sparky

In terms of dating & relationships, I kinda look at Celiac as just one more thing that makes us unique. Everyone has differences and quirks, and often that's what makes relationships dynamic, fun, and interesting. A guy I dated last year was literally fascinated by my gluten issues... He did his own research, bought me a gluten free dining guide, scouted out local restaurants, bought me gluten free goodies, and even made me gluten free cookies from a mix (he was sooo proud 'cause he had NEVER baked before!).

And I have to agree with what pixiegirl said... finding the right person is hard enough even when you aren't being super-specific about certain "requirements."

~Sara~

GlutenFreeDate.com is not a website created to limit your options on dating. It was created to allow new options for Celiacs and people choosing to live a gluten free lifestyle. Please, DO NOT limit yourself to people who are Celiacs. Wouldn't it be cool to meet someone, even just more friends, who are Celiacs? I'm all for more support in a community! Celiac is a chronic condition that can be taxing on ANY relationship. You're going to need to find a very special person to stick with you for the long haul. Plus, I want to french kiss someone, on the spur of the moment, without worrying about getting sick HA!

The experience of the person who started www.celiacsingles.com seems to be the norm. If I understand correctly, there are just too few celiacs to make it work or make it financially viable.

A simple alternative might be for interested celiacs to collectively agree on one of the popular match sites (match.com, Yahoo personals, etc.) and use it. If everyone was on the same site and made sure to use a keyword, such as gluten, or celiac in their profile, then those profiles could be easily found with a keyword search which most sites provide. At the same time, many sites permit people to post profiles without paying a fee. You are not allowed to send a message to anyone but your profile can still be posted. With so few celiacs so geographically dispersed, a match becomes somewhat unlikely. Being able to post a profile without having to pay a fee means you don't have to throw away money for something that might not work anyway. A fee is paid only when and if you find someone you want to contact. With that hurdle removed, more celiac singles might get involved.

Just a thought.

GlutenFreeDate.com is a brand new Celiac Singles, Social Networking, and Dating site for those who are living the gluten free lifestyle. Check it out! It's brand new.

I've had a chance to sample Redbridge. Had a few beers a couple of times and got sick. Emailed them and asked if the product was "gluten-free" as they claimed.

Their response was that it was "illegal" to actually label the beer "gluten-free" as the government has yet to determine what the term means... (proposed 20 ppm). Interesting as Bard's Pale Ale labels each bottle as gluten-free and I've had no reaction to it. They also told me that Redbridge was made on equipment used to create other beers after it was washed. They are sending me a kit to return the product for testing.

I'm very happy to have a beer to drink and I applaud The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, Anheuser-Busch, and the makers of Bard's Pale Ale (seemingly a true gluten-free product - and the beer of my choice at this time), and other up and coming gluten-free food creators for their efforts, but I am very alarmed that gluten-free will not actually mean gluten-free (Rice Dream for example is 20 ppm gluten - they would be able to say that their product is a gluten-free product). This will really make things even more confusing for people/families trying to cope with gluten intolerance.

I also had a chance to try Redbridge. I had no reaction to Bards Tale; however, when I gave Redbridge a try, I got sick. I think people who have zero tolerance for gluten should stick with Bards Tale. I was upset at this because Redbridge is like 40 percent cheaper and taste better to me.

Well I've been struggling for quite some time now. It doesnt matter what I eliminate I'm still sick. Its like it HAS to be something that is constantly in my system because I havent had a single symtom-free day for over 3 years now. Even when I limit myself to 2 safe foods I'm still having symptoms so basically nothing has worked. All meds or supplements have worsened my symptoms. All gluten-free packaged foods bother me. I toatlly eliminated casein and still have problems. It was only one supplement I was taking that had milk in it so I stopped taking it...felt better...started eating more foods and totally symptomatic again.

I was eating Enjoy Life chocolate chips with no problems..also did some baking...no problems. I had one cake mix with all safe ingredients and reacted. The mix only had like 4 ingredients and I tolerate all of them...the only questionable ingredient is Xanthan gum. Its also in every gluten-free product I've reacted to and also rice milks and almond milks and a ton of other stuff I cant have. I found out its from CORN. I never thought about corn...but its in everything. Even when I'm only eating meat and veggies (no corn) I'm still having corn everyday in my thyroid meds and any supplements or vitamins I've ever taken most likely have corn.

