kbtoyssni

I used to crave gluten-filled foods all the time. I just realized the other day that my cravings are gone! Your body is probably addicted to gluten like mine was, so if you can manage to go a few months without gluten products, it's likely you'll stop having cravings like this.

The diet does seem restrictive at first - especially when you go through your cupboard and have to throw out everything because you can't eat it. I've been gluten-free for ten months and I now find that I eat everything I used to, just in gluten-free versions. Some things like bread and pasta you'll have to buy gluten-free substitutes for. Other things you learn which brands are safe. I'm sure it's overwhelming right now to look in the fridge and not know if things are gluten-free, but give it time and you'll figure out the safe brands. A lot of my friends ask me how long it takes me to grocery shop. In the beginning it used to take me hours because I'd be reading every label, but now it doesn't take me any longer than it used to.

If you're anything like me, you'll feel so much better in a few months and be so grateful for gluten-free that you won't care that it's slightly more inconvienient and harder to figure out what you can eat. At this point, gluten-free is just what I do to live a normal, healthy life.

Good luck, and welcome to the board!

Email nini at <nisla@comcast.net> to get the newbie survival kit. Put "request newbie survival kit" in the subject line.

I've been gluten-free for nine months now and I just realized a few weeks ago how incredibly happy I am. I'm happier now than I can ever remember. If I think back, my celiac symptoms started about 8-10 years ago, and the last five years have been a rollercoaster of depression. I am not taking any meds for depression anymore and I am dealing with life just fine.

When I was younger (age 4-6ish), I was extremely hyper. I'm lucky that my mother was willing to make the effort to put me on an elimination diet. She cut dairy and sugar from my diet. If she hadn't cut these out, I'm sure I would have been a Ritalin-child.

I can't think of a reason not to go gluten-free. Maybe your doctors are trying to spare you the "pain" of eating gluten-free if you don't have to. But if it makes you feel better, go for it! The pros of the diet GREATLY outweigh the cons.

Sorry you had such a bad experience with the doctor. Don't take it personally, though, you were just doing what was best for your child. You can get gluten-free cherios that taste great. I can't remember a brand name off the top, but I'm sure most health food/gluten-free stores have a version of them. Have you found a good gluten-free store yet?

Finding gluten-free food in a regular grocery store gets easier, too. At first I'd read labels and think "not sure about this one, have to call the company to verify" which is really overwhelming. After a while you just know what the safe brands are and shopping becomes much less stressful.

Shoot. Well, maybe this explains why I've been sick this week...

It blows my mind how many things I'm still finding in my house that contain gluten. You'd think after nine months I'd be better at this...

I always feel like that. I have never craved gluten food. I'm sure most people go through a withdrawal/disbelief/mourning phase, but I never did. I got diagnosed and that was it. No more gluten, no problem. I do on occassion miss pizza and beer, but not to the point where I want to eat it.

I like to call restaurants before I go to ask about their gluten-free options. It's the one thing that has made me a lot more comfortable going to restaurants. That way I know what I'm getting before I go and don't have to spend a long time talking to the waiter while everyone else waits and wonders what my problem is. I also carry cards that say what I can and cannot eat. Or I get up and ask to speak to a manager before we order our meal to ask about their food preparation.

If you've been gluten-free for six months then your blood work and intestinal biopsy should come back negative (unless you're accidently getting gluten from somewhere). I'm assuming you had a positive blood test six months ago, so a negative result this time would mean the gluten-free diet is working for you. I don't know if you had a biospy done six months ago, but doing it again would only show how much your body has healed. Negative results in this case would be a good thing. Is there a reason why your doc is doubting the celiac diagnosis?

Are you feeling better at all? Recovery can take a long time - some people here have taken up to two years - especially if you've been glutening yourself a lot, which is pretty common when you first start out.

I'd look into other food allergies before doing a gluten challenge. Dairy/casesin is a big one, soy is another, maybe even corn.

Back to your original question about the challenge - I've never done one, but I've accidently glutened myself enough times to know that gluten makes me horribly sick.

It happens to everyone. Many people seem to have trouble with that company...you overlooked it and made a mistake. Don't beat yourself up...you did not do it intentionally.

To the poster before me, Quaker Oats gluten free products are known to have high levels of contamination and should not be considered safe.

That's weird. I just called them and they told me that their plain and lightly salted rice cakes are ok. They even knew what celiac sprue is, but I trust people here more than Quaker Corporate.

What? Quaker rice cakes may be contaiminated? How did I miss that memo? I eat them all the time and haven't had a problem, but I guess I'm not eating them anymore if they may contain gluten.

Oscar Meyer (owned by Kraft) lunch meat is gluten-free. Some of their meats have caramel color, but I called a few weeks ago and was told all their meats were gluten-free.

I think people who don't have celiac look at their life as it is now and think about cutting out everything with gluten and it would be really difficult for them. They don't have any benefits to cutting out gluten, just negatives. I was so sick before, though, that I see not eating gluten as all positive - something that is hard to understand unless you've been that sick.

I feel no guilt in questioning people on ingredients or bringing my own food. It's never even crossed my mind that I should be offended. My life is all about me, and I do what's best for my body. I'm the one who has to live with the consequences of eating gluten, so it's an easy decision for me. I am lucky, though. All my family and friends have been so supportive that I haven't had to deal with people telling me to have "just a little".

