kbtoyssni

My fish food is the only thing in my house that contains gluten, and I hate that I have to have it. I always wash my hands after feeding the fish. For a while I tried to tap the container to get food out without having to touch it, but I'd always end up dumping way too much in. Maybe a small tweezers would help. The part that worries me is that I always find bits of fish food around the tank and I worry they're migrating to the kitchen...

I've looked for gluten-free fish food before, but have never had any luck.

RiceGuy - I have tried all natual PB as well as brands like Skippy and both make me sick. Still, I'm not sure being all natual guarantees anything about whether the peanuts were shelled in a facility with wheat.

VydorScope - I knew someone was going to ask about possible contamination in my own home! No, it's not possible, I live alone, and I only allow gluten-free foods in my apartment. Unless the little gluten elves are sneaking in at night and putting gluten in my PB!

jerseyangel - I've considered a legume intolerance, but I don't get sick from eating any of the other legumes, so I think it's just a peanut thing.

aikiducky - good idea about buying the shell-it-yourself peanuts! I don't know why I didn't think of this one myself... Thanks!

So it seems like if a PB says it's gluten-free, it probably is, and I'm just back to having a peanut intolerance. Which is too bad, because I do like my peanuts. Oh how I will miss peanut butter cups and snickers bars...

About three months ago I realized that peanut butter always made me sick, so I assumed I had a peanut intolerance and stopped eating them. Well, my mother has been trying to find gluten-free peanuts and nearly every package she finds is made in the same facility as wheat products. She was thinking that it's possible that the peanut butter I eat is contaminated since my symptoms are nearly the same. Even though the company tells me their PB is gluten-free, they may not be aware that the peanuts they buy are shelled in facilities that also contain wheat. Does anyone know if peanuts are usually contaminated? Are PB manufacturers required to label their product with "may contain wheat" in this case. Is there a way to find out where peanuts in a certain brand of PB are shelled?

And a related question - is a peanut intolerance similar to gluten in that it causes intestinal damage? I won't eat something if it's made in the same facility as wheat, but I'm not nearly that careful with peanuts and I haven't had any symptoms from possible peanut contamination. Will I be damaging my body if I do get trace amounts of peanuts even if I don't feel symptoms.

And because I know all of you ask such thorough questions - No, my PB is not being contaminated by double dipping because I live alone, and I get sick from nearly every brand of PB I eat. Thanks everyone!

So, I'm new here and I dunno if I'm at the right section, but I suppose I'll find out soon enough.

I was just going to ask a few questions... I have millions, but I'll do some reading around before I ask 'em away. Seems this is going to be quite a challenge, everything seems to have gluten! But I did have a few questions to ask real quick... one is, how exactly is celiac pronounced? si-leeac?

And the other was, for those of you that had to deal with celiac disease symptoms your whole life, did you have a hard time focusing and even doing simple tasks like reading, etc? Were you always tired? Also, when you changed your diet how much did it change you and how much better did you feel? Did it make life a lot easier?

Retarded questions, but that's what I'm good at. And nice meeting you guys btw, I suppose I'll be here often now.

Welcome! Initially you'll spend a ton of time researching ingredients, but it gets much quicker eventually. Now I don't spend any more time grocery shopping than I did pre-gluten-free.

My symptoms started about ten years ago, mild at first and getting worse so gradually that I hardly noticed. I got really bad about a year before diagnosis and I had horrible fatigue, joint pain and brain fog. I slept fourteen hours a day. I went from walking about ten miles a day to barely making it up the stairs to my apartment. I was in grad school at the time and could not focus enough to read and comprehend articles. I couldn't remember a thing and couldn't do simple things like balance my checkbook. I had to drop out of school and move back in with my parents.

Now I've been gluten-free for just over a year. I have a job, I'm back in grad school, I workout several times a week, my joints no longer hurt, I have more energy than I've had in years. It took six-nine months for me to fully heal and get my strength back. Some people heal more quickly, some more slowly.

Soy protein should be fine - as long as you don't have a soy intolerance! It's fairly common for celiacs to have other food intolerances so if you're not getting better after a few months, you'll definitely want to look into this. Dairy can also cause temporaray problems. It's digested by the tips of your villi so until you intestines heal it may cause you problems. This wasn't the case for me, but it's so common that I thought I'd mention it.

When you make steak, make sure you're using a pan that's not scratched up. The scratched can trap gluten and cause contamination even if you've washed it carefully. If you're grilling, grill on foil. The grill grate is most likely contaminated plus some charcoals are made from wood which contains glue which can contain gluten...

Good luck!

Cold Turkey!!!

