kbtoyssni

Ditto what everyone else said. Go with your gut and get this kid off gluten! It's hard to have a gluten-free kid, but it's harder to have your child get sicker and sicker, to watch him start developing additional, irreversible health issues due to undiagnosed celiac, to have a kid that's too sick to go to school or do anything.

You can call into most answering machines, enter a password, and listen to the messages. Could this be an option?

Awesome! That doctor's a keeper!

Gosh, I'm sorry you have to deal with this. Must be really tough to see the little guy going through all that. I wish I had some advice for you. I imagine the death of his sister combined with ill health due to celiac could definitely be the cause of his health and injury related anxiety.

I think it is *possible* for stickers to contain gluten, but it's not common. I'll admit that I make the assumption that stickers don't have gluten and go ahead and use them. As of two years ago I know RoseArt brand stickers were gluten-free. Not sure about other brands.

It's probably not long enough. Do you really think you can re-create all the damage you did to your villi in just one week? If I were you I'd politely tell my doc that I would not be having a scope.

Could you drive out of the area to buy uncontaminated veggies? Or take a shower at a gym outside the contaminated area?

If you are looking to save money on curtains for the closets, I bought a spring-loaded shower curtain rod at Target for about $10 and bought a top sheet (about $5) for the curtain. I did have to hem the bottom up a bit, but using sheets for fabric is so much cheaper than going to the fabric store. Plus sheets have that nice fold-over top that you can use to put over the curtain rod so you only have to sew the bottom seam.

I live on a farm and can't figure out for the life of me how the determine that the oats are gluten free. All it takes is a few "volunteer" wheat or any of the many gluten containing weeds (this place is absolutely overgrown with wild rye-and nothing kills it-the guy who rents the place did no till last year and there was rye everywhere)

Does anybody know how they grow the oats to keep gluten producing grains out? Is there a good link?

I hate oatmeal, its always made me sick every since I was little. My roommate hates it too, since he had to eat every single day as a foster kid, because it was cheap.

Maybe they test the harvested oats to 20ppm or something. Not sure how they do it.

IF you can find a nutritionist who knows celiac, it may be helpful. Most here have found the nutritionist they went to see knows less than they do - they'd hand you a printout of what not to eat that you can get on this site and tell you to eat rice crispies with malt and good luck! I have found that this site is far more valuable than what you can get from most nutritionists. If you're worried about making sure you're getting enough protein, fat, carbs, vitamins then seeing a nutritionist may be worth your time, but if you want to post what you eat here, we'd be happy to make suggestions!

Pet food is a common source of gluten. A significant other's personal care products. Baking supplies like sugar and cornstarch that was opened pre-gluten-free and may have had a floured measuring cup dipped in it.

Beautiful!

They have to pick some non-zero limit so it's testable. 0ppm is untestable. The testing method will show if the food has less than 20ppm or greater than 20ppm. Of course, it's possible to test to 2ppm, but the cost of that level of testing would probably make it impractical for companies. While I also only want a gluten-free label on foods that are 0ppm, I do understand that companies (and the government) have to make decisions based on cost and potential for harm. If they make it a lower ppm, no company will spend the money and there's no benefit to the labeling law. If they make it 20ppm, most companies will comply and 99.999% of celiacs will be safe. That's corporate america - everything's a trade off between costs and benefits.

If they are insistent on getting you some food, you could suggest them having a few snacks around like fruit or eggs or individually packaged cheese.

I feel that I'm the one who has to do all the research on the ramifications of the disease so I can make sure I'm getting the right treatment. Most people your age wouldn't need a test for osteoporosis, but for a celiac I'd recommend it. You're young enough that you may be able to reverse some of the symptoms.

Even if I know the brand is gluten free could the lipstick have been contaminated from previous applications where I may have eaten something with gluten and then applied the lipstick?

Oops, that was what my previous post was supposed to be answering - I could have been more clear about that. So yes, once I realized this could be an issue, I got rid of mine. It probably helped that I still had a lot of experimental teenage and college colors. I wasn't too crushed to see those go!

If you are not eating gluten, your body is not going to be producing antibodies. After three years, any antibodies you once had will be gone. You doc doesn't have a clue what she's talking about.

I kept some that I had used prior to going gluten-free because I didn't know better. Once I realized, I tossed them all. I really only use one or two shades so I told myself that if I tossed all the ones I didn't use, then I could go get a new shade for fun. Maybe now is a good time for you to clean out he makeup drawer. Most of us keep makeup for way longer than is recommended anyway.

