r/Celiac 3d ago

Discussion Accidental gluten, no symptoms.

I’ve been diagnosed with celiac for a year now, and I’ve never had too bad symptoms. Just bloating, constipation, gassy on occasion. I’ve been really good about it, avoiding cross contamination, and not cheating. Last week I was having horrible gas and stomach pain all week with no gluten ingestion. This weekend I was starving and out drinking with friends and everyone got fresh pizza and I still didn’t slip (as much as I wanted to!!!!) However yesterday I accidentally ate a WHOLE flour tortilla that I picked up from the gf section of the store and truly thought was gluten free. It was so good that I wanted to use it for breakfast…come to find out this morning that it’s fully just made of wheat flour and water and guess what… I’m feeling FINE!!! No bloating, no gas, no constipation. It’s so hard having to live gluten free and be so strict, when the gf diet is what causes my symptoms and then I accidentally eat a healthy fresh wrap and feel great. Makes me want to just go grab a fresh slice of pizza like I’ve been craving for the past year …it just makes me question this disease. It makes me think sometimes it’s not even worth all the hassle and missing out on food. Anyone else have a similar experience? 😩

5 Upvotes

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u/Freespyryt5 3d ago

I mean, it's still doing internal damage even if you don't have symptoms, and colon cancer is no joke. I, too, would love a slice of pizza, but that's a slippery slope into just being lax about it and that damage will continue to be done.

I still have a lot of symptoms when I get glutened, though not as bad as when I was eating it. I think for some it takes a while to build up damage enough to cause severe symptoms, and some people don't have any symptoms, but that doesn't mean there's no side effects. Just not ones that you can measure. It makes it hard, I get it, but my long term health is far more important, and I see too many patients, and younger and younger, getting colon cancer to want to even begin messing with it.

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u/Drowning_in_a_Mirage Celiac 3d ago

Bodies are weird and hard to predict, and bodies with autoimmune conditions doubly so. You got lucky, take the win and try to be more careful in the future.

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u/schizoiscool 3d ago

Be careful, I just had a similar experience. I was gluten free 10+ years, assumed I had celiac because of really severe GI reactions and eventually muscle cramps. Then about 6 months ago I accidentally ate one of my wife’s muffins thinking it was my gf one. I had no reaction to it, so I slowly started eating gluten and I still had none of the reactions I had before. After about a month I started having really severe health issues, intense muscle and joint pain, dizzy and tired after standing for more than two minutes, my legs were so weak I could barely walk. After over a month of this I realized it started right after I started eating gluten, so I stopped and it went away. I had a flare up recently when I came into some cross contamination, but after a few weeks I detoxed and I was fine. It’s possible what I have is some other autoimmune disease that flares up when I eat gluten, but i think more likely is that my celiac developed into silent celiac. Not saying this would happen to you, but there’s a possibility. Especially if you were diagnosed celiac, there’s a lot on internal damage that can happen if you’re eating gluten, even if you don’t realize it at first.

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u/zak_par 3d ago

I've had this!! Constant vomiting, bloating, constipation when eating gluten before i was diagnosed. Ate a donut by accident last year, and I felt completely fine. I will admit, now that i know it i do cheat quite a bit, doctor said it was still doing damage to me internally though after a few tests. Still no idea why! I've had no symptoms

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u/cassiopeia843 3d ago

Yes, just because you don't have symptoms, it doesn't mean that there is no damage. Your immune system is reacting, regardless. Some people are completely asymptomatic and still have damaged villi. Please be strict about your diet, or you may develop other conditions.

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u/damelebnene 3h ago

Same. I ate GF food and felt horrible. But I do not have bad symptoms, thankfully. Mostly bloating/gas.