Fenrir

If you have asthma, definitely be careful. The risk of major complications is very high for that group. 

26 minutes ago, Awol cast iron stomach said:

Glad you are finding gluten-free. Also best wishes on the hospital situation. I wonder if our governor will utilize hotels across the street and near hospitals if we run out of room. They are using the tents and drive through testing to my knowledge. 

Stay safe and well.

I think most likely what would happen here is that we have a large event center that's owned by the City across the street from the Hospital that would be setup as a second hospital. 

Well, on children more and more they are recommending not doing EGDs anyway. 

It could be upwards of year in some cases for people to get in for a EGD after all this is over. I would ask the GI specialist if you can just go on a presumptive Celiac DX and go gluten-free to start feeling better. 

We are not in shelter in place mode yet here in MN but we have 77 cases all but 4  are in the Twin Cities and we're an hour and a half west of the Twin Cities. Luckily, about the only thing not getting sold out here is gluten-free items, nobody else seems to want them. ?

I work at a hospital that only has 66 beds to serve an area of 20k+ people. We really only have staff to man about 40 beds. Will get interesting out here if we start seeing a lot of cases. 

19 minutes ago, Scott Adams said:

I just wanted to share this post I just received from an email group I'm in. It's from Benjamin Lebwohl, MD, MS, Director of Clinical Research, The Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University. They are setting up a group to study whether those with celiac disease may have worse outcomes with COVID-19 than those without celiac disease, and he does mention our increased risk for pneumococcal pneumonia as one reason that this needs to be studied further:

 

This would indicate that not enough is really known about the subject to assume anything and the if there is an increased risk it's small one compared others. 

It's probably good they're setting up a registry, maybe we'll find out if we're susceptible or not. Based on current info it's "probably not" but don't know for sure. 

Also, the use of "theoretical" indicates that there's some effort to connect dots. Just because something applies to A or B doesn't mean that it applies to C unless we have better info. Certainly could be that we find out it's an issue but really right now we don't really know. I don't think we have data on how celiacs faired VS H1N1 but that would probably be a better comparison to Covid-19. 

I think the bigger thing with this virus, if it ends up infecting as many as they say, is how many people will have celiac disease triggered. If there is wide infection we could see a spike in celiacs being diagnosed. 

 There is no gluten in gauze. 

2 minutes ago, LJR1989 said:

I found this website that seems to indicate people with celiac are not immunocompromised and are not at higher risk for covid-19. Our immune systems are over-reactive in response to gluten (reacting when it shouldn't), but we do not have suppressed immune systems.  It makes some sense to me. Celiac alone doesn't put you at risk, but other medical conditions/auto immune diseases relating to celiac could put you at a higher risk for co-vid.

https://www.beyondceliac.org/coronavirus/

 

 

I would argue those with uncontrolled celiac disease would be at a risk due to the weakened general health. But for those of us on a strict gluten-free diet it shouldn't be anymore of a problem than it would be for anyone else. 

Main concern is the elderly, death rate is 15% for elderly which is much higher than the flu. 

Very few Campbell's brand items are gluten-free. 

https://s3.amazonaws.com/origin.www.cscassets.com/CSCAssets/USGluten/New+Gluten+Free+List+8-7-18.pdf

The sauces aren't listed and the labels all say "modified food starch". Since it doesn't say what type of starch, you should assume wheat. 

I'm not sure if they are now making ranitidine that's safe or not. 

However, I think PPIs or Prilosec is the most popular method treat reflux in celiac disease. 

I think the Schar Aritsan bread is the best that is widely available. 

Best option would be to find a gluten-free bakery in your local area, usually that's better bread. 

However, gluten-free bread will always have a different flavor/texture. 

5 minutes ago, Zenith said:

ok Thanks so much.  Oh it was Lawrys season salt.  I never reacted on it. I think walmart carries McCormick. I will buy those. I wonder about the spiced at ALDIS.  Anybody have any reaction?  On those organics? Or non organics?  Like  cayenne pepper etc?  Yeah I want my spices back. I guess I got to stop being afraid. 

McCormicks also makes Lawrys and all McCormicks brands follow the same labeling rules.

