It happened. The mighty foe we’ve been fighting off for 11 years with the gluten free diet gave us a not-so-nice reminder that he’s never very far away. Emma officially got symptoms that she got “GLUTENED”.
The last time I saw this villain that consumes my daughter with GI symptoms was when she was 15 months old — with her big celiac malnourished belly, bad diarrhea and vomiting. But that all changed this week when he came back.
The Gluten Attack
But this weekend she got something in our Easter meals. We actually are still working on deducing what it was, but she ate it and within about 24 hours she was having symptoms. I wasn’t sure what those symptoms would be. I actually always wondered if she’d throw up, get diarrhea or something else. It was nothing I wanted her to have, but I was curious what it might be. I actually wondered if she had become asymptomatic because she didn’t even react when she was clearly cross-contaminated at Maggianos last July.
But this time she had three clear symptoms: Fatigue, diarrhea and stomach pain. At the time I couldn’t figure out what it was (something from home, perhaps something from a recent dining out experience), but then my brother called. He gets violently ill for about a day when he gets “glutened”. He called and talked to me about it and confirmed he got sick after eating some Easter leftovers.
The Recovery
Emma got through everything Sunday and Monday, although she didn’t like not feeling well at school on Monday. She told me the feeling was kind of scary and that it sort of made the celiac thing even more real to her since she doesn’t remember ever being sick when she was a baby.
My family is very, very careful in the kitchen and all the meals were completely gluten free (well that was the plan anyway….there was no gluteny bread served or anything). So the risk of cross contamination was virtually zero. My family continues to work on where the gluten came from (we do have our suspicions about some potentially inaccurate information, but need to confirm it before saying anything in this space).
Emma is feeling much better but is now familiar with the celiac enemy that lies within. It is a big reminder that maintaining that strict gluten free diet is the only way to keep the enemy at bay and keep my daughter healthy.
Tags: celiac, disease symptoms, gluten-free
April 28th, 2011 at 7:41 am
Did you have meat? It could be meat glue!
April 28th, 2011 at 10:20 am
Gosh I am so sorry!!! Like you I always wonder what it will look like? I am so vigilant and careful that I don’t know if I have ever had a hit of gluten. If anything temps me to intentionally eat gluten it is a wicked desire to know how it will manifest, just so I can be sure. But alas, I am far to responsible to go down that road. I am sure you want to be very careful about calling out any potential culprits but I hope you figure it out.
April 28th, 2011 at 10:44 am
Thanks guys, We are still looking into the details and have it narrowed down. Hoping to get our answer soon.
April 30th, 2011 at 8:28 pm
Eating outside your own home and controls is always a gamble. Even though I read ingredients very closely in things I buy, and question menu items in restaurants closely, I still end up getting ‘glutened’ from time to time, and suffer through an entire week of misery. Any more, if there is a sauce or gravy or even a broth, I try to avoid it, because it might have gluten in it. That was the source of my last bout- some soup that had been thickened with flour instead of with cornstarch. I’d eaten it before with no problems, but someone else had made it, using the wrong ingredients.
I’ve added your blog to the roll on my new blog, “Feeding Wisdom”. Its focus is on weight-loss, diet, and health, but I maintain a gluten-free diet, so that is one of things I focus on.
May 2nd, 2011 at 1:36 am
Maybe, she just had a touch of the flu?
May 2nd, 2011 at 7:08 am
Thanks Sherry, but it’s unlikely. Since my brother got very sick too, and they didn’t even see each other that weekend. We’re sure they both got glutened.