Anyone gluten free? / exercise-related illness

pastryboy

I do loads of exercise but I frequently find that, when I push a bit harder than normal (I blame strava), my glands get swollen and it often ends up as a cold. My digestion also goes awry.

After reading about the immune system being depressed after exercise, I started taking vitamin C, echinacea, ginger root and making sure I crammed as many calories down as possible post-exercise (and then did as little as possible for the rest of the day). It has not helped and I currently have a cold following a hard run and ride at the weekend. My run involved the dreaded runner's trots as well (something which I've had before but not for ages).

After doing a bit of reading I think I should try cutting gluten out for a few weeks - it potentially accounts for all my 'problems'. There are obvious downsides like that when you love pastry (and bread, and pasta)), but I can't keep coming down with colds and feeling like crap.

So, I'm after personal experiences of anyone who has cut out gluten. What problems did you have before? Did it make a big difference and (or no difference?), if so, how long did it take? Did you find you could re-introduce it in small amounts with problems?

I'm starting now. If anyone is interested I will post later with how I got on.

pastryboy

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mrc1

I was diagnosed with coeliac disease earlier this year so have had to adopt a totally gluten free diet. Pretty tough to do it properly as nearly all processed foods have gluten in even in trace amounts (which you may be ok with but due to coeliac i cant risk). Biggest killers for me are no beer, bread (makes getting lunch on the go very tricky) and no eating in restaurants in France (too risky due to proliferation of flour - tough as we live there for most of spring/summer).

The big supermarkets are getting better with gf foods but they are expensive so i try to eat a majority of naturally gf foods like rice, quinoa, meat and veg etc.

If you are serious about totally gf the you can join the coeliac organisation who publish a book that contains all the gf foods you can get and tell you what is and isnt allowed.

From my side of things my symptoms have largely disappeared since going gf but now if i do accidentally consume some then i get pretty ill. As you suspect it may just be an intolerance then im not sure how much differen e you will nptice but its worth a try.

team47b

Swollen glands are usually caused by a local infection. This is an infection that is contained in a particular area of the body, such as the head and neck, and doesn’t spread. Typical examples are:

the common cold
tonsillitis
laryngitis
an ear infection
a dental abscess
cellulitis (a skin infection)

The glands in the area will become tender or painful.

Local infections usually clear up on their own, and the swollen glands will soon go down. You will usually just need to drink plenty of fluids, rest and relieve the symptoms at home using over-the-counter medicines such as paracetamol or ibuprofen.

rubertoe

Speak to your Doctor and get it diagnosed.

My father in law is a coeliac and he gets gluten free food parcels on the NHS. Its a bit of pain as it means that the only place we can eat out is the Toby Carvery, meat and veg innit.

pastryboy

I want to try totally GF for a bit, see what happens, then introduce a little bit and see how I get on. I've had digestive issues loads of times (needing to go two or three times a short space apart) but never gave in much thought as it only happened now and then - maybe it was the day after a large helping of pasta - I've no idea. I am lactose intolerant but fine with small amounts of milk so I hope I can find a middle-ground and still eat birthday cake. I've already done some reading on GF foods and I don't think I will struggle too much - I cook 99% of meals from scratch anyway.

I know the importance of rest and don't feel like I need any more than I get. I can rest for ages, then exercise once and get ill again. I know the swollen glands mean an infection but my understanding is that a healthy gut is a major factor in a strong immune system. Hard exercise lowers the immune system so, that combined with a digestive issue in the form of struggling with gluten, makes some sense. As mrc said, it's worth a try.

kelsen

Has no-one else noticed the irony of your name and this post?

team47b

I noticed he's changed it from

glandslikebollixboy

Twostage

My missus was having 'issues' that we suspected was gluten intolerance so she got tested and it proved negative. She now eats less bread and when I make pizzas I use half as much yeast which has helped.
There was a thing in cycling weekly a few months ago about how some professional cyclists avoid gluten as part of their diet regime. Maybe you could try just reducing rather than avoiding completely as this would mean you could still have one of life's essentials - beer.