FooGirlsMom

At first oats bothered me, even Bob's Red Mill.  About 6 months into being gluten-free, I was able to add them back on.  I mostly use them to make treats (Cookies).  I make the no-bake type with the peanut butter, added nuts, coconut, etc.  Quite good. Kids love them and it slows the absorption of all the sugars because of the proteins & oats.

I feel for you.  Most of us moms here can remember (it doesn't feel like that long ago) what it was like to put up with the line crossing behavior of our teenage "friends".  It seems a universal problem with teenage girls especially.  So many of them think it's their job in your life to tell you what to do because that's what they want.  

I've got a couple of kids now - one son in 2nd year of college - and a daughter who is almost 10.  A little Mom advice here...learn now how to surround yourself with people who respect you in life.  You'll be a lot happier.  If a friend cannot support your food choices (I mean who cares what you eat - gimme a break?) what else will she attempt to force on you as the mood suits her?  This girl is truly not your friend.

The kind of friends you surround yourself with will lead to the type of man you marry.  It's a life skill to learn to surround yourself with supportive, kind, caring people.  If you can learn it now at 13/14 years of age, my dear, you are sooo ahead in life.  You'll have friends that last a lifetime and then you'll have a great husband someday and then your kids will thank you.  

Hang in there and stand your ground.  If she doesn't back down, face off with her and tell her what you think of her bullying behavior.  There are girls out there that would love to have you as a friend.  Go find them

Hugs,

FooGirlsMom

Hi Courtney,

I'm wondering if you guys have medical insurance and you are able to get yourself tested for Celiac?  Having a diagnosis would help a great deal, I'm sure.

If that is not possible, then there are some things that will help.  It sounds a bit like your parents are either too busy or do not like to cook much.  It can be intimidating on the grocery bill for whoever does the shopping to buy gluten-free foods.

Being 15, this is a great oppty for you to learn to cook.  If you start now, you'd be surprised how quickly you can learn to feed yourself well even before you're old enough to go to college or move into your own place.

You might find that by cooking, your family appreciates it and will be more open to your gluten-free lifestyle.  I know, at 15, my mom especially really appreciated my taking on the work now and then. I first baked because Mom hated it.  Then I learned to cook side dishes & meats. You can also ask them if it's ok if you put some of the leftovers in a container with your name on it to eat.  You can also ask to do the grocery shopping with whoever does it.

Here are some of our favorite cheapies:

Jasmine rice cooked with a bag of frozen peas, carrots & corn in gluten-free broth.  Add ground hamburger or cooked chicken and top with a gluten free sauce like Wingers Amazing Sauce. (Wingers sells extra sauce at their restaurants and some local stores carry it.)  You can also find gluten free sweet & sour sauce, etc.
The directions for cooking the rice is on the bag.  We buy a huge bag of jasmine rice at Walmart for $15.

Cottage cheese & pineapple or canned fruit.

Breakfast foods:  Eggs, Chex Cereal, etc.

You can also order gluten free pasta online at a discount & use jarred gluten free sauces.

Hamburger, Chicken, frozen veggies & microwaved red potatoes with butter or cheese on top for dinners.

Desserts:  The Betty Crocker cake mixes are available in stores.  THe bettycrocker.com website has recipes using these mixes.  For instance, the yellow cake mix can be made into pineapple upside down cake and it's delicious

Bagged Salad with Farmhouse Ranch (the refrigerated section where they sell the salad) is gluten free in the ranch.  Just check the label.

Learning to cook is your way of accomplishing two things -- one:  if you are gluten sensitive, you are teaching yourself a vital skill that you'll use the rest of your life.  It's a way to make gluten free fun & palatible to your whole family, which you have now and you'll have later when you have kids. I wish I'd known at your age that I had a gluten problem.  I'd have had years of experience before feeding a whole family this way.  Two:  it may be a way to get your parents on board by becoming the main cook in the family & they may agree to eat more gluten free foods if you'll make them.  

Cooking gluten free for the non-gluten sensitive can seem overwhelming and intimimidating (and expensive) but if you try, you may find your can convert your parents to your way of eating

Good luck.

