6 Signs that you are sensitive to gluten
Recognizing the sensitivity to gluten, as well as its possible consequences of celiac disease is not easy, especially at an early stage, if some of the symptoms are ignored. Medical tests can often make mistakes.
Unfortunately, standard medical tests to gluten are not precise enough and can be negative, and people who are sensitive to gluten and usually continue to suffer from various problems.
Conventional blood test for gluten sensitivity is made only on one of the six polypeptides in a row, and that is gliadin.
However, there are five more: agglutinin, gliteomorfin, gluten, prodynorphin and omega-gliadin. And only one of them, or a combination of them, may cause reactions to wheat if someone is sensitive to gluten.
Symptoms of gluten sensitivity, unfortunately, are not clear enough to be isolated and can be attributed to a variety of other diseases. Even those found to have a sensitivity to gluten or celiac disease show different symptoms. Therefore, it is quite a complicated question.
Possible symptoms of gluten sensitivity
This article lists six common symptoms, as well as advice on how to determine if you are not intolerant to gluten.
Sometimes these symptoms occur immediately after a meal and do not last long. In other cases, symptoms can last for weeks, or even become a chronic, which often leads to the diagnosis of an alleged “autoimmune disease” instead of intolerance to gluten.
- It is evident that gastrointestinal symptoms will be present and the problems with the stomach indigestion. Among them, the following are possible: gas, bloating, nervous stomach, abdominal cramps, constipation, diarrhea, or alternation of constipation and diarrhea – the so-called. irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
- A headache and/or a migraine
- Fibromyalgia is not a disease, it is a syndrome. This means that you have pain in the muscles and connective tissues. You may use medical marijuana from San Diego dispensaries, for example, to help curb the pain.
- Emotional problems including constant and sudden irritability, irrational mood swings.
- Neurological problems, including dizziness, problems with balance and peripheral neuropathy which affects peripheral nerves causing pain, weakness, and numbness of the limbs.
- Chronic fatigue almost after every meal. Chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalgia, is not a disease but a syndrome. If you have been diagnosed, it means that the doctor is unable to determine the cause of your fatigue.
All these symptoms can be found in other diseases or medical problems. Therefore, it is very difficult to diagnose based on symptoms.
How to make a final decision
First of all, write down all the symptoms that bother you whether they are occasional or chronic. Simply write them down without trying to explain them.
Then try to keep 60 days without gluten. If you feel that you are unable to do so, it could mean that you are dependent on the gluten. Paradoxically, but we are often dependent on the things we are allergic.
What to exclude
A gluten-free diet excludes: wheat, rye, barley, spelt, oats, and triticale – these are cereals containing gluten.You can consume: rice, quinoa, buckwheat, and sorghum – these grains do not contain gluten. Processed food almost always contain gluten in some form, unless they are emphatically declared as “non-gluten”. It is best not to buy processed foods, salad dressing, and prepared meals.
After 60 days, return to the list of your symptoms and check how many of these symptoms has remained. If they are mostly gone, it can be a good start for you to hold the gluten-free diet. If you are not sure, go back to the previous diet to see if the symptoms you had previously will return . After 6 months of gluten-free diet, you may be able to gradually add some of the foods that you had left out.
Related: 5 Ways How Food Affects Our Mood