RE: Managing allergic reactions -- some questions

[Guest guest]

Hi Aidan,

We generally address local issues, but celiac-related questions

of any kind fall into the category of support, so your question is appropriate.

Other than to confirm that airborne gluten, especially when it is burned, can

cause a reaction, I’m not much help.

I have never before heard of communion wafers or sandwiches being

a problem in terms of airborne gluten. I would have thought that the gluten

in the wafers would be contained unless there is a lot of dust somehow. I

know that you can smell the bread from sandwiches, but haven’t known

anyone to experience a reaction to it before this. I always wonder if the

ultra-sensitive celiacs among us are the “canaries in the coal mine”

so-to-speak, and that the asymptomatic absorption problems experienced by some

celiacs are the result of many exposures like this that most don’t react

to.

Since you are extremely sensitive, I wonder if your gluten

antibodies are very active through being constantly exposed to gluten in very

small amounts through being regularly exposed in some way you may not be aware

of. I knew one other celiac who was extremely sensitive to airborne

gluten; I think it took her about three years to get past that stage (the good

news here being that she got better). I wonder how long you have been GF

and if you have always been this sensitive?

Bromelain might help calm the digestive symptoms; some people

have had success with homeopathy (I recommend seeing a trained homeopath for

this).

Pam Newbury

From:

[mailto: ] On

Behalf Of Aidan Dunn

Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 11:04 PM

Subject: [ ] Managing allergic reactions -- some questions

Hi Everyone,

I have a general celiac question. I'm not sure if it's

appropriate for this list, since it's not Bay Area

specific. If this isn't the right place, I apologize

in advance... and I would humbly request a referral to

a more appropriate forum.

Generally, my gluten allergy is manageable, and I only

get sick when I accidentally ingest some gluten. I

just spent a week with my mother and her cats (I have

cat allergies), and ever since I got back, my gluten

allergy has been really bad.

Two days ago, my roommate was toasting a bagel... and

when I walked into the kitchen, I immediately felt

nauseated, had trouble breathing, and felt my throat

closing up. I took a lot of Benadryl, but was quite

sick and had trouble breathing the rest of the day.

I'm still feeling some symptoms (like migraines) from

that today. I'm dreading going back to school

tomorrow, and being stuck in a classroom with people

eating wheat products. (This has also been a problem

at church--I have to leave as soon as communion

starts.)

Some of my celiac friends have said that they hold

their breath walking by bakeries, or can't be in

cars/enclosed spaces with people eating bread, so I

know I'm not alone in this. I have two questions; if

you have any experience with this, I would really

appreciate hearing from you.

1. How do you manage your physical discomfort in

places where you can't avoid wheat products in the

air?

2. If you've had a severe allergic reaction and are

hypersensitive as a result, how do you " detox " from

it, so that your sensitivity can return to somewhat

normal levels?

Thanks in advance, and thanks for the valuable

information that you all post here... I've learned a

lot from reading the posts on this forum.

Regards,

Aidan