Do You Have Gluten Allergy Symptoms Or Gluten Intolerance?
Many people inaccurately interchange the terms gluten allergy symptoms and gluten intolerance symptoms. Here we will define each, take a look at treatment and diagnosing, along with how does gluten allergy symptoms affect you and your lifestyle.
The difference between gluten intolerance and a gluten allergy?
A gluten allergy is defined as an adverse reaction by the body’s immune system to a substance that is not characterized as normal. Symptoms and other strange allergy symptoms are produced by this immune response.
Gluten intolerance is an adverse reaction to a food that does not involve the immune system. The body simply does not agree with the food or the food produces symptoms that are a distress to the person. The digestive system just does not process gluten properly.
Common symptoms of gluten allergies:
How does allergies to gluten affect you? When all individuals who have gluten allergy symptoms are lumped together, a comprehensive list of symptoms is quite long. However the most commonly reported symptoms to physician’s diagnosing gluten allergy are as follows: Stomach pain and cramping, abdominal bloating, gas or flatulence that causes discomfort, nausea/vomiting, indigestion and diarrhea. Other (uncommon) symptoms occur in select individuals.
Is diagnosing a gluten allergy difficult?
Actually you can begin the diagnosing process at home before you see your doctor. If you suspect anything are causing your discomfort you should remove these food items from your diet for one week and record whether or not your symptoms improved:
• Wheat and wheat containing foods (such as bread, cakes, cookies, pies, pasta, etc.).
• Oats and oat containing foods (such as granola bars).
• Rye and Barley products (such as beer, and bread)
• Bran, Couscous and processed cereals.
• Check the label of foods closely to make sure you eliminate the gluten containing products. Keep a journal of any symptoms you do or do not incur. Take the diary with you to your medical professional. This will enable them to determine if you need further testing for gluten allergy or rather something else for example, tea allergy.
If I have been diagnosed with this, how will allergies to gluten affect you and your lifestyle?
Depending on how severe your gluten allergy and your physician recommendations, you may have to make some adjustments to your dietary habits. When diagnosing your gluten allergy, your doctor probably performed a skin or blood test to see if you were allergic to gluten and how severe an allergy you have. If the results were that you have severe symptoms, your doctor may recommend you remove all gluten form your diet for a specified time period.
This time period will allow your system to recover and repair itself properly, without a constant irritation. After this recovery period your doctor may recommend desensitization treatment to build up your immune systems tolerance to gluten.
An easy way (that has no side effects) is to simply leave the gluten out of your diet and/or use an alternative. Some people utilize rice flour as a substitute to wheat (gluten containing) products. There are also flours available (usually at your local health food store) that have the gluten removed from them.
Many people choose this option rather than medical intervention. Always consult your health care provider about gluten allergy symptoms before making any drastic lifestyle changes.
