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How to Deal with a Gluten Exposure

Do you know how to deal with a gluten exposure? I had no idea when I got diagnosed with Celiac Disease, how difficult and painful a gluten exposure could be. Unprepared is the only way I can describe my experience.

Awareness of What a Gluten Exposure Can Be

A gluten exposure occurs when someone with Celiac Disease or Gluten Intolerance consumes food that contains gluten and creates an autoimmune response. This can include airborne gluten in addition to cosmetic ingredients that are applied to the skin. My friend got exposed to a wheat field on a windy day. That was fun.

In the early days, when I was still dying my hair I did not understand that the hair dye was just chock full of gluten. I would rinse my hair in the tub and did not comprehend that the gluten particles were getting into me when I rinsed my hair fully submerged in the water that had all the dye in it. Every three weeks, I was thrown into another exposure and all that entails.

So exposures can occur from cross contamination, airborne gluten particles, cosmetic and skin care products. We mostly think of cross contamination, but the cosmetic and skin care products are a very real thing. None of this can be classified as a little thing.

Can We Mitigate a Gluten Exposure?

There are some good products available to assist once we get exposed. While these products will not keep us fully safe from contamination, I have found that they greatly reduce the recovery time involved with an exposure which can be a wonderful thing.

In my own world, I sought out anything that could keep us on track and working when dealing with another pesky gluten exposure.I’m okay at home. It’s when I leave my home that things get interesting. To deal with this, I have come up with three products that I travel with and keep close at hand.

1. Gluten Rid by Swanson – it includes digestive assistance with something they are calling tolerase – it helps to break down the gluten.

2. Gluten Defense by Naure’s Way which works by primarily providing extra digestive enzymes to help with both dairy and gluten (which often go hand in hand as issues).

3. Gluten Digest by NOW – again this is primarily working with different digestive enzymes to help break down the gluten invaders more quickly.

Gluten Exposure Mitigation on the Road

When I travel, I keep little snack bags with a combination of these little guys with me. Any sign of exposure and I take the bag (2 or 3 of each one). They help extensively in helping to break down the cross contamination. I won’t say it ensures no issues, but it does make sure it is not too bad. Taking these means the exposure leads to practically no brain fog and very little intestinal pain. This of course pertains to cross contamination. There is no part of these which are strong enough to actually eat something with gluten. They just help with basic exposures.

I ordered crackers online one day. I opened the box, popped one in my mouth and instantly knew from the texture this cracker had wheat in it. Yes, I had received the gluten laden crackers not the non gluten crackers. I instantly spit it out, but I knew too much had gotten into me to be good for me. I grabbed one of my bags of pills took them immediately (to be honest I took alot) and waited for the reaction. The reaction never came. It convinced me that these products work and I would keep them on hand for the rest of my life.

If you have found something that works for you, please let me know in the comments below. Many freshly diagnosed Celiac’s end up here, and we want to help everyone recover as soon as possible by avoiding gluten cross contaminants.