BlessedMommy

I've been gluten-free for over 4 years. Overall I've tried to be quite careful with my diet since the day I committed to it, but I've learned even more from this forum about preventing cross contamination.

At high levels of gluten, I get severe reactions. However, at low levels I do not. The most I get at low levels of gluten (say if I ate a bean tostada at Taco Bell that got CC'ed) is the start of an itchy skin rash or my skin burns and flames to the touch. (I don't eat at Taco Bell ever anymore, FTR)

Due to my history and symptoms, I think that it's highly likely that I have Dermetitis Herpetiformis, though unfortunately my dermatologist never thought to run a biopsy for DH.

My family and friends are overall quite supportive, but how should I approach them if I'm feeling the need to be more careful than before, though I've not gotten visibly ill from minute amounts of CC?

I was thinking something like this:

"You know, I didn't really know what I was doing when I started eating gluten-free. This whole process has been a learning experience. And I've recently learned that in order to prevent complications like villi damage and nutritional deficiencies I need to be even more careful than I've been. Even if my outward reaction isn't violent, the internal damage can still be done. So would it be okay with you if I leave a set of dedicated kitchen utensils at your house?"

(this would be directed to my MIL)

What do you think of this approach of explaining my new information that I've learned?

The VitaMix is so worth it! Now that I have seen first hand what it can do, I consider it as indispensable to my kitchen as my stove or refrigerator and I will cheerfully fork out the $$$ for another one at whatever inflated price they're at, whenever mine dies. (but I won't have to do that for a long time, because my VitaMix has a 7 year warranty, so I'm guaranteed to have a functioning blender at least that long!)

The nice thing with the variable speeds is that you can do so much with them! At low speeds, you can make salsa. At high speeds (and with use of the tamper) you can make fruit ice cream. It blenders my whole grain waffle batter. It makes soymilk in 1/4 of the time as the cheaper blender. 

I can make sorghum flour, teff flour, rice flour, etc. etc.

I'm sorry for the stress that has put you through! 

Personally I had neurological symptoms in the form of stroke like symptoms after a series of severe headaches. I went gluten-free and I have never had any recurrence of TIA's.

Hopefully someone who has symptoms closer to what your child does, can chime in!

I also wanted to mention that I grind lots of gluten-free flour in my Vitamix dry container.

We absolutely love our Vitamix! Given the quality of it, we have no qualms with the $500 that we spent on it. 

I have made coconut butter in it before and it turned out great. 

Since we went through 3-4 cheaper blenders before getting the Vitamix, I was more than happy to go to something more reliable. The company is great and has great service too. When my container started leaking, they sent me a new one right away and only requested that I recycle the old one.

I want to learn how to do more with polenta. Any suggestions?

Thanks, that's good to know! After 4 years gluten-free (and with lack of insurance), I will probably never know for sure if it's DH, but it's good to know that my lack of GI symptoms doesn't mean that it was all in my head.

Curious if people with DH typically bypass the normal celiac symptoms and have mostly skin flare ups?

I am not diagnosed with DH via biopsy but had a severe gluten related skin rash during my first pregnancy. I've been gluten free for over 4 years and the way that I know that I may have gotten tiny bits of gluten is usually itchy or flaming skin--no GI symptoms whatsoever.

I agree, there is a mourning process. I have been gluten free for over 4 years and I think that I'm still dealing with a bit of sadness that I will have to continue to eat this way forever. And it's not because gluten free food tastes bad, but I'm more mourning the loss of spontaneity, if that makes sense. The loss of being able to order something off a restaurant menu without stressing or eat food that a friend has made, without playing the 20 questions game.

So, you're not alone!

This is a good list! One thing that I would like to add is that once a restaurant informed me that all their tofu has gluten in it, because it's a soy product. What?? Unless it has flavoring added (usually in the form of soy sauce) tofu is definitely gluten free.

I was going to suggest getting your own set of utensils and pans and preparing your food separately as well.

Does anybody have any recommendations on which types of pizza pans are best?

I'm looking to get away from non stick pizza pans, since they get scratched up so easily. (I have a dedicated gluten-free house, but having scratched up pizza pans is still annoying!)

