Celiac, Gluten and SICK!

Into every Celiac life some gluten must fall. Diet be damned I have no idea where it came from, but I've been sick all week. I'm wracking my brain trying to figure it out.

It started last Saturday and at first, when I started feeling ill, I thought I was coming down with something. I was an event last Saturday and there were a few people who complained about being sick. (I wanted to scream, "WHAT THE HECK DID YOU COME FOR, YOU GERM SPREADER!")

So Sunday and Monday I had killer headache, stomach cramps and just achy all over. started feeling a little better but then it got worse again. Wednesday is my busiest day. I'm running from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m with barely any break.  I was halfway through and afternoon class and fighting nausea when it hit me. Gluten!

Why didn't I think it was gluten before? Now I'm checking vitamins labels, any new food I've eaten, a new ginger tea I just got last Friday. I suspect everything! I still don't know what I ate but I'm narrowing it down. I now move through my kitchen like there's an enemy hiding there and I have to get him before he gets me again. The tea was new, the fresh Parmesan from the Italian market could have contamination, can of mixed nuts? I feel like Sherlock Holmes.

I emailed the company, Traditional Medicinals that made the ginger tea. Here's what they said;

"Thank you for your inquiry.  Only two of the teas in our line contain oat straw:  PMS Tea and St. John's Good Mood, so they would not be gluten free.  The remainder of our tea line is without gluten, however.  Regarding the possibility of cross contamination:  we follow Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) which means that we thoroughly clean our tea bagging machines between batches.  In addition, the first of every batch is discarded as a further effort to eliminate the chance of contamination from the previous batch run."

Hmmm, could be cross contamination if they ran the ginger right after one of the gluten teas? I sometimes worry about teas being made with barley but the oat thing was surprising. Not sure if this tea was my problem but I did drink it a few times during the week because ginger is good for digestion. 

So all week it's been tea with honey, heating pads and the BRAT diet. (Bananas, rice, applesauce, and tea) 

And I'm still not sure what made me sick. Anyone have any trouble with tea?