What YOU should know about GLUTEN SENSITIVITY

Well, I am not celiac but I can prove that I am gluten sensitive but the foul smelling gas that is emitted from my bowels when I eat gluten .... take my word for it or come visit after a cheat ... your choice :-)

actually, re: beer - i have a skin disorder that flares up dramatically when i eat gluten. however, when i ingest SMALL amounts of gluten - like, for example, the amount that is in most beers - my skin disorder usually does not flare up. i still experience brain fog that lasts until the next day, but sometimes i ignore that symptom for the sake of having a beer. my body also does just fine with small amounts of most kinds of soy sauce.

Its due to the fermentation process when the beer is made as to why you don't get the flare ups.

actually, re: beer - i have a skin disorder that flares up dramatically when i eat gluten. however, when i ingest SMALL amounts of gluten - like, for example, the amount that is in most beers - my skin disorder usually does not flare up. i still experience brain fog that lasts until the next day, but sometimes i ignore that symptom for the sake of having a beer. my body also does just fine with small amounts of most kinds of soy sauce.

Its due to the fermentation process when the beer is made as to why you don't get the flare ups.

IDK. When I first went off gluten there was a lot of trial and error, and research on my part. My son worked at a small craft beer place, and I went to spend an afternoon with him. Had a nice tall glass of something dark and delish.

Unfortunately, I was out of work for 3 days.

It kind of also goes to the people who said it might be psychological, as I hadn't the foggiest(pun intended)idea that the beer was full of gluten until I spoke with a friend.

I love beer :sad:

For those who haven't been paying attention:


The participant in the study ALL felt better when they eliminated gluten. Yet NONE of them showed a gluten-specific response in both trials.

What makes you think you are any different?

1. Celiacs =/= gluten sensitivity.
2. Gluten sensitivity =/= gluten allergy or wheat allergy.
3. Yeah, pretty much the latest studies have shown that people are very bad when it comes to self diagnosis, which is the only way to test for 'gluten sensitivity'. Pretty much, if you *think* you have it, you will think you feel better when you don't eat it.

Huh. Well for me, I called "BS" to my son when he suggested I remove gluten just to see, I laughed at him. Pointed out that it is just a fad, no truth or science behind it.

Not eating gluten is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I love a hoagie, a plate of pasta. Can do without the cake and muffins, but it is really hard to not be in the party when everyone is eating it.

I did not think in a million years removing any food item would make me feel better, but the truth is it did. I SO didn't believe that gluten was the cause of my problems that after 6 months I went back to eating gluten (slowly- slice of bread here, pasta there) By the end of 2 weeks I as back to higher symptoms.

Some day we will know more thru science I am sure, but for now........for ME.........I will stay away from it and enjoy the side effects of my craziness

There was no implication in my post that I think anyone who avoids certain foods that cause them discomfort is crazy. To me it sounds as if wheat might be an issue for you. If you feel better avoiding it, awesome.

Would you mind telling me what 'better' means? I really am curious.

Yes, certainly, I posted it earlier.

Arthritis pain in hands and feet gone. Migraines with aura reduced significantly (there is a threshold factor here with many things adding to the actual onset of Migraine, so I do not say gluten caused mine, only that removing it reduced the threshold) and my IBS has gotten better.

Mainly though the migraines and arthritis symptoms are the most significant.

I have IBS and migraines am thinking of trying the low-FODMAP diet. Your problem might not be gluten sensitivity per se, but rather a sensitivity to fructose, fructans, galactans, polyols and or lactose. I too can eat breads up to a certain point, after which my IBS begins to kick in.

Soooo... What is a low-FODMAP diet? IF we were curious to try it, is it really any different than the gluten free diet?

And... if you were a server in a restaurant, would you rather me ask for no croutons, or "Do your croutons contain FODMAP?"

Seriously, the poor folks that are being driven crazy by health trends affecting their jobs at restaurants think they are winning one... but how would you like it if you had GF and low-FODMAP clients to serve?

If there was perchance a disgruntled waiter on this thread (not saying there is...) his rebellion against GF living in hopes of making his job easier might just have the opposite result.

Thank you for the responses!

