Did you know? Drywall has Gluten!

I recently spoke at the PORTLAND (Maine) CELIAC DISEASE SUPPORT GROUP where an audience member told the story of her daughter arriving home from college and getting gluten attacks.

Now the daughter had been diagnosed years before and her mom kept at GF kitchen, so they couldn't figure it out. But the daughter was getting sicker every day over her break.

Finally her mom wondered about the renovations that were being done on the house. She researched the drywall that was being installed and found it contained wheat starch! In addition, the joint compound also contained a wheat derivative...and this stuff (as you can imagine) was floating all through their house. In fact, the mom was sweeping the floors daily.

Clearly gluten was coating everything!

Does anyone know of any other unsuspecting household substances that might contain gluten??

Gluten-Free Tip: GLattack

It's practically impossible to completely avoid gluten attacks all the time. My daughter refers to them as the much dreaded glattacks. For some people it can last for hours; for others it can last a couple of days. Symptoms vary including extreme runs or constipation, bloating, cramps, generalized body ache, and the list goes on. No matter how well you stick to your gluten-free diet, more than likely you will accidentally ingest gluten from time to time. Of course, you should steer away from gluten at all costs, but it isn’t the end of the world if you inadvertently eat it. And as you get more accustomed to a GF diet, you will recognize suspicious red flags more easily.

It is difficult to find remedies for accidental gluten ingestion because no one condones eating gluten ever. However, here is what some people I know with CD suggest for an occasional glattack:

1)Drink tons of hot tea and apply heating pad
2)Take a very hot bath and drink boiled water
3)Grab the Imodium AD (caplets are GF and halt the runs/bloating)
4)And this from http://www.celiac.com/ (1/03/09)

“Ultimately, gluten sensitive individuals should recover from one accidental “gluten slip” here and there, and keeping some digestive enzymes handy to help cope with such an accident is not a bad idea. But do keep in mind that repeated offenses, even the most minute, will damage your body and prevent it from healing. Enzymes help treat the symptoms, but only complete avoidance of gluten can treat the disease.”

(http://www.celiac.com/articles/21721/1/How-Celiacs-can-Deal-with-Accidental-Gluten-Ingestion/Page1.html)

How do you handle a glattack?