conniebky

Connie,

I stopped eating gluten 4 months ago now, and I still feel like crap.

1) If we've been putting gluten into our bodies for our whole lives but we can't tolerate it, the gluten is bound to have serious effects. Our bodies are really good at holding out, for years even, but eventually that s*#@ hits the fan. I know that I had symptoms as far back as 5 years ago, but I appeared fine - and even "really healthy for my age" according to the doctor - until January when my body just seemed to break down. WE NEED TO HEAL. And that takes time.

2) My doctor is now looking at issues secondary to celiac/gluten intolerance for me. In his eyes, that doesn't invalidate the gluten response. Dr. Green writes in his book about all the other issues that celiacs often face, particularly other autoimmune diseases. You can be sick from gluten AND sick from something else. In fact, people who have issues with gluten are OFTEN sick with other things.

3) I stopped vacuuming too. Too tired. It sucks.

I know you love your doctor - and he sounds like a kind-hearted man - but I don't think he knows much about celiac/gluten intolerance. I'd even suggest to you that you get Dr. Peter Green's book, Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic. You can order it off of Amazon. Then, you'll have medical evidence (not just internet evidence   ) that your issues with gluten are real.

best, lucia

I'm not going to start eating gluten again, even the thought of it makes me feel funny.  I'm just going to take these pills and see what happens.  I think my thing is a whole lot of things rolled into one titanic thing.

No, he didn't say start eating gluten, and I'm not going to.  I'm staying on my gluten-free diet, but he does want me to eat more of -something- he doesn't like my weight loss.  I'm staying gluten-free.

I've seen this doctor, well, when this guy went hiking and pulled his calf muscle, this doctor came out and told me to call 911 and get him to the hospital stat.  I was like, "huh?"  he had a blood clot in his leg that actually 'jumped' at the hospital and they barely saved his life.

My own momma was going through menopause and was on HRT from another doctor, she went to my doctor and he didn't like the way her eyes looked.  Sent her to the hospital.  She had uterine cancer.  

My doctor is an amazing doctor.  He didn't tell me to start eating gluten again, he just said to eat more and try this regimen and see what happens, if it makes me feel any better.

LOL at "quit vacuuming - it sucks"  LOL - was that intentional?  

A beta blocker partly blocks the effect of adrenaline and lowers the amount of sympathetic nervous system activity in your body.  By doing so it lowers blood pressure and can lower heart rate a little.  It blocks part of the "fight or flight" signals. Propanolol is particularly effective lowering blood pressure and slowing heartbeat in people who have increases in blood pressure and fast heartbeat caused by anxiety.  I wonder if your Dr. is concerned that your blood pressure is getting too high when  you panic?  It's really hard on your heart and blood vessels to have rises in blood pressure all the time.

Athletes and performers take also take doses of propanolol to lessen the effects of stage fright, because it stops the "shakes".  It was actually banned from the Olympics.    You might find that effect of it helpful as well.  That could be another reason your Dr. chose that particular medicine.

And yea, that song is amazing!

Whoa, that's weird.....I remember him telling me back in January that it's also used for stage fright, which made me disregard it.

   I just finally got the Jefferson Airplane reference in the title. You're so funny, Connie!

LOL!  I was wondering how to word that!  I came home feeling like the queen of all drugs!  That song started playing in my head, so I used it for the title.  That is exactly what I meant, which, BTW, is one of my favorite all time songs cuz her voice is just .....  it is what it is and no one can do it like her.

Gotta jump in again. I have a pit bull. I understand your concern about them jumping out and attacking your dog. The desire to attack other dogs, especially those of the same sex was breed into them and it will take years to breed it back out. But I can tell you, that being a responsible Pit owner, and living in a neighborhood with other dog owners who are not responsible, I just let them know that he is a good boy and it is not his fault. He is kept leashed and is under my full control at all times when I am out. The problem you would have is if one is not owned by a responsible owner and that gives all pitties a bad name.

That being said...love pitties, because you will never find a dog that loves you back more

PS..my pittie is also gluten free...I personally feel it cuts down on his aggression but that is just my own unblind study

Well, I've never even seen a pit bull around here.  It's an irrational fear I have, like the ceiling caving in at the grocery.  I love all the animals.  Although, there are some "tough guys" around here who like to walk their pits with no leash because these guys are so "tough" their dog will always listen to them...but I've not encountered that.  