I guess the reason I'm having such a hard time understanding is that there seem to be a great deal of people who land all along that lactose spectrum. Gluten, from what I've seen (and I know that's an exceptionally limited sample) doesn't seem to have that spectrum the same as so many other things - I think I've met one person who has said 'I can't have more than a slice of bread otherwise I'll feel ill'. Allergy, intolerance, or just because: people who seem to have issues with gluten CANNOT HAVE ANY OR ELSE as opposed to the lactose spectrum referenced above.

Thank you again for your thoughtful comments and information. I really appreciate it.

I think your sample size is just too small at this point. Lactose intolerance has been recognized for quite some time, but Celiac was unheard of until the last decade or so (despite it very much being around and written about for the past 2000 years). I remember when finding someone with Celiac was an anomaly. Growing up, I knew...one person (and I didn't meet her until I was in high school, and the only reason she got a diagnosis, I think, is because she was the poster child for it -- her GI disruptions were such that you could see things shifting around). Now? I know several with actual Celiac, and several more who claim some level of intolerance (myself among them). Part of it is simply awareness and realizing that the constant feeling of low energy, the arthritis at 25, the migraines, the eczema, etc. aren't just "that's life, those were the cards you were dealt," but rather that there might actually be a cause, and that lifestyle changes can fix or heavily mitigate the issue.

Additionally, there's also the stigma around the gluten-free thing (as if that wasn't blindingly obvious on this thread). Those of us who can eat small amounts of gluten -- even so far as the occasional slice of bread -- get called hypocrites, fad-followers, sheeple, or any other highly derogatory name people can think of. As others have pointed out, when out at restaurants, we're doing those with Celiac a disservice right now, if we don't hold waitstaff to the same standards Celiac people do, because we're not yet at the point where people aren't ignorant, arrogant, @$$holes over the matter. So, in general, it's easier to just say "I don't consume gluten at all," instead of trying to explain all the nuances all the time.

The fact that lactose intolerance is a spectrum is actually a good parallel. For example, my son can't handle milk or ice cream. It's got too much lactose in it, and he ends up on the toilet every fifteen minutes. However, he can eat most cheeses and other low-lactose dairy items, like butter, or small amounts of things that have milk as a small part of the recipe (such as cake). That's just simply where things fall on his tolerance threshold. If lactose intolerance was at the place where gluten intolerance is, right now, how many people here would be accusing him of the placebo effect, jumping on some kind of bandwagon, being a hypocrite (after all, if you're lactose intolerant, you must not be able to have any dairy at all)? We're beyond that point in our understanding of lactose intolerance, though. We've seen enough data points, we know enough people, and we understand the underlying mechanism of most cases to accept the fact that some people are less tolerant of lactose than others.

I am with gluten how my son is with lactose -- I can consume some things, or small amounts of certain things, and be okay, but prolonged exposure, or large doses start causing issues. I get some intestinal issues that are exasperated by medication that I'm taking, but the bulk of my issues are of other natures -- I have eczema that I've been able to directly trace to my consumption of gluten and dairy (it's fascinating, actually, because the gluten creates the itchy blisters, while a component of the dairy creates the dried-out texture, and I can prompt either or both by eating certain things), pre-arthritic inflammation symptoms (including some that have shown up on x-rays, but also tight joints, etc; definitely not normal for 26), acne, and migraines/cluster headaches.

I've found that I can have up to about three servings a week of some kind of gluten-containing item without too much issue as long as I stay away from it otherwise. I can also tolerate a certain amount of cross-contamination (up to about a serving a day of cross-contaminated items, such as oats), though I still try to avoid it entirely, largely because it's easier for me to just say "no" than it is to say "only a little" (and have to keep an eye on how much I've already had over the past few days), besides, in my opinion, a half dozen croutons or a bland dinner roll isn't all that appealing anymore, anyway.

In that aspect, it's like calorie counting -- is that dinner roll, made with refined white flour, yeast, sugar, and water, and not all that nutrient dense, really worth the 200 calorie "price" tag? If you've allotted 600 calories for your meal, probably not. Likewise, if I can have 6 units a day of gluten without adverse effects, and that roll has a price tag of 3 units, is it really worth it? Probably not (I'd rather have that 4-unit piece of chocolate cake if I have anything, because it tastes better).

