Feelings Of Becoming A Complete Obsessive-compulsive Freak

[michelleL]

I feel like I am becoming a total obsessive-compulsive freak, always having to check and recheck things before eating, suspecting things having gluten when it is not very clear that it does, always on high alert.... Now I'm reacting - I think- to the stupid Whole Foods 365 Chicken Broth that was God-awful tasting, and which I later discovered is just some "broth" made of water cooked with chicken and chicken fat with added spices: carrot powder, onion powder, garlic powder and other spices. What the heck is carrot powder, anyways? AAaargghhh! You'd think of all places, Whole Foods would at least make a real chicken broth.

Anyways, yeah, so I'm feeling kind of freaky. Anyone else?

Also, it doesn't help when certain health professionals. ie. my pharmacist looks at me like I'm making this all up and questions me if I am certain about the gluten stuff....

[GFBetsy]

a little off topic, but my sister assures me that the Pacific foods Chicken broth that is sold at Costco is WONDERFUL. And it says GLUTEN FREE right on the box.

OH! And Costco (at least here in Orem, UT) is now selling the Envirokidz cereals in a 3 pack. The outer box doesn't say Gluten Free, but the 3 boxes inside do . . . WooHoo! Especially because it is only 6.99 for a 3 pack, and the same size boxes at the health food store are $4 and up!

[marciab]

I've been this way off and on. Especially since I don't have a positive biopsy or lab test. I am determined to keep gluten out of my life though. Even if it means inconveniencing (is that a word ?) a few pharmacists.

So, far, I have just told nurses, etc. that apparently I am a celiac since I no longer have seizures since getting off gluten.

It's hard to get used to though.

Sorry, I don't know about the broth you used, but I'd go with one that said gluten free on the label or make your own the next time you cook chicken.

Marcia

[Guest ~jules~]

yep, I feel like a freak too. I'm new to this and the other day I was obsessing over boullion cubes, I ate something cooked in boullion and didn't know it. So I spent the whole day worrying about it. Who would have thought a month ago I would be sitting around stressing out over boullion! I can't see how anyone with disease couldn't at one time or another feel a little trippy about the constant "checking" what we are eating, lol....

[Nantzie]

Same here. We had a family barbeque today. Everyone pretty much knows about my gluten thing, and I know what's safe on first look, but then I have to wonder if my MIL used the same cutting board to cut the potatoes for potato salad that she used to cut the bread. Or what brand of BBQ sauce they used. And if they're grilling the bread too. Are they using the same tongs to turn the bread as they're using to turn the meat?

And then, the worst thing was that my SIL uses Bed Bath and Beyond Soaps for every d@mn room in the house, so I didn't even feel safe washing my hands because I've heard a lot of their stuff has gluten in it. I just used her dish soap and prayed that it wasn't gluteny for some reason.

If only would could just not eat the stupid bread and not have to worry about all of this piddly cr@p that we all have to obsess about.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nancy

[Guest cassidy]

I get freaked out sometimes. I went on a family trip and there was gluten everywhere. I must have washed my hands and my plates a million times. I think the worst for me is when I'm in an environment I can't control (not my house) and when I'm eating new food.

I would recommend getting some staples that you know you can trust. I have pretty much found a brand for everything I want to eat and I very rarely try something new.

Also, if you can make your food at home (pack a lunch for work and anywhere else you go) and don't eat out for a while, you might feel better.

This isn't in your head and you have to be very careful. I'm a drug rep and I eat lunch with doctors several times a week. They usually ask why I'm eating different food so I explain it to them. I can't tell you how many doctors have told me that this is extremely rare that they have never had a patient in 25 years. That I'm the most sensitive person they have ever heard of. I usually say check out celiac.com there are about 9,000 other people who have it and most of them seem to be as sensitive as I am.