Pre gluten-free I never ate much candy or sweets....my favorite snacks were popcorn and Tostitos. These were also the first foods I started avoiding long before I ever heard of gluten because the next day I always had a swollen face and a migraine. I had thought it was from the salt or something. I thought everything was thyroid related since I had Graves so I started avoiding all salt.

I did some research on corn and its in pretty much everything...seems more difficult to avoid then both gluten and dairy. Today at work (I work in a grocery store) I started reading all the labels of the foods I used to eat before I got sick. They ALL have corn. Its in bread, soups, microwave dinners, yogurts, cheese (why is corn in cheese?). Anyways, I've never been corn-free because of my thyroid meds and lots of other things I've tried over the last year. I had posted about getting "glutened" by all the gluten-free cereals. Well they are all corn based....DUH. I dont know why I never thought of this since everything I've had problems with have some form of corn in them.

I really need to eliminate the corn to see if I get better but dont know how I can do this when I need to take thyroid pills everyday. What do people do in a situation like this? What if I'm intolerant to corn all this time and its in the medication I need to take?

The other big question is am I really intolerant to gluten and dairy? If I get better off corn I dont know what to think about that. All the foods that have gluten also have corn so I would likely have to stay off gluten anyways....hmmm...does pizza have corn in it?

Also yogurt and ice cream really mess me up but they also have corn. There ARE some brands and flavors that dont have corn so I would LOVE to not have a problem with dairy!!

I would rather be intolerant to corn and gluten both than have to give up dairy for good.

Does anyone have a corn intolerance? Could I have just developed this out of nowhere and NOT have gluten intolerance...or is it more likely that gluten caused this to happen in the first place? I'm actually hoping I'm corn intolerant cuz as hard as it seems I've been struggling a long time now. The symptoms I've gotten from the stuff I've eaten with xanthan gum are severe....also I had powdered sugar yesterday and had another severe reaction. I have no reaction to cane sugar but when I looked at the ingred. of the powdered stuff its cane suger AND corn starch! Right now I feel exactly like I felt before I ever went gluten-free...everything hurts. This would explain why I dont do well with anything processed or with any supplements or vitamins or medications.

I dont see too many people here with corn problems but hopefully someone has some advice about the thyroid meds??

RECOVERY TIME / CROSS-REACTIVITY: I just wanted to help everybody out here. I've been gluten free for 9 months. It took me about 6 months to get more significant/more noticeable results. Still, I have to watch my diet. I can't eat fatty food. Everybody, please go check out MayoClinic.com and search for celiac disease. I also worked at Mayo Clinic Hospital for a little while. My understanding is that the villi can take anywhere from 6 months-2 yrs to heal or grow. Then 2yrs to 5yrs for close to 100% recovery. The reason for the such the large range of time has to due with age/severity. These villi, in the small intestine, are responsible for absortion and production of enyzmes to break fats/proteins in food. So, as you can see, they are very important. People experiencing Dermatitis Hepataformis (DH), can expect to wait up to 2 yrs to clear up. Me, I've had skin problems, diahrrea, lupus like symptoms, and etc. I've also lived 15 yrs. not knowing what the heck what going on. I'm 30 yrs old now. From age 26-29 my symptoms got really bad. All the CELIACS out there who are just diagnosed. HAVE HOPE. It will get better. There is a 95% chance you will recover in time. I think the other 5% who don't are either still eating gluten or the villi are dead. These are good odds. If you are younger (new born-50). Odds of recovery are almost 100% One final note for complications of recovery. Ya, you probably heard that we celiacs become lactose intolerant. This is due to the tips of the villi, where lactate (enzyme that breaks down lactose in dairy) is produced, being damaged. My final piece of advise for those who aren't recovering. Make sure you are not cross reacting with SOY or MILK. Guess what? These two have very similar protein structures to gluten. This may make the immune system react and destroy your villi. That's right, gluten isn't the only substance that can trigger a villi attack.

your safest foods will be meat (avoiding seafood), rice, vegetables, fruit, potatos

i am new to this forum and to gluten intolerance. i have not yet been diagnosed with celiac disease, but i have a strong suspicion that is the problem. i had a colonoscopy about three weeks ago and the only information i was given was that i did not have chrones disease. i have a follow up apointment soon. i have been on a gluten/lactose free diet for about two months now, and for about three weeks had been symptom free. then three days ago, when i woke up (like before the g/l free diet) i was sick. then yesterday and today, the same thing.

anyway, my actual question is...

when gluten slips in to your diet, how long do you show symptoms before you get better.

