What does it feel like to have a wheat / gluten intolerance?

[hangingoutattheendofmywick]

In a nutshell I gave up carbs a month ago. Which obviously means no bread / wheat has been in my system. I have never ever felt so great. Then 2 nights ago I had a pizza as a "treat". Today I'm in agony with stomach cramps and I'm wondering if this is possibly a wheat intolerance? This will sound absolutely ridiculous but I don't know what "gluten" is?! Or what it is in - but I'm guessing I haven't had any of that either for a month as I've been living on fish / meat/ eggs? Cheese?(is that gluten?!)
So I was just wondering - if you have these intolerances what does it feel like? Is this what I am experiencing today? (2 days later)?

Gluten is hidden in all sorts of things, sauces, dairy, meat products even lipsticks! However they way you describe feeling is very much how I was when I went gluten free

Ifyou are happy without a formal diagnosis then carry on excluding and look at coeliac uk for advice.

if you want to approach your gp for testing you will need to continue eating gluten for a while to have accurate levels on blood tests usually 6 weeks I believe

I went gf about 18 months ago on the doctor's advice although I tested negative for coeliac. If I accidentally eat it now that's exactly how I feel. My guts swell up, sharp pains, then a good few trips to the loo. I'm much more sensitive to it now I don't eat it.

Gluten is the property of various grains inc wheat, spelt, rye that gives it elasticity/stretchiness. So long as you avoid those grains and stick to unprocessed food it's pretty easy to avoid. It's not in regular cheese. Although I did find it in some ham the other week, which I wasn't expecting.

My stomach reacted in the same way when I accidentally ate gluten in stock, I only realised when I was in pain the next day and scouring ingredients. Took about 3 days for my insides to settle down.

I've had all clear from a colonoscopy and 2 negative blood tests. But my consultant said I presented as someone with coeliac disease and he saw other people who they couldn't get a positive diagnosis but recovered when they went gluten free.

Gluten free bread / pizza / biscuits is fine. It's expensive but I'd rather take a hit on my wallet than my stomach.

I avoid wheat for IBS/Endo. I recently are wheat on holiday... I spent days after taking codeine for the pain. I get stabby pain inside my pelvis, I can feel my bowels 'working' and it hurts! My pain travels from my right side to my back. All from wheat... If I was you I would monitor your intake and symptoms and go to GP. I have had many checks for celiac but for me it's an intolerance. I don't need to be gluten free but eat mainly gluten free as that generally means wheat free.
I know it's trendy right now to be gluten free...

Another one who gave up wheat/yeast/gluten for endo and IBS- fab conditions that go hand in bloody hand... I tested negative for coeliac in the past but I wouldn't be prepared to go back on them for a retest.

When I used to eat them my stomach would swell as the day went on, and go round like a washing machine, before leaving me in a cramping mess in the bathroom for a long painful time. Every morning, no matter how tired I was I'd wake a couple of hours before my alarm, writhing in discomfort until I felt ready to empty my bowels. The bottom of my stomach had a constant gnawing pain.

Since giving it all up, the cramps have all but gone and although I'm still in the loo more often than I'd like, it's not painful. I have more energy, my skin is finally clear and I've lost a stone. I no longer look pregnant either.

My diet is very limited- low FODMAP and much more- but the thought of the pain keeps me from taking risks.

Yes I'd say there's a very high chance you are gluten or wheat (or FODMAPs) intolerant. You might be ceoliac, so you need to consider whether you want to get tested for that (it would mean eating gluten regularly until the test were done).

Gluten is the name for grain protiens found in wheat, barley and rye, oats and Maize contain similar protiens that some people will also react to.

I eat Paleo/primal (no grains) and low carb, and now get an acute reaction to even tiny traces of gluten containing grains. I think it's wrong to say you/I are reacting worse since cutting out gluten, it's a different type of reaction - ie an acute reaction to a single dose (for me, severe gut pain folllowed by several days of symptoms), where as with chronic daily exposure your body reacts differently (for me, ibs, frequent headache and migraine, balance, joint and skin problems, all of that, for years).

MarksDailyApple blog is an informative and sensible source of info if you feel like doing a bit of reading OP :)

One in nine coeliacs do not show up on blood testing due to immunodeficiency we are the hidden ones
My family has been dying for generations and I came very close, was in a wheelchair unable to walk with ME and fibromyalgia
My specialist physio put me on an elimination diet and when gluten was removed a rash that I had suffered with for more than 20years stopped, this had been looked at by dermatologists 20 years ago and initially diagnosed as dermatitis herpetiformis but when blood tests came back negative ths was recinded
After the rash went we checked and the gps had on record the immune defects but had never linked the two
I guess what Im trying to say is listen to your body, if its saying gluten is wrong then stay away from gluten
My story is positive however, I can now walk without sticks and if you saw me today you would never guess I was so close to dying as my severe deficiencies have been corrected, best of all my two fantastic children are growing up diagnosed from a young age and will not suffer as so many in my family have

Wow schrodingersmum, that's very interesting.

You are absolutely right of course, even if the test is negative, if cutting out gluten makes a person feel better then of course they should :)

Thanks for all your replies everyone - I have suspected I have had IBS for many years but never had it looked at as I'm always either constipated or the very very opposite. But that has cleared up too since not eating wheat.

I'm going to have a look at everything I eat now to see if gluten is in it too. I presume it's clearly on labels? I've never looked before.

Since giving up carbs I've dropped a lot of weight and my stomach is flat - I feel so much lighter and energetic. I think wheat is the enemy now.

This is a really interesting thread. I'm reluctantly coming to the conclusion that I can't tolerate wheat / gluten very well either any more. Nothing has come up on colonoscopies (done for genetic reasons) but I'm less and less able to eat bread or buns (to name just two) without extreme bloating and pain. I've been so reliant on bread for years that I don't know what to eat for lunches these days though. I eat porridge for breakfast. I'll look at the blog mentioned above - thanks for the recommendation.

Re lunches I eat non gluten containing oat cakes with cheese/salad/ham or gf bread toasted which is expensive but I find it very tasty. Dinners I eat a lot of rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes and the occasional bit of gf pasta. I use Doves Farm plain flour for cooking and tonight had pear crumble making the topping with half flour and half oats.

For those saying they eat oats, my understanding is that porridge oats are at risk of being contaminated with gluten. So it's advisable to use oats that are clearly labelled as gluten free. I think I read this on the Coeliac Uk website.

I'm not coeliac but have a diagnosed wheat allergy. Worth asking for that to be tested (blood test).

Can I ask: once you get bloated, is there any way to stop it? If I get it at night (usually) I have no idea what to do. As pp have said, it's that astonishing feeling of the gut blowing up like a balloon. Horrid.

Yes - how do you get rid of the bloating?!

Thanks for posting this, I've also been on a low carb diet, had pizza tonight and been to the loo twice since coming to bed. It's not good! Also bloated and gurgly. I wonder if it's just that my stomach has reacted as not used to it, rather than an allergy as such.

When I worked in theatre we were taught to give post op patients who had abdominal gas a windy cocktail! Pepermint cordial with pain killers, peppermint has a soothing action on the smooth muscles of the gut allowing you to pass trapped wind. Sadly I am asthmatic and peppermint triggers me but it was carried on the drugs trolley so widely given where I worked