AnnieInItaly

I am going through pretty much the same thing as you (luckily no heart attack or organs removed, but I've been hospitalized more times than I can count in the past 12 years), and I've felt 100% better being off gluten. About a month ago I finally got in to see a gastrointerologist, and she convinced me that they need to do a scope and biopsy, and I'm halfway through two months of eating gluten before the test.

The first week I felt horrible. WAY worse than I ever felt while I was eating gluten. I still feel quite bad, but it's tolerable.... basically how I felt before. I'm fuzzy headed, have gastro upset, migraines everyday and can't feel my hands, but I can still function enough.

For me it is important for three reasons to know if it is celiac or not: 1) a significant portion of my extended family have the same problems as me, but refuse to try going gluten free because they don't want to be inconvienienced. If it IS celiac, they probably have it too, and maybe this will convince them to do what they need to do 2) I want to know if I'm seriously risking my health if I have very slight traces of gluten in my food and 3) The Italian government will cover a good portion of my grocery bill if I am celiac.

I think it is worth it to feel horrible for a few months, given the tradeoff. Mainly though, if it is celiac, I want my family to take care of themselves since they have the same thing going on with them as I have.

Wow, my story is pretty much the same as yours. I don't have a celiac diagnosis (yet) because doctors keep telling me it is in my head, and don't believe me. My husband (and family) doesn't take it seriously either, he says that if gluten really made me sick I'd be dead or sicker than I am, but in reality I have felt horribly ill for 12 years and I've just gotten used to it, and used to pretending like I'm ok.

does anyone know if the egg in many of gluten-free pie crust recipes is necessary? I baked normal pies professionally until a few years ago, and now that I've gone gluten-free I've been trying to figure out the best way to do pie. In a normal pie crust, I've never used an egg, but maybe it is different with gluten-free flours?

I'm glad to know it's not just me feeling this way! I'm about 10 days into eating gluten-free and I can't hardly make myself eat anything. I don't know if I'm not hungry enough (I used to eat A LOT even though I don't weigh much), or if this is what a normal appetite feels like. I've also struggled with reactive hypoglycemia for the past 10 years or so, and my body usually freaks out if I go more than a few hours without eating, but I haven't had any issues with it this past week.

I've heard different things, but I think it matters how sensitive you are, and if it is something you use on your hands or not (can easily transfer to your mouth this way).

I'm actually starting up a line of natural cosmetics, and since discovering my gluten issues, I'm making sure everything is gluten-free.

Cosmetics have to list ALL ingredients used, and if you see 'hydrolyzed wheat (or oat) protein', it isn't gluten-free. Unless it is a product containing some other kind of oats, in which case look for any ingredient with 'avena' in it, it should otherwise be gluten free. To my knowledge, those are the only cosmetic ingredients commonly used that contain gluten.