Those Who Don't Get Big Reactions...

[Saz]

Hey

Well as I've stated before I have to eat ALOT of gluten to get ill and in the last few years was I have been basically being eating as much possible without getting D.

I have been so good for about the last 3 weeks, I have not had any bread etc. I still may have head little bits in youghurts and stuff and I don't strees about what is in my sauce etc. I'm really trying to stay away from the bread and major stuff because I do seem feel better (but Im not sure if this is a mental thing)

Anyway basically what I want to know is how often do those of you who can cheat, cheat?

I would really like to know if I'm the only one who cheats.

I sometimes wish that I would get sick if I ate a piece of just one piece of bread, I find it hard to not have it because "it doesn't hurt me" ( And yes I am aware that it can "hurt" me later in life even though it doesn't now)

Also, not that I think this would happen but I'm going to say it anyway: Please don't go attacking people for going overboard etc (If their is actaully any of you out there).

Even if you don't cheat now but went through periods in the past I would like to know, Itd be nice to not to feel like I'm not only who has a bit bad

[gfp]

Hey

Well as I've stated before I have to eat ALOT of gluten to get ill and in the last few years was I have been basically being eating as much possible without getting D.

I have been so good for about the last 3 weeks, I have not had any bread etc. I still may have head little bits in youghurts and stuff and I don't strees about what is in my sauce etc. I'm really trying to stay away from the bread and major stuff because I do seem feel better (but Im not sure if this is a mental thing)

Anyway basically what I want to know is how often do those of you who can cheat, cheat?

I would really like to know if I'm the only one who cheats.

I sometimes wish that I would get sick if I ate a piece of just one piece of bread, I find it hard to not have it because "it doesn't hurt me" ( And yes I am aware that it can "hurt" me later in life even though it doesn't now)

Also, not that I think this would happen but I'm going to say it anyway: Please don't go attacking people for going overboard etc (If their is actaully any of you out there).

Even if you don't cheat now but went through periods in the past I would like to know, Itd be nice to not to feel like I'm not only who has a bit bad

Your problem with cheating is like trying to cut out tobacco by reducing the number of cigs per day....

gluten is addictive and every time you ingest it you start the whole cycle again....

Different people find different things addictive....

The founder of AA died from smoking .... think about that for a second.... many recovered hard drug addicts still can't quit smoking etc. even though they had the will power to quit heroine or cocaine???

I personally could never be an alcoholic ... I have been a very heavy drinker at times and for no health reason at all just quit. That is I have been working in dry countires or on oil rigs and I don't even think twice about alcohol.... yet at times I have been drinking a bottle or more of hard liquor a day.... and my withdrawal effects have been unnoticable....just from one day to the next.

Quiting smoking was 100x or 1000x harder for ME.... I never tried hard drugs so I can't comment....but obviously it all depends in the person. Like another poster I think you just happen to be one of the people who finds gluten harder to give up....

The absolute worse thing you can do for this is keep ingesting it because that is how addiction actually works...

Addiction is not about the drug.. its about the withdrawal.... and the fact that the drug is what you "need" to prevent the discomfort caused by withdrawal... its a cycle.

Everytime you give in you reset your withdrawal.... and you have to do it all again, like a ex-smoker trying to have 3 cigs a day... it doesn't work.

I would really like to know if I'm the only one who cheats.

Not at all though this board has you in a minority.... however there are hundreds of thousands of diagnosed celiacs who simply convince themselves they are better....I had someone tell me the other day her sister used to be celiac...

Obviously she still is, she just denies it because as my signature says .....

"Man will willingly believe what he wants to believe"

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Look up rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and lupus-- serious, painful, and debilitating autoimmune diseases that are so common to people on this board that it's obvious that there's a connection with celiac.

If eliminating gluten from my diet lessens my chances of developing any of these, that makes it pretty darn easy. And I didn't even mention lymphoma, did I? That one we KNOW is directly CAUSED by untreated celiac.

And, no, I don't get any obvious reactions from gluten either.

The urge to cheat will only disappear after you go completely gluten-free. That means you DO have to stress about what is in your sauces. It took about 2 weeks for me. I had had no idea how addictive gluten was for me.

[bmzob]

I am asymptomatic when it comes to ingesting gluten. My doctor told me that I have it to such a mild degree that I could afford to cheat once a week. But he also said that as human nature goes that once a week would turn into twice a week, which would turn into three times a week, and eventually I wouldn't be on the diet at all. He told me that I do not have to be extreme about it, but that I do need to try to be 100% gluten-free, b/c in reality that's impossible.

