BlessedMommy

So really the bulk of the concern over wood is mostly about using wooden utensils, because of their extensive content with gluten items. (i.e. stirring pasta, etc.) It doesn't seem to me that bread crumbs would absorb into wood, the way pasta water would.

So does that mean that I'm okay to eat stuff prepared at my MIL's house if she washed the cutting board beforehand? 

Best wishes!

I don't have a diagnosis myself and I wish that I did, but in my situation, the doctors I consulted didn't help me, I did some working on my own to figure out my problem, consulted with a naturopath, and by the time that I realized that I definitely wanted the celiac antibody tests, it was too late....I wasn't able to tolerate a gluten challenge.

Unfortunately celiac testing isn't low cost and available to everyone, sometimes you have to go through hoops to get it! Luckily, though, you don't need a doctor's permission to eat gluten free, although a medical diagnosis can be helpful when dealing with others.

I hope that you feel better soon and figure out exactly what's causing your issues!

I guess that my thought was that you don't know if the person chopped the veggies or fruit on a wooden cutting board that had been previously used for gluten items. Apparently, though, that's not much of an issue and maybe is an extremely remote risk?

What about salads that are all fruit/veggies with no dressing of any kind already on them?

I just wondered what other people do in regards to eating single ingredient items when out of the house. How far do you take precautions to avoid CC? Do you literally never eat anything that's come from anyone else's house or has been arranged or chopped by them?

What about fresh fruit or vegetables or cooked vegetables? Do you eat carrot sticks or black olives from the relish tray? 

Have you ever been glutened by eating a single ingredient food in a social situation?

I'd echo the advice that it's basically a personal choice. I would personally give the caveat though that you need to be very, very careful about reintroducing gluten after eliminating it, if you decide to go the gluten challenge route. (see my sig for my experience!)

I've noticed something and it's that people have a tendency to proclaim that they're not celiac and then give a follow up line about not being as careful on the gluten-free diet.

My thoughts are as follows:

1) Really? How do you know that you're not celiac? If a person went on the gluten free diet without bloodwork, then they definitely haven't ruled out celiac.

Those who have been blood tested could've gotten a false negative. Even if they did a biopsy, they could've missed the section of your intestine that has it.

2) How do you scientifically know that doing a lax version of the gluten-free diet won't hurt you?

I just am not sure why people go around proclaiming 2 different sets of rules for celiac and non-celiac gluten free diets. Rhetorical question: Is there any scientific information proving that purposefully cross contaminating myself is a good idea? 

This came from a conversation that I overheard at the health food store. The employee was advising a gluten intolerant person about oats and though I didn't hear the whole conversation, it sounded like she may have been encouraging the person that eating non certified oats was fine, because "you're not celiac."

I started chatting with the lady while standing in line and as it turns out, although she's supposedly not celiac, she is pretty much bedridden and violently ill if she gets any gluten.

I advised her that even if the celiac tests don't show celiac, it doesn't mean that she's not.

I don't have a clue, but it annoys me that it's in there.

I'll either:

a. wash my hands after feeding them

b. make somebody else do it

c. pour their food directly out of their container without touching it

That is so frustrating! It's annoying when the chance to get a good diagnosis is blown away by medical professionals who won't take you seriously.

Could you call around and find a dermatology office that will do a DH biopsy for you? It doesn't sound like your current doctor is much help....

I hope that it works great for you! KUP!

It is so hard to work with doctors when they won't even order the tests that you need!

I understand the desperation of just itching constantly and wanting it to be over with.

Here is a before gluten-free picture, I was newly post partum with my first baby. This was not the worst of my rash, not by a long shot, it was much worse when I was pregnant. But you can see the obvious swelling, lines under my eyes, and general look of unwellness.

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And here is a photo of me about 6 years later, and about 2 1/2 years into being gluten-free. I was feeling MUCH, MUCH better, as you can visibly tell!

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Thank you Ruth for your support...I have a question, since you have been gluten free for 4 yrs has your rash cleared up?

 

Elaine

My skin is much, much better than it used to be. Is it perfect? No and sometimes I still have flare ups (plus have contact dermatitis hand trouble that I attribute to too much contact with soap and water in the winter), but certainly nothing like what it used to be. Another symptom of my gluten intolerance was swelling. In another thread, I had a before gluten-free and after gluten-free picture, I'll have to paste them and show them to you.

I hear your frustration!

When I first went to the dermatologist with my severe skin rash, he just said that it was eczema which was being made worse by pregnancy and prescribed me a steroid cream. No mention of other causes or looking at any other possibilities. I had bloodwork at the OB/GYN and it never showed much of anything.

I had to figure out on my own with an elimination diet that wheat caused the rash to flare up.

I wish you the best in your efforts to heal! 

Nope, no cake ordering or crouton picking for me! LOL!

that having a dedicated gluten free kitchen is amazing???