McCormick brands:

Lawrys

Grill Mates

Old Bay

Simply Asia

These are as spices and seasonings McCormick makes. Just read the label but if it's not on the label you should be fine. 

I stick to McCormick because they are almost all gluten-free, even the mixed spices. Never reacted to any McCormicks product I've tried. They do label very well, if it's not listed it's not in there. 

9 minutes ago, Ennis_TX said:

As mentioned  if your immune system is actively fighting gluten having to fight a war on two fronts would make it worse.
IF gluten free I would theorize our immune systems would be stronger then most peoples I deal with my immune system attacking my body and allergies very often but last time I got the flu it only last a few days when everyone else was down over a week. I just worry that my immune system might overreact and not calm down leading to complications but this is a unfounded concern that I can not find any studies on.
Now if your smoke or vape...then covid has a much higher chance of killing you.

I've only been sick two times that weren't from gluten (cold or anything) since I went gluten-free 6 years ago. I think there's something to Celiacs having strong immune systems when we're not eating gluten. No proof, just an opinion.

I think the possible issue for celiacs is that people with uncontrolled celiac disease could be at a high risk of complications with the corona virus. The reason is these sort of things tend to cause more severe issues for people with pre-existing health conditions. So if you are already sick from celiac disease and get Corona Virus it may increase the chances you have a more severe case. Your body is not in optimal condition to fight off a virus if you're still having active reactions due to celiac disease. 

That said, if you feel fine and are eating gluten-free I don't see where you'd be at any higher risk of complications. 

Also, the other problem is that many Celiacs have other health issues, including other Autoimmune disease. Anyone with health issues is going to be at a higher risk. 

One thing that has come out about Corona Virus is that people with high blood pressure have a higher death rate when infected. So, if you have high blood pressure try to be extra careful.

Prednisone is nasty stuff. A lot of people have very bad reactions to it. Not gluten related reaction. I get extremely anxious and my blood pressure jumps. Just something to watch for if you haven't taken Prednisone before. Not everyone has those symptoms but they do happen.

Yes, it's well worth the 50cents a pill. I don't use it every time I go out to eat but I have it with me everywhere. I have some in my drawer at work, at home, and I keep a few in my coat pocket. So far since discovering this I haven't had a massive exposure so I don't know how well it would work at reducing symptoms for something like that. 

However, I have tried eating french fries at places I previously wouldn't, I was able to eat a restaurant I wouldn't have tried to before. I have less anxiety when I go out with my group of friends about having to be the bummer in the group basically limiting the places we go to 1 restaurant.  Granted, I still avoid anything with gluten in it and if I'm sure there is cross contamination. Before I had to avoid almost every place where cross contamination was possible but now I can go to a few more places where cross contamination is possible but would be very small amounts. 

I don't eat out a lot (maybe twice a month) but for example this past weekend my Mother-in-law turned 80 so the whole family wanted to take her out for a meal. She wanted to go to a small steakhouse that isn't really celiac friendly due to cross contamination. They sometimes brown toast on the grill the cook steaks. I ordered a steak, salad and baked potato with butter on it. Took GliadinX before (1 pill) and had zero reaction. I've been there three times now since getting GliadinX and have had no reactions. I had previously had a reaction at this place. 

I think the important thing here is that people are vastly over reacting to the Corona virus. The flu has killed 20x more people in the last month as the Conrona virus. I don't see a situation where food shortage happen.  There may be some temporary changes to our lifestyles if your area sees a large number of cases. It may not be a good idea to have a couple of weeks of food on hand but many people have at least a week's worth in their home at any given time. It may be good to pick up some extract canned veggies and meats. The main reason would be that if we get dense outbreaks you may want to avoid going to the store for a couple weeks just to stay out of highly trafficked areas. 

It's really no more deadly than the flu but it will be like there being the flu x2. 

So, there's a strong chance that if it's not like the flu and it tends to go away when spring comes around that we could see essentially 2x number of sick people we currently see in flu season. Now just going on my own situation, my department at work has 20 people, 4 people have had the flu this year. Instead of 4 with flu might see 4 with the flu+ 4 with Corona. 

