Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Gluten Frustration

Hubby had a saliva test done to see if he has any issues with soy, egg, dairy, or gliadin. It didn't click in my head that gliadin was gluten antibodies because I was so worried I'd have to cut out eggs or dairy, like it's the end of the world or something. He got his test results back and he has a small reaction to dairy that shouldn't cause us too many problems, I want him to eliminate it from his diet for a couple weeks and then we can bring it back to see how much he can handle. But the result that made me feel like an utter failure and just punched me in the gut was his high SIgA level (anti-gliadin antibodies) stating he is reacting to gluten. We of course knew he had issues with gluten but these levels are saying he is getting gluten in his diet, I think. So where and how?

Our house is 100% gluten free and I felt like I had this under control, until now. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out where he's getting it and purchased some EZ Gluten kits to test some questionable items in our house. My main worry is projected at the Trix Swirls and my boy is not happy about this stating that he's been fine when he eats them. I also want to test the items that are GF but made in a facility that also processes wheat, it may be a small amount but enough to affect Hubby. These tests aren't cheap and since I thought the shipping was expensive (especially when topped with a handling fee) I wasn't willing to pay for quick shipping so it will be about a week before we get them.

I did a little bit of searching online and found a forum where people that were GF stated they had been GF for 10+ months and still showed high levels of IgA. Hubby did eat gluten for his blood test the end of last summer so that put me on another internet search. I looked up more info and found this chart showing the correlation of a GF diet and Anti-gliadin antibody (AGA) levels. The longer an individual was on a GF diet the lower the AGA levels went. So it could take months to years for these levels to drop even with a GF diet. I could be way off base on this but I'm hoping his levels just haven't had enough time to drop but will over time. This would be a relief because then I can feel confident that our house is GF.

Anyone have experience with this?

4 comments:

  1. I don't know really, but also that the longer you go without gluten the more severe the reaction.

    One thing that i didn't realize i was getting was caramel coloring bases.

    Good luck and if there is anything we can help with let us know!

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  2. Both Dave and I have noticed that our reactions to gluten are much more extreme now, at least it let's us know when we've had it. Caramel coloring does make me worry because it's in so many things, I wish the label regulation on food would be more reliable.

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  3. maybe he's sneaking McDs like my hubby. ;)

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  4. That gave me a good chuckle! If he is and puts me through all this he's in for a heap of trouble :)

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