[jesscarmel]

i defintly have become obssessed with gluten but i have an anxiety disorder so im not suprised. i wont eat at anyones house yet except my parents and grandma. when i go to my brother in laws house i wont eat because they are kind of messy and the other day i was there and they were serving dinner and they put the spoon from the green beans in to the pasta bowl and served it, so i feel like i really cant trust anyone but myself and my family. i think ppl defintily think im crazy but i dont care because im not going to risk getting sick to make tohers more comfortable. i also dont let gluten in my house. if my fiannce wants to eat gluten food that he orders in he eats it on our porch. some might think this is to strict but i feel my house should be a place i know i can eat safely and not get sick.

i try not to obssess about it but i do so i know how you are feeling!

[Corkdarrr]

I have what I call my OCD journal, in which I write everything I eat, and how I feel all day long (back pain, brain fog, extreme crankiness, etc). Including any exercise, medications (how much and what time).

This is in hopes that a few months down the line some strange pattern will emerge and I'll realize that I'm allergic to Snickers bars or situps (or something else that I like but am not in love with). And then all my problems will be solved in some strange Food Allergy Fairy Princess type of way.

My mom told me to relax and not focus so much on it, but if I don't focus on it, then I mess up. Case and point when I got sick a few weeks ago I didn't even think to check the coughdrops (they were fine). But I just reverted into my 'I'm a regular person who's sick' mode.

I wish my life weren't consumed with food and ingredients and how my body is feeling at any given moment...but it is for a while now at least.

-Courtney

[gfp]

I get freaked out sometimes. I went on a family trip and there was gluten everywhere. I must have washed my hands and my plates a million times. I think the worst for me is when I'm in an environment I can't control (not my house) and when I'm eating new food.

I would recommend getting some staples that you know you can trust. I have pretty much found a brand for everything I want to eat and I very rarely try something new.

Also, if you can make your food at home (pack a lunch for work and anywhere else you go) and don't eat out for a while, you might feel better.

OK, I was going to say this anyway ....

This isn't in your head and you have to be very careful. I'm a drug rep and I eat lunch with doctors several times a week. They usually ask why I'm eating different food so I explain it to them. I can't tell you how many doctors have told me that this is extremely rare that they have never had a patient in 25 years. That I'm the most sensitive person they have ever heard of. I usually say check out celiac.com there are about 9,000 other people who have it and most of them seem to be as sensitive as I am.

But should we laugh or cry????

Have you thought of carrying literature in your briefcase? Especially ones showing incidence in the US.

you could really educate a lot of Dr's very gently by "just having a copy" in your briefcase you were taking to read on the plane, car etc.

[eKatherine]

I have a doctor friend who tells me he's run a few celiac panels, but has never had a patient test positive. Although he acknowledges that 1 in 133 in the general population may be celiac, he fails to see the inherent contradiction - that he must have a lot of patients who are celiac, and many more that are gluten intolerant.

But thanks to the fact that he's really not looking for celiac - he's not a GI - he's not on top of things like the length of time a patient needs to be on gluten in order to get a positive biopsy. I'm glad he never had to tell a patient that, he thought a week was enough!

[par18]

I feel like I am becoming a total obsessive-compulsive freak, always having to check and recheck things before eating, suspecting things having gluten when it is not very clear that it does, always on high alert.... Now I'm reacting - I think- to the stupid Whole Foods 365 Chicken Broth that was God-awful tasting, and which I later discovered is just some "broth" made of water cooked with chicken and chicken fat with added spices: carrot powder, onion powder, garlic powder and other spices. What the heck is carrot powder, anyways? AAaargghhh! You'd think of all places, Whole Foods would at least make a real chicken broth.

Anyways, yeah, so I'm feeling kind of freaky. Anyone else?

Also, it doesn't help when certain health professionals. ie. my pharmacist looks at me like I'm making this all up and questions me if I am certain about the gluten stuff....

