Is my husband allergic to wheat?

[seattlemom2plus]

This past year or so we have noticed an increase in heartburn when my husband eats wheat.  For example Co-Co wheaties which is just warmed up wheat gives him excruciating heartburn.  Is this because of the wheat or the food just irritating the heartburn?  This is without butter and without milk, just water, and a teaspoon of sugar.  Interested to hear others experiences with this.

[seattlemom2plus]

I had no idea about the latex :(  I love Dr. Mercola site and the free newsletter that they send out, it's very helpful.  I always cross reference his articles with Dr. Weil, he is another favorite of mine.

Cracker Barrel Restaurant actually distributes a gum made out of cloves.  It has regular sugar in it, but I don't get heartburn from it.  Have no idea all the ingredients in there though lol

[FurballsMom]

It doesn't surprise me at all that Aspartame gives you heartburn.  It does the same thing to me.  Stevia is the only artificial sweetener that Mercola considers to be "safe", but it makes my stomach burn, too.  So does anything with soy in it.  There are quite a few articles on Mercola's site about artficial sweeteners, too.  Consider yourself fortunate in a way about the Aspartame allergy, because it will discourage you from using something that is harmful to your health.  I had to take prescription strength Benadryl this morning because of some delayed reaction to something that was making it impossible to sleep because of the reflux.  Conventional medicine would write this off and say that GERD is simply the over production of stomach acid.  Well, actually, that's over-simplifying GERD.  I took the Benadryl, because it's better than reaching for the PPI meds that shut off the stomach acid and are so bad for a person's health when used long-term.  They actually cause the stomach to start churning out even more acid in the long run, too, because the stomach will notice the missing acid and over compensate.  

I actually have quite a long list of foods that do this to me.  The majority of my food sensitivities cause this reaction.  Avoiding the worst offenders is the only way I have any real control over the symptoms.

If you're close enough to get to Trader Joe's, they have the most affordable rice pasta you can find.  It costs about half the price that the same kind of pasta costs in the other chain stores.  I find the rice pasta to be better than the rice tortillas or the rice breads, because the rice tortillas and the rice bread tend to crumble apart.  They don't taste bad, but they do fall apart.  It's the gluten in traditional breads that keeps this from happening.  

Actually, I knew that all chewing gum used to be made with latex.  Actually, I did a bit of research on some modern day ingredients of these gums and found out that many do still use a form of latex.  It just isn't called "latex" after the alterations the scientists have done with it.  I used to chew gum as a kid, but now it all bothers me.  I don't think it's just one ingredient that bothers me.  But, I have TMJ issues any more, so I don't enjoy chewing gum any more anyway.  Mercola explained something interesting about chewing gum that I had no idea about when I was a a kid.  He said that chewing gum can actually cause an acceleration of the decrease in digestive enzymes that all people get as we age.  So, this decrease happens at a much faster rate when people chew a lot of gum than if they don't.  None of us knew that back when I was a kid who chewed gum.

[ChitChatNine]

Speaking of gum did you know that Chiclets used to use latex?!  The original one had latex in it as an aid for it to be "gum" !

[seattlemom2plus]

And what is interesting is this can go beyond normal foods--- I got heartburn the other day from chewing a gum that had aspartame in it, that was awful!  I usually never chew gum with the aspartame in it or phenyltronics ( not sure of spelling) and I did because I was desperate and it was horrible.  Also had this happen several times with toothpaste.  I can't help but wonder if it is the preservatives in foods and or products that react to the body in such a way.

[kashwell]

I have found this as well with Wheat, and eggs. The heartburn does not seem to last very long though. But I agree with others, it seems to be when I am eating foods that I am intolerant too

[seattlemom2plus]

Here is an interesting point to, we used to live by a Morning Fresh Dairy farm where they delivered fresh milk to our doorstep.  It was the best thing ever, our family loved it.  We even had cream top milk where they let the cream stay natural and be at the top of the bottles.  My husband was not affected by this milk at all.  Once he has commercial milk, the kind sold in grocery stores, he gets heartburn.

I have never liked milk even when I was little it was always just something that made me cringe, so definitely had to find an alternative.  I do say that I have stopped giving my boys soy milk and including myself because of the phytoestrogens.

I just bought some Flaxseed milk for the first time, so I am going to try that and see what I think.  I will be sure to let everyone know how it is.

[ChitChatNine]

My kids get bad reflux/heartburn from foods that they are intolerant to .. they call it an intolerance for them because all tests are negative but they get this reflux and/or GI symptoms, too.  Milk, for them, is a huge trigger.

C~

[seattlemom2plus]

Thanks so much for posting that--- and you are so right when I think food allergy I commonly think throat swelling up or rash.  And now I am definitely looking more into this as a solution for my husband.  It's one thing when you eat something spicy or greasy and you get heartburn, but another thing when you eat something just wheat based and it causes severe heartburn.

I'm going to have to start keeping a food journal of trigger foods.  I am curious do you notice that eating too much meat adds to the Heartburn or GI issue along with your allergies?

[SassyLassie]

Oh my, yes, food allergies are not just the "anaphylatic shock" They can show themselves in so many forms, it is unbelievable. Mine show up as anxiety attacks and weight gain, some cause an occasional irregular heart beat as well. This is one reason they are so difficult to diagnose.

Heartburn and GI disturbances are definite ramifications of food allergies by the way.

Some of the foods that trigger my reactions are wheat, whey, eggs, the list is long, but these are the more common ones. I have never had an anaphylatic shock from any, the the good Lord, but, sure have had other symptoms that make a person miserable. I notice I can stiil eat these foods once in a while, but, if I eat them all the time, then the "fun" begins.

[seattlemom2plus]

We always passed it off as heartburn and not something more, but yes now I am wondering if its actually an allergy.  When I think allergy I think swollen face or throat or watery eyes and sneezing.  I don't always think of heartburn lol  I'm glad to hear someone else has experienced this too.  Do you notice any food triggers for you that cause this?

[skyi]

It may be allergies. I get mild to severe heartburn when I ingest somethings that I am not aware that I am allergic to...