I gave away all my gluten-food to the food pantry and the opened stuff to friends. Although I did feel a bit guilty giving them all my gluten-poison food

Congrats on the pregnancy! I've actually heard that it's not uncommon to lose weight during the first trimester (someone who's been pregnant before can probably confirm this better than I can You've only been gluten-free for four months which isn't that long. I didn't get over my chronic fatigue until about nine months in. First your body has to heal, then you have to build up your strength again. So stick with the diet, things should get better eventually. I'm sure your baby will be much healthier if you stay gluten-free.

I think you've already done enough testing to prove you have celiac disease. As Carla mentioned, once you go gluten-free and your body starts healing, any blood tests or biopsies you get won't be positive. You have to be eating gluten to have antibodies and/or intestinal damage.

I diagnosed myself from a positive dietary response. I did get a blood test done, but I'd already been gluten-free for too long and it didn't come back positive for celiac. And that's just fine with me because I feel better than I have in nearly a decade. An "official" diagnosis of me either having celiac or not having it wouldn't change the fact that I will stay gluten-free for the rest of my life because the diet has made such a postive impact on my life.

Your symptoms could be from a combination of irratants. Before I went gluten-free, pizza always made me sick, but bread never did. I now think that I got sick from pizza due to the combination of wheat with cheese and tomato. I do not have a problem with cheese now that I'm gluten-free. Not sure if this helps - the pizza thing just reminded me of me. Ok, got to run, I have to be somewhere in three minutes!

Going gluten-free in itself won't make you healthier, but the increased awareness of knowing exactly what's in everything you're eating probably will make you eat healthier. There aren't any negatives to going gluten-free, though (unless of course you change to the Snickers-only diet), so I'd do it. I don't know if it's possible to express how appreciative I'd be if I were your husband. You will make his life so, so much easier and healthier that I think it's worth it.

I'm sorry you're still not doing well. I don't have a whole lot to add that other people haven't already talked about, but I figured I'd post anyway.

I was also vegetarian before I was diagnosed. I was feeling better but not 100% after a few months gluten-free, but then I started to lose a lot of weight. Some people on this board said that they feel better when they eat meat. So I started to eat a bit and now my weight is pretty stable. A few weeks ago I ran out of turkey and I started feeling tired again and losing weight. So I think I will continue to eat meat since I think it does make me feel better. The other thing I notice is that I feel a different kind of full when eating meat. It's like I'ave actually eaten something. When I eat other things I don't necessarily feel "full" - more like my stomach doesn't want to digest anything else so I stop eating. It was a weird feeling the first time - I think the celiac has made me very out of touch with my hunger signals and for the first time in years I could honestly say that was what full felt like. I think it's also harder for your body to digest veggies.

I was vegetarian for moral reasons. I now buy free-range, hormone free meat. I still struggle with whether I should eat meat when I go out to restaurants. I know it's not going to be free range, etc, but restaurants are the one time where it's nice to be able to eat meat since I get bored eating salad all the time.

I also figured out I have a peanut intolerance which was another reason I wasn't feeling 100%. You may also have other intolerances. I agree with everyone on the soy - that's a common intolerance. And the cheese. Would you consider eating a very, very basic diet for a few weeks and then adding in one food at a time?

I think you should look for an additional problem. It's got to be hard to do that when you don't have insurance, but maybe you could get a panel of blood tests done to check for hormone and vitamin levels as a starting point to go on.

Things I like to eat to keep my weight up that are stomach friendly: apple sauce, sherbet, gatorade, rice, dove chocolates.

Keep reading here and you'll find lots of potential gluten-contaminants in your house. Did you throw out old chapsticks? It took me a while to realize that they could have gotten gluten in them back when I used to eat it. What about pets - most pet food has gluten. Do you live with anyone who could accidently be contaminating things?

Good luck and I hope you start feeling better soon.

If you're a fan of cooking, you should try the cookbook "The Gluten Free Gourmet". The stuff in there is really good, especially the cakes/cookies

Maybe you could tell us some of the stuff you like to eat, and we can tell you how to make it gluten-free. I always say that I eat everything I used to, I just have to watch the brands I eat and sometimes make substitutes for things like pasta and bread.

Things will get easier, though. I'm sure you still feel yucky, and you probably will for a while. And it's hard to know what you can and cannot eat at first. I think I used to go hungry a lot of the time, too, because it was easier than trying to call another company or do more research.

Some basics that you might like:

-Cook up a ton of rice and have it sitting in the fridge to be reheated when you get hungry. I mix my rice with cheese and salsa.

-Baked potatoes with salad on top.

-Eggs in any form.

-Peanut butter on apples, celery, etc.

-Gatorade, I like this because I needed some source of extra calories and it doesn't upset my stomach. I figure the electrolytes can't hurt.

-Sherbet, yummy and slides right down and doesn't both my stomach.

-Meat, if you eat it.

Yikes - I'm glad you were able to catch that one! When I go to the dentist, I have them use plain pumice. It's the toothpaste-cleaning stuff without the flavoring. I think it's something most dentists would have around the office and wouldn't have to order specially. Personally, I like it better than the flavored stuff

I like Food for Life brand bread. My favorites are red rice, black rice and millet. The millet makes a great gilled cheese.

