Chills Caused by Wheat Allergy

Chills Caused by Wheat Allergy
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Considering that chills are not a common symptom of a wheat allergy, it may be a sign of a secondary infection caused by an allergic reaction to wheat. A wheat allergy causes inflammation in soft tissue throughout your body that could result in an infection. If you have a known wheat allergy and you accidentally ingest wheat that causes chills to develop, call your doctor for evaluation. You may have a sinus, lung or gastric infection that could cause a slight fever and chills.

Wheat Allergy

Wheat is a common food allergy that causes minor to severe symptoms to develop within minutes of consuming a food that contains wheat. The allergic reaction is the result of a mistake of the immune system. Instead of identifying the proteins found in the wheat as safe for consumption, your immune system reacts to them as if they are dangerous. This causes the body to produce various types of chemicals to fight against the proteins. Among them are histamine, which causes inflammation in soft tissue in the body. Histamine is one of the primary chemicals that cause allergy symptoms.

Chills

Chills typically accompany a fever, and a fever is a common sign of an infection. When you get an infection somewhere in your body, your body will rise your body temperature to attempt to kill the infection. This causes chills and hot flashes to occur sporadically in your body. It is possible to develop a secondary infection, such as sinusitis, bronchitis and gastritis. As the tissues in these various parts of the body swell, they cut off your normal ability to breathe, drain mucus and move waste through the intestines normally. Inflammation that occurs for an extended period of time can cause infection to set in.

Prevention

The most effective way to prevent a secondary infection that causes chills is to avoid all forms of wheat and wheat proteins. If you've been diagnosed with a wheat allergy you should not eat wheat products -- consumption could result in a severe allergic reaction that could cause death. Avoid products that contain gluten, wheat and whole grain flour.

Treatment

See your doctor to determine the cause of the body chills and how they might relate to a wheat allergy. If it is a bacterial infection, she will prescribe an antibiotic to kill the bacteria causing the infection. If the infection is viral, you will have to wait for your body to naturally kill the virus.

References

Article reviewed by Hope Molinaro Last updated on: Mar 31, 2011

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