How long after eating gluten do you feel sick is one of those million dollar questions💰
Because when you don't feel well, you want relief.
If you're bloated, nauseated or just doubled over in pain like I was, you just want to know: was it something I ate?
How long after eating you feel sick from gluten depends on a few things.
In this short article, I'll break down:
- What might be the cause of your symptoms
- How long after eating gluten will you feel sick (depending on the above)
- How to get relief from feeling sick, bloated and nauseated
Let's do this!
1. What is causing your symptoms after eating gluten?
It could be one of 3 things happening, and all of these relate to some level or type of gluten intolerance:
- Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS) - this is a term describe a condition where people have symptoms, like bloating, nausea, stomach pain but they don't have celiac disease. You may also see terms like: Non-Celiac Wheat Sensitivity (NCWS), Gluten Sensitivity (GS), or Gluten Intolerance (GI) too and they mean the same thing
- 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
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Typical symptoms of NCGS or gluten intolerance are:
- Bloating
- Diarrhea
- Headache
- Abdominal Pain
- Fatigue
- Skin Problems
- Muscle & Joint Pain
- Brain Fog
- Nausea
- Depression
- Anemia
Here's the thing about gluten intolerance: there is overlap of the symptoms with other conditions like irritable bowel syndrome for example.
There's no 100% for sure way to tell if you have gluten intolerance (yet.) The best you can do is cut out gluten and see if your symptoms go away. This is the method where the treatment confirms the diagnosis.
Check out these 7 Sneaky Signs You May Be Gluten Intolerant!
2. How long after eating gluten will you feel sick?
How soon symptoms appear after eating gluten can depend on what level of reaction to gluten you have and if it involves your immune system. These are like levels of gluten intolerance, 1 to 3.
- Gluten Intolerance (or non-celiac gluten sensitivity)
In the case of non-celiac gluten sensitivity, symptoms will arise after a few hours or maybe even days after eating gluten. It's harder to pinpoint because of the delay.
For me, it's usually a few hours to a ½ a day or so.
If I get my nausea, painful bloating and abdominal pain, I can usually look back at my diet and figure out where some sneaky gluten got in!
- Celiac disease
In the case of celiac disease, it could be several hours, days or even weeks. 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 appear within a few minutes, which is a typical allergic response, sometimes resulting in an anaphylactic reaction.
If you live with a wheat allergy, talk with a trusted health care professional specializing in food allergies.
3. How to get relief from feeling sick, bloated and nauseated from gluten
So I've got good news and bad news here.
Good news: it can be prevented, so you don't have to feel any of those icky symptoms ever again.
Bad news? It doesn't really help you IN THE MOMENT.
But there are a few things you can try.
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 one 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.
I also have a gluten-free and healthy meal plan for download. Check that out here.
~April
You may also be interested in these articles:
7 Sneaky Signs You May Be Gluten Intolerant
Can Gluten Give You Acid Reflux? 3 Signs to Watch For
How to Get Enough Carbs on a Gluten Free Diet; 3 Easy Steps
How Long After Eating Gluten Do You Feel Sick?
Michelle says
There’s not much info online regarding reintroducing gluten or how to do it.
Regarding symptoms it’s confusing to think you can feel off within hours to days. Is there a cut off point like past 3 days after consuming gluten and no symptoms then you’re out of the woods? Some sites say hours to weeks and I’m so confused how I’m supposed to know whether I can tolerate gluten if this is the case.
I ate gluten for 2 days just like one item a day. Then 2 days without and I felt sick on day 4. Now I’m unsure if it was related to gluten or not. I’m very confused as nothing is specific 🙁
April says
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for commenting. You're right, it's so confusing. The best way right now to help figure out if it's gluten that could be causing a problem for you is to cut it out for 2 weeks and only then, reintroduce it. (I have a sample gluten-free meal plan on the site if you want to check that out.) But "clearing the slate", so to speak, and getting all remnants of gluten out of your body can help figure out what's going on. Also check out: https://eatsbyapril.com/gluten-free-diet-plan-for-beginners-pdf-download/ and https://eatsbyapril.com/how-to-relieve-bloating-from-gluten-intolerance/
Best,
April
Phil says
Hey guys I'm waiting for a blood test as my symptoms have got worse. I had a packet of crisps 3 days ago and have had a bad stomach for days, how long does the bad stomach typically last as its effecting my sleep and my eating.
April says
Hey Phil,
Ouch, sorry to hear about the bad stomach. It could be the crisps but it could also be something else that you're eating if you're quite sensitive to gluten. Be sure you've cut everything out that even has very small amounts of gluten. You can grab a list of foods to watch out for here: https://eatsbyapril.com/what-not-to-eat-with-gluten-intolerance-pdf-list/