And that fool michael vic, OMG!  I never did watch any of that footage.  disgusting and he got off just about scot free.

Well, that's two good things!  My doctor doesn't charge me a dime and all those prescriptions were a total of $8.61 with my insurance.

Things are lookin up already!

I really do that with my vacuum, most every single night.

kareng, I can't take Midnight walking because I think a pit bull will come out of nowhere and attack him........well, that's embarrassing to admit, but that's just the plain jane truth.

Well I took your alls advice and went back to my doctor.

I said I'm still dizzzy, sweaty, blah blah blah.  He looks in my chart - 2 ER visits, brain scan, bloodwork a plenty....he says, "are you eating gluten?"

No, I'm not I say proudly.  

He says you first came here in January with these exact complaints, you've gone gluten free and here you are 8 months later with the same complaints.  Excluding gluten has not resolved your issues one iota, and you've lost more weight than I'd like to see.

Then we talk a while about the stores and the sweats and everything.  And he says, "YOU JUST GOT DONE TELLING ME THAT YOU HAVE A REACTION WHEN YOU EAT ANYTHING!"  

Sooooooo........... he said that my muscle weakness and tiredness is because I'm popping valiums all day long and I told him they make me grouchy and give me a headache, but also calm me down for a short time.  Then I told him I don't clean my house no more.  I get my vacuum cleaner out, put it in the middle of the floor and go sit on the sofa and stare at it.

We talked about work, about me missing work, about how I never missed a day in 7 years when working there, and he said I'm just not me.

He said that since all these tests have been done and the only one that came back bad was the hormones, he's putting me on HRT for short term. He also put me on Prozac.  I cried and said that's for crazy people!  and he said that he thinks the hormones are making me panic, sweat and then my BP goes up so he put me on Endural (which he did in January but I never took it).

HE also put me on Xanax that is timed released and you just take one before bed.

I said what about the risk with my family history and the HRT?  He said the risk of me feeling this freaked out is greater than the family hx risk.

So now I'm on all these drugs, well, I haven't taken them yet.  He said that he wants me to be very serious about this, I said maybe I'm depressed because I can't have a doughnut and he said 'you never liked sweets anyway' and if 6 months of gluten-free hasn't resolved the original complaint, it's not gluten.

So now I feel like a druggy.  But I do have to agree with him on it.......I know a lot of you told me to see about the hormones.  he told me to quit listening to Rush Limbaugh all afternoon (it's the only thing I can get at work on my radio) he told me to bring some music CDs in and put them in my computer.  He's a staunch republican and he likes Limbaugh and he said, "no one needs to hear that bitchin all day every day, especially you."

Now I have all these bags and bottles of pills with all these different directions, but if it's going to make me feel better, I want to do it.

What do you all make of it?

I replied to a thread about orange juice, it turns out it's from 2005, but.......

I'm sure there's a way to make orange juice without putting flour in it.

That sounds simple and ignorant, but come on......

It's like these companies are playing cat and mouse with us and it just pisses me off. I have no respect for these companies, like Chex cereals

GLUTEN FREE WRITTEN BIG ALL OVER THE BOX

Write to them or call them, and they're like, hum, huh, well, hum,

just ridiculous to play with people like this. There oughta be a law against it and there probably is.

It was one mom who started MADD, right? Maybe I will be the mom to start GHAG (pronounced gag)Get Honest About Gluten.

New acquaintence "There is no such thing as food allergies, no one has them"
Me "I don't have food allergies I have celiac which is autoimmune and there really are lots of folks that have actual allergies" (The only full sentence I actually got out.)
N A " Those folks are just eating the wrong foods   and your nasty attitude is why you have stomach problems"  
Me "Uh okay, goodbye"

This person had only known me five minutes. His entire tirade lasted for 4 of them. If anyone has 'stomach problems' because of a nasty attitude I guess it would be this guy.  

Jerk.  Good thing my hillbilly butt wasn't there when he said that to you.

My big brother:

If people with celiac have stomach troubles, they should eat whole wheat and whole grain, everyone knows that is what keeps the digestive tract healthy.

Red velvet cupcakes to be specific.  

Oh man!  I'm at work!  Give us a review, will you?  

I was HOPING that Chelsea Clinton's wedding would bring a LOT of light to gluten-free!

That just cracks me up - no Red Lobster in Maine which is famous for lobsters!

That just struck me funny!

