Does it (can it) feel like you’ve been hit over the head with a cricket bat? About as wiped out and ****ed as it’s possible to feel, without actually having an obvious cause or illness to ascribe it to?

MTFU and stop drinking on a skool night.

Already did that. Well the second bit anyway.

Trust me I know what a hangover feels like!

Try going gluten-free and see if that helps. Or go diary-free. It’s a complex subject.

Not quite like that for me.

I had immuno-testing carried out in Poland and it came up very strongly for wheat.

When I cut out wheat I noticed:
An absence of breathing problems (semi-blocked nose feeling).
No painful stomach cramps.
No (well not zero obviously) gas and swelling of lower abdomen.
Firmer (solid) stools.

I certainly feel beeter overall and I can reproduce the above symptoms with a couple of sandwichs, but I don’t remember being weak/wiped out.

Matt

It’s really a case of detective work. Perhaps write a daily diary of what you’ve been eating and drinking, how you felt.

It may not be wheat-related, you may need blood tests done. Maybe lacking in iron?

Ta: I’ve been feeling as I describe on and off (but a lot – most days) for a long time, tho I think other things have masked/confused it. I fixed the other things, it didn’t stop. I noticed the other day I had porridge for breakfast and felt OK in the morning, I had a sandwich at lunch and wham, cricket-batted. So I stopped eating wheat for 4 or 5 days now and I’ve not been cricket-batted since.

Obviously that ‘proves’ nothing, we’ll see. Just wanted to know if it correlated with anyone else’s experience.

Yeah I’ll try dairy free sometime too.

I don’t remember being weak/wiped out.

Not weak in a physical frailty sense, more ‘whammed’. Say you had a big wipe out on your bike and need a few moments to get up. But continuously.

Anyway let’s see. Thanks for your thoughts.

Try goats milk and spelt bread/GI, made a lot of difference for me, the ‘mass produced’ wheat in bread isn’t that good for you

IME if you stop eating it for a while and then have a binge on it, you seem to suffer as described

if you’re sure you have a wheat intolerance, then cut down on the wheat that you consume. Remember though, you won’t necessarily be gluten intolerant. They are different conditions.

Also, some allergic reactions are complementary to others, so eating one thing may encourage other allergies to develop. For example, if my girlfriend eats wheat, her skin becomes irritated and swollen if she eats tomatoes and apples. If she doesn’t eat wheat, she isn’t noticeably affected by tomatoes and apples.

if you’re sure you have a wheat intolerance, then cut down on the wheat that you consume. Remember though, you won’t necessarily be gluten intolerant. They are different conditions.

I’m not sure, trying to figure it out, and yeah am aware, thx for the headsup.

Is it a PITA for your gf, not eating wheat? Or no biggie?

Any chance you’re Irish, or descended from Irish parents/grandparents or whatever? Coeliac disease (allergy to gluten, mostly in wheat) is very common amongst people from Ireland (I think because of their more potato than wheat based diet traditionally).

Anyway, I would be careful of the internet and allergies/intolerances, it is full of rubbish. Also of ‘allergy testing’ like they do at health food shops or alternative health places, which appears to basically be made up snake oil.

What you should probably do if you have a health problem (and it sounds like you do) is go to the doctor – there are blood tests for Coeliac disease, and other things they’d probably want to rule out also. Go to the GP, book an appointment right now. There are various blood tests for it, plus further tests they can do.

Oh, and if you are cutting out wheat or gluten, don’t forget it is in beer. Sorry. Oh and soy sauce (most of them except tamari), so no Chinese takeaways.

It is hard to say whether your symptoms fit the symptoms of coeliac disease or similar. It is also a bad idea to ask on the internet, as you’ll get loads of self-diagnosed people who ‘sneeze more when they eat bread’ or whatever, who whilst they may be perfectly well meaning, may or may not have any particular disease that is relevant.

Joe, I’m an 1/8th Irish (perhaps more), to be honest I think most “white British” have some Irish in there!

Am aware of the pitfalls of the hivemind, no worries there, will speak to docs too in due course. Thx for the alerts.

(Good job I like wine too!)

I imagine from what you say you have a minor wheat intolerance rather than coeliac disease, ceoliacs tend to have much more serious reactions than feeling shite. I have a minor wheat intolerance, in that when I eat wheat it wipes me out and gives me severe diaohrrea, but I also have a milk (well lactose) intolerance. I try to go dairy free as I just can’t breath. I drink lacto free milk, can’t stand soya or any other varities in tea (am getting better at drinking black tea) and get some almond milk etc for after exercise.

