I have been eating rice and vegetable soup, bread and honey, fish, eggs and potatoes for the past 2 months...I have lost so much weight (Im not over weight at all) because I cant eat much, and have difficulties swallowing.
Today, I gave in to cake, I felt my chest constrict, my sternum was hurting and then I ended up gasping for breath. Can this be fatal? it happened a month ago as well 4 times in one day. I would just start gasping like I was having an asthma attack...Im really scared, I told my doctor but he says its nothing...how the hell can this be nothing?
So what foods should I avoid? Ive already limited myself. Has anyone experienced this?
Thanks

Hi Locka. I was wondering the same thing, can this be fatal? Mine cleared up awhile back, but is now back- I suppose all the wine, and tomatos over the past months made it bad again. Now I have INTENSE burning in my stomach and of coures the shooting chest pains, and issues swallowing when I sleep. The other night I thought my esoph. was going to burst or I would simply not be able to breath. This had definately caused anxiety for me too.

I also was wondering-what foods do we avoid aside from onions, tomatoes and alcohol? Wine with dinner is hard for me to kick!

It sounds like you're having a reaction to one of the ingredients in the cake. Could be flour, eggs or the milk. For me, if I eat flour or milk at all, my stomach starts having fits, and thats only the beginning of the reaction. Corn poses yet another set of problems. And even refined sugar causes a reaction.

I went on a 3-week elimination diet. Basically, I quit eating anything that had gluten, dairy, eggs, peanuts, refined sugar, corn, and all food colorings, flavorings, and preservatives. I then started re-introducing the foods, one at a time, to see if I would get a reaction. Boy Did I!

I started out with a couple of tablespoons of plain cream of wheat. Within 1/2 hour, my stomach started cramping. Within an hour, my reflux went into full force. Within 2 hours, I became gassy and bloated. And then within 3 hours, I had pain which started in my shoulders and then radiated down both arms and legs. I then started to lose motor control. Couldn't properly control my fingers and walking was like being sober in a drunk body. That scared the bejeebers outta me! Milk was a much less drastic reaction. I had stomach cramping for hours afterwards, in addition to gas, bloating, and various GI problems. Corn causes me to get palpitations, rapid heartbeat, and the runs all the next day. Refined sugar causes joint pain. Whoda thunk? Brown rice has caused some stomach cramping, but I think its because of the high fiber. I don't have any kind of reaction to white rice.

Since I've cut all these out of my diet, my stomach has been fine. I took my last dose of Omeprazole on Tuesday and haven't needed it since.

These are only a few of the reactions you can get from food sensitivities. I'd suggest talking to an allergist about this, since your dr sounds like an idiot. You can get blood tests done to check for food sensitivities. Scratch testing is usually for environmental issues.

You can also try reading up on elimination diets and try one yourself. It has to be done properly in order to avoid ingesting hidden sources of eliminated foods. And there are a lot of hidden sources of potential problem-causing foods in most processed products. Just because something says "natural flavor" doesn't mean that natural flavor didn't come from wheat.

Good luck and please let us know what you decide.

It sounds like you're having a reaction to one of the ingredients in the cake. Could be flour, eggs or the milk. For me, if I eat flour or milk at all, my stomach starts having fits, and thats only the beginning of the reaction. Corn poses yet another set of problems. And even refined sugar causes a reaction.

I went on a 3-week elimination diet. Basically, I quit eating anything that had gluten, dairy, eggs, peanuts, refined sugar, corn, and all food colorings, flavorings, and preservatives. I then started re-introducing the foods, one at a time, to see if I would get a reaction. Boy Did I!

