing in candida yeast infection, stop eating sweets and sugar, and start eating some plain, unflavored yogurt. Until you find a specialist and get an appointment, do the things I suggest. They will certainly do no harm. This is just a slight diet modification. By denying the candida its main food source, which is sugar, and by eating yogurt which replaces beneficial bacteria, you will take the first step in getting yourself better.
Also, please let me know the answer to my questions, I am very intrigued.
i) I smell bad most of the time (75%) of the day, every day
ii) It used to go away for a day or two, but doesn’t anymore
iii) The smell is in my breath, and coming from my anus
iv) I am always constipated with diarrhea occasionally (1 time per week)
v) I know it’s not a psychological thing as I am told by others about the smell
vi) I have lost approx 40lbs since September 2009 (currenly 175lbs)
vii) I have a weight flux of +/- 8 lbs over the course of a week
viii) I have trouble sleeping/falling asleep
ix) Every time I eat my stomach hurts, so I have slowly retracted from eating many foods and sometimes meals, which I know isn’t good. I was so uncomfortable yesterday after eating the foods that mom ordered. I should have known better not to eat it.
x) I’ve tried enema’s to clean out my bottom end, and stool softeners and prescription meds to clean out the top end…it’s not working. Even when I did the “fibre” thing like daily cereal of 56% daily recommended fibre I wouldn’t get bowel movement. It’s like my bowel has stopped working efficiently.
Eating habits :
i) Eat healthy most of the time
ii) Rarely eat greasy foods and if we eat out like Burger King, I either get a kids meal or share with jewel
iii) Eat oatmeal for breakfast all the time (1 tbl spoon brown sugar, cinnamon)
iv) Usually tuna, salmon, or some type of fish like sardines for lunch two-three times per week or veggies, sometimes fries with meatless chilli on them the other days (cooked in Canola oil)
v) Dinner lately has been at the restaurant but hardly hot dogs…usually a wrap, or pita (I usually eat two hot dogs per week (our dogs are not full of junk)
vi) Only drink 1 cup of coffee per day with splenda.
vii) Drink 4-6 bottles of water per day
viii) Started a vitamin regime of 500mg C , Omega 3-6-9, and B complex 100mg
Physical issues:
i) Trouble sleeping
ii) Stomach always feels bloated and sore
iii) Sometimes (usually once every two weeks) I have a bowel movement that is almost green in color
iv) Once in awhile, I’ve had blood (bright red) in my stool and on the toilet paper ( I can’t feel a hemroid)
v) Whenever I eat, I don’t feel too well and that curbs me from eating
vi) I usually get skin tissue folds in my mouth on both cheeks (like dead skin wanting to pull away)
vii) Get constant constipation and might have a decent bowel movement once every three days and minor movements that are rock hard once per day (might explain the weight flux)
viii) Weakness in my joints often
ix) Constant back pain especially lower back/spine
x) I used to have gas all the time in the form of flatulence but lately I rarely have gas.
xi) When I feel I am ready to have a bowel movement, it seems I don’t have the muscle contraction to get it out? Not sure I am explaining the correctly…it’s there, but not moving!
See my previous post, but I suspect candida yeast infection of the GI tract.
Also, I have tried EVERYTHING and every kind of fiber to manage constipation/sluggish bowels and am finding magnesium citrate powder from a health food store to be the best most tolerable remedy (1-2 TBS. in warm water before bed).
[This comment has been changed into an article, see Gluten-Free Diet, On-Again, Off-Again]
Addie tells the story of cutting out gluten, feeling better, eating it again and then feeling worse than before. Read the full article and add your own comments at the link above.
Thanks for your long comment, Addie. You so well described your experience that I gave your comment the honor of being it’s own article. If you want to follow the thread of responses, leave a quick comment under the article at the link above.
Best of luck staying gluten-free!
Thank you! I appreciate learning that it is indeed a shared experience. I look forward to hopefully hearing how others have overcome obstacles to living gluten-free.
My problems all started up in July of this year (2011). I started having a lot of GERD like symptoms, and I’d have an attack once a week starting out. I went to the doctor and she diagnosed me with acid reflux. I went on acid reflux medication, the first medicine only worked for a week, and the other didn’t work whatsoever, so I ended up stopping the medication. My symptoms slowly increased to twice a week, three, four, and so on to the point it affected me just about every minute of my life when I was awake. In the meantime I got a sonogram and a hide a scan done on my gallbladder, was transferred to a gastroentologist, and had an upper and lower GI performed. My sonogram and hide a scan results were perfectly normal, along with my upper GI results. The only thing my doctor said on my upper GI was that I was taking in tons of air that was going straight to my stomach. It wasn’t until I got my lower GI that something was truely found out. They found an ulcer half the size of a pencil eraser in my colon, in which they biopsied it along with several other spots. The results came back which found that I was making up a gas in my colon which is only made up if you have an allergy. My dad did more research on the computer and came to find out most allergies in the colon are from food. So I decided to start eliminating food, and my parents and I decided to eliminate gluten from my diet. By the end of the first day, I started feeling 100% better. I ate some sliced cheese the next morning, and had a mild reaction in which I found later that I’m not supposed to eat. So apparently I have a gluten allergy! I’m thrilled that I have found relief to my problems, and I’m so thankful I had tons of support and that prayers were answered.
P.S.- I’ve been tested for Celiac’s already and it came back negative.
I am 21 years old and have been having terrible stomach pain for as long as I can remember. I did notice it became much worse after I started high school and had less of a regular diet. I went through many test through high school ruling out everything therefore being diagnosed with IBS. However they did not test me for a gluten allergy. This idea has only recently came about because my roommates is a ciliac and was explaining to me that she had chronic yeast infections and always had a white discharge until she became gluten free. I too have this issue. I also have bad insomnia, an attention disorder, chronic fatigue and bad acne that I’ve tried everything to get get rid of, yes including Proavtive! I was just wondering if this all could be related to a gluten allergy or if you have any other ideas I’d love to hear them. Thanks
It sounds like it could be either a yeast problem, a gluten problem, or both.
By all means, try going on a gluten-free diet. It sounds like you can get a lot of help and support from your room mate.
Also look at reducing sugar and refined carbohydrate intake which would help with yeast issues. There are yeast cleanses you can take to deal with this issue also.
I am not sure that i have celiac disease or gluten allergy, But i have mucus in my throat it is always filled with mucus and i stayed clogged up. i have has all kind of tests. all of the tests comes back good.
Why do you think it’s gluten? Have you tried eliminating gluten and found the mucus goes away?
Milk is mucus-forming. Have you tried cutting out milk?
Hi, I just read Joe’s post, and can so relate. I also suffer from fecal smells. One is a “dirty diaper” type smell, the other an “unwashed butt” smell. I have been lucky enough, through trial and error to figure out the latter. I had given up corn and wheat a couple of months ago, and it went away. It has come back only twice. The first time from drinking buttermilk. After checking the label, it is made with cornstarch. The second, was yesterday, after eating something I had baked using baking power. It seems it is made with cornstarch. I guess I will have to keep not eating processed foods or eating out, as just about everything has corn syrup or cornstarch in it. I hope this can help someone else!
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