Don’t bother with your GP unless it’s really bad I went and they just said “aahhhh very complicated to diagnose do some cutting out of various food stuffs yourself first” … so I did and hey presto I’m a lot better having discovered what makes me feel shizzle and what doesn’t. Good luck though as it’s hard work!

Oh and I’ve remembered white wine is awful for my allergies makes me feel like I have the flu! Red wine on the other hand is okay!

Yeah it’s not coeliac (from what I read of it).

My hunch is your barking up the right tree, re the GP too.

Sometime I’ll try dairy free too, once this has settled down. I’ve not taken milk in tea for years and wouldn’t want to now. I find having different blends (Assam, Darjeeling, Earl Grey etc) helps, and I can notice the difference without the gacky cow-juice in it. Redbush is nice too.

Or go diary-free. It’s a complex subject.

If you try this, make sure you’ve copied your important appointments onto the calendar in the kitchen.

If I fall off the gf diet, it feels a lot like being badly hungover, except with projectile vomiting instead of headaches.

Good luck with it- if it is a food allergy, they’re a pain in the arse.

it can be annoying to have the wheat intolerance when travelling, as you need to explain this to every restaurent, cafe, etc. On the other hand, you get to try lots of things you wouldn’t have normally tried. She enjoyed Italy and ate things other than pizza, pasta, etc.

Coeliacs affects the lining of your intestines, if i remember correctly. Do check this! My gf’s wheat intolerance just affects her skin. So even if she eats too much wheat, she is just uncomfortable and itchy. It’s not a serious problem.

She was told not to completely remove wheat (or indeed gluten) from her diet, as she should maintain her antibody population towards gluten.

There are lots of wheatfree and gluten free beers to try out. Have a look on the net for examples. Then, you have ciders and spirits and wine. Rye bread can be made without wheat, or you can try potato bread. Also, corn-based flours are OK, so you can eat lots of corn based pasta. It tastes pretty good and it keeps it’s form (unlike riceflour pasta).

I can go on about this for a good hour. Send me a mail if you want more advice, i’d be happy to help and point you to some websites (which are saved on another computer)

cheers,
rich

Thx rich, no need for any more, just thinking it through at the mo. Will drop you a line in the future maybe.

Or go diary-free. It’s a complex subject.

Dear me, what a bimbo. 😳

Coeliac disease (allergy to gluten, mostly in wheat)

Coeliac disease is not an allergey – it is autoimmune disorder of the small intestine that occurs in genetically predisposed people.

My 5 year old Daughter has been on a wheat/Gluten free diet since 4 months old, and got diagnosed as a Coeliac last summer.

Am in the process of going gluten-free as well as lactose-free in an effort to sort out my other health issue.

The g-f bread is really expensive so I sometimes pop into Waitrose to see if it’s reduced then it gets put in the freezer. Only suitable for toasting imo. The Warburton g-f rolls are nice but insubstantial.

Porridge has gluten but I’ve just started on the g-f stuff, twice the price for half the quantity! It’s OK but quite a few husks in it.

Gluten is in so many foods that you need to spend ages reading labels.

Lacto-free milk is delicious, not tried the l-f cheese yet but that’s going to be tough as is butter.

You can get private testing done via Genova, I’ve got details if you need them.

Edit: my biggest worry is when my non g-f beer is finished. How can I live without my London Pride? 😐

freeagent – Member

Coeliac disease is not an allergey – it is autoimmune disorder of the small intestine that occurs in genetically predisposed people.

Yup. But we say allergy because AIDS kind of ruined it for all the other autoimmune diseases!

Just wheat free for the mo, no need to bite the whole g-f cookie I hope.

How can I live without my London Pride?

Jack Frost this time of year surely?

When Pride is good tho, it’s the best thing. My best-ever was years ago on a ride in the Chilterns … I have no idea where it was!

Anyway surely the odd one won’t hurt? We gotta live.

Hopback Crop Circle is GF and the brewery is just down the road from me 😆

Very different to Pride, but still way nicer than specially brewed GF beers and half the price.

Ooooh, that’s interesting especially as I used to drive through that very lovely village sometimes!

I bought some g-f Green’s Golden Ale but there’s only 330ml in the bottle. 😯 Even so, I bought that at Sainsbury’s in Hedge End and thought they might have had more than that.

