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But you know what's wonderful? The most wonderful thing in the world??? Robitussin with Codein! For the first night in WEEKS, my poor baby is sleeping soundly and quietly. This is the first night in weeks that the sound of his body-wrenching barking coughs hasn't come from his room again, and again, and again...

I agree that codine cough meds are the best! I have Whooping Cough and without them I would be 100 times more miserable than I already am.

I hope you can get your little guy's immune system up and running again soon.

All this talk about how wonderful Disney World is for gluten-free food makes me want to visit!

I don't know about Healing Garden, but I was wondering what shampoo and conditioner you changed to that is "safe." I need something better.

BTW: I use Neutrogena Emulsion lotion (gluten free) and love it.

There are a number of mainstream brands that are gluten-free. Fructis, Pantene and Themasilk come to mind. I think Dove is also and Suave. Treseme is NOT gluten-free.

I have a few large square clear tupperware from Target that I store my flours in. I can fit 3-4 Bob's Red Mill-sized bags in each container. I can see exactly what's in each one and bugs can't get in. I also have two tupperware containers that I keep my pre-mixed flour in (I use a gluten-free and bean flour mix). I've never frozen my flour.

I'm from Minneapolis. I am not part of a support group, though.

The biggest thing you can do is not use specialty gluten-free foods. Find a cheap, naturally gluten-free substitute for all your old gluten foods. Try corn chips instead of crackers, corn tortillas or lettuce wraps instead of sandwiches, rice instead of pasta. Buying in bulk or buying brands labeled as "ethic" can save you money. I buy 10lb bags of rice from the Indian section of my store. I buy 4lb bags of rice flour for $2 in the Asian section of my store. (I am lucky that my local grocery has a good Asian section).

Family-sized bags of frozen veggies are much cheaper than fresh and can be used to supplement veggie intake. They also go on sale so you can buy then and save for later. Or try farmer's markets in the summer. Produce is often less than half the price.

I am a crazy coupon-clipper: watch the store ads so you can buy when things go on sale.

I like to eat Thai Kitchen "ramen" noodles for lunch. It's about three times more expensive if you buy them with the microwaveable bowl. I buy the packages without a bowl and bring my own bowl. Foods are almost always cheaper if you buy the large, non-individually packaged sizes and package them yourself.

You can also save money by using tupperware instead of disposable bags and sending real silverware. I often bring plastic forks, but wash and reuse.

You could check if your local grocery store offers a refund for bringing your own bags. It's usually just 5cents/bag, but it's something. You can bring your own canvas bags or just reuse the store bags you already have.

aren't rotation diets supposed to be good for avoiding or managing food intolerances? (not food allergies)

Yes, they are. Your body can often tolerate a certain amount of a food so if you eat it everyday you can go over the limit and start reacting to it.

Can anyone speak to the actual process and how they figured out which foods they were allergic/intolerant to and how?

Thanks.

I'm assuming you're talking about using an elimination diet to diagnose food allergies/intolerances. The diet here is more of a maintenance diet to help avoid additional allergies/intolerances from developing and to balance the nutrients you're putting in your body. If you want more of an elimination diet, there are two ways to do it. One is to eliminate one food at a time (for maybe 2 weeks each) and see how you feel. The other is to cut out everything for two weeks, then add foods back in one at a time and see how you feel. I went for the second option because many people have multiple intolerances. If you are gluten and casein intolerant and you eliminate casein and not gluten, it's unlikely you will feel much better.

There's flax meal in a recipe I have for french bread and I just leave it out. It doesn't seem to change to taste or texture. It might be in there just to add fiber.

Even though the oats may not be contaminated, a majority of celiacs still consider oats themselves to contain gluten. So has the FDA decided that oats are gluten-free now? I'd be really mad if they did because it makes the new labeling completely useless.

The other thing to be aware of is they baby might not have celiac at birth and might either develop it later in life or never get it. So it might be something that shows up at age 5 or 10 or 15. You never know when, so if he/she tests negative initially, it's still something to be aware of and watch for.

It might help you stay gluten-free if you do it for your children. I'm sure you want to be around to see them grow up, and the longer you keep eating gluten, the more likely you are to suffer from complications like cancer, Alzheimer's, neurological symptoms, etc.

Is there information on what I should look for on product labels and such to help me stay away from this? I mean searching through the sites I have seen today, there is alot I can't eat. Do I go Vegitarian?

You certainly don't have to go vegetarian if you aren't already. Plain meat is naturally gluten-free and tends to be easy on a healing stomach. You do want to watch for flavoured or pre-seasoned meat - those usually have gluten. And chicken or turkey with broth added has gluten, too.

If you like sandwich meat, try Hormel brand (the package says gluten-free) or Oscar Meyer (owned by Kraft who will always label if there's gluten in their products). I wouldn't get a meat sliced in a deli because if they've sliced flavoured meat that contains gluten on the same slicer, your meat can get contaminated.

Is is possible (just thinking out loud here) that she is reacting but not because of celiac? Maybe her body is just not used to gluten. For example, when my mom was a vegie and started eating meat again it caused havoc on her system. However, after eating meat for awhile her body got used to it again. Does that make sense?

I know that veggies often have trouble digesting meat again because the body has stopped producing the enzyme needed to digest meat. The body will start producing the enzyme again when you start eating meat again. But how does this work with gluten? Is there an "enzyme" or something that the body needs to produce to digest gluten?