_product_

RECOVERY TIME: I just wanted to help everybody out here. I've been gluten free for 9 months. It took me about 6 months to get more significant/more noticeable results. Still, I have to watch my diet. I can't eat fatty food. Everybody, please go check out MayoClinic.com and search for celiac disease. I also worked at Mayo Clinic Hospital for a little while. My understanding is that the villi can take anywhere from 6 months-2 yrs to heal or grow. Then 2yrs to 5yrs for close to 100% recovery. The reason for the such the large range of time has to due with age/severity. These villi, in the small intestine, are responsible for absortion and production of enyzmes to break fats/proteins in food. So, as you can see, they are very important. People experiencing Dermatitis Hepataformis (DH), can expect to wait up to 2 yrs to clear up. Me, I've had skin problems, diahrrea, lupus like symptoms, and etc. I've also lived 15 yrs. not knowing what the heck what going on. I'm 30 yrs old now. From age 26-29 my symptoms got really bad. All the CELIACS out there who are just diagnosed. HAVE HOPE. It will get better. There is a 95% chance you will recover in time. I think the other 5% who don't are either still eating gluten or the villi are dead. These are good odds. If you are younger (new born-50). Odds of recovery are almost 100% One final note for complications of recovery. Ya, you probably heard that we celiacs become lactose intolerant. This is due to the tips of the villi, where lactate (enzyme that breaks down lactose in dairy) is produced, being damaged. My final piece of advise for those who aren't recovering. Make sure you are not cross reacting with SOY or MILK. Guess what? These two have very similar protein structures to gluten. This may make the immune system react and destroy your villi. That's right, gluten isn't the only substance that can trigger a villi attack.

Hi Y

Kathy Ann, I could not have said this any better. It's very difficult to stick to something when you see minimal improvements.

If you were on a weight loss diet, would you stick with it even though you'd only lost two pounds after six months? No! That'd be silly.

I've seen my reactions to accidental glutenings, and that's the proof to me. But I'm at a loss as to what steps I need to take next. It's very difficult to be proactive in your health when there are minimal guidelines and huge lag times in the symptoms.

-Courtney

RECOVERY TIME: I just wanted to help everybody out here. I've been gluten free for 9 months. It took me about 6 months to get more significant/more noticeable results. Still, I have to watch my diet. I can't eat fatty food. Everybody, please go check out MayoClinic.com and search for celiac disease. I also work at Mayo Clinic Hospital for a little while. My understanding is that the villi can take anywhere from 6 months-2 yrs to heal or grow. Then 2yrs to 5yrs for close to 100% recovery. The reason for the such the large range of time have to due with age/severity. These villi, in the small intestine, are responsible from absortion and production of enyzmes to break fats/proteins in food. So, as you can see, they are very important. People experiencing Dermatitis Hepataformis (DH), can expect to wait up to 2 yrs to clear up. Me, I've had skin problems, diahrrea, lupus like symptoms, and etc. I've also lived 15 yrs. not knowing what the heck what going on. I'm 30 yrs old now. From age 26-29 my symptoms got really bad. All the CELIACS out there who are just diagnosed. HAVE HOPE. It will get better. There is a 95% chance you will recover in time. I think the other 5% who don't are either still eating gluten or the villi are dead. These are good odds. If you are younger (new born-50). Odds of recovery are almost 100% One final note for complications of recovery. Ya, you probably heard that we celiacs become lactose intolerant. This is due to the tips of the villi, where lactate (enzyme that breaks down lactose in dairy) is produced, being damaged. My final piece of advise for those who aren't recovering. Make sure you are not cross reacting with SOY or MILK. Guess what? These two have very similar protein structures that may make the immune system react and destroy your villi. That's right, gluten isn't the only substance that can trigger a villi attack.