I've been Glutened! What Happens When I Eat Wheat

So, one of the biggest questions I get after saying I'm gluten free is "What happens when you eat it?"  Since I got "gluten-ed" (ate something with wheat in it) today, I figured it was a good time to talk about it!

After feeling the effects of it, it makes me wonder how I ever lived with it all the time before.  I'm not completely sick (only had a very limited exposure to it today) and even when I have a lot, I've never actually puked from eating gluten.  But with what I'm experiencing today, and knowing that I felt like this often before, makes me realize how hard it was for me to function at 100% all the time.  And no wonder I was tired and withdrawn a lot.

Anyways, here is what I feel after I eat gluten.  Many of these are fairly typical for people with allergies to wheat/gluten.

Headaches.  For me this is one of the biggest signs that I've been gluten-ed.  I used to have them ALL THE TIME.  Right now if fairly mild, but I would get migraines frequently before I switched.  And when I do get gluten-ed, they tend to linger longer than the other symptoms.  Sometimes, kind of associated with this is light sensitivity and vision issues.

Brain fog, or what I call "The Dumbs."  I have a hard time concentrating on any one thing, I get easily distracted, short term memory is slightly impaired.  Putting enough thoughts together to write this is stretching the limits of my mental capacity at the moment.  I tend to like to talk a lot, but I ramble or switch topics quickly.  Be glad for spell check- it's a good thing you can't see all my mistakes as I'm typing.  This usually lasts for 24-48 hours after.

Digestive issues.  I tend to feel tight, painful, and/or uncomfortable in my lower abdomen (intestines area), with the other lovely issues of gas, diarrhea, or constipation.  I'll feel slightly nauseous, and go back and forth between starving and not wanting anything to eat.  Loads of fun. This lasts about 24 hours or so.

Acne.  I'll break out afterwards, plus my skin will take longer to heal for a while after.  This effect lingers.

Aches and pains.  For me, these center in my hands (I'll have lovely arthritis one day), back, hips and sometimes knees.  Makes it hard to want to exercise when you hurt.  This clears up quickly when I avoid gluten, though.

Sometimes I get shaky, but this is rarer.  This is the more extreme cases, plus comes with ALL the others.  If I'm shaky, get me protein, water, and sleep, in that order.

Anyways, that's what happens when I eat gluten.  I know there's other symptoms, but that's what I get.  Since going gluten-free, head-aches are rare, digestive has settled down, acne has cleared (except for hormonal flares), and aches disappeared.  It's been much nicer.

Now I just need to convince myself I really can do sugar-free.  Permanently.  Sigh...