Myth: ”Eating gluten if you have celiac disease will just give you a stomach ache for a day. It’s just like lactose intolerance.”
Truth: So NOT true.
I hate this myth. I really do. I have written before on the differences between Gluten Intolerance, Gluten Allergy & Celiac Disease but that was more in terms of what the processes are within the body and how that pertains to cross-contamination. There is still a lot of confusion about gluten intolerance, celiac disease and comparisons to lactose intolerance that need to be cleared up.
Symptoms of celiac disease and the reactions to gluten can vary quite drastically from person to person. It depends on your sensitivity, your current intestinal status and how the autoimmune disorder plays in your body. One thing for sure though is ingesting gluten when you have celiac disease is anything but a simple stomach ache.
Every time gluten comes into contact with the intestines of someone with celiac disease – damage is done. Not just bloating, not just gas or a queezy stomach – but intestinal damage. Research even shows that even when on a gluten free diet that damage done can be present for up to five years. This damage puts us at risk for developing intestinal cancer, potentially serious malabsortion issues, and it can even turn into a refractory disease due to consuming foods that are contaminated with gluten.
Personally when i inadvertently ingest gluten my reaction is quick and hard. Cross contamination will have me feeling effects and symptoms within a hour and can last for 2-4 weeks. That’s just from a small amount of gluten. I don’t even want to think about what would happen now when a larger amount of gluten is in my body. I imagine it would be fast, hard and very long lasting – possibly causing me to resume the liquid calorie diet I was on for 6 months after initial diagnosis.
That sounds a lot more serious then ‘just a stomach ache’ to me.
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Twitter: CassieJayT
December 14, 2011 at 9:38 pm
I completely agree! Some people just don’t realize the seriousness of needing to be gluten free! My favorrite is when I’m at a restaurant and ask if they have a gluten free menu and they tell me thst ‘they have really healthy food so I shouldn’t worry about what I order there!’ Right, because I’m doing this to lose weight! Needless to say, I don’t eat anything at a place that doesn’t understand the issue!
I agree! I got glutened over the weekend by salad dressing (seriously-who puts gluten in dressing!), and have been sick for 5 days-now dr. says to go back to liquid diet. Ugh-I hate this disease!