Question:
After testing positive for wheat allergy (both blood and scratch tests)
I stopped eating wheat for 18 months. This relieved my breast-fed baby's
excema, and cut down on his sleep difficulties and obvious belly pain.
(This was the goal. I hadn't actually realised that wheat was affecting
me).
Giving up wheat stopped me from feeling itchy all over the body, and
(unexpectedly) relieved constipation that I remember suffering all of my
life.
Two months ago our now-2-year-old started eating wheat. Apart from a
chronic runny nose (which may just be due to the frequent infections
kids pick up at this age or the onset of winter), he has had a
significant reduction in bowel movements. Is slowing down of the bowel a
common symptom of wheat allergy, or is it something else ? Any
suggestions about whether we should re-exclude wheat from his diet, or
is it OK to leave him on low amounts of wheat as long as he isn't
obviously uncomfortable ?
Also, rye doesn't have the same effect on me, nor oats or other
gluten-containing grains. And my baby ate huge quantities of oats during
his second year with no apparent effect. Everyone assumes it's the
gluten that causes a problem, but I find this hard to believe based on
what I've recorded in his food diary. Any comments ?
Answer:
I am allergic to wheat, but not to rye, rice or oats. It is quite
possible to have a problem with wheat, but not have a gluten
intolerance. There is a big difference between a wheat allergy and gluten
intolerance. Your little boy should be fine on rice, rye and oats as
long as he's not allergic to those as well. I would exclude the wheat again, wait two weeks, and see if things
improve for him. It sounds like he is still mildly allergic to wheat at
the very least.
I, with my allergy problems, seem to be lucky with cereal grains, including
wheat. But from what I read, it is possible to be allergic to wheat apart from
celiac disease.
I'm allergic to wheat and gluten, but I can tollerate oats... Constipation
is a symptom of many food allergies - so definitely try taking the wheat out
for a while and see how he is. For the infections - I would take dairy out for a while and see how it goes.
My original skin test showed I was not allergic to dairy, casien or any part
of dairy - yet I had a sinus infection for a year (literally) that no one
could get rid of. I took copius amounts of anti-biotics during that year
and it was still bad. I got off dairy for 6 weeks and it went away by the
second week. Later on I had my allergy test done by a blood test and it
turns out that I'm highly allergic to dairy, both proteins found in dairy...
