ShayFL

You could try a small gluten-free trial for a few weeks to a month. Then challenge so it could be more clear for your Hubby.

Hi There...Welcome!!

Sadly it isnt just the lactose that can keep you with "D". Casein is a milk protein that MANY celiacs cannot tolerate. If I were you, my next move would be completely dairy free as well and give it a month or 2 to see if that improves things.

Most of us have been where you are. Hang in there.

So far: migraines gone, neuropathy better and vertigo better. I had to make some other dietary changes for some other benefits. But these 3 I can attribute to gluten-free.

Move to FL. Lots of land in the country and we dont do wheat here.

Hi Cici,

I understand your frustration. I am like you, I was ANAL with my diet and I felt rotten for a long time. I am just now starting to have some really good days without symptoms. 5+ months. So hang on. It will get better.

Unfortunately, if you have low Ferritin and/or adrenal hormones, you can feel "hyper" when you are not. Check out:

www.stopthethyroidmadness.com

A lot of good information there.

Progesterone will open the receptor sites so more thyroid gets into the cells. This is a good thing, but can be tricky balancing with thyroid hormones.

I had sensations of "hyper" at 2 grains. So doctor cut back and I went into full blown "hypo" again. I needed to get my Ferritin up and once I did, I could continue raising my Armour until I got to an optimal dose. Ferritin should be at least 50 with 70-90 being optimal. Mine is still a work in progress as I do not have enough iron stores to get me by should I need surgery or get into an accident.

I dose 4 times a day on Armour sublingually. It works great for me. Our thyroids naturally secret hormones in periodic burst throughout the day. I am mimicking nature this way and it keeps me very stable.

Synthetic hormones like Levoxyl and Synthroid are different. You can take them anytime and the bodies ability to utilize the hormone depends on the body's ability to convert all of that straight T4 into T3.

I am a poor converter. So all that T4 would just pool in my blood and make me feel "hyper" with "hypo" symptoms unresolved. My life changed when I switched to Armour.

I am currently trying Goat's milk Kefir. Cow dairy bothers me in any form. Mucus. Coughing. Congestion. So far the Kefir has been fine and it has made my bm's normal for the first time in my life.

Some find they can tolerate fermented dairy, but not milk. Some can do goat but not cow. You should try cutting it all out for awhile and then challenge with fermented first to see what happens.

I see Indian treats like that and it is no wonder most of India is diabetic. Oh my!!

Interestingly, traditional Indian curries are not hot. Portugal brought red pepper into India in the 17th Century. Before that, they only used mildly hot spices like ginger and cumin in the curry powders. There is a wave of Indians returning to traditional roots and shunning the overly hot spices like red/chili pepper.

Bravo to both of you!!

I too noticed facial changes. I liked the plumper face.....but enjoy feeling better.

I really dont have any issues with other people. Maybe it is because I live in a bigger city. But most just mind their own business. I have run into a few friends at the store and the most I ever got was "My you eat so healthy" when they look in my cart. I dont think peeps mean to be rude. I think a good number of people are very self conscious about themselves and their own weight/eating habits. The type of people that will say something are usually the ones that constantly beat themselves up....I should eat better....I should start exercising....I should quit smoking. It really comes from insecurity more than rudeness IMO.

I'll be 40 in November. Maybe it is my age too. I really dont care AT ALL what other people think about me. It is a liberating feeling indeed.

I just sent an email to them on Friday asking about their gluten free status. I like the "Taro" only chips (plain) and not the mixed bag of roots. Will let you know what they say.

You might be able to find kefir starter grains if you sniff around online. Several people sell it on eBay. You could then make your own. It is pretty easy and I am considering trying to make it myself. But find just grabbing it at the store seems easy enough.

It is a lot tangier than yogurt and thinner. It can also have a slight carbonation to it depending on how long it was fermented. I dont like the taste particularly, but it is helping me.

I tried it in a smoothie and just didnt care for the sharpness of it. So what I do now is drink the kefir through a straw and then enjoy my fruit only smoothie. Works much better for me this way rather than combining them.

Get ALL of the testing done including GENETIC and then commit to trying a gluten-free diet for at least 3 months to see if things improve. It sure sounds suspicious, but not definitive. A pos. response to the diet is a good sign.

I went to get my 3 month supply refilled in August and the pharmacy only had 90 pills left and I needed 270. These were the 60 mg/1 grain size. So I went to the Armour website and it said that the lower doses would be back ordered for a short period and the larger sizes 2 grains and up wouldnt be out till I think November. Well I get panicky because only Armour works for me well. Synthroid does not work for me at all. As soon as the back order was lifted on the smaller doses, I ordered 300 (60mg) pills from a supplier online. You can freeze them indefinitely. I never want to run out!!

It sounds like dairy is a true intolerance for you. Yes, if gluten is also a problem it can mask other issues. You are not crazy.

Ok I wasnt going to mention this because I am still in the experimental phase, but mftnchn this might help you. I have started drinking raw goat milk kefir. It is made by a small local goat dairy nearby. Kefir is reported by many to be a most healing food for digestive issues and food allergies/intolerances. It contains many beneficial bacteria and yeasts for our intestines. Where yogurt passes through rather quickly offering transient help. Kefir actually colonizes the intestines crowding out the bad guys and making vitamins for us and healing acids.

This is from my extensive research on Kefir. Do your own of course.

So I tried it. After only 2 days of drinking 1 cup per day, my bms look normal. Brown. Formed. No undigested food in them. Pointy ends. This may not sound like much of a triumph, but NEVER in my life have I EVER had a normal looking bm. Always loose, unformed, undigested food in them. So this is major for me.