I started out with a couple of tablespoons of plain cream of wheat. Within 1/2 hour, my stomach started cramping. Within an hour, my reflux went into full force. Within 2 hours, I became gassy and bloated. And then within 3 hours, I had pain which started in my shoulders and then radiated down both arms and legs. I then started to lose motor control. Couldn't properly control my fingers and walking was like being sober in a drunk body. That scared the bejeebers outta me! Milk was a much less drastic reaction. I had stomach cramping for hours afterwards, in addition to gas, bloating, and various GI problems. Corn causes me to get palpitations, rapid heartbeat, and the runs all the next day. Refined sugar causes joint pain. Whoda thunk? Brown rice has caused some stomach cramping, but I think its because of the high fiber. I don't have any kind of reaction to white rice.

Since I've cut all these out of my diet, my stomach has been fine. I took my last dose of Omeprazole on Tuesday and haven't needed it since.

These are only a few of the reactions you can get from food sensitivities. I'd suggest talking to an allergist about this, since your dr sounds like an idiot. You can get blood tests done to check for food sensitivities. Scratch testing is usually for environmental issues.

You can also try reading up on elimination diets and try one yourself. It has to be done properly in order to avoid ingesting hidden sources of eliminated foods. And there are a lot of hidden sources of potential problem-causing foods in most processed products. Just because something says "natural flavor" doesn't mean that natural flavor didn't come from wheat.

Good luck and please let us know what you decide.

Eggs and cheese seem to make it worse for me. I'm always having to clear my throat after eating eggs and cheese.

thanks for the info Nyxie63
I have eliminated most things....I thought the gasping for breath was because of anxiety, but I did a little experiment and found that it was definatly from food. The downside is cake is my favorite food lol, my god I am going to have to give up everything I enjoyed eating...I guess it will be worth it in the long run.
I suspect I have hiatal hernia as well so I will def see a doc about that.
Hope anyone reading can share their experiences with food as well :)

I think I have some kind of bad reaction to flour myself. I can eat a biscuite and it makes me cough until I'm almost choking peices of "something" up. Cake is bad too. Wouldn't you know that everything good is bad.

Charla

Fortunately, there's good news. If you look, there are a lot of sites with gluten-free recipes on them for many of your old faves. Of course, some take a little trial and error to get it right or decide whether or not you like that particular take on it. There are also quite a few mail order gluten-free companies and bakeries. More and more regular grocery stores are also starting to carry gluten-free products as well.

One thing to keep in mind is that gluten-free products tend to be higher in calories and considerably higher in cost than the regular product. I've decided to use them as a special treat, rather than as the basis for my diet. My diet will continue to consist mostly of rice, lots and lots of veggies, chicken and fish, the occasional piece of red meat or pork, fruit, nuts and seeds, raw milk products, and the occasional egg. I'm not a health nut by any means. I'm simply eating the way my body seems to feel best.

Have you guys checked into the blood test for Celiac Disease???? Someone that has that severe of a reaction to wheat products should really get the test. My friend had it done and she said it was a simple blood test that her doctor ordered.
I would sure check it out...

I have terrible GERD, had had for the past 4 years, the one thing that helps me the most is relaxing and trying to stop the anxiety before it gets too bad. Anyway...Good Luck to you all!!
Take Care!
Crazy

I've looked into the blood tests. They'll be very helpful for someone who's still eating gluten. Since I stopped eating gluten a month ago, I'd get a negative result. There's NO WAY I'm going back on gluten. And genetic testing will only show if you have the genes, but isn't an indicator if you'll develop Celiac or not. Many people who have the Celiac genes never develop Celiac. And some people who don't have the genes do develop Celiac. They also haven't found all the genes that indicate Celiac yet. There's still a lot of research to still be done.

I've also had the small bowel biopsy done. It came back negative, but he only took two samples when they're supposed to take 4-6 samples. The problem with the biopsy is that only 30% of people who have tested positive on the blood tests will also have positive biopsy results.

From what I've been reading, if taking gluten out of your diet makes you feel better, then that's the only indicator you really need. Something else to consider - having an official dx of Celiac can make it more difficult to get health and life insurance further down the road. For that reason alone, many people (after either dropping gluten from their diets or having a positive reaction on elimination diet/challenges) consider themselves to be self-dx'd Celiacs, rather than pushing for an official dx.