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The article is technically correct, but I would argue that it is a lot harder to avoid ingesting all personal care products than this article implies. I know I get shampoo in my mouth on occasion - it may only be once or twice a year, but that's one or two glutenings a year that I'd like to avoid.

A couple things:

-Celiac is not an allergy. It is an autoimmune disease.

-By the time you can get diagnosed with celiac through blood test or scope, you already have a lot of damage to your intestines.

-If you test negative for celiac it means you either have celiac but don't have enough damage, you "just" have a gluten intolerance, or you don't have an issue with gluten at all.

-If you have a gluten intolerance, gluten still makes you sick, but you may not get the same kind of intestinal damage as you would with true celiac.

-Whether you have celiac or gluten intolerance, the only treatment is a gluten-free diet. If you have gluten intolerance, you should not eat gluten. Why would you continue to eat something that you know is making you sick?

-Traditional medical testing will not detect a gluten intolerance. You could try something like Enterolab instead.

In my opinion, gluten intolerance and celiac are the same disease, celiac is just the more advanced stages. I also believe that dietary response is a perfectly valid method of diagnosis.

If you get a negative result, you can always try the diet. You didn't mention what your girls' symptoms are that led you to suspect celiac, but if they show any symptoms trying the diet can't hurt. False negatives are common, and in my opinion, not a bad thing. It means they don't have enough damage from the disease yet to get a positive result. And regardless of how they look, I would think that the blood test would still come out the same as it would if they looked sick today. Since you have a doctor that knows something about celiac and you were referred for celiac testing, he shouldn't have a problem doing the blood test. Good luck!

If I could bottle your outlook and attitude and sell it to the masses, I'd be a very wealthy woman.

Can I get a percentage of the profits? I do have a very positive attitude. Life's too short to spend it being negative and bitter about things I have no control over.

It's pricey at first because most people are going to buy a bunch of substitutes or specialty gluten-free foods. It's so much easier to buy something that says gluten-free on the package than to try to call every company in the first week. And it's hard to figure out what to eat at first - you want to continue to eat your morning cereal and lunchtime sandwich and pasta for dinner. But now that I know the safe brands, I don't even bother with the specialty stuff. Too expensive and I don't want to make a trip to a different grocery store - I don't have time for that! If I can't get it at Super Target or Cub Foods, I don't eat it!

If it makes you feel any better, I'm 25 and my social life is much better now that I'm gluten-free than it was before. By the time your children reach college, they'll be pros at the diet. They'll take everything you're teaching them now about the diet and how to deal with it with them when they go to college. You've got years to prepare them so I'm sure they'll be just fine.

You may want to remind yourself that gluten is addicting to people with celiac so you will probably have some withdrawal and cravings for it. And what do you mean by "you got the taste for good food"? I love the food that I eat. Maybe you could get a new cookbook or check out a recipe site and start cooking new, yummy foods.

I always carry food with me, too, especially to sporting events. I don't even try to eat vendor-type food. And, unfortunately, if you want to keep yourself safe, you have to publicize that you have celiac. You need to be up front with your waitstaff and give them all the information they need to get you a safe meal. You have to ask questions about ingredients because you never know how different restaurants prepare things. I can't tell you the number of times I've been surprised by ingredients. What do you mean you put beer in your margaritas??? It's something I never would have guessed without asking.

I wear my sunglasses. My mum has one of these onion choppers: Open Original Shared Link

It's like a mini food processor and works great with no tears.

I would be nervous going without a bone scan if you think you might have the beginning stages of osteoporosis. If you do have low bone density your doctor might recommend you take something like boniva or fozimax to increase bone density instead of just calcium.

You could ask for just the ankle bone scan - you should be able to take the kids to that. You put your foot in this little machine and it takes a minute or two. It's not as accurate as a full body bone scan, especially since the ankle tends to have higher bone density than the rest of the body since that bone bears a lot of weight, but it would at least give you an idea if there's a problem.

Another way to increase bone density is weight lifting or cardio like running. Bones need to have weight placed on them to increase in density.

Sigh Thanks for the advice. I kind of knew, but now I know. I think I may bring a little game hen in my crockpot. That way it wont be in the oven or anything. I dont think my mother in law will alter her menu. She called last night to let me know I could "bring whatever I need".

Ridgewalker- I will definilty learn from your experiment. I havent had to RUN to the bathroom in 2 weeks and I feel like a new person! Not worth the risk at all.

I suppose I am not being nurotic at all now, when I am sitting at the dinner table and (I have 3 little boys) I guard my plate from their food like it has the plauge. I felt a little silly at first, but it is for a good reason!

Thanks guys, I will get this eventually!

Cari

Eventually you can start cooking more naturally gluten-free meals for the while family so you don't have to worry about contamination.

I would test the whole family. You've got nothing to lose. I'd also re-test your son. Celiac is something that gets triggered by an event so even if he didn't have it three years ago, it's possible he's developed it now.

As for how to test - it depends. Enterolab is a perfectly ok diagnosis in my mind. It also keeps the official diagnosis off your medical records which could be useful later in life if you or your children ever have to get private insurance. But, if you want to get a 504 plan for the kids for school, you'd probably need a doctor's note, and, depending on your doctor, he/she may or may not provide that if you don't have an official mainstream diagnosis.