I think you should move out ASAP. I don't think there's much that you can do to change her mind. I'd also recommend some counseling for you - it may help deal with this dysfunctional family situation. This is your life, you really need to focus on what's best for you. I read a great book on dysfunctional families a while back that might be helpful for you, and I'll see if I can find the name of it.

-Do you think it is possible that I am suffering from Celiacs, despite negative bloodwork?

-Is a gluten free trial a good next step for me?

If so:

-Starting yesterday I am aiming to go 3 weeks gluten free, until the end of march, is this sufficient time to notice a change?

-any tips I should know about for going gluten free that might mess up the detox/healing/results?

You certainly could be celiac. Bloodwork isn't exactly know for it's accuracy. There are many false negatives. It takes a long time for the antibodies that build up in the intestines to leak out into the blood so positive blood work means you're really sick. It's certainly worth trying the gluten-free diet (but do remember going gluten-free pretty much guarantees future negative blood test and biopsies).

Three weeks may be sufficient. If you have other intolerances you may not notice a change, though. I gradually got better over the course of a few weeks and didn't notice until I ate wheat again. That was when I knew I had an issue.

Watch for contamination: toasters, condiments that have been double-dipped into, wooden spoons, pet food, lotions. And eat natural foods like meat and veggies and rice - they're easy to prepare and don't have as many ingredients to check!

Yikes...should I be avoiding dairy too? I thought milk WAS naturally gluten free! ohmy.gif

I already feel like I can barely eat anything [probably because Im a cereal, snack, carb addict] and I have yogurt and cottage cheese nonstop! oh no...

It doesn't help that I eat a lot and like convenience!

Milk is naturally gluten-free, but the tips of your villi is where lactase is produced. If your villi are damaged you won't be able to digest lactose well until you heal. So many choose to eliminate dairy at first. And remember that gluten is an addictive substance to celiacs. You may be a carbaholic now, but in time your addiction will decrease, and you won't have those cravings.

One other Question-what is the difference between gluten intolerance and celiac?

I feel that gluten intolerance is a spectrum with celiac being at the very end when you have a lot of damage. The treatment is the same - a strict gluten-free diet so I never bother too much with the difference. There are some who will say that there's the gluten intolerance to celiac spectrum and a separate just gluten intolerance spectrum that makes you feel sick when you eat gluten but isn't autoimmune and won't cause the same kind of long-term damage. Not a lot of research in this area so who knows.

Hormel deli meats are labeled gluten-free. Oscar Meyer is owned by Kraft and therefore will have gluten labeled (pretty sure many of OM's products have caramel color so it's nice to know this brand will label if it contains gluten). Smuckers always labels gluten.

Remember that while you're still healing even gluten-free foods can make you feel sick. You gut is irritated so anything you put in it can cause random pains. Give it time. I would think Gatorade would be ok, but I guess not!

I'm self diagnosed (negative blood test after two weeks of mostly gluten-free). I tell people I have celiac. I figure the treatment is the same, and I am just as strict with my diet as a true celiac should be. If I were running around saying I'm celiac and not worrying about CC, that would be a disservice to the celiac community. Plus I feel that gluten intolerance is a spectrum and celiac is the later stages when there's a lot of intestinal damage.

no no no.... eating gluten will NOT increase chance of miscarraige! rest assured your baby will be okay! but you should call your dr who is doing the endoscopy and let him know about your pregnancy so you can do a blood test to confirm celiac instead of endoscopy!

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure that if you do have celiac, eating gluten will be harmful to the baby. If you're not absorbing nutrients properly, that can't be good for the baby. Many celiacs have fertility problems and miscarriages. Maybe someone can cite some research here. I don't want to freak you out, but I do think that you want to seriously consider whether eating gluten for traditional medical testing is a good idea right now.

It's never rude to put your health first. There are polite, discrete ways to deal with this, too. Politely saying you will eat your own food, not making a big scene of it shouldn't be a big deal.

Since your dad had you take your turkey out first, I wonder if he's trying but just doesn't quite realize all the potential places for CC yet. It takes time to retrain your mind to avoid CC so I'd explain the situation and give him another chance.

Occasionally wheat flour will be added to grated cheese to make it not stick together. I've never found a grated cheese in the store that did this (and it would have to be labeled), but I did encounter this once at a mexican restaurant.