Wheat allergy symptoms can be similar to other food allergy symptoms, including stomach pain, cramps, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. However, they may also resemble hay fever, with a runny nose, watery eyes, hives, itchy, flaky skin, or rashes. Another common and rather alarming complaint is arthritic joint pain.

At its most severe, wheat allergy can cause chest pain and anaphylaxis, a life-threatening condition in which the body’s allergic inflammatory response runs out of control.

Exercise, taking aspirin or NSAIDs (like ibuprofen or naproxen), and some food additives like MSG and Benzoate may make a wheat allergy attack worse. Attacks may also become worse over time, with repeated exposure.

Sufferers may break out in a rash or hives just from skin contact with wheat or flour, or start sneezing after breathing pollen from wheat plants. People with wheat allergy are also prone to migraines.

There is anecdotal (non-scientific) speculation that wheat allergy may be linked to autism, though, so far at least, scientific studies do not bear this out. Even so, many parents with autistic children have reported a reduction in digestive and behavioral problems after instituting a wheat and dairy-free diet.

If you think you or a loved one have wheat allergy symptoms, there are several methods for testing. These include skin-prick tests, blood tests, and elimination diets or food challenges, all of which will be covered in other articles.

Your doctor will be able to help you decide on the most appropriate approach.