I am only 1 week into the Kefir. So not enough time for me to declare it a wonder food or a cure or even completely helpful. But I am hopeful.

I follow the SCD mostly, but still incorporate things into my diet/life that I feel are beneficial based on my own research.

Oh yeah...you can see some weird stuff in the first 4-6 weeks. I had always had loose stool, but always brown. But after going gluten-free...must have been a week or so in...I had a strange pale almost white thing in the bowl. It freaked me out. But after that....back to brown and have been ever since. I have had some foul smelling stuff too. I get green when I am not digesting well and I eat something green like spinach.

A gross topic for most. But hey...everyone poops.

If she is good with coconut, Turtle Mountain makes coconut ice cream that is delicious. gluten-free and DF. It comes in some yummy flavors like cookie dough, chocolate chip mint, vanilla and coconut. I have tried them all except the cookie dough. I am grain free.

Something like this could ease the transition from dairy. Whole Foods caries it. So does a few of my local health food stores, so see if you can get it.

I hear you Jason. And I sympathize completely. Life constantly presents us with challenges that we have to face and work through.

I suffered horrible vertigo for many years and I became a recluse because of it. It was my excuse for not doing anything. For not living fully. But I got tired of being a prisoner to my disease and my own home. I wanted to live!! So I forced myself to get out. To do things. Even if they were uncomfortable. First I joined a gym. The first 2 weeks I just poked around observing things. Then the guy that ran the place noticed me. He invited me to a kickboxing class. A kickboxing class!! Geez...with my vertigo. I told him about my unsteadiness. But he said come anyway. So I did. I got there early and talked to a few other women. I told them about my vertigo. I fell on my ass at least 10 times during that hour. In front of 20 other people. I fell. No one laughed. No one. Afterwards, several people came up to me and said they admired me. And I realized that I was proud of myself too. So I kept going. I got better and better. I stopped falling. I got good at it. A few months in, I was so good at that the instructor asked if I would teach the class for her one day when she would need to be absent. Crazy. But I did it. Everyone loved me and the class I taught. So I got ACE certified to be an instructor and started teaching my own classes. I then worked toward a Phd in Holistic Nutrition. THESE WERE SOME OF THE MOST REWARDING THINGS I HAVE EVER DONE. I would not have gotten to enjoy my life if I had not taken a risk.

You can never get satisfaction from life if you continue to play the "what if" game. Real joy comes from taking risks and finding that you are a lot more wonderful than you think you are.

I met my DH online 7 years ago. I took a risk. It paid off. Now, I dated a lot of toads along the way. Not everyone that answered my ad was normal. Uncomfortable. Yes. But the end result was that I found someone that I love deeply and fully. Worth the risk and the pain in the ass? You bet!

You could try online dating and just say upfront that you have food intolerances. You might just be surprised that there is a woman out there that is perfect for you as she shares food intolerances as well. And her family is already familiar with it because of her and you will fit right in. But you will NEVER know unless you get out there. Force yourself. Refuse to be a prisoner to your food issues. Allow yourself some discomfort to get to the prize.

Also is the yeast killer caprylic acid? That is coconut. Some cant tolerate coconut.

Honestly, I think the best cure for candida and bowel issues is diet alone. SCD www.pecanbread.com is a good place to look.

I agree. And even if sprouting could break down the protein, I know from personal experience (was a raw foodist mega sprouter for 6 months) that not all of the grains sprout. So in a BIG business like Ezekial bread making there would be a lot of grains that had the gluten fully in tact.

NOOOOOOO.

Welcome!

How long gluten-free? The first few months can have a range of "strange" symptoms as the body heals itself. Sometimes one can feel worse before better. Also, a lot of people who have gluten issues need to cut out dairy (at least for a few months) for the body to completely heal.

Your poor daughter's body is in an uproar right now. There is literally a "war" going on inside of her. When I killed off my critters, I had ups and downs....die off for a few days and then some calm....then another flare.....It took a good month for everything to settle down nicely. Then I started a different "killer" and the process repeated itself. Different supplements kill off different bugs. I have been on three dif. kinds so far and each one brought die off and then relief with some flares now and again.

Try cutting her dose down and building up slowly.

Keep in mind that as the body heals, it can do weird things and they arent necessarily bad (they just feel bad).

I would STRONGLY advice you looking into the SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) as it has helped MANY on this forum including me. I have been able to add in things as of the last 3-4 weeks. But that diet sure got things straightened out.

Mike I saw my first result 2 weeks in when it was time for my regular migraine and it didnt happen. In over 5 months I have not had a single full blown migraine. When before gluten free I could have expected 10-12. The depression lift was gradual and the neuropathy took about 4 months to start to improve. I still have a little ways to go there. The vertigo is better, but it seems the last to give it up. But I will take improvement.

I ended up giving up all grains and feel so much better for it.

I dont know what he likes to eat but fruit and nuts are good and easy. Lundenberg rice cakes with nut butter (make a sandwich with them). Corn chips with a little plastic disposable container filled with refried beans. Canned fruit with flip-top lids. Fresh fruit (apples and bananas store well and aren't messy to eat). Gluten-free dry cereal in zipper bags.

Kids love Chex Mix:

Classic Chex Mix

3 T butter, melted

1 T gluten-free Worcestershire sauce

3/4 t salt

1/2 t garlic powder

1/2 t onion powder

1/8 t pepper

1/4 t chili powder

4 1/2 c gluten-free rice Chex

1 small package Ener-G pretzels

1/2 c nuts like peanuts

Mix the first 7 ingredients together. Put the Chex and pretzels and nuts, if using, in a bowl, toss with the butter mixture. Spread on a pan and bake at 250 for 45 minutes, stirring every 15. Let cool, try not to eat all at once.