Hmmm. Anyone know anyhing about wheat intolerance?

[ProcrastinationAteMyMorning]

I fear I may have some sort of wheat intolerance, I've always been bloaty and burpy, swinging between unexplained diarrhea and inexplicable constipation. Just always ignored it TBH, more of an annoyance than a problem. But, over the last 6 months or the bloating has become increasingly more pronounced and uncomfortable and I look pregnant half the time .

Anyway, yesterday I noticed that my belly started to blow up like a balloon reasonably quickly after I'd had a sandwich. I'd been chatting to one of DDs friends mums about her DDs wheat intolerance earlier in the day, so I began to wonder if there may be a connection between my simptoms and wheat too. I usually bloat more and more as the day goes on.

So, today I've not had any wheat and lo and behold my belly is actually getting less swollen as the day goes on. But, yeah, I have other unexplained symptoms too: random extreme itching, dry eyes, coughing, spontaneous hives, endless depression, tiredness, migraine. Um, loads of stuff actually, seems I'm a bit of a mess now I start to think of it. Can any of these be related?

Anyway, does it sound like it'd be worth eliminating wheat for a while to see what happens? It's not something I fancy doing at all, most of my favourite foods are wheat based and having suffered from eating disorders in the past I'm not too keen on doing anything radical to my diet for fear of setting myself off again...

Any advice or wise words (like, 'don't be so damn stupid woman') would be greatly appreciated.

DEfinately worth geting tested for coealic disease before you give up on wheat.

It is a serious condition, and one that is generally dagnosed either early in childhood due to failure to thrive after weaning, or after about 30 years as the symptoms don't always show up prior to that.

I was diagnosed at 33 years old, and pregnancy seems to have triggered mine, although in hindsight I had always had vague stomach issues.

and on a point of clarification, although coeliac disease is referred to as gluten "intolerance", it is actually an auto-immune condition and as such more serious than someone who gets a bit of a gippy tummy after eating (for eg) a tomato. It leads to a much higher than average risk of other auto-immune conditions (since my coeliac dx I have been dx'd with several auto-immune connective tissue disorders) and also some cancers including bowel cancer and non hodgkins lymphoma.

I hope it isn't coeliac disease though, and that you get some respite from your symptoms soon

Badvoc - very interesting your mother is coeliac. Diagnosis after decades of illness is very common.

My consultant says that coeliac is thought to have a genetic component which remains latent in most people until it is triggered by something like a severe bowel infection or even stress and then our Western wheat based diet does the damage over years as the gluten immune reaction in the bowel lining goes out of control.

In severe cases, it leads to malnutrition and things like osteoporosis, cancers and a wide range of digestive, skin, joint, muscle and neurological conditions. In my case I have almost constant bladder pain as my immune system is also attacking my bladder wall.

morebeta I am sorry to hear of your health problems

I was dx with ME/CFS in 1997 after over 2 years of chronic illness...I think tbh they just didnt kow what else to "label" me with IYSWIM?

I think I am going wheat free and lactose free again - after this weekend as its dh's 40th b day party and I have already ordered all the food! - I cannot go on like this... I have no energy, I feel nauseous all the time and have bad gastric reflux too (since last pg). I got to bed with the dc (8-9pm) and sometimes have a sleep in the daytime too

Any tips gratefully recieved as I live on bread and love cake and biscs!

I bloat if I eat supermarket bread, but am fine on preservative free bread from an organic baker. The fast rising process of commercial baking together with the various additives have a lot to answer for. Try something like an organic sour dough, I bet you'll be fine. Cutting out whole food groups should never ever be done on the basis of a self diagnosis without advice from a medical professional. You'll be no better off if you end up deficient in vitamins and minerals.

definitely test for coeliac, and don't change your diet before you do!

So much interesting info on this thread! I'm trying to avoid looking at links / googeling though - will just make me worry and speculate which is no use to man nor beast .

I have a doctors appointment for monday morning - am back on the wheat (and bloated etc.) only missed it out for 24 hours which is surely within the normal range of behaviour anyway. Will report back after but chances are I'll either be dismissed out of hand or sent for blood tests and have nothing of interest to pass on...

Badvoc - "Any tips gratefully recieved as I live on bread and love cake and biscs!"

Same here! In fact, people who are allergic or intolerant to something like what often crave it.

If you are planning to change your diet to exclude gluten and lactose that is a coeliac diet. If it is just wheat you are allergic to then you dont need to go that far - just eliminate wheat. Problem is that you dont know whether you are just wheat allergic or gluten sensitive or full blown coeliac.

Grains like barley and rye also contain gluten along with wheat. Some people are even sensitive to oats because of contamination. Many ready made sauces contain gluten because they have wheat flour in them. Even cornflakes are sprayed with barley malt.