You might also inquire about the brand of chicken. Some brands plump their chicken with chicken broth before it even leaves the factory so it could contain gluten even if the restaurant doesn't add it. The ingredient label on the chicken would probably say that it contains broth.

Balsamic vinegar is gluten-free.

Wheat allergies are quite common, so maybe she's got that instead of celiac disease. Why does she think it's just a wheat problem and not gluten?

I don't know how small your school is, but they should still be able to make accomodations for you. Have you called the cafeteria manager and asked if they can do anything for you? My brother goes to a college with about 6000 students, and they have a special fridge filled with gluten free food. There are about five students with celiac, and they are allowed to go in the back and prepare their own food in one of the ovens, microwaves, etc. When I visited I wanted scrambled eggs, and they gave me real eggs because they weren't sure about the egg-powder mix stuff that everyone else has to use. If you go to school there, the staff is more than willing to sit down and talk to you about ingredients. I'd ask, it's not like food intolerances/allergies are uncommon.

Thanks for the info everyone! Sounds like it might be worth try as a general digestive aid. I do take acidopholis which seems to help me, and this sounds like it might be similar.

But there's no way I'm eating gluten again. I've been accidently glutened enough times to know I don't want to eat gluten on purpose.

It would also be nice if you labeled a new stick of butter, jar of jam, peanut butter, etc, with her name so there's no risk of contamination. It's so easy to do and you can eat it after she leaves so it's not hugely inconvenient. You can even do the same with a cutting board, cutting knife, etc. For me, as long as it's washed well before I come, knowing I have my very own knife greatly reduces my anxiety.

You could also give her a corner of the kitchen to prepare food in that no one else uses.

When she arrives, show her what food you have, what you plan on preparing for meals and then offer to take her grocery shopping if there's anything else she needs. Have some fruit around and maybe some gluten-free crackers to snack on just in case there's an issue with any of the food and she gets hungry.

Yesterday my chiropractor suggested that maybe I don't have celiac, and it's a digestive problem instead. He was going to give me some digestive enzymes that you take for two weeks, and then he thought I should try eating gluten again to see if it made any difference. I AM NOT willing to take that risk - I didn't even take the enzymes because they're manufactured in a facility that contains wheat.

The reason why he suggested this is because I don't have an official diagnosis. I did an elimination diet and reacted very badly when I re-introduced wheat and barley. I started eating gluten for about a week to try to get positive blood work, but I don't think it was long enough, and I wasn't willing to keep eating gluten just to get an official diagnosis because at that point I just wanted to get better. And now, nine months after going gluten-free, I feel better than I have in ten years.

So my question is, have any of you tried digestive enzymes? How do they work and why would my chiropractor think they would work for me? What sort of digestive conditions do they help for? Would they help me even if I do stay on a gluten-free diet? I'm wondering if he thought I had mainly digestive symptoms, but my symptoms were mostly fatigue, join pain, brain fog, etc. The stomach pain was minor compared to my other symptoms.

I am not going to start eating gluten again, I'm just curious about why he would suggest this.

You can also call every day or two and see if there are any cancellations that they could slot you into. You might also try having your doctor call the GI and ask for a more urgent appointment. I did that once and got in a week later instead of having to wait six weeks.

I know they've been keeping her away from the playdough, but I don't think the crayons and paint are something that's been considered-I'll check, you learn something new every day-Thanks!!

There's a list of gluten free school supplies in nini's newbie packet if you have that. You might want to check the bandaids they use, too. I was shocked to learn that not all bandaids are gluten-free! J&J Bandaids are gluten-free, Curel are not necessarily, can't remember about other brands off the top.

I don't know the reasoning, and I don't have a problem with baked potatoes, but if my stomach is upset, sometimes the only thing I can eat is Ruffles.

Ruffles? That makes me laugh. Seems like potato chips would be the worst thing for an upset stomach, but I guess whatever works for you!

The best book about celiac disease I've read is Dangerous Grains. As for learning the diet, it's a lot of trial and error. I've been living and breathing celiac for nine months now and still don't know everything. There's a point when you first get diagnosed that's so frustrating - the thought of having to call all these companies and research every ingredient is overwhelming. Eventually you just figure it out, though, and have enough "safe" foods that reading ingredients on other foods doesn't seem like such a big deal. Give it some time.

I glutened myself a lot in the beginning because I just didn't know any better. This morning I realized that my hand lotion has oat in it. Honestly, I should know better by now, but some things will slip by you. The only thing you can do is try the best you can and keep reading and researching. It will get easier.

as far as I know it's just their flour tortillas... Mission so far has been good about labeling which of their products are gluten-free and I was told the gluten-free products are produced in a separate facility from the gluten containing ones...

Thanks, Nini.

I eat Tostitos all the time. If they're adding wheat to their whole grain chips, could there be cross contaimination issues with the corn chips? Has anyone called them about this? If not, I'll call them today!

It definitely could be triggered by food poisoning. I think I had mild symptoms for years. Then I got the flu, and it must have been immune system overload, and I never got better. Now, a year and a half later, I'm thankful that I got the flu and ended up so sick because it means I got diagnosed. Now I feel better than I have in probably eight years. I just wasn't sick enough for most of those eight years to realize that something was seriously wrong.