Ok, thanks!

I'm taking this training course at work, and they gave us these little gummy hearts to play with so we could point out which arteries were where, etc. They're rubbery/sticky, and I remember playing with toys like this as a kid - the kind you'd get in the quarter vending machines and throw at a wall and they'd stick for a while and they slowly roll off. Do you know the kind of toy I'm talking about? Well, after playing with the heart for a while I realized I have no idea if it's gluten free. It seem like it might be in the same category as play-doh or glues and contain gluten. Anyone know?

The depression going away was something that surprised me when I went gluten-free. And how much energy I have now. I knew gluten made me fatigued, but I didn't realize it was that bad!

(like in cereal such as Brown rice crisps or the "gluten free" granola)

Gluten free granola? Oats are usually contaiminated and I've never seen a granola without oats. Is this an oat-free granola that you've found? Anyhow, sorry if you already know about oats, just want to make sure you're not accidently eating gluten

I think cotton candy should be safe. It is just sugar crystals that are spun into that fun, fluffy shape, and I would think that cotton candy booths might be less prone to contaimination than other booths. A co-worker went to the fair yesterday and brought me the "Gluten Free Menu on a Stick"! It was a very exciting surprise waiting for me when I got to work today You can pick one up at the KARE11 booth. Here's a list of the vendors who have gluten-free options:

Andre's Watermelon

Bayou Bob's Gater Shack

Cinnamon Roasted Nuts

Corn Roast

Foot Long Hot Dog

Fudge Folks

German Roasted Nuts

Henry's Kettle Korn

Kathie's Cotton Candy

Key Lime Pie Bar (at first I thought, what??? Pie??? but it's a sorbet place)

The Lamb Shoppe

Lynn's Lefse (jam)

MN Wild Rice Specialties

MN Apples

Moe & Joe's Famous Coffee

Nitro Ice Cream

Pickle Dog

Simply Nuts

Sonny's Sandwiches and Spiral Chips

These vendors offer extended menus (not sure what this means):

Ball Park Cafe

Coasters

Giggle's Campfire Grill

I thought regular rolaids were gluten-free? The soft-chews aren't gluten-free, but I was certain that regular ones were. Have to do some research this afternoon on this one...

As for the negative biopsy, if you think you do have celiac, then you're lucky you don't have that much intestinal damage yet. A negative biopsy only means that you caught it before things got really bad.

If you're looking for a full dinner, tacos are always fun because everyone can customize. And it's one of those meals that's pretty much naturally gluten-free. I also love pizza. As long as you don't mind making the crust, it's a fun, easy meal to make. If you do something like lasagna you can make it up in advance so all you have to do is pop it in the oven on party day.

For snacks I love Lays Stacks Or grapes and strawberries.

I'm coming up on my one year September 15, and I agree with everything lpellegr said. Life really is great when you're gluten-free!

I know Colgate toothpaste is ok. Not sure about garnier fructise shampoo.

The first few weeks will be overwhelming. It takes a long time to figure out what brands of food you can eat. I used to spend hours in the grocery store, now it doesn't take me any longer than anyone else. You can probably find most of what you need at Trader Joe's. I've never been there so I don't know what they offer, but I do most of my shopping in a regular grocery store and only go to a specialty store for things like gluten-free bread and crackers.

It would probably be good to not eat out for a while, at least until you get the hang of the diet. I used to hate eating out because it was such a pain, but now I know what questions to ask and what foods are generally safe and it's not a big deal anymore. Maybe you could meet your girlfriends for a walk or at a coffee shop or go ice skating or something else for a while.

You are not being neurotic when you want to call a restaurant and ask about food preparation. You are simply looking out for your health and being safe. Would your mother rather you eat "questionable" foods all the time and continue to be sick? In cases like this, I would bring my own food

I'm planning on staying on the diet (despite continuing diarrhea, though not as bad as before)...

Staying on the diet? So you're gluten-free right now? This could be the reason for the negative/inconclusive results. You have to be eating gluten for blood tests and biopsys to be positive.

I eat out all the time. I'm young and my friends are always going out to eat so unless I want to be a hermit, I go to restaurants. My friends are very accomodating, though, and we often pick places that will have food options for me. Sometimes I will bring my own food, though, especially if it's an informal restaurant. I also invite people over for dinner a lot instead of going out to eat with them.

I'm lucky that I don't get *too* sick from gluten anymore. If I was someone who got really ill for a long period of time, I might think differently. But I'm willing to risk it. The worst that happens is that I do get sick and I spend a week not feeling the greatest. There are so many risky things in life, and I'm not willing to stay in and not do the things I want to do just because I'm scared of contamination. It's my life and after being sick for so long, I want to live it to the fullest.