kbtoyssni

Not a pediatrician, but Dr Ronda Stellar at the Shoreview Medical Clinic is great with celiac. She routinely tests her female patients who have trouble conceiving for celiac. I have unfortunately moved houses and jobs to the other side of the city and can't see her anymore.

I figured out I can't have peanuts, and my bathroom-rightnow-moveit-ohcrapdidn't....makeit.... 'events' went away, THANK GOD. That was the only effect they had on me though, no mental or breathing issues, so it took me forever to figure out it was peanuts. Not even legumes. You know, that was harder than giving up gluten? How silly is that? But you know why? Peanut butter cup ice cream. Only reason. I can make anything gluten free, try finding peanut free peanut butter cup ice cream. What a silly thing to miss so much.

Peanuts were so much harder for me than gluten, too! All my favorite candy had peanuts, and I spent a good week thinking about "what if I just have a little bit of peanut once a month or so..." It does seem silly because peanuts are so much easier to avoid than gluten.

I don't think this is being overly cautious. I certainly don't eat deli-sliced meat. Also I've found that over the years this stuff become second nature, and you won't have to think about it; you'll just do it. Once you get your routine down, it won't seem so obsessive, it will just be what you do.

No longer true. They are made in a dedicated facility and batch tested. Bob's Red Mill has done all it can to prevent cross contamination issues.

If a Bob's Red Mill product ways gluten-free, then it is made in the gluten-free facility. There are a few flours made by Bob's that you'd think would be gluten-free like the soy flour, but it's made in the non-gluten-free facility so it isn't labeled gluten-free.

I have recently tested positive to celiac disease via a blood test. Where I live (in Canada) it can take up to 18 months for me to get a biopsy. Therefore, my GP has suggested to me that I should go gluten-free to heal and stop any further damage until I can get in for the biopsy. I have decided to take his advice. At this point in time the only sign I have of celiac disease is a nutrient absorption issue so I'm hoping when I go back on before the biopsy that I won't have too many issues.

If you go gluten free now and heal, you're going to have to eat a lot of gluten before the biopsy to have a hope of it coming out positive. Some estimates I've seen have recommended eating 3-4 servings of gluten for six months before the biopsy, which is probably what you'll need if you're off gluten for a year. You symptoms may also get worse as you heal. You might want to think about if you want to go gluten-free for a year, then eat gluten for six months and what you'd do if you do start getting really sick when eating gluten. Also, what would you do the biopsy comes out negative? Just something to think about a little before proceeding.

I hope everything works out okay with your sister in law. Sounds like an 'emotional' issue to me ... wish I could offer some constructive advice. Instead, I thought I'd ping you about baking. I made some cookies last nite - real good - but I am finding that the gluten-free flours can be a bit sandy/grainy/gritty. I am wondering if I am simply not using the right flours? I modified a basic sugar cookie recipe with white corn meal, quinoa flour, cornstarch, and brown rice flour mix, margarine, applesauce, fat-free milk, splenda/brown sugar/ powdered sugar/regular sugar, gelatin, egg white, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, baking soda, baking powder, candied pineapple, coconut, walnuts, rasins.

Really good - but just a tiny bit gritty. Is one of my flours causing this grittiness?

Rice flour tends to be gritty. But it doesn't have a distinctive taste so you have to use some of it. Tweaking the ratios of flour may help. Cornstarch tends to be very smooth, so does soy flour.

I started drinking a lot of Gatorade because it didn't bother my stomach and had some calories. That's probably in direct conflict with the SCD, though!

You can google just about any product here and find out whether it's gluten-free for free. It's a little inconvenient unless you have a Blackberry, but that's what I do. Shopping at first is very difficult, but it really does get easier as you slowly research products you can and cannot have.

Distilled vinegar is generally accepted to be gluten-free now. The distillation process should remove all gluten. Most eat it, although I think some of the very, very sensitive may still have problems. I wouldn't worry about it, though.