FooGirlsMom

Hi,

Working with your doctor to identify your vitamin deficiencies etc. is really important.  Once you've done that and you are 100% gluten free for a while, if the pain does not subside, you might want to think about eliminating other possible offenders.  For instance, I had terrible joint pain, esp. in my right hand. My knees bothered me too (sometimes ached like I had the flu).  My problem, I came to discover, was not caused by gluten.  It's soy for me.  In fact, right now, I am having trouble typing this because my right hand joints are so inflamed they hurt to move them.  It's my own fault, but yesterday I ate a homemade salad dressing I make for my family that has mayonnaise in it (without thinking).  The mayo's first ingredient is soybean oil.  Each and every time I eat soy (not soy lecithin which is a fat I understand) but regular soy, esp. soybean oil, this happens to me.  It only took about 2 hours and my right hand and elbow hurt so bad I could hardly move my fingers or close them.  This will probably last 2-7 days before it's gone.  Prior to this I'd gone 2 whole weeks with almost no pain or noticeable problems at all, just occasional stiffness in the morning.

While your intestines heal up from gluten, you can be highly reactive to other allergens like soy, corn, dairy, nuts, etc.  There are 8 main allergens including gluten.

Just something to keep in mind.  You'll have quite a journey the first year on the diet and it might take a little tweaking before you get it 100% right for you.

Wishing you quick recovery,

FooGirls Mom

Even though we have a limited budget I do buy some gluten-free staples.  I have a 9 year-old daughter who is gluten-free with me so I have tried to not change her diet too drastically to ease the transition.  So we invest in auto-ship/order items like Annie's gluten-free mac n cheese. That's my DD's comfort food.  We buy Tinkyada's pasta and gluten free Rice Grits to make hot cereal.  Betty Crocker's gluten-free cake mixes work well for us and are a jumping off point for some recipes.  None of these items are so expensive they become cost prohibitive.  Thankfully, places like Walmart & Winco are carrying naturally gluten free items along with some of the gluten-free mixes.  We do splurge and buy Udi's but limit our intake to 2 pcs a day to save $.

Things can get expensive fast if a person is not careful, but I have to say that I am super appreciative for companies who are offering gluten-free products.  I wholeheartedly support the big contenders like Walmart getting in there & bringing down those prices because they can purchase by volume.  I know that's controversial for some, but it's the only way some of the little guys are going to get access to these products at an affordable price.

FooGirlsMom

Yeah I noticed that response or two you got was pretty grouchy.  I have never heard anyone bicker with someone about a diagnosed medical condition - let alone completely miss the point of the post.  All you wanted to know is how hot does the water have to get to destroy gluten and can it hang around with normal washing & still contaminate someone.  

Brother!

FooGirlsMom

Sorry to hear you're feeling poorly

I see you do the FODMAPS diet.  Have you ever tried going strictly low carb?  Like meat & green vegetables type of low carb?  I'm about to go there myself.  I think until my intestines heal I'm going to have to go back to an Atkins type of diet.  I seem to be having brain fog & energy reduction due to all carbs now.  If you need a low carb diet I can suggest either the Induction version of Atkins (with probably not so much focus on the carb count - eat the veggies you want) or the Protein Power diet.

I hope you feel better soon.

FooGirlsMom

So glad you found a bread you like!  Enjoy!!

FooGirlsMom

I want to ditto GlutenFreeManna.  Prior to going gluten-free in October my joint & muscle pain was really awful.  It hurt to get up from a chair and walk up stairs some days.  The inflammation in my right hand was becoming painful all the time.

I had to not only go gluten-free, but also dairy & soy free.  I also found corn causes inflammation.  Soy is the worst, however.  Everytime I have a bad flare up (it's not gone completely in just a couple of months yet but does improve) it's always because of one or more of the four offenders.

I hope you see improvement soon.  Know how you feel.

FooGirlsMom

There is so much misinformation, even in the medical community, about gluten intolerance.  When I saw the statistic that even after the onset of severe symptoms it takes people an average of 4 years to get diagnosed I felt sick.  So for all the people who have great doctors and find out right away, that makes 8 years for someone else.  There are millions of us undiagnosed out there.  And there is a growing number of people like myself who had to figure it out alone.  I know there are a number here on this board.

We'll all pretty much tell you the same thing...the proof's in the pudding...so to speak.  If you go on a gluten-free diet and your symptoms improve or go away...you have your answer.  Who cares what a doctor says?  They are there to help you.  If they aren't helping, help yourself.  If you sincerely believe it's Celiac, then use the medical community to support your efforts.  Go for the vitamin deficiency testing, etc.  You may need iron, vitamin B, etc. to support your recovery efforts.  Seeing a knowledgeable nutritionist who works with Celiac patients can help you gain your weight back and maintain a healthy weight.

