BlessedMommy

Plus, I won't be the only one not eating or not eating much, because my MIL went to 2 meals a day at her doctor's advice, so she doesn't eat supper but will be coming to the class.

Since there's so little time before I get up to teach anyway, I might just have fruit beforehand.

I would not eat the food without researching beforehand.

Personally, at the last reception that I went to, I carried snacks in my purse and ate only my own food. But the reception was privately handled, so I didn't feel confident that much of anything would be safe.

I lead out in coordinating certain events for our church. Periodically, we have nutrition/cooking seminars that we make available to the public.

In the past, I did a lot more of the cooking, but as time has gone on, I've outsourced a lot of that to church members. While that is great for my stress level, it means that very little there is gluten free!

I'm bring a fruit salad to this upcoming one. Would it be best for me to munch on some fruit and then stand up to start the class or should I bring something that looks similar to the menu and put it on my plate?

A gluten challenge can work for many people. Be sure to listen to your body, though and don't overdo the gluten. I made a mistake of not being careful during my gluten challenge and had to cease it early, so as not to go on and have a full blown stroke. (I had a TIA after experiencing severe headaches)

So I'm not diagnosed and I will never do a gluten trial again. If the insurance refused to pay for my child being tested on that basis, well there's labs where you can order the tests yourself and self-pay.

We don't have a microwave.

I did pick up a 12 pack of canned cat food though. The 9 lives brand appears to be gluten free. 

We are strongly leaning towards letting the cat stay, he really seems to be adapting to us well.

Would your co-parent be swayed by University of Chicago research? They are the experts afterall.

Open Original Shared Link

That is not true. It's a fact that celiac can present in many ways other than GI symptoms. Some celiacs have no symptoms and end up slowly and silently dying. 

I think that people just do not understand how ridiculous it is to mess around with something that could destroy your ability to function independently and speak correctly.

Of course, in this society, almost everybody seems to subscribe to the "a little won't hurt" mentality. 

I love it! That really gets the point across. 

That site looks great! I might eventually order the nutrient test. Looks like they use labs all over the U.S. Thanks for sharing the link!

My cousin once asked me that question, when referring to a restaurant that stated as a disclaimer that cross contamination may occur. 

I sort of bumbled through an answer which boiled down to, "I use my common sense, ask questions, ask for accomodations, and avoid the chips made in the shared frier." 

On another occasion, I refused to eat my own dish at a potluck after someone CC'ed it. Someone said, "Well maybe you're not THAT allergic." 

So pretty much treat it like a dumb question? 

I read your testimony, and yes, I agree that any person who would ask you a question like that, would be pretty silly. If it would be like asking someone if they would eat rat poison on purpose. 

That's about as good as it gets for those of us who require a gluten free diet.

So does their final product test down to 5 PPM or less or 10 PPM or less? 

As you know, this is usually a question from people who want to know if you will purposefully eat food that's been contaminated. 

My situation is that given the severity of my high levels of gluten response, I would prefer not to tempt fate by being careless with lower levels. I did get a headache and a low grade fever the other day though after what I think was a slight gluten exposure. Sometimes I wonder though if that was gluten or something else.

So I do seem to get some responses to low level contamination but certainly not a rush trip to the ER. 

So, what's a meaningful and concise way to answer that question that doesn't give people too much detail but also doesn't lie? 

How would we know if the cat had already been neutered?

So.....we're thinking about adopting a cat. A stray cat dropped by our house and he's starting to get attached to us. We've checked with our neighbors and have had no success locating his family, so we're guessing that he was abandoned.

We figure that we'd make him an outdoor cat and he could have the run of our yard and barn and hopefully clean up the mouse population for us.

But, if I have a cat, I want to spoil him sometimes with homemade food.

What foods are appropriate for cats? Do you cook up plain meat and veggies sometimes for your pets? Anything else I should know about this?

Are there any tutorials on how to cook a chicken, for people who have never cooked them in their life? (I'm vegetarian)

I hope that you are able to get some answers

I hope that someday the in vitro gliadin challenge will become the standard of care for celiac testing or that it at least will become widely available and used for the more difficult cases. One thing's for sure, if they do studies on it and need guinea pigs, I'll be one of the first to volunteer.

https://www.celiac.com/articles/23074/1/In-Vitro-Gliadin-Challenge-Offers-Accurate-Diagnosis-of-Difficult-Celiac-Disease-Cases/Page1.html

I'm glad that you found what works for you!

In the end, nobody needs permission from a doctor to do what's best for their own body. 

Please, please, please be careful with the headaches! I would suggest that you figure out a way to get a DX and end this gluten challenge. Seems pretty obvious that you have an issue with gluten!

My gluten challenge (in hindsight I overdid the gluten) resulted in daily headaches. At first I shrugged them off. I figured, how dangerous could a headache be anyway? On day 10 of the gluten challenge, I developed neurological symptoms. My right side went numb and I had speech difficulties. I went to the ER and the doctors ran a CT scan. It came back totally normal. They diagnosed it as a TIA.

That day, I decided that I was done with gluten for good. Whether celiac tests came back positive, negative, or inconclusive wouldn't affect my decision. There was no way that I could ever, in good conscience, purposefully eat gluten again. As it turns out, the celiac doctor was booked up for weeks. I ended up cancelling my appointment. I figured that by the time I was able to see her, the gluten would be out of my system anyway, plus I only did a 10 day challenge to begin with. 

After that day in the hospital, I began eating gluten-free again immediately. It took me days to feel totally normal but my headaches started getting better immediately after laying off the gluten. I visited my family doctor and he had no desire to run any follow up exploratory tests. He told me that he believed that my TIA was gluten triggered and that staying away from the gluten was the best thing that I could do.

Most friends and family agree that with that type of medical history, I really don't need a celiac diagnosis. The writing is on the wall. But on the other hand, who needs permission from doctors to do what they know is right for their body?

The bad news is that I don't have a diagnosis. The good news is that I'm healthy.I found out about this early enough to prevent most permanent health problems. I'm 32 and in pretty good shape overall! I have been gluten free since shortly before I turned 28.

I feel thankful to have found out that I couldn't tolerate gluten before I did permanent damage to my body. 

Best of luck to you in whatever way you decide!

Do you make your soap and market it to anybody else?

Thanks! 

So, tonight I was talking to a friend of mine. I told her (after she mentioned wanting to bring something for me), "You know, this is a super difficult diet to master and it's taken me a long time to get the hang of it, so I really don't expect anyone to go out of their way for me."

Come to find out, she has a couple of celiac family members and she really and truly wants to understand celiac better and to be able to provide her family with safe food. She understands some about CC and wants to learn more about it and how to safely make her celiac family members some safe treats. She is willing to go invest in some dedicated gluten-free pots and utensils and spend time educating herself just to make them stuff. 

What is a good resource for non-celiacs who want to get educated on the topic? I told her that I'd go ask my celiac friends and see if I could rustle up a recommended resource sheet.

What do FPIES and EE stand for?