Juliebove

A few questions for you.  How did you learn of the parasites?  How did you know what they were?  Did you take the herbs on your own?  Or were they prescribed?

I began to worry about my daughter and I recently after my little cat was found to have roundworms.  I wouldn't have thought about us having them but some people online elsewhere were telling me we could have them.  I freaked and ordered some herbal things.

But after I took the first awful tasting dose, I decided not to take any more.  The product contained wormwood and in looking it up online it said it should not be taken internally and although it killed parasites, it was far harder on the host.  It listed a bunch of reasons not to take it, including liver and kidney failure.  Thankfully I don't think that one dose caused any harm.  

I couldn't take any other of the herbal remedies because I am intolerant to something they contain.  And I wasn't about to go to the Dr. for a parasite test because frankly I don't think I had any symptoms.  And the chances of us getting roundworms from the cat are slim.  Now how the cat got them, I do not know.  I can only figure that she had them since we got her.  The vet did diagnose lungworms and she was treated for that but perhaps she had the round worms at that time too.  She did have symptoms.  I just didn't know.

I know what you mean.  When my stomach was acting up, I was sticking to mainly plain white rice with chicken and chicken broth.  And then I found out I was intolerant to chicken!  I also have issues with some herbs so even some vegetable broths are out for me.

For the time being you may have to stick to whole foods, trialing them out one at a time and in small amounts.

You are not alone.  My daughter and I both have food intolerances.  We are learning to adjust to our new ones because they do change over time.  For us anyway...

My own mom has them also but refuses to believe it.  She has been tested.  She will eat what she is not supposed to.  Get sick.  Then want sympathy.  I believe that my dad has them too.  He is constantly sick.  I believe that my brother also has them because he gets sick after he eats certain things.  The weird thing is they all keep eating that which makes them sick.

People have said the following things to me:  "Can't you just make an exception this one time?"  This in regard to eating pizza back stage at a dance recital.  Regular pizza.  Not gluten-free.  To which I replied, "Sure if I want her to not be in the show and stay in the bathroom instead."

"A little bit won't hurt!"  Or "That's such a small amount.  It can't affect you!"  Stuff like that.  When they tell me this, I ask them which prescription they take that is the smallest.  They will then either show me the pill or describe the smallness of it to me.  Then I will look at them with a straight face and say, "Oh!  Why don't you give that to her! (My daughter)  It's small.  That amount can't hurt her.  Right?"  They never do get it.

"Can't you just pick it off?"

I have even been laughed at when it comes to cross contamination.  At family dinners, people will pass plates and bowls of things we can't have over our plates or expect us to handle those foods and get all pissy if a little of the food lands on our plate or gets on our hands.  They do think we are being paranoid.

On of the biggest beefs for myself is that my mom expects me to serve up cake, ice cream and pie for family parties.  I have a severe egg intolerance.  Eggs make me so ill I will never ever eat anything that I think even might contain them.  And these things almost always contain egg.  I don't eat these or any dessert.  So I don't feel I should have to be handling them.

Don't do it!  Gloves or no gloves, you shouldn't be working around wheat.

Most restaurants use soybean oil.  So good luck with that!

My daughter eats Ener-G bread.  Yeah, she actually likes it.  Which is good  because she needs to eat a somewhat low carb diet.  Currently she is eating the light tapioca.  I think that is what it is called.  The problem?  The slices are so light, the toaster literally hurls them into the air and often we have to search around to find them.  It's getting really annoying.  You can't just put your hand over the toaster and try to catch them either.  Because they are so hot coming out of there.

Honestly, I think you mother has half a point. Hear me out.

It doesn't sound like he takes his condition completely seriously. I used to work in a restaurant also, but I was getting glutened constantly. I made the decision to move into a new line of work after a sufficient amount of time passed when I was being extremely careful and still getting sick. He needs to face up to the fact that he is going to have to find another job. If he isn't willing to do everything to make himself better, then your mother has a point.

While accidents happen, if it's happening more than once every 6 months or so, then he probably isn't being careful enough.

I do not think it would be wise to get married to someone who was not willing to take their condition seriously and take 100% responsibility for it. Whether or not he has a disease is not your mothers business. Whether he has a disease and he is not willing to follow the treatment fully, knowing it will hurt both him and you if he doesn't, that is her business.

I agree with you about his working in a restaurant.  Unless he is in a gluten free restaurant and it doesn't sound like he is...he's not taking this seriously enough.

I have diabetes.  And for most of my life prior to diabetes I had reactive hypoglycemia.  This is now thought to be a precursor to diabetes.  What happens when you have that is that when you eat carbs, your blood sugar will spike and then drop rapidly.  