This is what I did with all my old recipes, too, and they taste just as good as the wheat-flour versions.

I make the second recipe posted all the time (the ones without chocolate chips), but I'm going to try the chocolate chip one when I get home tonight I make mine with sunflower seed butter (peanuts make me sick), and they're just as good as the peanut butter ones. They also travel well. I usually make a batch when I travel to places like England when I've got a week or two of traveling and staying with relatives whose houses aren't the most gluten-free friendly. It's nice to have something safe and yummy to fall back on that will last the week or two that I'm gone. Plus one cookie is enough to take the edge off my hunger when I can't eat a full meal.

If your mother-in-law insists on putting stuffing in the turkey, you could make a small cornish game hen for yourself. It's like having your own mini-turkey! Or cook some turkey at home and bring it to heat up on the day. I agree with everyone else - I would absolutely not under any circumstances eat turkey that had been stuffed with gluten. You want to be able to enjoy the holiday and spend it with your family instead of in the bathroom or sick in bed. That's what the holiday should be about anyway - being thankful for what you have and the people you spend it with. The food is a secondary thing.

My reactions to gluten aren't too bad now, either. I get some mild stomach pain, some fatigue and joint pain, but nothing that really interrupts my life. I have a hard time knowing if I got glutened or if I'm just having an upset stomach day.

Take a deep breath. There's nothing you can do about the baby right now. You're doing your best to stay gluten-free - it's not like you got glutened on purpose. If you were glutened at your MIL's, your body needs time to heal and even safe food can irritate you.

The air doesn't hold as much moisture when it gets colder so it makes sense that your skin feels drier. Mine is feeling drier, too.

Yikes, you work at pizza hut??? I would get a new job ASAP. I don't think there's any way you can be gluten-free working in a place that uses wheat flour, unfortunately.

I like this cereal, and it does that snap-crackle-pop thing that Rice Krispies do. But be careful when you buy them - there's a wheat-free version (not gluten-free) and a gluten-free-version and the boxes look almost identical.

The protein in oats is similar enough to that in wheat, barely and rye that it does cause damage in some celiacs, but it's different enough that it does not cause damage in other celiacs. If you do get non-CCed oats, it's impossible to know which category you'd fall into without trying them.

Seems like you are trying to change the world one person at a time - starting with them. It's all about the grassroots movement! I agree that telling you to go do something bigger or stop complaining is not at all nice. If they can't handle the change, then how do they expect the world to? Do they think that if you educated everyone on the issues associated with celiac that all of a sudden it would be easy for them to cook you a guaranteed gluten-free, not-CCed meal?

I imagine that if she gets glutened her intestines and immune system go on overdrive. If she keeps eating gluten after that the intestines and immune system are already irritated so they're not going to react much more. She'll probably stabilize into a general state of unwellness but will no longer have that huge initial reaction.

One thing to keep in mind is she needs to still be eating gluten when she gets her biopsy or it will be negative. I'm assuming you have a positive blood test which is a valid diagnosis, so you could opt to go gluten-free now and skip the biopsy.

Many celiacs are addicted to gluten so you may find her desire for bread-based foods decreases after she's on the gluten-free diet for a while. The Gluten Free Gourmet is a great cookbook if you want to make your own bread. There is one common gluten-free cookbook out there that has nutritional info for each recipe - unfortunately this is not the one. Maybe someone else can chime in with the name of the book.

I buy mostly "regular" food but just make sure I get safe brands. I would try to go for the naturally gluten-free brands so the whole family can eat it. There may be a few gluten items you want to still buy for your son like crackers, but I doubt he will feel deprived if you just watch the brands you buy. A lot of families have a gluten-free (or 99% gluten-free) household even when only one or two members have celiac to avoid CC and to create a completely inclusive atmosphere. It's a personal decision, but I've always thought who cares if you eat Lays Stax (gluten-free) instead of Pringles (not gluten-free)???

In the scientific world, gluten technically only refers to wheat gluten (the protein in wheat), but it is becoming more common for the term "gluten" to be used in describing the protein found in all grains. So this lady is simply saying that the product contains the protein found in corn, but just the protein part, not the rest of the corn grain. I find that if the grain is not WBRO, the grain name is put in front of the word "gluten" - in this case corn gluten. Celiacs refer to the proteins in WBRO as just gluten because the protein in BRO is so close to that in wheat that it causes the same symptoms although to be completely correct we should be saying wheat gluten, barely gluten, rye gluten and oat gluten. In general usage, gluten means WBRO - the types of gluten that cause immune reactions.

I'm sure this lady doesn't have a clue that when you asked about gluten you just mean the types of gluten that make people sick is so she did a search, saw corn gluten and sent you that. I don't have a problem with this, but I would prefer companies to have someone who know what gluten is to answer these emails. Who knows how things are entered in a database - we all know that it doesn't usually come right out and say gluten in an ingredients list. If the ingredients list said wheat, for example, would she have known to alert you to that?