GLUTENZAPPED

I just wanted to share this new word in my vocabulary. It has been almost a year since I discovered my severe intolerance to gluten. I get horrendous gut aches when I consume it. And when I do it invariably triggers afib. Gluten is hidden in so many places it is easy to get tricked into consuming it. So when it sneaks in to my diet, I get Glutenzapped! My gut feels hot, it burbles and roils, and my heart dances to its very own eratic beat. It is not the only offending trigger, but it is the wurst (not funny).

I have the same thing and went Paleo after reading the information here. I like your word. I sometimes use the word glutened. I have started cooking all my food from a single ingredient when possible. The worst are sauces as well as buffets serving scrambled eggs.

I also forgot. Taco fillings and hamburger patties often have gluten in them. I always ask if they are 100% beef...

The only way you can know if you are truly gluten free is to prepare all your own foods. I use glutened too, Eric, because I don't want to associate myself with those crazy gluten testers on the glutenzap forum. There are quite a few of us around in whom gluten triggers afib. Before I became an afibber, I used to faint from bloating creating pressure on the vagus nerve.

Ron - it's great that you were able to sleuth out the gluten sensitivity. Actually, the response is to the protein part of wheat (gliaden) but most reports on this topic seem to call it gluten rather than gliaden.

In addition to the gliaden protein molecule, there are twenty-four other proteins that are cross-reactive and include most all grains and other food molecules. So for example, if you are gluten sensitive, there is a 50% chance you are also sensitive to the dairy protein, casein. Typically, if you are sensitive to gliaden, then you have the potential to react the same as gluten from these food items.

I'm only mentioning this because should your afib flare up again or if you continue to have GI issues, it's good to remember that it's not just gluten that can cause sensitivity problems.

These are the cross-reactive food protein molecules:


•Cow's Milk IgG, IgA
•Alpha-Casein & Beta-Casein IgG, IgA
•Casamorphin IgG, IgA
•Milk Butyrophilin IgG, IgA
•American Cheese IgG, IgA
•Chocolate IgG, IgA
•Sesame IgG, IgA
•Hemp IgG, IgA
•Rye IgG, IgA
•Barley IgG, IgA
•Polish Wheat IgG, IgA
•Buckwheat IgG, IgA
•Egg IgG, IgA
•Soy IgG, IgA

•Sorghum IgG, IgA
•Millet IgG, IgA
•Spelt IgG, IgA
•Amaranth IgG, IgA
•Quinoa IgG, IgA
•Yeast IgG, IgA
•Tapicoca IgG, IgA
•Teff IgG, IgA

•Oats IgG, IgA
•Coffee IgG, IgA
•Corn IgG, IgA
•Rice IgG, IgA
•Potato IgG, IgA
•Whey IgG, IgA

Jackie

Thank you Jackie. You are amazing. I do continue to have problems, although the severity of my night episodes is dramaticaly reduced since I have eliminated gluten. The test I took was an ALCAT which is mostly an IgG test if I am not mistaken. They identified the glutein/gliaden as a severe sensitivity for me, plus a host of other foods that I react to. There are some such as hemp that are not included in the test.

But I still continue to have problems. We eat out quite a bit and that can be very difficult. I have read that reactions can sometimes be quite delayed from the time of ingestion, so it is very difficult to put my finger on exactly what the offending foods are.

A question that has been in my mind is how effective are these tests. I read some negative hype on the internet, and do not know who to believe as the negative articles could easily be someone from big pharma trying to protect their business model.

Alcat recommends a rotation diet for some of the mild and moderate offending foods. Does this make sense?

Ron - There are some tests that are better than others. For the gluten and cross-reactive foods, the most comprehensive and accurate test currently out there and recognized 'cutting edge' is that from Cyrex Labs... www.cyrexlabs.com

Additionally, there are many facets to the food sensitivity issue that go beyond just avoiding certain foods or even testing, for that matter. The whole GI inflammation and response mechanism that many afibbers experience is just one scenario. Adequate digestion is one facet and others include the environmental influences of various toxins that bombard us continually help stimulate and keep our immune systems hypervigilent but these various toxins from air, water and food also set up reactions that vary according to severity and the individual 's overall health status and whether they suffer from leaky gut syndrome. All can be triggers for afib.

I have some really great notes from several highly informative teleconferences by experts on this topic that I've been meaning to condense into a post because this food sensitivity problem is so wide spread and manifests in so many ways it's important to remind everyone of this aspect. Stand by... I'll post in a separate topic. It is commonly noted by many holistic-type physicians that about 80% of the complaints they typically see are GI related.... even though the patients may not think the source is gut related. I'll include some nuggets offered by one of the few Integrative Gastroenterologists in the country ..... very helpful info.

The facts from the physiology aspect of the story should help clarify for you and help with sorting out reliable testing. I agree with you that you'll find a lot of negative comments from people who either have vested interests in protecting drug patents etc... or from people who don't have a clue about the science or physiology of gut involvement beyond the obvious.

I'll be back soon. Meanwhile, when eating out while avoiding gluten... also attempt to eat foods that resemble as closely as possible that which was recently grown and harvested... whole foods, recognizable as such... avoid sauces and seasoning..... ie, a tossed salad topped with wild salmon or grilled chicken with no added seasoning and oil and vinegar or lemon juice as salad dressing on the side that you add yourself. You can avoid a lot of the pitfalls with commercially-prepared foods and the inherent chemical, additives, preservatives, food dyes etc, if you eat as plainly as possible. Tell the wait-person... no added salt or seasonings.

Avoid eating in places where most of the food is shipped in pre-cooked and pre-packaged and then just heated up according to order. Those tend to have the most undesirable chemicals added... to which afibbers can be very reactive. The added sodium is the another huge negative influence for afibbers.

This is not impossible once you become aware of the pitfalls.

Jackie