kbtoyssni

has anyone ever tried making stuffing with gluten-free bread? I would think that wouldnt taste much differant- if not, better. I also need to experiment with gluten-free green bean caserol, which should be easy, I can just carmelize some onions and make a gluten-free sauce.....now I'm making myself hungry...

I freeze all of my failed breadmaking attempts as well as yucky gluten-free bread I've purchased to use as bread crumbs for stuffing. It tastes fine once it's in stuffing form.

Many doctors see a positive biopsy as the "gold standard" diagnosis. So you doc may want you to get that test done. BUT you already have a positive diagnosis so it's not necessary to get a scope done. I would ask your doc if there's another reason to get a scope - sometimes a doc may want to look for other issues - but it's unlikely. Also, with being gluten-free for two months already, you've started to heal and will probably get a negative result from the scope. A scope can only re-confirm what the blood test has already told you or show that you've started to heal which you already know since you feel so much better.

There's probably not a lot you can do. Which is so frustrating. It's hard to watch a family member harming themselves. The only things I can think of are to give her some information about how small amounts of CC can harm her and the long term help effects. At that point, she has all the info (from a neutral source, not from mom!) and can make her own decision. Getting her to join this site or a local support group to talk to other teens might help, but who knows if you can get her to go.

Of course, there's always consequences. I know she doesn't live with you so it's hard, but maybe there's some sort of support you can take away - like an allowance or her clothes budget or something. Hard to monitor, and it's still ultimately her decision so I don't know.

I wouldn't cook anything with gluten. I understand that this might be upsetting to the family, but holidays should be able the people not about the food. Most of your old recipes can be made gluten-free. I substituted a gluten-free flour mix for the wheat flour and added 1/2 or 1 tsp xanthum gum to all my old recipes, and it's hard to tell the difference.

Why do you have to use a wheat flour mix? If it were me, I'd refuse. Practically anything can be made using gluten-free flours or wheat products can be store-bought already made or someone else can make the mix in their own kitchen (I do not allow wheat flour in my own kitchen). I can't think of a situation where it would be so important to use the wheat flour mix that you can't make a substitution or other accommodation.

I'd look for a ROCK group in your area. The opportunity for him to hang out with other celiac kids would probably really help him realize that he's not the only one and that celiacs are still normal people. The school probably can't tell you if there are other food allergy kids around, but if they could even hanging out with a dairy allergy or peanut allergy kid might help.

What is seitan?

It's pretty much pure gluten extracted from wheat. It's used a lot in vegetarian imitation meat to add protein.

My first thought was "why is is getting all over the fridge?", but the fact it's not contained in anything would explain it. Try craigslist for a mini-fridge; you can probably get one on there for $20. And I do not think it's unreasonable to ask her to keep the seitan contained. It's a MAJOR health concern, not just a "I think you're messy" issue. Messy roommates are the worst.

I'm not familiar with that fair, but things that are usually ok are corn on the cob, baked potato not cut open, slushies, cotton candy. Not a lot I'm afraid. I bring my own food (with my doctors prescription saying I need to carry gluten-free food with me).

kbtoyssni

ALERT temporary thread hijack-

It is SO REWARDING to see you in the picture with your cap and gown!

You stuck with it and finished and you should be proud.

Hijack complete.

Please return to your regularly scheduled program.

~Laura

Thank you! For those who don't know, I was in full time grad school when I got very sick from celiac. I dropped out, figured out I had celiac and spent nine months living with my parents getting better. I then moved out, got a job, went back to grad school part time while working and finally finished my degree this past May. So it wasn't just about the degree. It's about getting my life back on track, about finally putting those not-so-good years of my life behind me and moving on to doing whatever I want to do.

Hmmm, not sure you can use it on a scholarship app. Might want to look into that one I see it more as my work/school/sporting events/etc have to provide reasonable accommodations for me to eat gluten-free food. Which means I need a little bit of time at lunch to prep my food - I can't just eat food that's brought in. I expect to be able to bring some food with me into long sporting events. If I were in college and required to buy a meal plan, that meal plan must provide safe food. I don't need much in the way of additional accommodations.

Most Cadburys products in the UK are manufactured on the same equipment as wheat products so I don't eat them. Most in the USA are not, but I don't eat them because they taste different and for someone raised on english cadburys, I just can't eat them and therefore haven't done much research on the gluten content. Not sure about Australia.

I certainly cleaned my work desk at first. Once it's cleaned the first time, you're probably ok. If it were me, I'd bring my own food to mom's house to eat. Since you eat there at least once a week, I wouldn't want to take that risk.

I used to have this problem. I felt awful in the mornings, my stomach would always be upset, I'd throw up a lot. This lasted about a year and a half into me being gluten-free. And now I'm fine. Maybe it was just the healing process - I wasn't quite healed until a year and a half in. I would often get up, get ready, lie back down for 10-20 minutes, then go to work. I'd eat applesauce and sprite for the first two hours of the day with pepto.

