Aly1

I've seen some posts where people talked about using charcoal pills (??). I am curious about this too.

Anyone?

I want to start making muffins and pie crusts but am reacting to Bob's, presumably from the oats cc. Can anyone recommend a product where this isn't a concern?

I am in a similar boat - I can't have dairy, corn, sugar, eggs, and I react to oats. And there are very few gluten-free foods that don't contain one of those! I don't know what to eat for breakfast either, the idea of meat and veggies at that hour is gross to me, and fruit doesn't give me enough to go on. The one thig you might try is nuts (I find I am reacting to that too though I don't know if it's a cc issue...). Dang I'm hungry right now writing this.

I also react to oats - that's a common one. I've found I can't have any Bobs products either due to oats cc, somethIng to keep in mind. I *think* there are other gluten-free hot cereals you might try... And there's always bacon and breakfast sausage.

Try doing a search on the site for breakfast, I know there are other people who've been where we are. Good luck!

I do have an issue with certified gluten-free oats so that must be it! Thank you!

Sorry to hear the muffins did not agree. My mom made some Bob's gluten-free bread for me at Christmas and I have not noticed a reaction. One question I have is what kind of oil did you use? The recipe my mom made called for vegetable oil but she substituted olive oil since some vege oils contain soy, another possible antigen...

Hmmm...my hubby used canola oil. I did not have an immediate reaction, but ate 2 batches (!) in about 3 days. I am trying to gain weight so I was being a piggy . It didn't actually feel like typical glutening though (and I got a lot of heart palpitations which I don't think has occurred with gluten), so maybe it is a different allergen. Felt horrid though so I will have to investigate further. Thanks!

I love their stuff! But I've eaten a ton of the muffins we made in the past week and I've been getting sicker and sicker. Am wondering if I have a sensitivity to one of the other ingredients or if others have had problems with Bob's?

I keep glutening myself (or whatever reaction this is) while trying So Hard not to. Getting grumpy.

I've been getting them when I get glutened but that's about it. Is it possible you have cc issues of some sort or are being glutened somewhere?

Oh I hate my auto-correcting iPhone. That's supposed to say be mindful of..!

For soup and othe ideas, check out allrecipes.com. Be mo drum of ingredients (it's just a general site after all, but you will get ideas on how to make things naturally and tasty (again - skip the recipes that use processed ingredients and stick to the basic ones.

Please note, the sugar intolerance I mentioned in my post has nothing to do with refined vs unrefined sugars. If I only cut out refined sugars but continued with the other types, I'd still feel like hell and would think sugars weren't the culprit! If you do decide to do a sugar challenge, get rid of them ALL (easiest way to figure out what is ok is to only have what diabetics can have). Then add back unrefined first if you want to check your reaction to those specifically.

I will never get why people are so opiniated about things they don't know anything about. My mom knows first hand about the impact of diet in how one feels (she has sugar intolerance issues) but when I told her we were going to do a gluten-free trial with my daughter to see if she's affected, she said Why would you want to do that to her? Um, what?? I told her, why would I want to potentially ply her with foods that might be making her sick?? It's so tiresome. You have my sympathies in dealing with them!

I have done a lot of reading lately and from what I gather celiac and gluten intolerance fall under an umbrella condition (the name they are calling it escapes me). Celiac and GI are just different manifestations of the same thing. Celiacs very specifically have damage to the villi - people with GI do not but have very real gluten-induced symptoms.

I am having palpitations this week, associated with a glutening. I've had palpitations for years, and saw a doctor for them. The truth is, most palpitations are nothing to worry about - it's the odd case where they are linked to a serious condition. With me they did a 24-hr holter monitor test on me and ended up telling me I was fine. The only reason they tested was that I was pregnant at the time and occasionally had sharp chest pains, so they didn't want to mess around. Like I said, turns out I was fine. So don't get anxious over them, they are very common. Go the food route and see if it's being caused by something you're eating - it turned out to be the case for me.

You are getting lots of good advice...

You mention that you drink distilled alcohols. I can't tolerate those, despite the claims that they are okay. Maybe avoid that for now and see...I now drink potato vodka which has been fine.

I've got to say, you have a lot of processed food there, any or all of them could have cc issues. I react to so many processed foods it isn't funny. :/ The latest is Bib's Red Mill apple muffin mix. I'm at the point where i won't even eat the almond butter i have bc i am reacting to everything and don't know what is safe anymore.

