Everyone with Celiac is sensitive to gluten. I see many posts of people saying that they are “very sensitive” to cross contamination. I’m not sure what this means – does this mean they are “more” celiac than me because I’m not that way? Nope.
These “very sensitive” individuals may have some other things going on that is completely unrelated. Here is my take….
“Omg – when I eat stuff just goes right through me – I can’t eat anything.” If you’ve ever been with a baby, commonly, they poop either during a meal or right after. This is a well documented phenomenon called the gastrocolic reflex. Most of the time adults grow out of it but occasionally it returns. It is commonly associated with diarrhea predominant IBS and is perfectly normal. Furthermore, it takes between 45-90 minutes for food to pass through the stomach. So, food is not traversing your entire digestive tract in under 30 minutes.
“I get Celiac symptoms when I walk through a bakery or even the bread section of the supermarket.” This one is really hard for me to believe. In order for a Celiac reaction, you would have to ingest the gluten. Now, if you inhale airborne flour, the flour will get coated with mucous and delivered to your stomach. Kind of like hay fever and post-nasal drip. As discussed above, it takes 45-90 minutes before hitting the digestive tract, thus causing a celiac reaction. Now, some people say they get a headache or migraine, but I do not think those are related to Celiac. It could be something else.
“I ate something, I know it was gluten free, but I’m having a celiac reaction.” This one is my favorite. Celiac reactions can start anywhere from 60 minutes to days after exposure depending on how your body works. It could be an IBS type reaction. It could be a reaction from something eaten hours before. It could be something completely unrelated. If you truly have been gluten free for the last 48 hours, then it is something else. By truly gluten free I mean whole foods, not eating out, and no alcohol.
The bottom line is – we are all super sensitive to gluten and you are not better or sicker by saying that you are “super sensitive”. We all have terrible reactions, except the silent Celiacs and they are a sturdy, special breed. We all avoid cross contamination at all costs and are all trying to get by in this gluten covered world. So, I see these things and want to have a gluten reaction. 😉 (that’s a joke.)
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