Most baking powder is gluten-free. As always, you have to check, but I've never found one with gluten. I do seem to remember some cautionary tales of baking powder; maybe years ago some of it did contain gluten.

You may be hungry all the time because you body is finally starting to absorb nutrients. That's a good thing!

Mainstream gluten-free items: Mission corn tortillas and corn chips; Pace salsa; Old El Paso taco seasoning, salsas, taco sauce, taco shells, McCormick tack seasoning; most canned veggies and beans (check the label, but as long as they're not seasoned they're probably ok).

Try making tacos. Or chili. Or quesedillas. Or baked potatoes with salad on top. Or corn tortilla pizzas.

You might also want to ask at what point your husband can be back with you after the procedure. When I had knee surgery I was in a recovery room, then as soon as I woke up they took me back to my own room and my parents could be there. They didn't try to feed me anything until I got back to my own room. They'll probably only try to give you some crackers or juice if they want to give you a pain pill orally to make sure your stomach doesn't get upset. If you're hooked up to a morphine drip I don't think they would offer you anything (unless you're hungry and ask for something). Also, I was put back in the same room that they prepped me in. It had a locker that I kept my clothes in and I could have had food in there if necessary, too.

I talked about cross-contamination issues with my GI yesterday... this is no way to live! Being so sick, and having to be so paranoid about EVERYTHING, not even just at home, is just not an acceptable answer for me. There has to be more going on.

At this point, I react to everything I put in my mouth, including water. I am convinced there is more going on with me than being cross-contaminated with traces of gluten left over on doorknobs and steering wheels

Debbie

Is there a way to make your living situation 100% gluten-free? My home is completely gluten-free, and I think that's why I'm much less stressed out over CC than many of the people here. At home gluten's not an issue, and I've figured out how to deal with everyday situations at work and friends' houses. So it's just the out-of-the ordinary situations where I have to be vigilant. Taking the stress out of my home has been key.

There was a thread a while back about people reacting to water. Some have started drinking only bottled water because they were reacting to something in tap water. Chlorine? Fluoride? Can't remember what off the top, but you could search for the thread.

Maybe you're intolerant to something in addition to gluten? Peanuts for me cause a gluten-like reaction and took a while for me to figure out because naturally I was trying to figure out where the gluten was coming from.

I wouldn't necessarily be alarmed by a shared oven. Mazaratti's in NYC has a shared oven, but the gluten-free pizza was always placed on the top shelf with a clean pan underneath. It's a pizza place whose gluten-free pizza comes highly recommended by celiacs so people must not be getting sick.

My mum used to get really dry, cracked skin, and her doctor gave her some prescription cream for it - a steroid I think. She was also very careful not to soak her hands in water, and wears rubber gloves for everything.

what does ppm mean? and my symptoms are mostly mental, im very hyper active, anxious, and my visions blurred, plus very sleepy/fatigued. so if i eat peanuts and on the bag it says "manufactured in a plant tha produces wheat/soy/dairy products" should i be worried about a crumb thats like almost invisible? should i be constantly worried about what i eat? and that brown cow stuff on the side: isn't all milk products gluten free? or have i been lied to all my life?

ppm = parts per million

Whether or not you eat products that are manufactured in the same plant as wheat/soy/dairy products is a very personal decision and usually depends on the manufacturer and your and others' past experiences with the product. Do some searches here for specific foods - you'll find lots of info to help you make your decision. Yes, all plain milk should be gluten-free. Some of the chocolate milks may not be.

Yep, spelt is a derivative of wheat so if you're gluten-free it's a no-no! Spelt does work for some people with wheat allergies, which is maybe why there's so much mis-information out there regarding this grain.

I was also going to suggest maybe they're getting bigger and the tenderness if from that. Some people won't go through puberty completely when eating gluten so going gluten free will cause puberty to finish up. Probably not a bad idea to mention it to your doctor though.