Will look out for Crop Circle when I’m next in Hampshire! 🙂

When Pride is good tho, it’s the best thing. My best-ever was years ago on a ride in the Chilterns … I have no idea where it was!

Would that have been at the infamous Carrier’s Arms in Watlington? I really miss the Chilterns. 🙁

Looking it up – from the pics, no. It was on a street (corner maybe) in a small town/big village. But it was a good few years ago.

I’d love to know where it was, best Pride I ever had (out of quite a lot, 2 Fullers pubs within a 5 minute walk of my house).

I’d much prefer to talk about beer than symptoms!

CG could you send me the Geneova testing details please Hans Rey more websites/info would be useful as I struggle sometimes. Just bought dummy guide to going gluten free.i quite like the rice milk but tesco dont sell it and we only have hundreds of tesco nowt else!

Personally, i’d at least tell my gp if I had something that was causing me a lot of hassle, especially when there is a relatively simple thing that they can test for which tells you if it is Coeliac. It is their job after all.

I would be a bit wary of using private testing companies for testing nutritional intolerances – some of that is snake oil stuff, designed to make money off neurotic people, even if it is done by people who wear white coats and look medically.

As for the beer, except for ones that are gluten free, it’s all got wheat in, so if you’re intolerant to wheat, you’d be intolerant to it too.

Check, but I think a lot of coeliacs can eat normal porridge oats – as I understand it the gf ones are just processed in a separate factory where no wheat is processed and they charge more for them.

Oh and indian restaurants are your friend – except for the obvious things – breads, poppadums, pretty much all good.

So basically what you’re saying is eat curry, drink wine, and deny my Irish heritage?

Munque-chick – email sent but forget to mention this may help:

http://glutenfreeguerrillas.healthunlocked.com/

Personally, i’d at least tell my gp if I had something that was causing me a lot of hassle, especially when there is a relatively simple thing that they can test for which tells you if it is Coeliac. It is their job after all.

Joe – the reality is somewhat different, for me anyway. I’ve gone outside of the NHS as they don’t want to help me. I do my own research and private testing.

These auto-immune conditions are interesting and we just have to remember that everyone is an individual.

Agree with CG when I went to the GP with stomach issues they basically said you need to try and identify the food causing it via process of elimination yes they will do testing eventually if it is mega serious but otherwise you have to help yourself first. Testing costs them a fortune and they dont like it! Thanks for that CG.

Just some feedback on Lactofree semi-hard cheese – had a little bit on some g-f savoury crackers and it was fine. Used it in an omelette but am afraid to say it didn’t cut it! Boy, did I miss my West Country Cheddar. 🙁

It is made from cows milk but has the texture of Edam/Emmental type of cheese.

M-c – glad that info was useful.

I tried soy yoghurt today took a while but I think it’s ok initially it out me off as it looks like out of date yoghurt it has that slightly lumpy consistency to it. Wasnt keen on taste to start but had it with a bowl of fruit after the gym this afternoon and actually quite enjoyed it. Like the rice milk you can get oo but not many places near me sell it so need to be organised.

Already I don’t eat meat. If I have to drop wheat and dairy there’s not much left! Good job I like curry.

(This came out nice, lovely winter warmer: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1364/spicy-root-and-lentil-casserole )

I would be a bit wary of using private testing companies for testing nutritional intolerances – some of that is snake oil stuff, designed to make money off neurotic people, even if it is done by people who wear white coats and look medically.

Like CG i went outside of NHS, as my GP was unhelpful. Just kept telling me i was overdoing it or i’d had a virus.

Went to the Optimum Health Clinic in London, saw one of the UKs leading nutritionists, who straight away tested me for gluten intolerance via Genova Labs. Hey presto, i was. It was like emerging from a ten year hangover when i then went GF. Never looked back.

So its not all snake oil magic.

Red Apple Clinic are also very good.

Northwind – Member

freeagent – Member

Coeliac disease is not an allergey – it is autoimmune disorder of the small intestine that occurs in genetically predisposed people.

Yup. But we say allergy because AIDS kind of ruined it for all the other autoimmune diseases!

LoL!

Already I don’t eat meat. If I have to drop wheat and dairy there’s not much left! Good job I like curry.

How on earth do you manage??!! Do you take supplements?

FWIW I’m feeling better even though I’ve not gone 100% g-f and lactose-free. Almost there, just a few things left in the cupboard/freezer.