How Long After Eating Gluten Do You Feel Sick?

How long after eating gluten do you feel sick is one of those million dollar questions💰So let's get it answered - and quick. Because when you feel sick from gluten, you want relief STAT!

The time between when you eat and when you feel sick depends a lot on what's causing your reaction to gluten in the first place.

Gluten is a protein component of wheat and other grains like barley, rye and spelt.

Gluten can cause a whole bunch of reactions in sensitive people - everything from brain fog and bloating to skin problems and damage to the small intestine¹.

Jump to:

• 🫢What's causing your symptoms after eating gluten?
• 📝What are the first signs of being gluten intolerant?
• ⏰How long after eating gluten will you feel sick?
• ⏲️How long after going gluten free will you notice a difference?
• 🤯What to do if you've been glutened
• 💬 Comments

🫢What's causing your symptoms after eating gluten?

As of now, there's 3 main disorders that involve being sensitive to gluten.

Each of these conditions fall under the category of "Gluten-Related Disorders".

• Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS) - this term describes a condition where people have symptoms like bloating, nausea, stomach pain, brain fog and join pain. But these same people don't have celiac disease.
• Celiac Disease - is a condition that involves an immune-mediated response to gluten (the protein found in wheat, barely and rye.) If you need to go gluten-free for celiac disease, go here
• Wheat Allergy - is an immune reaction to foods containing wheat

Celiac disease and wheat allergy are fairly well established conditions.

And they pretty much have standardized ways of diagnosis and treatment.

Non-celiac gluten sensitivity on the other hand, is a relatively newer condition.

Even the name isn't 100% agreed on!

It's also been referred to as Non-Celiac Wheat Sensitivity (NCWS), Gluten Sensitivity (GS), or Gluten Intolerance (GI)

Researchers are still trying to figure out a safe and effective way to test for gluten sensitivity.

So as of right now, there's no 100% for sure way to know if you have gluten intolerance².

The best you can do is cut out gluten for good.

Then track your symptoms and see if they go away.

See more about Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity and how to know if you have it.

📝What are the first signs of being gluten intolerant?

Non-celiac gluten sensitivity has been shown to cause symptoms that are related to the stomach or gut.

So you might have:

• Bloating
• Abdominal Pain
• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Burping or "reflux"

But it's well-known now that gluten sensitivity also causes other symptoms that DON'T involve the stomach or gut.

They're ones like:

• Brain Fog
• Headache
• Fatigue
• Skin Problems
• Muscle & Joint Pain
• Depression
• Anemia

Check out these 7 Sneaky Signs You May Be Gluten Intolerant!

⏰How long after eating gluten will you feel sick?

So, how soon symptoms appear after eating gluten can depend on which of the 3 types of Gluten-Related Disorder you're dealing with.

• Gluten Intolerance (or non-celiac gluten sensitivity)

In the case of non-celiac gluten sensitivity, symptoms typically appear after a few hours or even days after eating gluten².

For me, it's usually about 12 - 24 hours.

If I get super nauseated, bloated and have horrible stomach pain, I'll look back at my diet and try and figure out where some sneaky gluten got into my diet.

I also get brain fog and feel SUPER tired.

• Celiac Disease

In celiac disease, the time interval between eating gluten and the signs of intestinal damage can be long (up to weeks or years)². Other symptoms can appear sooner, within minutes to hours.

With the damage to the intestine that occurs with celiac disease, it's so important that you remain completely gluten-free.

• Wheat Allergy

Typically with a wheat allergy, you’ll notice the start of symptoms pretty soon after eating gluten.

With a wheat allergy, symptoms typically appear within 2 hours of eating the gluten containing food and can start within minutes².

If you live with a wheat allergy, talk with a trusted health care professional specializing in food allergies.

⏲️How long after going gluten free will you notice a difference?

Once you go completely gluten free, you should notice your symptoms get better in a few weeks.

But gluten sensitivity varies from person to person so it can depend on a few things.

For example, if you've been eating high amounts of gluten for years and just reduce the amount of gluten you have, you might not notice your symptoms go away completely.

Solution?

Make sure you go gluten-free for life.

If you cut most of the obvious sources of gluten out of your diet but are still getting small amounts in without realizing it, that can keep you from feeling your best.

The good news: being glutened can be prevented.

Going gluten-free will make sure that you don't feel sick from gluten ever again.

🤯What to do if you've been glutened

When you're in the middle of a gluten attack, try these tips:

• Move around if you can - when I would have a gluten attack, moving would be so hard. I could only lie in bed, curled up, clutching my stomach (sounds a bit dramatic but seriously, it was just so painful!) If I could manage to move around, it helped. A little bit. If you can walk - even if it's around your bed or up and down some stairs.
• If you're nauseated, you can try over-the-counter anti-nausea medication. My doctor suggested Gravol but it never touch the nauseated that I had from gluten bloating. Talk to your trusted healthcare professional for options for you.
• Go for a cleansing green smoothie that can have a natural anti-nausea effect. This green smoothie has ginger which for some people, helps digestion and can ease that sick feeling.

But I gotta tell you: not that much helped me feel better after getting sick from eating gluten.

I just had to go to sleep😴

And that's what made it so awful.

Missing out on so much with my kids and hubby because I was feeling bloated from eating gluten.

So for me, NOT getting sick became priority #1.

And I figured out how to do it! Go Gluten-Free.

If you want to get started going gluten friendly to prevent getting sick from gluten, check out my cheat sheet: Foods to Avoid for Busy Moms with Gluten Intolerance and get relief now.

Or grab your own copy of my gluten-free and healthy meal plan for download.

~April

References

1. Asri N, Rostami-Nejad M, Anderson RP, Rostami K. The Gluten Gene: Unlocking the Understanding of Gluten Sensitivity and Intolerance. Appl Clin Genet. 2021;14:37-50. https://doi.org/10.2147/TACG.S276596
2. Grażyna Czaja-Bulsa, Non coeliac gluten sensitivity – A new disease with gluten intolerance, Clinical Nutrition, Volume 34, Issue 2, 2015, Pages 189-194, ISSN 0261-5614, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2014.08.012.
3. Carlo Catassi; Gluten Sensitivity. Ann Nutr Metab 1 November 2015; 67 (Suppl. 2): 15–26. https://doi.org/10.1159/000440990