Beyond that, or if I have too much too close together (like my recent foray to NYC, in which I had some authentic pizza, cheesecake, bagels, and used some bread to sample a kosher spread, over the course of about four days), the eczema starts coming back, as well as the headaches. If I ignore those symptoms and keep it up, the joint pain starts again, and the acne flares up. The eczema also continues to worsen and won't heal (even with corticosteroid cream) until I remove the offending foods again (this one I actually found out the hard way after weeks of trying to treat it with the cream, maxing out the length of time I can use it at once, and still not getting anywhere).

So yeah, there is a spectrum, but right now, it's just not as evident to those who don't personally deal with it. Maybe in another decade or so, it'll become more evident to "outsiders," as awareness and understanding increase and @$$hattery decreases.

Thank you for the responses!

I guess the reason I'm having such a hard time understanding is that there seem to be a great deal of people who land all along that lactose spectrum. Gluten, from what I've seen (and I know that's an exceptionally limited sample) doesn't seem to have that spectrum the same as so many other things - I think I've met one person who has said 'I can't have more than a slice of bread otherwise I'll feel ill'. Allergy, intolerance, or just because: people who seem to have issues with gluten CANNOT HAVE ANY OR ELSE as opposed to the lactose spectrum referenced above.

Thank you again for your thoughtful comments and information. I really appreciate it.

I think your sample size is just too small at this point. Lactose intolerance has been recognized for quite some time, but Celiac was unheard of until the last decade or so (despite it very much being around and written about for the past 2000 years). I remember when finding someone with Celiac was an anomaly. Growing up, I knew...one person (and I didn't meet her until I was in high school, and the only reason she got a diagnosis, I think, is because she was the poster child for it -- her GI disruptions were such that you could see things shifting around). Now? I know several with actual Celiac, and several more who claim some level of intolerance (myself among them). Part of it is simply awareness and realizing that the constant feeling of low energy, the arthritis at 25, the migraines, the eczema, etc. aren't just "that's life, those were the cards you were dealt," but rather that there might actually be a cause, and that lifestyle changes can fix or heavily mitigate the issue.

Additionally, there's also the stigma around the gluten-free thing (as if that wasn't blindingly obvious on this thread). Those of us who can eat small amounts of gluten -- even so far as the occasional slice of bread -- get called hypocrites, fad-followers, sheeple, or any other highly derogatory name people can think of. As others have pointed out, when out at restaurants, we're doing those with Celiac a disservice right now, if we don't hold waitstaff to the same standards Celiac people do, because we're not yet at the point where people aren't ignorant, arrogant, @$$holes over the matter. So, in general, it's easier to just say "I don't consume gluten at all," instead of trying to explain all the nuances all the time.

The fact that lactose intolerance is a spectrum is actually a good parallel. For example, my son can't handle milk or ice cream. It's got too much lactose in it, and he ends up on the toilet every fifteen minutes. However, he can eat most cheeses and other low-lactose dairy items, like butter, or small amounts of things that have milk as a small part of the recipe (such as cake). That's just simply where things fall on his tolerance threshold. If lactose intolerance was at the place where gluten intolerance is, right now, how many people here would be accusing him of the placebo effect, jumping on some kind of bandwagon, being a hypocrite (after all, if you're lactose intolerant, you must not be able to have any dairy at all)? We're beyond that point in our understanding of lactose intolerance, though. We've seen enough data points, we know enough people, and we understand the underlying mechanism of most cases to accept the fact that some people are less tolerant of lactose than others.

I am with gluten how my son is with lactose -- I can consume some things, or small amounts of certain things, and be okay, but prolonged exposure, or large doses start causing issues. I get some intestinal issues that are exasperated by medication that I'm taking, but the bulk of my issues are of other natures -- I have eczema that I've been able to directly trace to my consumption of gluten and dairy (it's fascinating, actually, because the gluten creates the itchy blisters, while a component of the dairy creates the dried-out texture, and I can prompt either or both by eating certain things), pre-arthritic inflammation symptoms (including some that have shown up on x-rays, but also tight joints, etc; definitely not normal for 26), acne, and migraines/cluster headaches.

I've found that I can have up to about three servings a week of some kind of gluten-containing item without too much issue as long as I stay away from it otherwise. I can also tolerate a certain amount of cross-contamination (up to about a serving a day of cross-contaminated items, such as oats), though I still try to avoid it entirely, largely because it's easier for me to just say "no" than it is to say "only a little" (and have to keep an eye on how much I've already had over the past few days), besides, in my opinion, a half dozen croutons or a bland dinner roll isn't all that appealing anymore, anyway.

