Does this mean it isn't working?

[sfruss13]

I've been GF for a week now, and up until this morning it worked like magic...no symptoms at all, almost overnight, for a week. But this morning they came back, even though I've stuck to the diet pretty well. Is that normal? Or does this mean the diet isn't working for me? Not sure if I should just throw in the towel or give it more time and hope this was an anomaly. (I shouldn't have experienced any cross contaminated food yesterday.)

[brandy]

Welcome to the forum!

Anomaly. There are peaks and valleys early on as you are healing. Give GF 10 weeks or so. You should have consistency then.

[brandy]

Contamination is a funny thing. I learned how touchy the contamination thing is at Mom's house. Mom is celiac and GF. I cooked the meal at Mom's house. It was a very safe meal that I've eaten dozens of times: steak, baked potato and broccoli.
I reacted the next morning. I clearly had experienced contamination even though I cooked a very safe meal in a celiac's house. Dad is not GF and I suspect either a frying pan or the dishes had gluten contamination.

[Gabes-Apg]

dont throw in the towel -
gluten has a half life of 120 days - so it can take a few weeks (or months) to totally leave your body

a few things that could be at play;

- have you given up dairy as well?
when we are no longer having an item that is a major trigger, then another item can become the major trigger (and the symptoms return)

- have you replaced gluten type items with gluten free baked goods/processed goods?
similar to the answer above, you may be reacting to the ingredients in these items ie like soy etc. the other aspect is that alot of commercial preprepared gluten free items are higher in sugar. the sugar may be the issue

- have you doubled checked vitamins, bathroom products, make up, for gluten
if the shampoo has wheatgerm, toothpaste could have gluten, some brands of makeup have gluten in the lipstick etc

[tex]

Brandy is right on target. Our immune system is so sensitive when MC is active that it will not tolerate us sticking to the diet "pretty well". We not only have to be 100 % compliant 100 % of the time, but we also have to be very careful to avoid all cross-contamination or other traces of all of the foods that cause our immune system to produce antibodies. It's a tough chore at first, but after a while it becomes second nature as we become used to keeping a close eye on our diet.

And as she pointed out, it's very common to have good days and bad days while recovering. Virtually all of us have that happen during recovery.

Tex

[dolson]

I became sick yesterday in the evening. Why??? I ate Cheerios for breakfast - GF oats for the first time, in a long time. For lunch I ate sliced ham and raspberries. For supper I had frozen chicken pieces with only water and vinegar listed on the ingredient package along with canned pears rinsed well in water. I became sick around 8:00 p.m. This was watery D, almost explosive!!!!! Does it take our body time to become sick or does it happen almost in an instant? I am confused as to what made me ill. Would y'all know?

[tex]

Hi Dorothy,

You probably reacted to the oats. Most of us react to the avenin in oats (which is very similar to the gluten in wheat, except that it's a weaker antigen).

Reaction times usually vary by the individual. Often they occur about 3 to 6 hours after ingesting an antigen, but for some foods they may occur up to a day or so later. Those are IgA-based reactions and they're the rule for MC. If you have a histamine reaction (an IgE-based reaction) it can occur in a few minutes, and in extreme cases it can occur a few seconds after exposure.

Tex