Talking Allergies

I am 43 and have developed a severe allergy to wheat, barley and rye. The allergists have told me it is unheard of for someone my age to develope this. It is something you are usually born with and out grow. Is there anyone out there that has a similiar circumstance with grains? It is not a glutten intolerance.
Just last month the grains barley and rye have become allergic to me. I go into anaphalxic shock within minutes.

I'm gonna move this to the "wheat allergy" forum.

What a change in your life! Was your reaction to wheat instant, was it just black and white, or do you feel that your body broke down gradually and began to 'malfunction'? I am interested to know how you determined wheat as the culprit, how did you isolate that food in your initial diagnosis? I can relate, just turned fifty and found out that wheat doesn't like me. I'm not anaphylactic though, sorry to hear that you are!

don't think in my case it was an instant allergy at age fifty, I think it had been creeping up. I had had an abdominal MRI, ultrasound and stool samples, looking for a cause. It had never been debilitating, I could let it go for another year ot two when those test showed nothing. Significantly, I was under a lot of personal and career stress for the past two years, and i think my body was finally 'falling apart'.

My gastrointestinal troubles were so explosive i was unable to get to work. I was exhausted and confused. What was the problem, and what did I need to do to 'fix it'? Went to my GP, parasite tests were negative. She said "IBS, nothing i can do". So I went to the Naturopathic College and they put me on probiotics, enzymes, L-glutamine and the Allergy Elimination Diet. Within 1-2 weeks my symptoms had improved tremendously! I was so encouraged, even though my diet was severe. I also did a parasite cleanse, by choice. I discovered i had to be discrete about my experimentation.

A few months later, when i felt stable, I started to re-introduce foods into my strict diet It was the wheat that did me in! So I stayed off it. Later, after researching gluten allergy, I started to question my self diagnosis, because i hadn't had the biopsy proof. Then I inadvertantly (sp?) challenged myself with wheat and barley, and failed the test miserably. The bread I ate was Ethiopian Injera, traditionally made from teff flour only, but there was no ingredients listing. I ate huge piece, so happy to have found a new 'safe' food. I got sick. When i called the bakery for the ingredients they told me it was equally wheat/barley/teff flours!!!

I'm still working through other foods, It's a slow process, and i am looking at other means of testing.

So I don't know if this is of any help to you, but as of age fifty i can no longer eat wheat.

I too have IBS with a wheat sensitivity. I developed this into my late 30s. Perhaps it isn't as bad as what has been previously described but after staying away from wheat and taking a anti-spasm (Dicetele) I am in somewhat of a remission after about 10 years
Sue

Sue, what method did you use to determine that consuming wheat was causing trouble?

NHS, Before your doctor came to the IBS conclusion, did she send you to be tested for celiac disease? I suppose it doesn't make a difference in your diet whether you are avoiding gluten because you are allergic or because you have celiac. But if you have celiac disease, gluten free foods would be deductible on your income tax returns.

Well I was sick...bloating, tired, gassy...didn't know why. So I tried the elimination diet. when I took wheat out of it I started to feel better. Then I thought one day I would love some Pringles potato chips...ate a lot of them and got sick. After going over the label I found wheat. So from there I tested the theory...there it was, wheat was making me sick. I can't imagine how many times I was ill and decided to eat toast or crackers thinking it was a good thing to eat when you're not feeling well...man, it was awful.
So now I read labels carefully and do believe that some products do not list any form of wheat yet after eating them I am ill as if I ate wheat. So as dilagent as we seem to be sometimes we get caught.
Sue

I found this really interesting as I am 53 and have had a similar experience. For the poast few years, I have suspected that I might have a"wheat" allergy but it wasn't until I experienced numbness in my feet that my doctor finally pinpointed my problem. I found out that it can be a symptom of gluten sensitivity and, since cutting wheat, rye & barley out of diet less than a month ago, my fee are almost back to normal and I can go for walks once again![/i]

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The world is my lobster!

Hmmm . . .that sounds like celiac disease. Did you get tested for celiac? If you do want to be tested, iIt might be wortwhile doing soon . . .because once you are gluten free for awhile, all the tests come back negative regardless of whether you have celiac or not.

I too had the incorrect IBS diagnosis before they finally came to the conclusion that I had wheat allergies (though I had to be persistent in my requests to get tested). I think you should aim to get tested like others are saying here, its the only way to have peace of mind.

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Josh
Gluten Free since 2003