Influence On Others

[par18]

I see a lot of posts about attempts to get others to a least try a gluten-free diet. Has anyone been able to convince a family member or friend to try the diet and actually have them stick to it. I'm still looking for my first success story.

Tom

[CarlaB]

My 18 year old daughter is giving it a try. Her allergies have completely gone away, and now she has a bit of stomach trouble if she eats gluten. She didn't have any noticeable symptoms, so I didn't have her tested, but when she saw my allergies disappear, she did it on her own.

As far as relatives that live outside my house, no luck there. My grandmother is pushing my uncle and mom to be tested. I probably got it from my grandfather as he had lots of stomach trouble.

[Debbie65]

My 19 year old son has suffered terrible excema for years and also despite a very high standard of dental hygene has a history of poor dental health.

He never complains about anything so I´m not certain about GI symptoms but I don´t like to use the bathroom after him.(Sorry if that´s TMI)

And no, I cannot convince him to be tested or try a gluten-free diet - but I´ll keep at it.

[daffadilly]

LOL, me me me me , well except for my family. I had the grandkids gluten-free for six months but my celiac son in denial sabatoged it, my sister - obese, seizures, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis, unpredictable temper, IBS ,refused to listen to anything I had to say but listened to her friend who had a chiropractor son with it & he gave out bad info, like just scrape the pie filling off the crust, trash, so she tried it & guess what she did not want to admit it but she got better!!!! Then she went off the diet because I quote " I do not know how you find anything to eat, I just had to have a pizza". I have no clue what she is doing now, she is probably mostly off it because the stuff is killing her, but I am not sure & I am not wasting my energy to find out

But for friends I seem to be on a roll, I really do not try that hard but, a long time friend of mine is gluten-free & has her 97 year old aunt gluten-free, she swears her mom had DH & no one ever knew what it was, there is also a cancer that runs in their family that she says is referenced in the celiac complications, I cannot remember which one, she has been doing all her research.

I had my 45 YO boss tested at Enterolab he has double DQ1, acid reflux, mouth ulcers & a few little other things, he is still eating gluten, I told him that at least he knows about it & he will quit when he is ready, ( he does exercise everyday which I think helps the immune system) when I was his age I do not know if I would have wanted to give it up, in the meantime I just keep feeding him the poison at lunch, he sees how well I am doing & healthy & energetic & made a miraculous recovery from a broken knee last year - I have metal plates & 5 screws & I do not even take advil, I exercise 30 minutes each day on the recumbent bike & do my leg exercises & I am thinking about getting a three wheel bike ( for my 60th birthday) for biking trails & start a women's biking group. So sometimes he skips the bread I am sure his wife has it also, & she was tested but I do not know what her results were. Even before I knew about celiac (I was mostly wheat free thinking allergies) some migraine specialist tried to get her to go wheat free & she refused, she is sick a lot. They only have one child - a miracle they have that one in my opinion.

There is a new guy at my office that has celiac & been gluten-free for 2 years, I take him lunch about once a week, & now the lady in the office next to him is gluten-free after listening to us talk & putting some things together & was asking me about it, she is Irish, red curly hair, IBS, the swollen stomach stuff, mild irratability & moodiness, & no energy. She is also taking a B12 & going to join my biking group, she says she cleans house at 11:00 at night where she used to be exhausted prone on the couch

The plant lady is gluten-free after asking me about my lunch one day - she swears that I have saved her life, she had that stabbing pain in the side that so many celiacs talk about - she said it kept her awake at night - & of course she had been to many doctors, she is also taking B12 & eating totally gluten-free & asking me questions each week & has all the people at her apartment complex researching it on the computer & she said they were amazed at what they were finding out.

Then there is the lady I met shopping one day & she is gluten-free now as is her daughter, She said that her blurry vision, dizzy spells, & migraines have gone away & she had more energy, she is on disability for migraines. I checked her meds for her online & when i called her back to tell her 2 were not gluten-free, she said, don't tell me I know which two they are & she did !!!! She said she has had it her whole life, & one time she was on a diet & ate rice, tuna fish & apples & lost 40 lbs & felt better than she ever had.

that is about it except for some people that are very interested & I tell them about it & write stuff down for them but do not follow up with them.

It is just like anything else, I think. You will listen to a stranger before you will listen to anyone in your family. You know how it is, Moms never know anything.

[Debbie65]

It is just like anything else, I think. You will listen to a stranger before you will listen to anyone in your family. You know how it is, Moms never know anything.(quote)

Exactly but you forgot the part about teenagers knowing everything.

[ianm]

My girlfriend eats very liitle gluten and syas she notices a difference. My dad and brother need to be gluten free. My brother eats less of it but my dad doesn't show any interest in changing.

[mythreesuns]

Has anyone been able to convince a family member or friend to try the diet and actually have them stick to it.

I'm someone else's success story!

I usually post on another message board and when I started posting on the one about digestive issues, two people I knew finally talked me into going gluten free. One of them led me right to this board. Tanx!

[elonwy]

My mom is now gluten free and doing much better, she's been sick for years.

A friend of mine who had been having terrible trouble for several years finally tried the diet and is doing amazing, I got a lovely email thanking me for telling her about it.

I have another friend who I'm working on, he's classic celiac, but putting up some resistance.

Every one of these people took a bit of time to come around, no one wants to think about giving up these things. Just one person having their life improved because they tried the diet and realized life doesn't have to suck anymore makes it worth the frustrating effort to educate people.

Elonwy