Please take the advice to go pure for a couple of weeks - only eat protein, veggies, fruit (make sure that the fruit is washed well, I just read that the wax on fruit can contain wheat -??). I know that when you're used to eating packaged products, it's hard to figure out what to eat that isn't prep-heavy and won't bore you to tears, but I don't think you have any other options here. Either you want to eat that way or you want to feel good :/.

Let me add something that probably isn't relevant, but just in case. I am not able to have any sugars without getting the symptoms you describe. That means anything from honey to table sugar to brown rice syrup. Of course sugar is in everything. I CAN eat sweeteners that are okay for diabetics. There are many other foods that I must avoid - cheese and bananas and many others - but too lengthy to list here. I recommend at some point when you are stable and feeling better (and assuming you "go pure" as I suggested above) where you do a sugar challenge over several days. If you were to find that you feel terrible emotionally and physically I would be happy to send you the diet that I am on. Even if it's a couple of years from now, I would be happy to send it out to you or anyone else. The diet changed my life, much the way the gluten-free diet is changing lives. It is something that was given to my mom and I by a Cdn doctor 20 years ago and I have never seen it published (or anything like it). But it changed my life. So - no doubt not something you want to do now, but file it away for future reference in case you continue to have difficulty.

Best of luck!

We went to Disney a couple of months ago and in my experience they were great and very attentive regarding gluten free diets. Whenever you arrive at a food place, start off right away saying you need gluten-free - at one place that resulted in me having my own personal server who liased with the chef. They appeared to be very knowledgeable and attentive. One caveat - I was early on in my gluten-free diet so I am not sure how strong my reactions would have been had they glutened me (I never had noticeable reactions till being gluten-free; but my first case of being officially glutened was about 2 weeks after my Disney trip. But I reacted after being glutened for several days).

I guess this post can't really assuage your fears, just to let you know that by all appearances, Disney seemed great in this regard. Good luck!

It IS hard to avoid gluten even with all the so-called "gluten free" items on the market. So far I'm having a pretty high failure rate, I react to a lot of the stuff on the market. The one tried-and-true things is to go back to the basics and just cut out all processed food until you are feeling good and your symptoms are stable - then try one processed item for several days before adding another. Perhaps you are at the point where you should do that with your daughter.

Things that have tripped me up:

Spices. I got sick on the ones we had so we replaced them. I've heard here single-ingredient ones from McCormick are good, that's what we're using now and it seems fine.

Random ingredients. Read EVERYTHING, before you cook with it - even the little stuff that seems it should be gluten-free. I glutened myself for 2 whole weeks eating "gluten-free" muffins my hubby made for me. I got so sick finally that I went through our cupboards and discovered the culprit ingredient - baking soda that had a label on the box saying it had been processed alongside wheat. We wouldn't have thought to worry about baking soda, but there you have it.

Gluten-free oats. I assumed I wouldn't be one of the people that react to them. I was wrong.

At this point I am tired of feeling sick so I am not eating anything but meat and veggies and rice. And it's working! I think that's the way to go for your girl. Good luck!!

To answer your questions: I think we all over analyze, when it comes to this. It's probably because the symptoms are so varied, and can be subtle. We've been through years of people telling us our symptoms are in our head, that nothing is wrong, that when we find out something really is wrong, we have a hard time trusting our own judgement. We don't know what is normal anymore. It's even harder when it comes to our children.

Oh, you hit the nail on the head. I wonder how different my life would have been if I'd never touched gluten. Three months? Ugh. Then we will consider doing that. Before going gluten free I could not tell at all if I had it (well, I was messed up but did not associate the two). Being off it, then going back on, it was clear as day. I guess I wonder if perhaps that will be the case with her; that once being free of it she might manifest noticeable symptoms. I guess we'll see, it can't hurt to try. The reason I want to do it now rather than wait - aside from not wanting her to have another bite of gluten if she happens to have an issue with it - is that I'm at home with her now so it will be easy. I am however looking for work and once she starts going to daycare full-time I just don't see how we'll ever convince them to keep her gluten-free if we are only doing a test! Anyway. Thanks for the advice.

I thought I'd pass on something I found online that made me smile. If you go to this link Open Original Shared Link you will find yourself on the Bob's Red Mill website at the article that says "Meet the Real Bob". At the end of the article there's a link that says "Watch Bob's Interview with Diane Sawyer" - it's just a couple minutes long and it made my day.

Every time I buy a Bob's Red Mill product I will think of him and smile . Wish the world were made up of people like him.

