Second Guessing: Did I get gluten? Or is it something else?

Ugh.  I’m having a quiet wrestling match in my brain, trying to figure out how Emma could have been glutenized.  If you’ve been there, you know you’re filled with questions as to how this could have happened.  Or you rationalize other reasons why you might have symptoms.  Is it a stomach bug?  Nerves, Stress? It’s enough to make you crazy!

As I write this, I’m half distracted trying to figure out every little thing Emma ate last week.  She just told me that she had diarrhea twice in the last few days. Otherwise she says she feels good. This is the first I’ve heard of it, and I’m having a minor freak-out on the inside.  Was it something I made?  Was it something at school?  Did she eat out at a restaurant recently?  Or is she quietly getting something that’s been building up in her system– and now it’s rearing its ugly head? Truth be told, it could be any of them!

Searching for accidental gluten

So I have pretty much ruled out any sort of stomach virus since she’s acting perfectly normal and she says her tummy doesn’t hurt.  And I honestly can’t think of anything Emma would be stressed about.  So the only rational thing I can do is pull back on certain foods..like things that have a risk of cross contamination, like chips or candy and dining out.

The other thing I did was email the head cook at Emma’s school cafeteria.  She and I have a very good working relationship and I have asked her to check in with her staff to make sure everything checks out in the food prep area.  They make Emma a gluten-free lunch 3-4 times a week.   Overall I do have faith in the cafeteria food for her.  The staff has been very attentive over the last year.  But I want to make sure that we’re not just assuming everything’s okay, only to find out later someone was overlooking something and/or contaminating her food.  Or maybe that a new supplier came in and gave them a gluteny version of some product they had originally confirmed as gluten-free.

For all I know it could be something at the house.  Hopefully by eliminating certain foods, I can reintroduce them and find out that way what the culprit is.  If that doesn’t work then I might have to take another look at the school.  We would have to go back to daily cold lunches while her system repairs itself, and then slowly reintroduce foods.  I would also get the district involved to double check into their foods.  But I’m not ready to leap to that just yet.  I’m just accepting I know that is a route I may have to take.

Wish me luck in finding answers!

Tags: cross contamintion, diarrhea, food, gluten, glutenized, sick, source, symptoms