I've only been gluten free for about 2months now. I know it's not long, but I haven't cheated yet. I have wanted to though. I love bread and sweets like cakes and cookies. I've already been to bday parties and I wasn't able to eat any of the cake. However, I did try a cake mix, and brought a piece of that cake with me, so I wouldn't feel too deprived. I've found a great cookie recipe and I just found a great bread mix that actually tastes normal. Those are really the only things I would want to cheat on, thus far so good though.

I am like you though in the fact that I wish I would get symptoms from eating gluten...that way I would definitly not be tempted in the future (like i know i will be) and I would know for sure if I accidentaly ingested gluten.

Maybe you just need to find good substitutes for the things you find yourself cheating on and that might help. Getting rid of the temptation in your home might help as well; I know it did for me the first few weeks....I made sure there was no real bread or real sweets that contained gluten. Especially the sweets for me b/c thats my weak spot.

Good luck to you!

[gfp]

I am asymptomatic when it comes to ingesting gluten. My doctor told me that I have it to such a mild degree that I could afford to cheat once a week.

Let me reinterpret that....

At the time they did the biopsy ......

as you get older and your regenerative ability drops off then I would predict that this will change....

However that is only considering the damage to the villi which incidentally takes 4-6 weeks to repair.

In other words your body will be constantly stressing itself even though your villi do keep repairing....

The really nasty part though is what happens when you pass this point....

It can be through other illness or accident that your body fails to keep up because its going full out fighting an infection or repairing a burn or.....

The danger then is you plunge into total villi destruction very quickly and you never really 100% recover.

This is unfortunately the situation of many of the members here who for one reason or another were not diagnosed before the situation became critical and too late. The huge danger at this point is it becomes so damaged it sets off other intolerances like soy or milk.... and the whole mess takes months to even get back on track and for some people, especially older ones it never repairs.

But he also said that as human nature goes that once a week would turn into twice a week, which would turn into three times a week, and eventually I wouldn't be on the diet at all. He told me that I do not have to be extreme about it, but that I do need to try to be 100% gluten-free, b/c in reality that's impossible.

Much as that is true I think its a seperate issue.....

.......

I am like you though in the fact that I wish I would get symptoms from eating gluten...that way I would definitly not be tempted in the future (like i know i will be) and I would know for sure if I accidentaly ingested gluten.

Maybe you just need to find good substitutes for the things you find yourself cheating on and that might help. Getting rid of the temptation in your home might help as well; I know it did for me the first few weeks....I made sure there was no real bread or real sweets that contained gluten. Especially the sweets for me b/c thats my weak spot.

Good luck to you!

Be careful what you wish for, it might come true!

But seriously you are really spot on in removing those items completely from your life... the same goes for the supermarket ... I just miss out those aisles...

But also you should look into "other symptoms" .... I would really expect you will find you actually have some if you do go 100% gluten-free ... which means no CC and no risky items....

So many of us here who have done this only realise we had the symptoms ehen they go away because they crept up on us so slowly....

Even if you can "cheat" without any consequences its really a case of 3 steps forwards and 2 steps backwards..... and its just waiting for that time when for one reason or another you go to 3 steps forwards and 4 backwards.... and once that happens you stop adsorbing nutrients and so it quickly becomes 3 steps forwards and 10 backwards ....

The only way i know anyone convinces themselves of this is by doing it.... I'd really love to be able to take what I learned through experience and give it to you in a bottle.... but ...

[lindalee]

I am a celiac who was diagnosed as a baby - back then, from what I understand, the doctors thought that you "outgrew" this. Many years of eating glutten and a tramatic event put me in a total exhausted state for months....Now, I am in the process of getting things figured out with the help of this forum.

There is so much to learn--what not to eat, makeup, shampoo, and on and on.

The longer you do something - the easier it gets. It is a struggle for newbies at first but after time, like anything else, I know that it will get easier.

If I had followed the diet all my life, it sure would be a lot easier now!

[Saz]

Quiting smoking was 100x or 1000x harder for ME.... I never tried hard drugs so I can't comment....but obviously it all depends in the person. Like another poster I think you just happen to be one of the people who finds gluten harder to give up....

The absolute worse thing you can do for this is keep ingesting it because that is how addiction actually works...

Addiction is not about the drug.. its about the withdrawal.... and the fact that the drug is what you "need" to prevent the discomfort caused by withdrawal... its a cycle.

Yea the really bad thing about me finding gluten harder to give up is that I was diagnosed when I was 6 and did very well avoiding the stuff untill I was 15. Basically by then my Mum figured I was old enough to make my own decisions, so I think I saw it as a bit of "freedom" (oh the stupid things we think before we know better) I'm just glad that I'm working on fixing the problem now and not in 10 years, I do intend on becoming even more strict, and I will get there with baby steps.