Sure enough, I got there, asked for Debra, she came right over, even asked me if I have a problem with xanthan (sp?) gum!  She was ON TARGET!  I had a delicious supper with crab legs and three different kinds of shrimp, salad, no croutons, and I saw her over by the corner explaining everything to our 2 waitresses.

I told her I'm going to post on celiac.com what a WONDERFUL experience I had and now I'm going to write to corporate about her.  She told me that the crab legs are steamed in separate, clean steamers, they have a dedicated grill for unbreaded things,

Oh, and I said I wanted bleu cheese dressing and she said, "nope, you can't have that!"  So I got some oil vinegarette stuff.  She said it's the only one I could have.

Then I went in the restroom and got my hand stuck in the toilet paper thing, it had two huge rolls and both were new and not "started" so I was trying to get my hand up there to get one started then I noticed this thing at the bottom slid over, so I was trying to do that and got 3 of my fingers stuck all up in there.  Finally got that taken care of, stood up, the toilet flushed itself, scared me so I jumped, hit my head on the wall, opened the stall door and hit myself in the face with the stall door.  Then I got tickled and it was awful cuz I laughed and giggled all the way back to my table and people musta thought I was drunk, but, ... that's just me.  I'm a caution!

It is of dubious value, but I'll try to explain.

At the bottom right of each post, just above the MultiQuote button, are two round buttons and a square with a number in it. Members can click on the circles. The green one with "+" is positive feedback about the post; the red on with "-" is negative feedback.

The number of times these buttons have been pushed is tracked and creates your "reputation." Initially, you have a zero value, which is "neutral."

Thanks for the info!  I just gave you positive feedback LOL !

I don't spend a lot of time in the "profile" part of the board.

Just curious as to significance of the number in the Reputation field.

I have wondered this same thing.  Last time I looked, mine said, "neutral".

Kind of made me feel..........neutral!  LOL !   what does it mean?  Where does it come from?

Breakfast has become an issue for me because I've eaten Lipton extra noodle soup in a box for years.  I guess I'll make some homemade chicken and rice soup for breakfast to take to work.  I don't like sweets for breakfast, or not any other much, either.

On the weekends, I've been making hambuger mixed up with scrambled eggs.  I was raised on that, love it.  
Before all this gluten business, I always just brought in groceries every Monday morning for work. Veggies and sandwiches.  Just a few slight adjustments ought to do just fine!

The thing is, I've - here's my confession - I've been ordering PF Changs chicken every other day and it's $14.95 for the lunch so I have to stop doing that.  

I make those kind of pickles, too, I put onions in it too, I don't know why, but I LOOOVVVEEE onions.  

I thought we couldn't drink whiskey -?

Well thank you all for the help.  I've gotten some good ideas so far.  Remember yesterday I ate that Campbells Soup?  I had to leave work early cuz I felt like my feet were sinking into the floor when I walked and felt like I was leaning from side to side - I HATE that feeling HATE HATE HATE!

Today I feel better, but sure enough, my back and hips and knees and feet feel like I'm 110 years old.  I'm really starting to put all this together with you alls help.

I have decided that I'm going to start making all my own food.  I'm tired of spending money on things that make me sick.

I can boil a live chicken, well, ok, a dead chicken, eat that chicken, make chicken salad, make soup with the broth, put some brown rice and carrots, etc., in there.

I figure I will save a lot of money and know exactly what I'm eating.

I'm just disgusted with "iffy" foods and waiting for the anvil to fall everytime I put something to my mouth.

I can even make my own cake, etc., there's really no end to what I can do.

Last Sunday, I got depressed cuz I can't make my milk gravy anymore, so I made my milk gravy with gluten-free flour - Red Mill - ?  something like that, and it tasted just like my famous milk gravy,

So, onward and upward.  I can cook all my meals on the weekends and freeze them or put them in the fridge to bring to work all week.

Does anyone else do this?  I could use ideas, however, I am a very basic eater.  I can even just make PBJ crackers to snack on at work.  Ok, then I'd have to buy gluten-free crackers.

I'm open to all suggestions!

Now, I'll have to go see some of my "kin" from the hills so they can teach me how to make beer outta ANTYHING! God knows the hills are full of sorghum!  

I'm not getting enough to eat.  Had to throw out my soup yesterday, today I got Taco Bell which their gluten-free menu said was gluten-free, but upon further look, they were a little iffy about that gluten-free thing, so I've had a home grown tomato to eat today.  that's it and some cheese.

Suggestions?