Post reintroduction - not sure about causes of symptoms

[SallylouRN]

I actually finished my reintroduction almost a week ago. I didn’t seem to have any reaction to legumes (haven’t tried peanuts or soy yet), non-gluten grains, or dairy. After my gluten day, I got a headache, but I wasn’t sure if it was due to the gluten because I had had about 4 headaches throughout my 30 days, and not just in the first few days. That was one of the symptoms I was hoping whole30 would help with. I think I had less headaches on whole30, but I’m not sure because I didn’t keep track of them before whole30.

Anyway, the day after reintroduction was over was my daughter’s birthday (Friday). I had pizza for supper and then ended up having birthday cake three days in a row! Then, on Sunday, I got two blemishes on my face which I didn’t have at all on whole30. 

Also, I had always been a bit on the constipated side since I have hypothyroidism, and I’m sure my diet didn’t help. That took until toward the end of whole 30 to improve, but I was doing pretty well. Then yesterday, I had a very hard BM with bleeding, and now am very sore and think I might have an anal fissure or something. (Sorry for the TMI.) That sort of thing didn’t really happen before I started whole30, except when pregnant or postpartum. 

So, obviously, my body doesn’t like something, and I’m afraid it’s gluten, and I don’t want it to be! I haven’t really had much dairy, but I have had quite a bit of gluten in the last few days, but less than I would have had before. I felt great during most of my reintroduction except the headache the night I had gluten. I’m trying to not eat too much of it, but I’ve missed it so! I don’t want to give up gluten entirely unless I really have to. What do you think I should do?

[ShannonM816]

Probably the best way to know for sure would be to go back to whole30 eating until you feel good again, and then consider doing a modified reintroduction. Have gluten for several days, but keep everything else whole30, and see how you feel. If you start to feel bad again, then you probably have issues with gluten and need to really limit it. If you have it for several days and still feel good, gluten may not be the culprit, and you can go back to whole30 eating for a few days, then try dairy. 

Whatever happens, whichever food is the issue, you'll have to really consider if those foods are worth it to you if they make you feel awful.