Gluten is well known these days. Celiac disease and gluten-sensitivity and intolerance are common language. Celiac people must avoid gluten at all costs. The repercussions are potentially life threatening. Gluten-sensitive or intolerant individuals elect to stay away from foods containing gluten. This last bunch are often diagnosed with:
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- Non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS)
- Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
- Wheat allergy, which is not specifically gluten alone, but to wheat overall.
Most people are unaware of gluten-related symptoms and pawn them off to other reasons. These persistant symptoms are ignored or solutioned with:
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- Over-the-counter remedies
- Prescription(s) from a doctor
What is a Gluten Hangover?
A gluten hangover results when gluten is consumed and physical, mental, and/or emotional symptoms arise. Celiac suffers coined phrases to refer to a gluten hangover:
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- Getting glutened
- Gluten attack
- Gluten poisoning
Those with celiac are acutely aware of happens in their bodies after eating gluten, even a tiny amount. The responses can go well beyond the digestive tract lasting weeks after gluten consumption. They make extra effort to know what they are eating to avoid these life-disrupting episodes.
From the website I am aware, I found this great picture showing some potential symptoms that could apply to anyone after consuming gluten. The obvious digestive-related make sense, but the other categories are surprising.
My Gluten Hangover
I’m not celiac, but my first encounter with gluten issues began while working at a pizza place in college. Breathing, touching, and eating pizza and pasta every day apparently can create problems besides gaining weight. I developed a weird itchy rash on my elbows that didn’t go away. A visit to a dermatologist determined that it might be gluten-related, but it couldn’t be confirmed without a very expensive test. At the time, payment would’ve been straight out of my 22-year-old pocket, and I couldn’t afford it.
Being open minded, I then made a trip to the local health food shop ran by hippies from the 60s who smelled of Nag Champa. Those ladies concluded the same diagnosis. Going gluten-free would most likely take care of my itchy elbows.*
*The timeline for this was in the early 90s when gluten wasn’t even on the radar unless you had celiac. Any information around gluten was contained in the medical community or in the science for processed food.
I tried the gluten-free path, but I fell off the wagon pretty quickly. I continued to have itchy elbows until I quit the pizza place.
Looking at this picture, I’ve experienced brain fog, vertigo, and mouth ulcers; all were rationalized from other causes. Realistically, these issues resulted from eating loads of pizza, pasta, crackers, and cereal. Dealing with them was normal to me and never correlated to food, especially not gluten. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. When issues become normalized, it’s a sign that bigger problems are on the horizon.
Disease Development
Degenerative and chronic diseases take time to develop. Your body’s immune system is your personal line of defense against invaders. This defense line works hard to keep you upright and functioning. Symptoms are a sign of the immune system working. If your symptoms never go away despite using drugs or alternative solution, then there is constant influx of foreign invaders happening.
With this constant influx, your immune system never gets a break and eventually starts to malfunction…leading to degenerative and chronic diseases.
Initial symptoms are easy to overlook, but if you have some weird issue that never goes away, then it’s time to wake up. Gluten consumption could be a good place start.
Gluten Hangover Individualized
Each person is unique when it comes to gluten hangover response. Many of you can claim a few if not many of these symptoms. Maybe the issues present occasionally and disappear, or they tend to be more chronic. Either way, the symptoms exist. The symptoms listed in the picture are just a few, but many other neurological, emotional and physiological symptoms have been linked to gluten sensitivity.
Unfortunately, gluten is all over the processed food industry and restaurants. It’s both hidden and out in the open. Becoming more aware of how your feel after you eat is an easy first step to connect food with symptoms. For example, noticing if symptoms get worse after you eat a huge pizza or pasta bowl is good indicator that gluten might the culprit.
How to Begin Noticing Gluten Hangover Symptoms
Your body constantly gives you feedback whether you notice it or not. Maybe you do notice it and ignore it. Being honest with yourself about what is happening in your body isn’t easy. Your body is telling you via symptoms for a reason; something isn’t right. It’s your responsibility to make it right or at least make it better.
For now, let’s just begin with these few small pivots:
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- Become physically aware of your belly during and after eating.
- Heavy
- Bloated
- Noisy
- Gassy – burpy or tooty
- Become physically aware of your belly during and after eating.
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- Notice how your digestion process is happening
- Labored and loud
- Painful
- Achy
- Notice how your digestion process is happening
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- Look at the next day and check out if you have “issues” out of nowhere
- Restless sleep
- Moody
- Brain fog, difficulty concentrating
- Muscle and/or joint pain
- Look at the next day and check out if you have “issues” out of nowhere
Conclusion
Gluten isn’t an obvious link to unusual and continious symptoms, but more and more research is pointing towards gluten as a primary player in modern day health conditions. Identifying the connection of your symptoms to what your are eating is the first small pivot towards healing your body and rebuilding your health.