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What's My First Step?


Fettucini

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Fettucini Newbie

Does anyone know where I can be tested? I have low income, and no insurance.

What level of testing (if any) would be appropriate for me given my symptoms:

- difficulty focusing, forgetfulness

- headache

- diahrea, loose stools

- depression/fatigue

- feeling a need for nurishment, even when full

Also, I am thin despite eating plenty.

I have been unable to clearly establish a link between eating wheat and my

symptons. If there is a link, there seems to be a delay of three days to a week.

This delay (and perhaps lack of mental clarity) makes it difficult for me to know

whether of not I am imagining the connection. I do not have any obvious

increase in symptoms on the same day I eat wheat, even in large quantities.

My understanding is that the response time to wheat among people with celiac

disease varies. Is three days to a week typical?

After avoiding wheat for a couple months, I noticed improvement, but this could

be due to a variety of unrelated causes. Casein or lactose intolerance may be

another suspect because I was severely allergic to milk as an infant.

I am starting a spreadsheet to track diet and symptoms over time. This should

be useful in any case.


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Fettucini Newbie

BTW, I am in the Santa Cruz, California area. Any thoughts about how

I can find a good clinic that can to celiac screening?

celiac3270 Collaborator

I know what everyone else will recommend so I may as well say it now: Open Original Shared Link. You get advice on what tests to take (and they're supposed to be more inexpensive)....you have choices on how many and which you choose to take. Someone else can give you more info. I haven't taken any tests there, but many others have.

-celiac3270

tarnalberry Community Regular

If you're trying to do a dietary challenge for gluten intolerance, don't forget that just cutting out wheat is not enough. You have to cut out anything that has or is made from wheat, barley, rye, and oats. Have you gone over the safe/unsafe list on this site?

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    • Scott Adams
      If a package of dried chickpeas or lentils says “may contain” or “may have been cross contaminated,” that usually means they were processed in facilities that also handle wheat, barley, or rye. The concern is not gluten dissolved on the surface like dust that can simply be rinsed away, but small fragments of gluten-containing grains that may be mixed in during harvesting, storage, or packaging. Rinsing and sorting can reduce surface flour and remove visible stray grains, and many people do this successfully, but it does not guarantee that all gluten contamination is eliminated. Some limited testing has shown that naturally gluten-free grains and legumes can contain measurable gluten when cross-contact occurs in shared facilities, which is why manufacturers use precautionary labeling. The seriousness depends on the individual: for someone with celiac disease, even small amounts of gluten can trigger intestinal damage, so choosing certified gluten-free legumes is the safest option. Manufacturers are not necessarily being overly cautious; they are often acknowledging real cross-contact risk in complex agricultural supply chains.
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      Welcome,  While picking through chickpeas and lentils I have found little pebbles and on occasion, a kernel or two of wheat.  Farm equipment and transport trucks are used to harvest different crops.  It would be really expensive to have separate trucks and packaging lines for each crop.   I have found sorting or picking through the peas or lentils along with a good rinse sufficient to make them safe for me.  Do remember that lentils and such are high in carbohydrates.  Eating a diet high in carbs can lower thiamine B1.  Good sources of Thiamine and other B vitamins are meats.  Extra thiamine is needed for tissue repair to grow the villi back and recovery from malabsorption.  Low thiamine symptoms (gastric Beriberi) are very similar to symptoms of a glutening.  Try adding thiamine hydrochloride or Benfotiamine and see if you still react to chickpeas and lentils the same way. Supplementing with extra thiamine is safe and nontoxic.   Best wishes.
    • trents
      Welcome to the celiac.com community, @Thoughtidjoin! I would think so, yes. But you need to realize that cross contamination studies with lintels have shown the real problem isn't only coming in contact with gluten containing grains in processing but in the actual mixing in of cereal grain seeds in significant quantities with the lentils. I think it was a study done by Gluten Free Watchdog I'm thinking of but they did an actual count of the seeds in a purchased mainline food company bag of lintels and found something like 20% of the content was wheat seeds. So, you'd better do some sorting first.
    • Thoughtidjoin
      Can I wash gluten off dried chickpeas or green lentils when the packet says “may have been cross contaminated?” Has there been any research into this?  If so what are the results? If no research has been done why not? I am getting mixed advice from different sources, how serious is this or are the food manufacturer being over cautious? Many thanks Catherine
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