I use gluten free flour form Doves farm and bake all my own cakes, bread and biscuits. You can buy Doves Farm gluten free pasta too. All available at Sainsbury.

Going gluten free means totally reconstructing many aspects of your diet but you can eat meat, fish, veg, fruit like before. Some coeliacs have so much damage to their gut they have to eliminate lactose too. I drink lactofree milk. It is a huge step though and gluten exclusion has to be total and not a diet to do on a whim. Removing just wheat from your diet is obviously easier.

Don't change your diet to gluten free before you are tested for coeliac. You have to still be eating gluten for the test to work.

Unfortunatley some people do not show positive on coelaic tests even though they are senstive/intolerant to gluten but you have to go through the steps.

I have tested neg for coeliac 2 weeks ago morebeta which is why I am going to go wheatfree and use lactofree milk...I quite like lactofree milk!
I already use doves farm pasta and will look into the flour, thanks.

Badvoc - this sounds a lot like you are in the same position I was 4 years ago. The medical profession is a long way behind really understanding this condition and a lot of people like you struggling with ill hezlth and doctors shrugging their shoulders. Just like I was.

It was a MNetter who suggested a strict GF diet to me and I never looked back. My health dramatically improved within a a few weeks. I now also have a really sympathetic consultant who is a World expert doing research on non classic coeliac gluten intolerance and it has been a revalation.

By the way, have you just had a coeliac blood test? The gut biopsy is regarded as the Gold Standard' test but not all gluten senstive people show up even with that test - which is the category of people my consultant is researching. Gluten sensitivity is far more widespread than has so far been acknowledged by the medical profession.

Yes, just the blood test morebeta

Are there any websites/books that I can get ideas/recipes from?

I have to do something...I am 39 and feel 79!....

Mostly I use normal recipes but just use gluten free flour and normally add Xanthan Gum. You normally have to add that to replace the gluten as GF flour does not bind together. Sometimes I use dried egg white powder as a binder instead as Xanthan Gum is not that good for you.

A really nice recipe I use often is Nigella Tangy Lemon Polenta cake. Uses polenta (ground maize) rather than flour. Does not need Xanthan gum or dried egg white.

Best thing to do is go to your local library and browse the shelves for gluten free recipe books. I like this Phil Vickery one.

I also like this one which has superb recipes for sweet tart and savoury quiche pastry which is nicer tasting than normal pastry.

Bread you can buy Genius from Sainsbury or get a breadmaking machine and cook your own GF bread.

My family eat mostly GF food now as it easier but you do have to cook a lot - no dashing out for an Indian or a Pizza.

Hello - does it sound reasonable to ask my consultant to test me for wheat allergy? I had a gut biopsy which was negative (although I had reintroduced gluten back into my diet for about 3 weeks prior to this)

I saw the ulceration in my colon (a tad surreal!!) but eating wheat is just a disaster for me. I recognise that my colitis will not be cured by avoiding certain foods, but if wheat is a significant factor & is triggering such a profound immune response in me, then surely it would be helpful to clarify this? ( you can say if IABU )

I'm in a similar boat! Had symptoms getting continually worse from my early 20s til I finally sought medical attention at 26 well I saw an incredibly useless and condescending GP a white before who didn't even examine me! I was tested for coeliac and other stuff. Came back as a bit anaemic but everything negative so got an exclusion diagnosis (as in they excluded everything else so they conclude it can only be) IBS. I take buscopan to help my digestive tract prepare for food. I did an exclusion diet from a book - think it was called Food allergies and intolerances and realised wheat exacerbated by IBS symptoms. I agree with other posters, reducing refined sugar intake helps but stopping it is easier said than done I definitely craved wheat when I ate it. I got blinding headaches when I cut it out but I am so much better without it! I stopped eating it 3 years ago. For a while I 'cheated' and would sneak cakes etc! DH could tell within hours cos I'd blow up and burp! Now I live totally GF. Not always easy but worth it.

plus3 - my consultant wants to get me tested for wheat allergy too as a final exclusion test - so yes do get it done. My consultant strongly recommended it. If you have an ulcerated colon you really do need to do something.

HaveALittleFaith - my diagnosis was one of exclusion too. You sound very similar to me in your symptoms. If I eat a tiny bit of gluten I feel dreadful and am ill for two days. If I eat any lactose I blow up and have dioarhea after 2 hours.

Yes it is not a an easy life but definitley worth it after 20 years of being ill.

I cut out wheat for much the same reasons as you list. When I don't eat any wheat, I feel undefinably better as well as the bloating thing.

