Weather triggers - cold or heat worse?

I woke up today feeling achy and crampy all over today.  This has not happened since I cut out gluten from my diet.  I know gluten is a trigger for me, if I have even one cookie, it kicks my butt the next day.  

But, today was really odd, both legs felt like they were ready to go into a charlie horse type of cramp and my feet feel like they have been shocked, have that kinda buzz feeling.  My right side is seldom and when involved, it's minor.  But today,even my right hand feels weak.  

The only thing we can think of is that this morning it was cold and rainy, just kinda a yuck day overall.  I knew last summer that intense sun and heat cause my legs to spasm, but this is the first time cold has bothered me this much.

What is your experience?   More reactions to heat or cold?   Does the weather also cause your symptoms to do a psuedo flare?

Thanks for your feedback!

Jen

[EmmyJN]

My friend and I are both allergic to gluten, my friend worse than my own. We both experience similar symptoms to what you're saying. As soon as I saw this post, I called her, and this is what her and I decided on after comparing notes:

If you're really allergic to gluten, this can happen really often. Gluten can be in barley, wheat, potatos, corn, and some nuts (scarily). Most people are allergic to wheat gluten, and so they only cut out wheath gluten. Now, when I product says "Wheat Free", it's specific to that allergy. When it says "Gluten Free", it's usually including all foods that could have gluten, which are listed here above for you.

I would recommend talking to your GI or allergist, whoever you see to handle your allergy. Discuss the symptoms with them--maybe keep a log so you can accurately describe what's happening. You may be allergic to more than one kind of gluten. I say this because the symptoms you're presenting are almost on par to what my friend and I experience when we've just eatten gluten. My friend, for example, once had a cookie we thought was gluten free. It wasn't. She couldn't move her legs all night, and we almost had to call and ambulence. While she's not anaphalaxic, her doctor has her keep an EpiPen for these situations, because the gltuen can mess up your nervous system.

If I were you, I would experiement with different gluten products. Try cutting out all potatos, corn, wheat, and barley. If you notice yourself getting better, reintroduce one at a time. Try eatting the barley--if that's okay, keep it. Then go without for a few days, and try one of the other, and see what happens. Bring up the results to your doctor.

Also, you may have come in contact with something that had gluten in it and didn't notice. I known of people who have contact allergies with gluten, and if there cookie sits on a plate that had bread on it, they get really sick. This is another possibility to bring up to the doctor, because even though they're rare, people can be contact-allergic to gluten, as well as ingest-allergic.

I reallty hope this information helps you out. Let me know if you need any more help!

~ Em

[jenphilly]

Em -

Thanks for your thoughts...  I am pretty thorough with gluten and have taken to seldom eating processed / prepared foods.  Yesterday was actually a light day for me, the only thing I had that is anywhere near questionable is peanut butter...  had an apple with PB for breakfast.  For dinner had homemade spaghetti (GF pasta that I've had before).  

I don't eat any type of bread or baked products unless I make them.  I have everyone in the family hooked on Chebe products, we even make the pizza at home now using Chebe garlic onion bread mix for the crust.  

I actually am not diagnostically allergic to gluten or wheat.  All the tests come back normal, but everytime I have something, it kicks my butt.  I read every label, my daughter thinks its so funny to go thru the grocery store with me now or read labels on something in the pantry at home :)  Try to keep a sense of humor about it!  

I don't know if this is truly from gluten or weather related.  I have not had a day like this in months and that was from having a roll at dinner and 2 martinis (it was my honeymoon on a cruise, so I was bad!)...  

Thanks for your thoughts, I had kept a log for months and that was when we saw the pattern that gluten was a trigger for me.  Might have to start again and keep both food and weather to see if a new pattern emerges...

Thanks for your thoughts and encourging the log again, think it might be time!  

jen

[EmmyJN]

You're very welcome :) I find the logs help me take better care of myself, even when doctors won't listen.

I found these pills the other day in the helath food store. They're kind of like lactaid, but for people who can't eat gluten. They're called GlutenEase. They've really helped me tollerate things. (I was able to eat bread the other day!)

Please keep me posted and let me know how it goes!

~ Em