Has anybody tried the stainless steel or cast iron ones? Any other recommendations?

I think that getting DX'ed is a more important for kids, than for adults. Adults have total freedom of choice to eat whatever they want and refuse whatever they want. 

I still would suggest that every adult who reasonably can, gets a diagnosis, because it is a lot easier to deal with other people if you have a DX. But you can eat a gluten free diet without one. Some doctors believe that patients won't take the gluten-free diet seriously without a biopsy, but in my case (see story below in my sig), I figured that if a $3,000 hospital bill wouldn't make me take the diet seriously, than a biopsy probably wouldn't do much better. LOL!

Duck eggs are awesome! They have a lot more B12 than chicken eggs. My neighbor raises chickens and a duck and often would put 1-2 duck eggs in every dozen eggs that I got from her.

So, did your friend reply back about you bringing your own food? 

LOL! We ate breakfast at a friend's house when we ending up staying over at their house unplanned and as I ate (I had carefully made scrambled eggs prepared by me on a rewashed stainless steel pan and some fresh and canned fruit) my friend quipped as he pointed to his cereal boxes, "These cereals might as well be labelled "Shredded Death" and "Nutty Casket." (Shredded Wheat and Nutty Nuggets)

LOL! It's good to have a friend that "gets" the seriousness of avoiding gluten.

I call my MIL and my inlaws are fine with bringing all the regular pizza, which makes it a moot point.   It's nice not to have to worry about it! After converting my kitchen to gluten-free, it feels like bringing in a biohazard! LOL! 

Hmm....actually occurred to me that I could also just have the inlaw's cook all the regular pizza at their house and bring it over and never bring it into my house.

My hubby and I are having a combined birthday party, because our birthdays are 4 weeks apart. Hubby and I would like a pizza party.

However, it would be a lot cheaper and easier if I could provide regular pizza for the gluten eaters.

But recently I've converted my kitchen to gluten free. If someone gives something glutenous to hubby, my normal practice is to have him bag it immediately and remove it from the house, eating it only at work.

Would there be any CC issues if I brought in frozen regular pizza, quickly baked it in my oven, and then removed it and put it outside, serving all the food on disposable plates and with disposable utensils?

I don't have a shared kitchen, my kitchen is actually dedicated gluten-free, but I was more thinking along the lines of restaurants and the like.

If plastic utensils can't be shared between gluten free and regular food, wouldn't that rule out any eating anywhere that isn't dedicated gluten-free? 

I stopped at a gluten-free bakery in Atlanta but we didn't end up buying much, just a few cupcakes as a treat, because their bread was $12 a loaf! 

Oh, and regarding meals on the road, there are a lot of simple meals that can be thrown together while you're traveling. One favorite of mine was spanish rice & beans cooked up in my rice cooker. Fast, easy, safe, and cheap!

For breakfast while travelling, we made up gluten-free oatmeal in the rice cooker and served it with jam on top and some soymilk and fruit.

Also, maybe could you explain to people that you mean no offense to them, but with the severity of your condition, you simply can't risk eating anything that wasn't prepared in a dedicated gluten-free facility. You could even say that your doctor recommends that.

Do they realize that even a little bit could send you to the hospital? Do they understand that what you have is basically the equivalent of an anaphalactic peanut allergy? 

I would absolutely make sure that you have all your meals planned out and taken care of, yourself. I would bring literature for them to read on the deadly severity of celiac and what it can do to you. I would try to make them understand that some people DIE from untreated celiac.

I would try to explain to them just what the consequences can be. Most people are fairly supportive of my gluten-free diet, because they remember seeing my very severe skin rash and remember my trip to the ER for a TIA. I try to explain that neurological complications can be deadly and I prefer not to gamble with my life, especially since I have kids to raise.

One thing that I did when traveling was pick up frozen gluten free breakfast entrees and heat them in the microwave of the hotel. With fresh fruit and hardboiled eggs (I rinsed them off just to make sure!) it was a pretty decent breakfast. 

So sorry that you're having to deal with people who don't get it.