I think my intolerance is minor - I can cope with eating it occasionally as the symptoms are easy to deal with. I can also tolerate Spelt better than ordinary wheat flour so if I need something ready (and sometimes I just do!) that seems to affect me less. I went completely wheatfree to start with but then gradually introduced it starting with things where it is just listed as an ingredient. I seem fine with that.

I think I had the same lightbulb moment as you, OP - had a bread based lunch and looked pregnant in the afternoon.

My consultant would be fascinated by this thread.

He has has been pushing forward a research agenda trying to make the medical profesion aware that there are a huge number of people who are suffering years of illness through non coeliac gluten intolerance and 'wheat allergy'. He has done large epidemiologica;l studies and he says that over teh last 30 years there has bene a huge increase in the incidence of all sorts of symptoms variously ascribed to IBS/gluten/wheat intolerance or allergy.

Many consultants and GPs are really quite dismissive or are just unaware and as a result my consultant says most of his patients eventually come to him have typically been suffering undiagnosed for decades - like may peopl on thsi thread.

He is an expert in coeliac but he says there are so many more people suffering severe illness form eating a grain based diet who do not show up positive in classic coeliac tests the definition needs to be widened.

Interestingly, I was fine 2 years ago. No symptoms at all. Towards the end of the first year I noticed the bloating and had a lightbulb moment where I thought "wheat". Probably helped by the fact that I have close friends who are coeliac.

It's been half term this week and I can feel I've eaten more wheat than I should.

That's really interesting MoreBeta. When I've pushed for a formal diagnosis I get dismissed, but when I get bad symptoms, or more recently unrelated abdo pain, they start telling me to keep a food diary to establish what exacerbates my symptoms! I'd like a formal diagnosis so I could get food stuff like the bread or juvela to make my own on prescription but no-one will do that! I keep hoping I can reintroduce it at some point. I read you can do a trial by eating a small amount and monitoring your heart rate. When I've accidentally had wheat - usually contamination from restaurants - I get awful palpitations about half an hour after and then digestive upset later so for now I remain GF!

OP if you do cut wheat out, you need to become rigorous about checking food labels! Lots of random stuff has wheat in it - most oven chips dunno why?! crisps, tinned meat like chicken in a white sauce. I registered online with the coeliac society for a food directory so I know exactly what I could eat.

Wetherspoons are brilliant in that the clearly indicate on their menus what's GF like most places do for vegetarians. I believe that is the way forward!

That is interesting, Beta. My DH has a very clear wheat intolerance but has always tested negative for coeliac's. I fully accept that coeliac's is a much more serious condition whose primary symptom happens to be the same, but wheat intolerance does tend to be regarded as 'just faddy'. Since living with DH I have hugely cut down on my wheat intake - not for any reason of health, just practicality. I'd now always choose a salad over a sarnie at lunch, it's weird. But I think better generally to mix your carb sources - there's nowt wrong with wheat for most people but a mixture of wheat, potatoes, rice, corn etc can't do much harm ...

You have just described every classic symptom of a wheat intolerance in the book!

Oh and meant to say that I will also suffer (albeit relatively mildly - it doesn't rule my life or anything) with those symptoms from eating refined sugar as well. Not diarrheoa but the constipation, bloating, heartburn, tiredness and lethargy, mood swings etc, etc.

I feel on top of the world when there is very little or no refined sugar and wheat in my diet. It's just a shame I can't always stick to it.

I grew up on a farm and back in the 1970s my father was paid extra money if he could grow high gluten varieties of wheat that could be used to make bread with. The UK developed a bread making process called the Chorleywood Bread Process that allows rapid rising and baking in a factory process.

The wheat my father grew was specially developed to go into this process. I am convinced that the bread making process in this country has contributed to this epidemic of 'wheat'gluten' problems we have in society. Doctors do dismiss at as faddy but peopel really are suffering. Some peope are particulalry prone to this problem perhaps because of damage to tehri gut by other disease or just genetically predisposed and hence takes decades tp appear.

My wife says she suffers mild symptoms if she eats to much bread but strangely does net get them when she eats traditional bread in mainland Europe.

There is a Bread Campaign to promote a move back to traditional bread making and I support it because I think our manufactured bread is a major contributing issue to ill health for some people.

Thing is I dont suffer from the runs at all - I have constipation. At times it has been so bad I havent "been" for 3 weeks...I will leave you to imagine how bloody painful and horrid that is! I do get nauseous and headachy when I dont go...perhaps thats linked?

I do wonder if my gerd is pg related and actually would be hepled by going GF and lactose free?....

oh, and senna and movicol dont work as well for me as they "should" IYSWIM? I have to wait a while before they work...certanly not the 8-12 hours it says on the pack!