Someone mentioned once that maybe it's low blood sugar and I should eat something before bed. I didn't ever change anything, but it's something you could try.

I think the issue with cc in spoons and other kitchen items is that *some* people will react to those very low levels. Some will not, but I always recommend people replace those items because you never know if that's the 1 in 10 person who will get sick. It's not worth the risk to me. And a small amount of gluten from the pot and the spoon and the collender can add up to being over the reaction limit for a person.

I didn't replace my pots or tupperware and was fine. I'm not very reactive, but recently I was eating rice manufactured on shared equipment. I didn't feel sick right away, but my joints gradually started getting more and more painful so obviously I was getting some damage the first few times I ate the rice even though I didn't know it. I'm guessing the small amounts of CC I get do cause damage even when I don't get sick, and I'd rather not take that risk.

Trouble is that it's so hard to test how many ppm will cause damage in people since we all seem to vary in our tolerances. And you won't find me volunteering for a study on how many ppm cause damage!

If you're just going for a cleaning it's not too hard. I ask about powderless gloves - most are these days. And I ask for plain pumice tooth cleaner rather than the stuff with flavour. I have no idea if the flavouring contains gluten, but plain pumice is certainly ok, and I like it better because I hated the flavours anyway. You could also check the brand of floss although I've never run into one that contains gluten.

Did he have a reason for telling you that you won't be able to get pregnant? Seems like he's just saying that because of past problems and not for an actual current reason.

About three weeks for me. One week of my stomach hurting, one week of joint/muscle pain, one week of being very tired and grumpy. Luckily none of these symptoms are very severe so I can still go about my normal life.

Almond Joys are definitely gluten-free. I eat them all the time. They are high in sugar, though, which sometimes makes me feel yucky. I think the other posters had some good ideas for other potential problem ingredients.

No, a colonoscopy won't show anything celiac-related. If you're itching for a diagnosis at this point, your best bet is probably the gene test. You won't have to go back on gluten for it. Of course, you may or may not have the known celiac genes. If you don't, I'm guessing you still won't start eating gluten so it's probably not worth it.

EDIT: Actually, based on your joining date here, have you been gluten-free for less than a year? If so, enterolab can still do a stool test for gluten intolerance without you having to go back on gluten.

I actually was trying to be nice.

Meat is a renewable resource. We are not running out of animals. So dont give me that stupid PETA line of bunk!

Meat is much less renewable than veggies and grain. In our current factory farm system we must first grow grain and then feed the animals. About 10% of the energy the animals take in from grain is converted into edible meat. The other 90% is lost to bone, organ and hair growth. (Citation: The Omnivore's Dilemma) If humans ate veggies and grain directly, it would require a lot less resources. There was even an article in the NY Times today on this topic: Open Original Shared Link

I would at least do the blood test. It's pretty harmless, and with his family history I think it's a good idea. If he tests negative, I wouldn't make him go gluten-free (aside from him eating the already gluten-free family dinners). I'd just monitor his health. A blood test now could also serve as a baseline. If he gets tested again in a year and his numbers have gone up but still aren't considered positive, you could assume he's reacting some to gluten.

kbtoyssni,

When you were in Lusten, where did you eat? My husband and I are going to Lutsen this weekend for our anniversary, and I'm trying to figure out where to eat out.

I've never eaten at a restaurant up there. I go on a ski trip every year with 15-20 other people so we rent a house and do all our cooking there. I bring my own lunch to the ski hill. We do stop for dinner at the Perkins in Duluth, though.

I also live in downtown Minneapolis. I've found that I've nearly stopped buying specialty gluten-free food and can do all my shopping at a regular store. The Wedge is good for gluten-free food, though, and it's probably the closest store with gluten-free products.

I wouldn't hang out in places with flour. Too risky!

Seems like many people here have chemical sensitivities. We are a group of people with compromised immune systems who have been sick for years so maybe many of us have hit the point where we can no longer tolerate chemicals. As a group we're also more in-tune with our bodies and perhaps more aware of how chemicals affect us.

Wanted to add that gluten is addictive to celiacs so the first few weeks of being gluten-free can be tough. But hang in there, it is worth it.

I got very sick with celiac while in grad school. I ended up dropping out because I couldn't get out of bed and the brain fog was so bad I couldn't think. I'm an engineer, using my brain is what I do and the eight months of not being diagnosed took that away from me. I had to put my life on hold while I figured out what was wrong with me. If you keep eating gluten, you will get to the point where you also have to put your life on hold. You don't want to get to that point. Life is too short to waste. For me the decision is "do I want to have a healthy, happy life in which I can do anything or do I want to eat that gravy?" No gluten-food is yummy enough to be worth trading my life for.