Some diabetics find that they still have it.  So what they have to do is use their meter and test their blood sugar frequently to see which foods spike them.  Then they need to either avoid those foods or eat less of them or maybe even combine them with a protein and fat.

The GTT will tell whether or not you have diabetes, pre-diabetes or even just reactive hypoglycemia.  You will be required to fast for the test.  You will then be given a sweet syrup to drink.  It probably won't taste very good or be very pleasant.  

You will then be required to sit still for about 3 hours.  You may do things during this time like read a book, listen to music or maybe even play a video game provided you aren't very active while playing it.  Activity can skew the test results.  You'll probably feel very thirsty but you can't drink any water until the test is over with.

Be sure to bring bottled water with you.  You'll want to drink it after the test.  I was also instructed to bring food but I became so sick to my stomach afterwards that I couldn't eat for a good 24 hours.  Not everyone will get sick like that.  But some will.  You should bring food just in case but be prepared not to be able to eat it.  You'll probably just want to crawl in bed when you get home and try to sleep it off.

Have you noticed any skin tags or areas of darkened skin?  Do you have excess belly fat?  If so, these could be signs of type 2 diabetes.  But not everyone who has type 2 diabetes will have these things.  Diabetes is not something that can be diagnosed by symptoms alone.  That is why there is a test for it.

In the meantime, do you know any diabetics?  If so, ask them to test your blood sugar for you.  Normal blood sugar will be somewhere around 80.  If it is under 70 that could indicate a problem such as reactive hypoglycemia.  If it is over 109 that could indicate pre-diabetes or diabetes.  

But keep in mind that there are things that can raise blood sugar.  Such as a thyroid condition, illness, steroid use or even the use of some psychiatric meds.  So do not panic over one odd reading.  But do get the GTT done.

I would bring both.  People won't like the gluten-free ones even if you don't tell them.  If you do tell them they won't try them.  In my mind there is no sense spending more money to make gluten-free stuff for people who don't need them.  Just buy the wheat rolls.  Nobody will care that you bought them.

Frankly I would be far more worried about the rest of the meal.

Just a thought.  The chips may have been made on shared equipment.  To be sure you would have to call or e-mail the company.

I hear ya!  My mom seems to think that gluten-free things will taste weird and she simply won't serve them to the others.  She always has me make a gluten-free whatever it is and she makes a regular one for the others.  So...  I just gave up on it.

Most 4 year olds are picky.  If I were you, I would send in her snacks and when needed her lunch.  I don't know how the school would handle this in the lunch room.  My daughter didn't have a lunch room when in elementary school.  She ate at her desk and food that I packed.

Take her shopping with you.  Have her pick out new foods to try.  Have her help you make the meals.  That can help.

My daughter is picky too but she is willing to try new things.  She loves hummus with gluten-free pretzels, carrots or even apple slices.

You will make mistakes in the beginning.  Perhaps it would be best to stick to a very simple diet of whole foods that you make at home in the beginning.  Also...  Did you go through your kitchen and get rid of or replace any potential sources of cross contamination?  Such as non-stick skillets, toaster, wooden spoons, plastic colander?  

My daughter has food allergies and not celiac.  For her she started to get better right away and then at about the 2 week mark she got so sick to her stomach she had to stay home from school.  She was also super cranky.  

And then the next day?  She got a lot better.

I have seen several items that say gluten-free on the label but then say processed on equipment that makes things containing wheat.  I can't remember the brands though.  We have learned to read the entire label.

I often eat gluten-free because my daughter has to.  I feel it is easier on her if I am eating the same.  Yes I will sometimes order a sandwich or have something with gravy but often it will be a hamburger patty with no bun.  I do have food allergies and I am diabetic so I do have to watch what I eat.  Particularly the carbs.  No it won't hurt me if my food gets cross contaminated with gluten.  But I do have to be super careful about eggs because I am very allergic.  So I feel regular pasta is not safe for me.  So far all of the gluten-free pasta I've run across in a restaurant is egg free.  So that is safe for me to eat.  But a wheat pasta may not be.  Even if it is not cross contaminated at the factory, they may have cooked an egg containing pasta in the same water.

At home our shared meals are always gluten-free.  I do buy wheat bread for myself and use my own toaster.  I do buy pretzels, sometimes tortillas and sometimes prepared food for myself that contains wheat.  Sometimes I send her off to dance with her own meal.  And then I will eat something at home that might contain gluten.  Or it might not.

I do feel that the more people who demand gluten-free, the better for those who do need gluten-free.  When my daughter was first diagnosed, there were few options in a restaurant.  Now many places have a gluten-free menu.