Lactose (the sugar in milk) is digested by the tips of your villi, so if they are worn away due to celiac, you will have trouble digesting lactose until you heal.

It also seems that a lot of celiacs have trouble with casein (the protein in milk), too, and this is not something that goes away with healing. I've often wondered if there's a similarity in the structure of gluten protein and casein protein that causes so many celiacs to have trouble with both. I never hear about casein problems anywhere else. Of course, I'd never heard of gluten problems before this, either. So either there's a strong correlation between someone having issues with both proteins or celiacs are just more in-tune with how foods make their bodies feel and willing to give up foods to feel healthy.

I should add the when employers negotiate with insurance companies to cover their employees, they agree to cover all employees at the same cost, regardless of prior medical conditions. They pretty much average out what they expect everyone to need for medical services and everyone pays the same. This means that someone who is very healthy is probably paying a bit more than they would with a private insurance than someone with lots of pre-existing conditions. It also means that single people pay a bit more to cover costs of other people's children, etc. This is a huge generalization, but for the most part true. I don't mind too much, though. The fact that they have to cover me (and I don't have to disclose pre-existing conditions) is invaluable.

I'd recommend the movie Sicko. It's Michael Moore's latest movie about the health insurance industry, and although it's very biased, it's still good. The whole theme is that insurance companies are out to make money so they'll do whatever they can to do that. This includes denying people coverage for pre-existing conditions and denying reimbursement if you haven't disclosed a condition. I always wonder what would happen in my case if I ever have private insurance, though. I tell all my doctors that I have celiac, but there is no medical proof - I've only got a negative blood test on my records. I'm sure they'd call it pre-existing, but would I be able to argue against that? Heck, I'd even be willing to do another blood test right now I bet it would come out negative

If you are insured by an employer, then it shouldn't be any more expensive. If you have your own private insurance, though, that's when you run into problems. Insurance companies want to make money, so they will charge more for anyone with a "prior condition". Which includes celiac. Although all of us know a diagnosed, gluten-free celiac is going to be way healthier than an undiagnosed one, that's not how insurance sees it. Maybe it's due to the high rate of non-compliance with the diet. Maybe it's due to the fact that it takes years to get a diagnosis, at which point many of us have other related health issues. Maybe it's because the medical community doesn't fully understand the disease. Whatever it is, insurance sees celiac and chooses the "convenient" facts - that it can cause many other health problems - and ignores all the rest of the facts - that a gluten-free celiac is going to be perfectly healthy. They charge more because they can.

I know this has been discussed before... but, I still think that a "safe" level of gluten is laughable. The only items that should get the Gluten-free labeling are those that only contain ingredients that are naturally gluten-free AND are processed on dedicated gluten-free equipment. Maybe a second label (Very Low Gluten?) could be adopted for items that pass the 20ppm test and/or have the potential for CC. Otherwise, the gluten-free label is going to be useless for those people who are extremely sensitive.

I was going to say the same thing as tarnelberry. I'm sure companies are required to test the gluten limits at a certain frequency, and it's impossible to test if things have zero gluten. I was actually pleased with the 20ppm limit. I think the UK has a 200ppm limit? (someone correct me if I'm wrong!) so this seemed pretty good to me. I was impressed that it was so low, especially after all that talk about making oats gluten-free. Speaking of oats... the article doesn't mention what was decided about them.

Oh, and I know I've already said this, but it makes me so mad that insurance charges more for celiacs. Hello!!! A diagnosed celiac on a gluten-free diet is going to be a million times healthier and cheaper than an non-diagnosed celiac. Major pet peeve of mine...

I can definitely see not wanting a celiac diagnosis on her records. Not to mention you'd have to pump her full of gluten for months if you want a positive doctor's diagnosis which I don't think you're going to be able to do. Even Enterolab at this point won't be accurate. Unless you go for the gene test. It's not going to give you a 100% diagnosis, but if she does have some of the known genes for celiac, you might feel better about taking her off gluten for good.

Organ pasta is a good idea. They're like Spaghetti-O's and have a ring-style top so you don't need a can opener. A can of tuna would be a good protein source. Or try Thai Kitchen "ramen" noodles. They make a yummy lunch.

Watch Super Nanny, she deals with this all the time on her TV show. I think you could probably find some of her methods useful. You might try googling and see if she has an online site with tips.

I did the leg work for you: Open Original Shared Link

And if you ever watch Super Nanny, you can take comfort in the fact that your kids can't possibly be worse that the ones she deals with The families she comes up with are amazing.

I don't think you jumped the gun either. You have every right for you bracelet to say exactly what you want it to - you're paying for it! I would have been super mad, too, and I'm glad it got worked out.

I ate some Kraft Carmels the other day and I had a flare up with my stomach. Seems like I remember something about carmels may not be safe. Anyone know for sure?

Regards,

Meow

I've never heard of caramels in general not being safe (of course, you always have to check ingredients...) Are you thinking of caramel color? Because that may contain gluten (although it seems that 99% of it in the USA doesn't).

I third the picture idea. Pasta art isn't going to last forever anyway so this is the best way to save it "forever".

The thing that jumps out at me is you ate at a restaurant. Restaurants are very risky so I would avoid those, especially if you're not feeling well. Give you body some time to heal which you eat guaranteed gluten-free meals at home. I tend to eat out more than most celiacs, but if I've been glutened, I ban myself from restaurants until I heal.