Plenty of people nowadays with better and healthier food choices go with wheat; even though it’s healthy you should watch out for wheat allergy symptoms. Wheat allergy is one of the eight most common food allergies. This is more common in children than in adults because this can be outgrown over time. The symptoms of wheat allergy can be easily noticed and felt in just minutes upon consuming wheat. The person with wheat allergy develops an antibody specifically fighting off the proteins in wheat products.

 

Symptoms of Wheat Allergy

Wheat allergy has different symptoms; eczema is one of them. Eczema is a skin condition, normally suffered by many people worldwide. The red, itchy, flaky skin that appears in eczema is a result of the skin’s inflammatory response to physical or environmental irritants. Another type of skin disease that will occur when you have wheat allergy is psoriasis, another type of skin condition which is more severe-looking than eczema. Some of the symptoms of anaphylaxis include the following; throat swelling and tightness, chest tightness, chest pain, more severe breathing difficulties, swallowing difficulties, pale or bluish skin, weak pulse, and hypotension.

 

Two of the most fatal symptoms of wheat allergy are the exercise-induced anaphylaxis, and the baker’s asthma. Exercise-induced anaphylaxis happens to people with wheat allergy after a workout. People with this condition may experience severe allergic reactions. The baker’s asthma, is an allergy triggered by people who breathe in wheat flour; this may pose breathing problems. The problem is mainly from the fungus in the wheat protein.

 

Most of the time, wheat allergy is often mistaken as the coeliac disease. Coeliac disease is a digestive disorder that creates an adverse reaction to gluten that is found in wheat, rye, barley, and sometimes, oats. People who have wheat allergy are just allergic to wheat proteins; they can still eat other grain products. Having wheat allergy is a challenge for people who have it because wheat is a top grain product, widely used in different areas of cooking and in different forms of everyday food.

 

Foods with Wheat

There are a lot of foods containing wheat in them like:

• Baking Mixes

• Beer

• Biscuits

• Bouillon Cubes

• Bourbon

• Breaded Food

• Cakes

• Cereals

• Chowders

• Crackers

• Doughnuts

• Gin

• Gravies

• Hot Dogs

• Ice Cream

• Ice Cream Cones

• Luncheon Meats

• Malted Products

• Macaroni

• Mayonnaise

• Pancakes

• Pasta

• Popovers

• Salad Dressing

• Sauce mixes

• Snack Foods

• Soup Mixes

• Spaghetti

• Synthetic Pepper

• Waffles

 

These are just some of the foods that you should avoid when you have wheat allergy. Like other types of allergies, there are two tests that can be done to find out if you have it: the blood test and the skin test. During the skin test, your skin will be pricked and exposed to various allergens. You will be asked not to take any medications, especially antihistamines, while the test is carried out.

 

Not everybody can be candidates for the skin test though, so your doctor might ask to administer a blood test. Blood testing is done to measure your immune system’s response to the amount of antibodies (immunoglobulin) in your bloodstream.

 

There are also other ways that you can figure out if you have wheat allergy or not. The food diary, for instance. Make a list on everything that you eat, with notes on the symptoms that you exhibit.

 

The elimination diet comes after the food diary. You eliminate the foods which you suspect to be source of allergic reactions. On the other hand, the food challenge test is to be done with the medical supervision of your doctor. This is where the patient easts capsules containing suspected allergens. The patient is given small doses, and then observed for how he reacts to it.

 

Treatment

The main treatment for wheat allergy is allergen avoidance. Find out what foods are causing allergic reactions, the stop eating them. There are medical treatments for wheat allergy, like epinephrine, which is given in severe allergic reactions. This acts as a bronchodilator. Diphenhydramine (or Benadryl), on the other hand, is a common antihistamine. And corticosteroids reduce swelling, and various symptoms of allergic reactions. However, for skin reactions a cream can be used.

 

This type of allergy isn’t as different from other types of allergy, it has the same allergic reaction, the same process of acquiring the allergic reactions, and it can be outgrown over time. There are some risk factors affecting the occurrence of wheat allergy. If a close relative has wheat allergy, it is more likely that you will have it too. A family history of allergies may include wheat allergy, hay fever, and asthma.

 

Mostly infants and toddlers are affected by wheat allergy because their immune system is immature, meaning they are susceptible to any diseases. Since you can’t consume any wheat product, it is important that you know food substitutes, and what you should buy and eat. For cereals, you can eat quinoa, barley, rye, porridge, muesli. Buckwheat pasta, corn pasta, rice pasta, rice noodles and buckwheat noodles are also good wheat substitutes. For crackers, oat crackers, rye crackers, corn crackers, and rice crackers are good alternatives.

 

It is hard for people with this condition to mingle with family, let alone the society. Everyone in the house may provide the person with special treatment, which nobody really wants, or they can adapt to his diet as well. Wheat-free diet is expensive. People with wheat allergy can be compared to those with terminal ailments: they also need understanding and compassion from their peers. The last thing they want to hear is somebody complaining about their diet.

 

Wheat allergy symptoms pose more threat to people who have it than any other type of food allergy. It is important that you are well-educated about wheat allergy, its symptoms, first aid treatment, and medications like epinephrine and Benadryl. Wheat is a predominant grain product, so you should be even more careful about what you eat! People with this condition are more sensitive, because their diet has to be different from the others, and far more expensive. Take note of the food alternatives that you can buy and start your wheat-free diet.