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This morning, I was reading posts on this board, and minding my own business, when all of a sudden it dawned on me that I was about to become the victim of an unintended colon-cleansing episode. Sure enough, it didn't take long, and I cleaned out pretty doggone good, and then it was over. I kept trying to think of something thaI might have eaten last night, or yesterday, that could have been suspicious, but nope - everything should have been perfectly safe. IOW, I ate every meal at home, and I ate the usual stuff that I eat virtually every day. In fact, I never left the farm, yesterday. I finally gave up straining my feeble brain, and wrote it off as one of those unsolved mysteries that just happen, now and then.
Later today, during the chat, though, Joan mentioned Rice Chex.
BINGO! I had eaten a big bowl of Rice Chex for breakfast, about an hour before the "cleansing".Hmmmm. I stopped eating Rice Chex about the end of the summer, when I noticed bloating, and sometimes headaches, and upper body pain, after eating it, but no D. I started eating them again, a few months ago, a couple of times each week, with no apparent symptoms. Could it be that my gut "healed" while I was avoiding Rice Chex, and after eating them a while, I finally accrued enough damage that once again, I am reacting to them, this time with D? I plan to check this out on Tuesday, (that will give my gut 3 days to settle down, but I haven't had any D since this morning).
I find this to be incredibly interesting, because if this is indeed what is happening, that implies that for items with very low levels of gluten, we are indeed accumulating damage to our gut, whether we realize it or not, and when enough damage has been accrued, then we will begin to react, when exposed to the next "dose" of the allergen. IOW, nothing happens, until we reach the point where we exceed a certain minimum theshold of accrued damage, and once we surpass that threshold, we will react every time we are exposed to the allergen. I'm betting that Tuesday morning, about an hour after I eat a bowl of Rice Chex, I'll react the same that I did today, and that will prove the validity of my theory.
Up until today, I have not noticed any symptoms from the Rice Chex, (not since the first incident, back during the summer, I believe). I note that today, the D was generated with no cramps, or prior pain of any kind. No gurgling, or any other sound effects or warning signs. Strange. I don't know what else to blame it on, though, since everything else I ate seems to be above suspicion. Trace amounts of gluten seem to be very sinister enemies, that can affect us in sometimes surprising ways.
Tex
So far, so good.
We keep hoping that once we're rid of our symptoms, we can resume eating at least some of the foods on our restricted list. I think we can, but the problem is: which ones? It seems as though it will be a lifetime of trial and error. <Sigh>
