What is a Gluten Reaction?

Whether you have celiac disease (or coeliac disease) or a gluten sensitivity, a gluten reaction is what happens to your body after you’ve ingested gluten – either intentionally or accidentally.

If you’re a celiac, then your digestive system actually attacks itself, causing you longterm damage when your system comes into contact with gluten. Whether you’re celiac or gluten sensitive, you’ll likely be in a lot of digestive pain after you’ve ingested gluten.

With celiac disease, this can get a little muddled. Celiac disease notoriously has different symptoms for different people. This can make getting a diagnosis particularly difficult. If you’re like Isabelle and you have multiple dietary restrictions and food intolerances, then pinning down what’s causing the problem can be difficult when everything results in some kind of digestive pain. According to the Celiac Disease foundation, being on a gluten free diet as a celiac doesn’t even mean that you won’t feel symptoms day-to-day.

These gluten reactions can also vary in terms of intensity. When Isabelle was in the earlier stages of celiac disease (and didn’t know it yet), eating some gluten caused her discomfort, but not enough that it rang any alarms for her. Meanwhile, if she has minor cross-contamination nowadays she sometimes can’t eat for a few days because the pain is so bad.

How do I handle a gluten reaction?

Unlike typical food allergies, you can’t treat a gluten reaction with Benadryl or an EpiPen. Gluten reactions don’t tend to be immediately life-threatening (unless you ingested a very large amount of gluten at one time), and they can’t really be treated that way. Instead, you need to do what you can to ride out the storm.

Tip #1: Turn to “Safe” Foods

Whether or not you feel your reaction for more than a few hours, it’s a good idea to take it easy with food for the next couple of days after your gluten reaction to let your body heal. This means only eating foods that you know are tried and true for you, and keeping it bland. A good way to go with this is a modified BRAT diet. This usually consists of Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast (gluten-free of course). Sometimes tea is also included on here (peppermint, ginger, or chamomile are great choices).

Tip #2: Ease the Pain

Whether in the moment of the gluten reaction or as soon as you get the chance, you need to do what you can to ease your pain. This might mean drinking a cup of tea that makes you feel better, putting on comfortable and loose clothing, taking a bath, or curling up in bed. We’ve even cut plans short before if Isabelle has a bad enough reaction—per Peter’s insistence.

While this might not always be an option, if you can make at least one of these happen then you’ll be able to get through your gluten reaction a little more smoothly.

Tip #3: Digestive Relief Medications

We discovered only in the last year or so how helpful it is to have some kind of digestive relief medication on hand in case of a gluten reaction. Isabelle doesn’t like to rely on these too much, but in bad cases she’s taken some Pepto Bismol to help ease the pain. We only learned about this from a doctor when we both had a crazy case of the stomach flu and she had complications from being celiac. These kinds of medications won’t eliminate the reaction, but they will help with the symptoms.

Tip #4: Find the Source of Your Gluten Reaction

If you’re a celiac (or someone with a gluten sensitivity) that never wavers from a gluten free diet, then most of your gluten reactions are going to be a game of “find the hidden allergen.” This is important because if you tried a new food, went to a new restaurant, or ate in an environment where there was any chance of cross-contamination with gluten, then you need to know what that food was in order to prevent another gluten reaction.

This is something that will really help you prevent making the problem worse. We’ve had this happen a few times when we’ve tried a new seasoning or pasta sauce, or even when Isabelle has bought a different brand of tea than usual. If she keeps consuming what’s making her sick without realizing it, then that can be a problem. When it comes to cross-contamination at a restaurant or other social situation, then it might be a matter or making different choices or taking more precautions the next time around.

Tip #5: Think Longterm

Part of being a celiac is knowing that you have to be on a 100% gluten free diet at all times. That means no cheat days and avoiding gluten reactions at all costs. However, this can also mean taking measures to heal longterm. A good way to go about this is to take probiotics. Celiacs—especially those who had trouble being diagnosed—have taken a lot of damage to their digestive tracts. Repairing this damage, even slowly, can really help you bounce back from reactions more quickly and have less day-to-day pain.