BlessedMommy

I'm not really sure whether I'm celiac or not. I had serious complications while going through a gluten challenge in prep for celiac antibody testing and had to quit the gluten and just go gluten free, before I was able to get any tests.

Welcome to the boards!

It is so weird to find normal after living the other way for some long.

I've struggled with severe anxiety and finally, my brain is relatively calm most of the time. That is pretty shocking and weird to me after being stressed and worried nearly all the time!

OP, so glad that your sleeping is improving and that you feel healthier. That is wonderful!

Georgia_guy, this is my favorite one:

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I also like this one:

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What's a SAD, Angela? I'm not familiar with that term.

Your kids are really close in age to mine, I have a 7 year old (almost 8) girl, a 5 year old boy, and a 2 year old girl.

Welcome!

I guess a good place to start is to think back to what kind of dishes that you liked to eat before your DX. Many of them can be made gluten free with only small modifications.

In my family, we eat lots and lots of fresh produce (I get a weekly farm share box) and make salads and cook veggies all kinds of ways. We also eats lots of fresh fruit. For grains, we enjoy quinoa, certified gluten free oats, millet, white basmati rice, etc. One of my favorite meals is a quick Spanish rice that I cook in my rice cooker. (I put beans in it too)

We eats beans all different kinds of ways (we're vegetarian) and also eat a few of the gluten free vegetarian meat substitutes or veggie burgers once in awhile. We eats lots of eggs in various ways and also nuts. I have a couple of bread recipes that I really like and I tend to bake our own gluten free bread but we also buy commercial sometimes, especially for hamburger buns.

I agree with the suggestion to check out the What's for Dinner thread. Hopefully that will get your creative juices flowing.

I know that things can be overwhelming at first, especially if you don't have much support. I have found that this forum is great source of support!

So the reason why they're questioning the celiac DX is because of the thyroid issues possibly raising the Ttg?

^Homemade baked gluten free doughnuts are super easy as well!

Oh my! Those look good!

I'm dairy free (and gluten-free of course), but not soy free, so those look like they would be awesome! 

Does your son have bad reactions when he gets glutened? Depending on the severity of his response to gluten, that may be a piece of the puzzle as well.

If he gets really sick when he gets glutened, doing a gluten challenge may not be feasible.

I'm really sorry that you're having to go through all this on top of all of your son's severe food allergies.  I hope that you get a resolution soon. 

So, I did finally put together a little kit for the van.

So far, I put the following items in: packets of Planter's Nuts, soy jerky, gluten-free crackers, a few GoPicnic meals, packets of Justin's peanut butter, some paper plates, some plastic forks, a small paring knife, some aluminum foil, 2 flexible cutting boards. 

I plan on grabbing a few items per week to restock the food as it is eaten. So far it is proving to be very convenient to have a road kit on hand! I will continue to revise and add items as I go. 

^I agree with the above! That's what the board is for, is sharing information and support. I've learned so much since I've been here!

So far I've gotten only google results for "Breyer's Lactose Free Ice Cream." Do they have a completely dairy free one as well?

I didn't know that Breyer's made a dairy free ice cream! I'm going to have to look into that. 

No problem! I hope that you can find them.

I don't know where you live, but in our area it's really easy to find the soy free earth balance version. I think that even Wal-Mart carries it.

Oh, good to know, thanks!

I am dairy and soy free because they both bother me.  Makes it fun when trying to put butter in anything   

Not all butter substitutes have soy.

Are you familiar with these brands?

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The biopsy is less accurate than the blood tests.

Personally, if I were you I would go ahead and schedule a biopsy if it worked out, but consider that you have celiac and eat gluten free regardless of the biopsy's results. The intestine is very long and the biopsy can easily miss the damage, unfortunately. Many people have had positive bloodwork and a negative biopsy and have been sent on their gluten eating way until they got progressively sicker and sicker.

Your numbers on the bloodwork are sky high. That is pretty indicative. Combined with your symptoms and improvement on the diet, it seems pretty clear.

Bottom line: If it makes you sick, don't eat it. Nobody will ask you for a copy of a biopsy report (except your doctor) and anybody who is your real friend will support avoiding that which is toxic to your body. If you can get it confirmed via biopsy, great! But if not, don't feel like a hypochondriac, because your numbers are high, the symptoms are there & they are improving on the diet.

Hope that helps!

Thank you, great ideas.

We don't have a microwave, so can't do the microwave dinners, but I could totally do the individual snack bags thing.

That place sounds great! Good luck!

I don't eat Jif or Nutella. 

Anyway, I went to the health food store in Kalamazoo and they ended up having a nice selection of Justin's nut butter packets. And the per packet price (for the 6 packs) was 58 cents a packet. Not bad at all! I ended up getting 3 boxes with 6 packets per box. That should last awhile. I now have a very nice survival kit for the car and I was able to have a nice little supper while the kids were eating Subway.

Take it from me, just start out with an across the board rule that people can't bake for you and can't cook for you (except for in unusual circumstances like if you have a friend who really goes out of their way to understand celiac).

It's easier than being lax at first and then trying to switch later to being more strict.

Great idea! I didn't even think of cereal.

^Yep!

And that's why the further I get into the gluten-free diet, the less I want anybody to cook for me. 

Ah, small town challenges. I didn't find Justin's nut butters, but Target did have GoPicnic's so I picked up some, picked up some Planter's nut packets, some applesauce, etc. and made up a car snack kit. I also made some vegan gluten free jerky in the health food store and tossed it in.

I need to go up to Kalamazoo area for a FedEx package though, so I will probably stop in and see if their health food store has it.

The only nut butters in packets that our health food store had, was some really fancy expensive ones with no peanut butter option.

I'm gluten challenging my older two kids and I'm finding that it's presenting some CC issues for me. Lots of crumbs around and even a piece of bread tossed on the bottom of my fridge. (I carefully scooped it up with a plastic baggie and washed the area)

I now have to go buy a new stick of Earth Balance butter because my 5 year old touched my stick of butter with CC'ed hands. 

I'm thinking that I need to make some modifications for my own sanity. Maybe I need to stop using bread and use something for the challenge that doesn't shed crumbs everywhere. What about glutenous vegetarian meat substitutes? Would a couple of pieces of that a day be equivalent to 2 pieces of bread a day?

Or maybe I just need to take them out for a sub at Subway every night. LOL!