I just remove the last 3 cans of glutenous food from my kitchen. I've replaced my cutting board and utensils, thrown out some old pans, bought a new stock pot, done some scrubbing. 

My waffle iron, blender, and toaster have always been dedicated gluten-free.

The stress relief afforded by this move is amazing! I feel so happy that I can cook, bake and make sandwiches without stressing out about double dipping or chopping stuff or setting stuff down, etc.

The only gluten that I can think of in my house now is some shampoo in the bathroom and my fish food. I bought some gluten containing shampoo by mistake so I'm having others help use it up.

Not sure if I'm ambitious enough to make homemade gluten free fish food for my goldfish! LOL!

If you can tolerate certified gluten free oats, how do you like oatmeal? Any suggestions for fun toppings?

I just got a new 25 lb bag of oats and I decided to buy some dried cherries to go with them, because I was getting tired of raisins.

And here is a photo taken when my 3rd child was a baby, so taken roughly about 6 years after the above photo and a couple of years after I quit gluten. What a contrast!

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I wonder if the severity of my reaction on the gluten trial was because I overdid the gluten. I wanted the best chance of an accurate result, so I ate a lot of gluten and had it at every meal basically. No one told me that 1 slice of bread a day would work.

I still am not going to trial smaller amounts, though, just not worth the risk of another TIA, since I really don't know what would happen the next time around.

And looking back to see the photos of how I looked when I was on gluten was fairly shocking. Here is one of my pre-gluten-free photos, when my oldest daughter was a baby.

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Be happy...You've got a long, healthy life ahead of you.

I feel fortunate in that I figured out that I couldn't have gluten in my 20's. My mom and sister probably should both be gluten-free and have extremely deteriorated health (low bone density, tooth problems, all manner of body systems out of whack, chronic fatigue, symptoms after eating gluten, IBS like symptoms, schizophrenia like symptoms, just to name a few) I have no doubt that both of them will have many of those problems permanently. I feel like I've been given a new lease on life in a way, because my health took a downward spin in my early 20's and I'm now in my 30's and doing quite well with fairly good health, after 4 years off gluten. So, really, DX or no DX, I should be very thankful that I figured out gluten was poison to my body before I had permanent health problems from eating it.

I have talked to my mom about getting celiac screening, because it could not only help her but also put another piece of the puzzle for me, but she doesn't have good insurance right now. She says that she has suspected celiac for years, though.

Perhaps genetic testing would help put together more of the pieces for my family.

I really long for the day when celiac testing is inexpensive, non-invasive, not dependent on gluten consumption and readily available to every person who needs it.

LOL!

It is true that even if you have a biopsy proven celiac DX, there's plenty of misinformed people out there. I'm trying to crack down harder on possible CC issues and some people probably already think that I'm insane as is. LOL! That's why I get frustrated and wish that I had a DX, but again, some people have told me that the DX won't solve misunderstanding problems anyway.

I think that when I go to family's house for a day or a weekend, I'm just going to pack my own box of dedicated tools (cutting board, pan, utensils, etc.) and do my own thing, trying to politely turn down food that they make. If they really want to know more, I'll talk a bit about how scary it was to have a TIA in my 20's and talk about the deteriorating health that runs in my family. (If I was a betting person, I would bet money that my mom and my sister both have un'dx'ed celiac)

I guess, what it is, is I really and truly hate not having a DX. I really feel annoyed that circumstances took that chance away from me. And when I read articles like that, it just adds to that annoyance.

When they come up with celiac tests that don't involve gluten challenges, I'll probably be one of the first in line to take them!

Yes, this info was definitely not on this site!

This site has been nothing but supportive, thank goodness!

Just a random vent, I'm tired of seeing stuff about the gluten free "fad diet."

I'm tired of the ridiculous assertions that it's a black and white deal, either you have celiac (diagnosed through a blood test and biopsy) or you're a faker. Because apparently all the medical tests are foolproof and your doctor will always run them promptly if you're showing any signs of celiac or DH. The doctors will ALWAYS figure out the cause of your problem without delay so that you will never have to experiment yourself. And no doctor will tell you that "if you will just go on digestive enzymes, you'll be fine, forget doing any gluten antibody blood testing."

And if you say that you are too sensitive to eating gluten to survive trialing it for 3 months to get a DX, you're a faker too. Because of course, EVERYBODY (without a celiac diagnosis) can survive eating gluten for 3 months. 

Apparently, some of us who are gluten free without a diagnosis are wanting attention and our lives are too boring as is.

Because I apparently made up my whole itching day and night, in pain constantly, needed category C steroids while pregnant thing. Or maybe my neurological complications were a fad. Perhaps ministrokes (TIA's) are now trendy. Perhaps I imagined the whole evening of February 13, 2010 and the ER part was just a mirage.

I just need to stop reading stuff, that stuff is just too annoying!

Why is it harder to get better results when testing a smaller child?