That's on the high end of the odds probably that we'd see 40% of people getting the flu or corona virus. Also take into account that the Corona virus can range from a runny nose to even more serious than the flu. In fact, more than 80% of people with Corona virus don't experience symptoms as bad as the flu.

The same people susceptible to the flu are susceptible to Corona virus and for most people you are likely to be less ill than if you were to get the flu. 

Yeah, most doctors wouldn't have an issue doing one on a teen I think, that's a good place to start. 

I'm pretty sure I had Celiac Disease my whole life. I was diagnosed at 37. I was always very small for my age, either the shortest or close to the shortest kid in the class (even girls were bigger most of the time). I ended up being 5'5 (166cm, I believe), that's short when I come from a family of guys mostly 6'2 (188cm) or bigger. The average height for celiac males is about 168cm if diagnosed after 18 years of age.

Turns out recent research shows that celiacs are significantly shorter than normal on average. Actually, males are more affected seeing the biggest difference between celiacs and non-celiac males. 

It's probably socially harder for boys than girls if they're short. I know it was difficult dating as a teen and even into adulthood when you're shorter than the average girl. Other boys didn't respect me as much as normal sized boys either unless but I was small and feisty so that didn't last so long for me. Smaller boys tend to be targeted by bullying more too. 

It isn't the end of the world though, I did become a very good wrestler and abnormally strong for my size. Even being as small as I was I was very athletic and did well in sports. I was one of the top students and by time I got out of high school I had a lot of friends. I got married, had a child and have a good career. 

However, when you're a teen it's very difficult when you standout out for being small. 

As far as how to go forward:
 

Here in the US the wait typically is not more than a month in most areas to get an EGD. Not sure where you are in Canada or if it's financially feasible to have it done in the US but it would probably be faster. On the other hand, if you have a positive Antibody test you could try gluten-free diet and see if he improves. However, like you mentioned in the Canadian health care system you may not be able to get further needed treatments without an official diagnosis. 

10 minutes ago, CarolineJ said:

My son is 13 and had a positive TTG IgA antibody (the test referenced above) He was tested purely because of growth issues. He’s tiny and they couldn’t figure out why. It’s a fairly simple screening test which then requires endoscopy to confirm but your paediatrician should know if it’s indicated. 

Yes, if there growth issues it would be worth screening. If they were to have Celiac disease the growth issues could be a result of malnutrition. 

I'm not going to say it's not celiac disease but I think with the information you give us in the post I don't think there's really any reason to think it is. 

I have celiac disease but I also have Scheuermann's Disease. Scheurmann's affects mostly boys between 12-16 years old. It causes your spine to curve (both kyphosis and scoliosis). So my back is curved and twisted. People with scheuermann's disease tend to have barrel chests compared to their size due to the curve in their backs and also tend to have low back curve as well. I broke my back as a teen because of scheuremanns because I didn't know I had it and I was wrestler and powerlifter. I squatted 425 one day, something I'd done before with no problem and it fractured three bones in my upper back. 

Luckily, for most boys the damage is minimal and unnoticed. Some extreme cases require surgery. 

As far as popping joints, that doesn't really mean anything unless it's painful. There are three causes of popping:

#1-air in the synovial fluid in joints, which is normal

#2- loose joints, not uncommon for kids of both sexes to have loose joints in their teens. It's the hormones and growing that does that. 

#3- bone spurs or injury, both would typically cause pain. 

If you're concerned about the curve of his back I would recommend seeing a chiropractor. My family doctor never notice or diagnosed my scheuermann's disease but the chiropractor noticed it right away. 

When dropping acid, the least of your problems would be gluten.

A typical slice of bread has about 2.3 grams of gluten per 1 oz slice. So that's about 4-5 grams of gluten per day.

Slice of pizza about 3-4g for 3.5 oz slice

Slice of cake about 2g

Lasagna about 10g of 8oz

Pasta about 3.6g  for about 3.5oz

Most recommend about the equivalent of two pieces of bread a day. 

That's exactly what happened. I thought the frozen bread I grabbed from the section for gluten-free items was gluten-free but it wasn't and looked to be in similar enough packaging I didn't notice.