Your story sounds so familiar.  Even depression & psychiatric symptoms can be caused by gluten intolerance.  I remember in high school reading about patients in mental hospitals that were hypoglycemic/diabetic back in the "olden days."  We don't fully understand the mind/body connection even in our modern world.  It's easier to throw at pill at something than it usually is to find the root cause.  It's easy to feel depressed when you feel terrible.


I think you would feel rather comforted and at home if you started reading the threads that go back 3-6 months here on the board. I think you'll see you're in a similar boat.

Hang in there,

FooGirlsMom

Yes, it can.  Because this is auto-immune, it can break down different parts of your body.  About 15 years ago when I had my first systemic break-down I caught every single cold & flu that went around even if no one else in my family succumbed.  It was very frustrating.  It took the right diet & exercise to break that cycle.  I am very surprised that as bad as my health became in the past 2 years that didn't happen to me this time.  However, I have been more active in spite of pain & pounce on illness more quickly than I did then.  I use various naturopathic products to stave off illness.

I hope with change of diet you get the same results I did.

FooGirlsMom

This is why I don't bother with a support group of the traditional kind.  You all here are my support group   Those of us here run the gambit from light symptoms to major illness.  Some are diagnosed & some are undiagnosed but know they are gluten intolerant & respond to the diet.  The reality is that some of us have lingering issues and will for many years depending on how bad our health became prior to going gluten free.

I know from personal experience, having been really sick in my 20s, going on a gluten-free diet really by trial & error, and seeing a huge measure of recovery for many years, then 2 years ago eating gluten at levels I'd not done since my 20s, and within a year I'm so ill I wonder if I'm dying...takes me another year to figure out what the problem really is (I was having different symptoms than in my 20s) and here I am just over 2 months later and I am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel (and it's not a speeding train!)..but I'm by no means "well" yet.  It's coming along nicely & some days are better than others.  But rooting out secondary food allergies has been a job, let me tell you.

You are not being negative.  You come here and gripe, cry and scream (and laugh sometimes too) all you like.  We'll always be ready to listen.  Some days I come here to remember I'm not crazy & find a bit of sanity in my day.  I thank you all for that.  Truly.

FooGirlsMom

We're still working through how to deal with possible cross-contamination issues.  I really suggest with the butter that you get your own covered dish.  I just decided to do that myself.  I think I forget more often than my family does.  I have such a habit when I butter their toast (I have my own toaster for our daughter & myself) of redipping the knife after touching wheat bread, it's hard to remember not to do it.  I was getting pretty good at buttering our bread first with a clean knife, but I have given up.  We have our own butter dish now.  It's just easier.

It's been my observation that if you label things & have your own "off limits" section of the kitchen, men adapt to that easier.  I wouldn't want to have to learn every tool in the garage if the situation involved his tools and I couldn't touch some and then touch others.  It'd drive me nuts.  So...I've had mercy on the DH and turned the entire kitchen gluten free except his bread basket, toaster & some condiment shelves in the fridge that are clearly labeled (so he knows where to return his stuff.)  All the gluten is in the basement storage and he can eat to his hearts content from there.

Good Luck!

FooGirlsMom

Ditto what Skylark said.  

FooGirlsMom

Just wanted to lend another vote of support & sympathy.  Even though I've only been gluten-free since October, I have been on a couple of long-term diets the past 15 years that were gluten-free, Sugar free, & dairy free and yeah you don't feel like you can eat anything.  The only way I found I could cope with the restrictions was to make sure I always have leftovers and food cooked up in the 'fridge.  Then I have the ability to toss together a "to go" tupperware container in 1 minute if necessary.  Having refrigerated or frozen goodies help too - cupcakes, cake, cookies, you've made in advance.  One of the real insider tricks to hassle-free cooking is always always always have certain staples on hand.  For instance, I needed to toss together some "goodies" for my daughter's spur-of-the-moment get together with friends and in less than a 1/2 hour I had air popped popcorn with cheddar seasoning in gallon zip locks, and no bake cookies (made with gluten-free quick oats) ready to go.

It's a transition but learning to take food you love with you all the time is the only way to stay sane.  I like the idea of knowing the safe snacks and where to buy them in neighborhoods you frequent.  Another plus.

Hang in there.  It's a cliche but we are all in this together.  Life is going to be much easier as more people discover they have gluten issues.  

Smiles,

FooGirlsMom