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Sorry it took so long to get this summary out.  I have been in bed, and
back and forth to the Dr trying to feel better.

Most people said yes, that swelling and pain of the joints is a 1-6 hour
reaction to being exposed.
Others asked if maybe I could have been allergic to something else in the
meal.

One person said it was in my head and to get over it (thanks by the way)

Here are some of the responses:

------
Gluten reactions vary and also can change the longer you are on the gluten
free diet. Very often the reaction becomes much worse as your body becomes
accustomed to not having gluten
------
The answer is definitely maybe....

I've also had headaches almost immediately after eating, and soon after
going GF, I would get nauseous very quickly if I got gluten.  Joint aches
would probably be a side effect of the general level of inflammation in
your body increasing, which could probably happen that quickly, soon after
the gluten reached your intestines.

Most people have similar anecdotal stories.  However, a few years ago I
read a study that said most or all of the short term reactions of Celiac
patients is psychosomatic.  The reasoning is that, after being GF for a
long time and healing, it takes several repeated exposures to get our
immune system ramped up to the point that the Celiac antibodies are
detectable and actual damage starts occurring.  So they said that the
single exposure reaction symptoms had to be in people's heads.  The logic
is kind of reasonable, but ignores the possibility of a reaction other than
the immune system generating those antibodies.  I don't know of any celiac
person that would believe that all of the short term reactions are all
psychological.  I've certainly had reactions when I had no worries about
the food, then later confirmed gluten somehow got in.

In your example, the reaction being at least part in your head makes a
little sense since you realized right away - maybe the stress of that
realization sort of helped cause your inflammation levels to jump, causing
the pain?

So, I think fast reactions are real, but might sometimes be made worse by
our understandably stressed and frustrated mental state if we realize we
ate something with gluten by accident.  However, those fast reactions don't
seem to really be the full blown celiac autoimmune reaction - that takes
longer so the short term things might be other reactions or precursor
symptoms.  On some level, eating anything new can upset your gut by
interacting with your gut bacteria in novel ways, so that could explain
some of the short term GI symptoms.  The only explanation I've ever heard
of for headaches and nausea, which are very common, is a spike in
inflammation levels - maybe that's part of the ramp up of the celiac
reaction?
-------
I am a gluten-free coach. The doctor I work with has told me in the past
that when a person has gluten sensitivities of any kind, that gluten can
cause inflammation of the joints.
-------
 I have been GF for 17 years and have had my share of accidental gluten
ingestions.  And yes, I have had reactions in as little as a few hours.  So
this may well be a reaction to gluten.  Hang in there, hopefully it will
not last long.  If it does, of course, you know as well as anyone that you
might have to consult your doctor.  My last gluten ingestion made me sick
for four months - by that time I realized that something else might be
wrong.  Unfortunately, although the villi had healed, I had developed
something called collangenous colitis, another auto-immune disease that is
really something.  Two years later, I'm still fighting it.  So please don't
let gluten ingestion symptoms last very long.
 ---------
It happens that fast for me along with muscle pain and the rash follows by
next day. I think the longer we are GF the more sensitive we become. It's
like being and infant and learning to process new foods. Could be wrong,
but thats my take.

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