Question:
When I was 12 I had severe food poisoning. I should have been in the hospital
but my mom didn't take me. I suffered through diarrhea, nausea, fatigue for 8
weeks. For the first 2 weeks I literally could not leave the bathroom due to
uncontrolled diarrhea. For the next 2 weeks I could leave the bathroom for 5-
10 minutes and lay on the couch. For the next 4 weeks I could control the
diarrhea so I could return to school. A few months after that is when my symptoms began: lingering fatige, trouble
concentrating, irritability, skin problems (eczema and dandruff), and
especially severe short term memory problems.
At age 27 I was diagnosed with a gluten allergy via a blood test.
I was wondering if severe food poisoning like I had, could damage the gut
enough to cause a food allergy, celiac disease, or just general intestinal
dysfunction. Anyone read any articles about a link?
Answer:
Celiac disease and food allergies are inherited conditions, so
they are not be caused by food poisoning. And it may not have
been food poisoning at all but an onset of symptoms of celiac
disease. Some people go years without any noticeable symptoms, and then
WHAM! - symptoms all over the place.
Not quite true. Celiac may be an inherited condition
but is usually (like almost all inherited conditions)
set off, aggravated or initiated by a severe upset. The
difference is small but usually, or always the case. Why are you always telling people incorrectly?
How do you know it was food poisoning if you didn't see the Dr.? Could be
that was an allergy. I did read through a web site a couple of years ago, which I can't
find now, where this person had only about 5 foods she/he wasn't
allergic to. Also turned out she/he had intestinal bugs, and when
this infection was finally cleared up some of the allergies went away
too, although the gluten/dairy intolerance did not.
Have you looked into yeast intolerance? I find that keeping a lower
carb diet helps keep the yeastie beasties down and I feel better. I
think a fair number of gluten intolerant people have concurrent
problems with yeast.
I was diagnosed in 1964. No food poisoning or other illness to
speak of: the initial complaint was when my mother tried moving
me to baby food. It just passed right through me, basically
undigested (according to my mom, anyway). At that time, the working theory was that my bowels hadn't fully
developed, and eventually I started processing it. I was a
skinny but healthy child, and it was assumed that I had simply
outgrown it. Mom eventually forgot about it, and no one blinked
an eye when I was diagnosed as Lactose Intolerant. And I never
connected the bloating I had after a spaghetti dinner, or the
growing nausea after eating sandwiches for lunch. It was only
after a discussion about childhood illnesses that I remembered
being told I had been born celiace that I looked it up on Google
and discovered that I should be tested.