You are also right about ingesting the stuff, even though I have had a few bad cravings for bread lately I find that for everyday I don't eat it the less I want it.

[lovegrov]

I think back to my 11 days in the hospital and 10 weeks off work after nearly dying. In fact, it was yesterday five years ago that I was hospitalized unable to walk without help. I haven't cheated on purpose since then (except for a sip of a non-wheat beer).

[bmzob]

Let me reinterpret that....

At the time they did the biopsy ......

as you get older and your regenerative ability drops off then I would predict that this will change....

However that is only considering the damage to the villi which incidentally takes 4-6 weeks to repair.

In other words your body will be constantly stressing itself even though your villi do keep repairing....

The really nasty part though is what happens when you pass this point....

It can be through other illness or accident that your body fails to keep up because its going full out fighting an infection or repairing a burn or.....

The danger then is you plunge into total villi destruction very quickly and you never really 100% recover.

This is unfortunately the situation of many of the members here who for one reason or another were not diagnosed before the situation became critical and too late. The huge danger at this point is it becomes so damaged it sets off other intolerances like soy or milk.... and the whole mess takes months to even get back on track and for some people, especially older ones it never repairs.

Much as that is true I think its a seperate issue.....

.......

Be careful what you wish for, it might come true!

But seriously you are really spot on in removing those items completely from your life... the same goes for the supermarket ... I just miss out those aisles...

But also you should look into "other symptoms" .... I would really expect you will find you actually have some if you do go 100% gluten-free ... which means no CC and no risky items....

So many of us here who have done this only realise we had the symptoms ehen they go away because they crept up on us so slowly....

Even if you can "cheat" without any consequences its really a case of 3 steps forwards and 2 steps backwards..... and its just waiting for that time when for one reason or another you go to 3 steps forwards and 4 backwards.... and once that happens you stop adsorbing nutrients and so it quickly becomes 3 steps forwards and 10 backwards ....

The only way i know anyone convinces themselves of this is by doing it.... I'd really love to be able to take what I learned through experience and give it to you in a bottle.... but ...

Even though the Dr did state that, I am still going 100% gluten-free. And I didn't mention it but I do think I've gotten some syptoms even after being gluten-free for only 2months.. Like I went and got french-fries one day from chick-fil-a which are fried in the same oil as all the other stuff....and I had really bad bloating for like the rest of the day. I also got chicken-wings one day and I told them I wanted them naked with no seasoning and to bake them instead of fry them...i think they fried them. I got a really bad head ache that i had all day and i almost felt like i was in a fog...i couldn't really concentrate on anything. I did used to get head aches on and off, and bloating on and off....so i guess those were symptoms and I jsut didn't realize it. I've been doing my best to stay away from all gluten 100% of the time.

Do I need to stay away from gluten in the products I use too? Like in bath room stuff?

[Nancym]

Well... I don't have a huge reaction either. But over the course of a life time I have acquired 2 autoimmune diseases (one of which is VERY painful and might cut my life short) which is probably due to the exposure to gluten over many years.

So, what helps me is:

- Completely strict adherence. It IS addictive but the longings and cravings will only go away if I stay away from it 100%.

- Thinking of it as poison. When I see gluten laden foods I think of them as poisonous. Like a curled snake.

- Understanding the ramifications of NOT being gluten-free. More diseases possibly down the line, a miserable life when I am older.

- Finding other options that I enjoy eating and indulging myself in them when I feel that need for a treat or reward.

- Making my health a high priority in my life.

Good luck! I hope you find the determination within yourself. I think you can as long as you believe you can.

[tarnalberry]

Anyway basically what I want to know is how often do those of you who can cheat, cheat?

I would really like to know if I'm the only one who cheats.

You are most defintely not the only one who cheats. Even amongst those who *do* have symptoms.

That said, I don't have very strong symptoms (sometimes it's hard to know if I have been glutened), but I do NOT ever cheat. Why? Because the risk is NOT worth the reward. The intestinal damage, the weeks/months of intestinal inflammation, the screwing up of the immune system for that much longer, and the increase in risk of cancer, osteoporosis, vitamin deficiencies, diabetes, etc. is simply not worth it. If I were to get one of those, how bad would I feel for thinking that I would have had the power AND KNOWLEDGE to avoid it? If I didn't know, that would have been one thing, but I do know.