Anything you eat with gluten as an ingredient is probably going to make you sick. Things like personal care products are more of a possible risk of ingestion. If you just started the gluten-free diet you may not feel sick though since your immune system is so suppressed from eating gluten. As you go gluten-free you may become more sensitive or you may become less sensitive; depends on the person. Some here react to less than 20ppm gluten, some don't feel anything at 200ppm. You never know.

I would certainly see if your school offers suite-style rooms with a kitchen. Although a lot of these will come with roommates who use the kitchen which is a whole different set of issues.

Many schools are somewhat well-equipped to deal with celiac. My brother's school had a fridge/freezer full of gluten-free stuff and a dedicated microwave. They also had fruit, and would give you eggs and a clean frying pan rather than using the egg-mixture available to the other students. I think meals would become rather monotonous, but they would be safe to eat.

This may depend on your line of work, but company culture plays a big part in this. At my current job people rarely go out to eat - it's the norm to eat together in the cafeteria so I can bring my own food just like 25% of my coworkers. I'm trying to think of a clever way to ask this question in an interview - maybe something like "do coworkers socialize during work hours like eating lunch together?" Or a joking "how's the cafeteria food?" that would probably give you a good idea if people eat it often. The benefit of me bringing my own food everyday is my coworkers see what I eat, know it's gluten-free, and realize that it's not weird food. They're more curious than anything else.

I've read on this forum somewhere that Milky Way Dark is gluten free, and regular Milky Way is not. They are made in different plants. If I were you, I'd call the company directly. I love Milky Way too!!

I think this is no longer the case. I was going to pick up some Milky Way Darks around Halloween and was surprised to see barley malt is now an ingredient. (Although this was a few months ago and now I'm debating whether I did look at the dark or the regular package, but I really thought it was the darks because I know regular isn't gluten-free.) So make sure you check the package.

Some chicken has chicken broth added to plump it up and keep it moist and that will most likely contain gluten. Plain meat doesn't have an ingredients list- that's the kind you want! It's not hard to find, but, like everything, you have to read the label every time to be sure.

I don't eat potluck food, unless it's something like a banana or mini oranges or hardboiled egg still in the shell that I KNOW cannot be CCed. I go to potlucks for the social aspects so I bring my own food and still socialize. There's no way you can guarantee any of the food is 100% gluten-free. Even something with gluten-free ingredients can be CCed by someone who simply doesn't realize the seriousness of CC. Read some of the threads about shared kitchens and the precautions people take - no way do people at potlucks understand all that. I usually don't bring anything to share either because it's such a pain to have leftovers that I can't eat due to the possibility of CC. If I do bring something I serve myself a portion before I put it out for everyone else to drop breadcrumbs in.

Okay the soap stuff totally mystifies me. What are the bad ingredients? I look at the bottle and nothing screams wheat. I didn't think about using the soap at places. SHe still likes to lick her hands.

So some of those chemical names are code words for wheat?

Here at home we are suave for kids shampoo (I thought Sauve was safe), equate brand hand soap, and switched yesterday to Kiss my Face olive and aloe soap for her really bad dry skin and cucumber body lotion by pure life. Those were the only ones I could find that had ingredients I could pronounce and that claimed to be all natural. I'm trying them out on myself first before I put any on her. Her dry skin is horrendous right now.

So what's the crash course on soaps and lotions?? I've been just using what I knew others had used and really have no idea how to make sense of the labels on those products. We just rinse really really well.

Stacie

*Most* soaps are gluten-free unless you're talking specialty soaps like Bath and Body Works, but many soaps do contain soy. I believe shayesmom's daughter is also soy intolerant. Any suave product I've checked is safe. And I think equate, too.

My symptoms are so variable. Sometimes I get sick sometimes I don't. Sometimes it's more stomach pain and sometimes joint pain. So, no, I don't think it's weird that your son doesn't always get D when glutened.

My brother tested negative. He either doesn't have celiac or he doesn't have it yet. I'm sure he will get tested again if he ever starts feeling sick in any way. It's something for him to be aware of for the future.

Some of the Boots No 7 lipstick DO contain gluten in case you use that brand. I can't remember which ones now.