I was put on a gluten-free diet 3 months ago after years of some serious neurological issues (I ended up in a wheelchair). My blood tests for celiac disease were negative but the doctor wanted me to give gluten-free a try; I did and I discovered that gluten makes me really ill. I had no idea - no gastro symptoms ever, no reason to think my illness was related to my diet at all. After clearing gluten out of my system, I now get sick pretty darned fast (though, still no gastro issues) if I eat it.

I have a 2 year old and I am thinking of putting her on a gluten-free diet and then doing a challenge to see if it effects her at all. I do not want her to have the life of illness I've had, IF she happens to have the same issue with gluten that I do. She takes after me in so many other ways physically that I wonder. BUT. No gastro issues. The only things "off" about her are: 1) For the first 6 months of her life she had the most beautiful rosey cheeks ever. After going on solids she became pasty and pale like her mommy - and has been that way ever since. 2) She's tiny. Not a case of failure to thrive, but hard to keep her weight up and little. I'm short too though so maybe just genetics (though - am I short due to gluten? I am the smallest person in my family by far) and 3) she has a lot of problems sleeping. Not really a symptom, I know, just something about her that's "off". She is not moody, not moreso than you'd expect from a toddler her age.

Does it make sense to you that based on those little things I would try her gluten-free? Or am I over-analyzing based on my own issues?

And - if we do try gluten-free, how long should we do it for, to give it a proper run of it? We were planning 1 month, just wonder if it should be 6 or 8 weeks or if 1 month is totally adequate to judge.

Thanks very much to everyone!

By the way (still thinking about you here, you struck a chord). I have an incredibly strong sweet tooth and was told I'd have to give up all sweetners at age 16. I was aghast. What I have learned over the years is this: Like anything you don't want to do - don't let yourself think too much about it. Just do it. No one wants to clean the toilet but it needs doing so we just do it. The more you think about the things you want to eat but can't, the harder it is to stand firm. Just shut off those thoughts. The second thing I learned is that like any muscle, the more you do it and the more consistent you are, the easier it is to stay on your diet. Good luck.

Ok. I just went off on you and as soon as I hit Post I regretted the intensity of it. My apologies, but your post really hit a nerve due to my own experience and having to fight off an intense depression myself. Reading further down I see you write again in a different tone. I should have read before I went off on you. You really can do this you know. I get it that you don't want to, but you can.

You know someone will look after your kids?? Wow. That may be the most stunningly selfish thing I have ever heard. I guarantee they will not see it quite the same way.

I've spent years in pain and in a wheelchair, with no diagnosis, and was only able to work two days a week, totally isolated other than my guy at the end of the day (Thank God for him.) I was so ill I had to decide which kitchen counter I would clean that day - IF I could manage it - and doing so would leave me exhausted and too sick to do anything but lie down with my eyes closed. I lost my thirties entirely. Was I depressed? Damn straight I was depressed. But I was never so selfish about it that I stopped considering the effect I had on other people.

You have kids. It's time to step up to the plate regardless of how you feel. YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE ANGRY. But you do not have the right to wallow indefinitely. Pick yourself off, give the finger to the universe for doing this to you, then do what you need to do to get as healthy as you can for your kids. You decided to be a parent, it means putting them first. Keep trying to find a therapist until you do. Block out the feelings of helplessness and depression, you've already spent enough time on those. It's time to do what you have to do as an adult - which means taking care of yourself even if you don't want to.

Ps. Sorry here's a lot of typo's in my post - it's the auto-correct on my iPhone! :/

I have had severe neuro problems - I've ended up in a wheelchair due to them - and yes, gluten intolerance and celiac can cause them. I can't comment on how long it takes to recover as I e only been gluten free for 3 months. What I can say is that this month I inadvertently glutened my self every day for 2 weeks (ugh!!!) and my neuro symptoms skyrocketed. I won't vote you with the details too much but will say they range from bone and skin pain, numbness, tingling, weakness, a "rubbery" feeling in my leg muscles, night-time spasms from my back down into my leg, foggy brain... Ok I'm starting to go on here. So absolutely, neuro symptoms are part of the picture. Just raise that for each of us it manifests in its own way.

As for oral thrush, I'm not sure, but I've spent a year and a half with a nearly constant vaginal yeast infection (candida) which interestingly began to resolve within the past month. Now that I glutened myself again, it's returned. So maybe there's a connection. I know that yeast infections occur frequently when the immune system is suppressed; being on gluten if you shouldn't be definitely stresses your immune system. So that might be the link...