In that aspect, it's like calorie counting -- is that dinner roll, made with refined white flour, yeast, sugar, and water, and not all that nutrient dense, really worth the 200 calorie "price" tag? If you've allotted 600 calories for your meal, probably not. Likewise, if I can have 6 units a day of gluten without adverse effects, and that roll has a price tag of 3 units, is it really worth it? Probably not (I'd rather have that 4-unit piece of chocolate cake if I have anything, because it tastes better).

Beyond that, or if I have too much too close together (like my recent foray to NYC, in which I had some authentic pizza, cheesecake, bagels, and used some bread to sample a kosher spread, over the course of about four days), the eczema starts coming back, as well as the headaches. If I ignore those symptoms and keep it up, the joint pain starts again, and the acne flares up. The eczema also continues to worsen and won't heal (even with corticosteroid cream) until I remove the offending foods again (this one I actually found out the hard way after weeks of trying to treat it with the cream, maxing out the length of time I can use it at once, and still not getting anywhere).

So yeah, there is a spectrum, but right now, it's just not as evident to those who don't personally deal with it. Maybe in another decade or so, it'll become more evident to "outsiders," as awareness and understanding increase and @$$hattery decreases.

Why do you post something just to be an a**?

Why does it matter to you if gluten intolerance exists or not? I don't get it. If you don't have issues with gluten, then why do you care? Science is not finite. All discoveries have not been made (or else the word discover would be obsolete). Take your close-mindedness and go away.

Why do you post something just to be an a**?

Why does it matter to you if gluten intolerance exists or not? I don't get it. If you don't have issues with gluten, then why do you care? Science is not finite. All discoveries have not been made (or else the word discover would be obsolete). Take your close-mindedness and go away.

Using this logic, there wouldn't be any male gynecologists...or pediatric surgeons.

I think the reason I chuckle at this article is because people who are gluten intolerant or sensitive seem to love to talk about it over and over and over. I have been stopped in the grocery store by a mom who was staring going gluten free, she went on for twenty minutes about her appointments and symptoms and how great it is, then six months later she just eats normally. I have been to social gatherings with women where the conversation for the night revolves around someone's gluten sensitivity. I can't tell you how many people I know have had the tests and been told they have this then a year later they just go back to thier normal diet and act like it never existed. I guess that is why I get skeptical when I hear people talk about their food sensitivities.

I think the reason I chuckle at this article is because people who are gluten intolerant or sensitive seem to love to talk about it over and over and over. I have been stopped in the grocery store by a mom who was staring going gluten free, she went on for twenty minutes about her appointments and symptoms and how great it is, then six months later she just eats normally. I have been to social gatherings with women where the conversation for the night revolves around someone's gluten sensitivity. I can't tell you how many people I know have had the tests and been told they have this then a year later they just go back to thier normal diet and act like it never existed. I guess that is why I get skeptical when I hear people talk about their food sensitivities.

People also go back to smoking and drinking excessively, your point being??? lol

Gluten is now addictive?

There's a scientist from MIT who believes that the large numbers of people who find that they cannot eat wheat is a reflection of "cross-reactivity." First thing that must be understood is that the wheat we eat today is VERY different from the wheat our ancestors ate. From the wild Einkorn wheat grabbed and soaked and long-cooked by our hunter-gatherer ancestors, to the Emmer wheat of Biblical times to the Triticale of modern times, the genetic base of wheat has been tampered with over and over. In the 1950s, they went to producing wheat with a VERY high gluten content. That is problematic because large amounts of gluten are not particularly digestible in the human gut. The "cross-reactivity" issue comes from the glyphosate (Roundup) residue that a lot of wheat contains. Wheat is not yet "roundup ready" but it seems that the "geniuses" at Monsanto have come up with a new way of poisoning us with glyphosate. Wheat is now sprayed with glyphosate just before harvest (in order to kill the wheat plants in preparation for the "no-till" planting method that uses seed-drills). The MIT scientist believes that it is the combination of gluten with the glyposate residue that produces a lot of gastric consequences. When pigs are fed Roundup-Ready Soy, they experience a lot of gastric distress and some even die. When they are autopsied, they are found to have bright red, highly inflamed, gut-linings. The digestive systems of humans are somewhat similar to those of pigs. A growing chorus of medical professionals are becoming quite concerned about genetically modified and chemically tainted food.