Additionally, once you start feeling better, the subtle difference in dragging a little bit each day, and feeling good thoughout the day, just that small quality of life improvement, when added up over the years, is actually quite financially sizeable. Let's say you get an extra productive half-hour out of the day because you're more energetic. That's 3.5 hours a week, 15.25 hours per month, 182.5 hours per year, or $2700 at $15/hr. Over 10 years, that's $27,000. Just because you said no to a wheat-laden bagel, and had an apple instead, which probably made you healthier, reducing your risk for heart problems too. (If you're getting a full extra hour of productivity - even if it's just at having fun, that's double that... You see where I'm going.) And, having that extra energy gets more things done, keeps you in closer contact with your social circle, and keeps life that much more fulfilling. There isn't that one additional energy suck. Why drag myself down when so many other people will do it for me? (Gotta do something about work... )

[Tim-n-VA]

We are all different but for me the fact that I don't have symptoms makes me more vigilent on avoiding gluten because I can't evaluate the impact but I know it is happening (to the extent that I trust the GI and test results).

[happygirl]

Reading Dr. Green's book (Celiac Disease: A hidden epidemic) really cleared things up for me. I didn't cheat before (because I have such awful symptoms), but it reinforced it in me...really reading and learning about it opened my eyes in a completely new way. I think to myself "Do I want to live a long, happy life with people I love" OR "Do I want a cookie." The "big" picture helps me.

[kbtoyssni]

Have you ever asked the people around you if they notice a difference in you if you eat gluten? You may have symptoms that you don't even realize. If so, it might be easier for you to be gluten-free for other people. I just figured out that peanuts make me sick. I love peanuts and for a while I definitely considered not giving them up. But then I thought about all the people who have to deal with me everyday. It's not fair to my family, friends and coworkers if I am grumpy, tired, brain fogged, complaining about stomach pain, etc all the time when I have complete control over whether or not I have symptoms. Even if you don't have symptoms right now, is it fair to yourself and your family/friends when you get cancer or other autoimmune diseases later in life just because you don't want to give up gluten?

[kimberly O'Brien]

I understand where you are coming from. When I first was told by my doctor to go gluten free, I thought, how in the world am I going to do this. I love bread. I eat it everyday. For a few weeks, I would eat a burrito with a flour tortilla. That was my only cheating. But after doing that a few times, I thought to myself I need to stop this if there really is a reaction internally. I didn't feel a big reaction to the gluten when I ate it. Although I did quit dairy completely, because I was feeling really sick to my stomach pretty often even with a little bit of cheese. So now if I get even a speck of dairy I feel sick and my stomach hurts. But the gluten does not do that to me. The times I have glutened myself, I didn't notice stomach problems.

Now the gluten cravings have subsided, so I think there is some truth to the addiction quality if you continue to have just a little bit. Even now I find myself struggling some days of wanting a regular cookie (dairy free). But I don't.

For me, I haven't been tested for a gluten intolerance or for Celiac. But one test I did do for Adrenal Fatigue, showed something that indicated I am. So I wonder if eating gluten free is really what I need to do.

The suggestion of finding good substitutes is a good idea. For bread, I eat Life is Good brown rice bread. When you lightly toast it, it does taste like bread. That is the only substitute that I have found that I like.

Maybe if you reply and write about the foods that you struggle with, others can make suggestions as to what they eat in place of that gluten food.

[Saz]

I have found subsitutes for foods that I like, I keep finding more and more. I just polished off a really nice mint cream bisciut, even though I could sorta taste that it wasn't normal, it was still really nice. The other day I got a muffin from Muffin break that is so good. I have pretty much got eating at home under control. I haven't even felt like normal piece of bread this week.

I've been trying to have salads or something when I do go out or I will get a burger without the bun.

I've just gotta get used to checking sauce bottles etc. For example today I made a salad wrap (on me friendly wrap bread) I put mayonaise on it and I didnt even think untill about an Hour ago that it had wheat in it. I was actaully quite impressed with myself I went yesterday to but these particular wraps because I was craving them! (Never thought I'd say that about specifically gluten-free food).

Lol Maybe I need to get a law passed that says: All restaurants must offer at least one gluten-free meal and then I'd be set

[pixiegirl]

My mom uses that excuse... that she only has a touch of Celiac, or that I have it "worse then she does". I've explained to her a million times that its more like being pregnant, you either are or your not, there is no gray area. So you either have Celiac or you don't.

Since I do and I already have other issues cause by the Celiac (food allergies, leaky gut, eosinophilic gastroenteritis) I'm just not willing to cheat and I've been gluten free for.... hmmm either 2 or 3 years now and I don't really miss gluten that much. Yeah it would be nice to have a beer but other then that I've found pretty decent substitutes for most things. I'm eating so much more healthy now and I feel so much better.

Susan