I for one don't think being somewhat obsessive about this is a bad thing at all. In the beginning I was really obsessed with not getting any gluten in my diet. Guess what happened? I did not get any gluten in my diet. Not only that I have kept the gluten out of my diet since starting. The same thing that sometimes keeps us from relaxing and just letting whatever happens happen can also make us willing and disciplined enough to do something like this diet successfully. I feel that the expression that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure fits our lifestyle perfectly. I mainly just use common sense when deciding what to eat or drink outside the home. I went to a cookout yesterday and had the burger and fixings without the bun with no problem. I was told the baked beans were ok so I ate them with no problem also. The people hosting the event were aware of my situation and I saw the way things were done and I was satisfied. I may be wrong but if something does happen and I get some gluten by accident I don't think it will cause me a lot of bad things for very long. Since the diet was the successful treatment for me to this point I would just go back home and pick up where I left off.

Anything I have done successfully in my life I attribute to my OCD nature. I believe in grabbing the bull by the horns and going full speed ahead until I either fail or succeed. The worst thing is that I would just have to start over again with a different approach. It is only when we quit trying that we truly fail. I seldom read labels much anymore as most of what I eat is naturally gluten free anyway.

For me the only fear I have with OCD is when I start to think of what "might" happen. The two worst words I can think of are "what if". If I can limit those feelings I think I will be fine. So far so good.

Tom

[GFBetsy]

Adding to Tom's statement:

I think that it's the first year or so where things are the worst as far as the obsessive feeling goes. After that you just get into the habit of dealing with your diet and it becomes normal to you. Label reading becomes a lot easier as time goes on, and you also know (in general) the things that are on your OK list.

[Swingin' Celiac]

Haha, this thread makes me smile because I'm really obsessive about gluten too (among a number of other things)! It's hard not to be. I guess it can be a good thing cause it's kept me accident-free (at least to the best of my knowledge) since my dx. Yeah and I love what jesscarmel wrote; I tend to have quite a bit of anxiety too. However, I don't think it's rationally necessary to not allow any gluten at all in your house as long as the proper cleaning methods are utilized. Though I do get nervous when I see crumbs on the counter or when my dad's BBQing both gluten-free and non gluten-free items at the same time (the gluten-free on a cleaned portion of the grill of course ). I think the hardest part is that people rarely tend to understand why it's such a big deal to us and I know with my family at least it can cause a bit of tension and frustration. I guess that's just a sacrifice we'll have to deal with if we want to stay healthy, but we should also try not to let it compromise our mental health .

[Guest cassidy]

Have you thought of carrying literature in your briefcase? Especially ones showing incidence in the US.

you could really educate a lot of Dr's very gently by "just having a copy" in your briefcase you were taking to read on the plane, car etc.

I really do try to educate them. I felt so good one day when the doctor ordered the panel on a patient in the hospital. They couldn't figure out why she had severe pain after eating and all sorts of other celiac symptoms. If I helped one person get diagnosed, then it is all worth it.

The only problem is one that I face everyday in my job -educating doctors is tough. They have more education than me and most of the time huge egos. You have to say things just right to get them to listen. Sometimes when I'm telling them how common celiac is or that I'm not crazy and everyone is sensitive, I start to lose credibility because they just think I'm crazy. Since these people are my customers I have to back down and preserve the relationship.

I hope that when a medicine gets approved for celiac that I will be able to sell it. Until we have drug reps talking to doctors everyday about celiac it won't ever be in the front of their minds. It is so frustrating to see how many doctors are not educated at all about it.

[gfp]

I really do try to educate them. I felt so good one day when the doctor ordered the panel on a patient in the hospital. They couldn't figure out why she had severe pain after eating and all sorts of other celiac symptoms. If I helped one person get diagnosed, then it is all worth it.

The only problem is one that I face everyday in my job -educating doctors is tough. They have more education than me and most of the time huge egos. You have to say things just right to get them to listen. Sometimes when I'm telling them how common celiac is or that I'm not crazy and everyone is sensitive, I start to lose credibility because they just think I'm crazy. Since these people are my customers I have to back down and preserve the relationship.

I hope that when a medicine gets approved for celiac that I will be able to sell it. Until we have drug reps talking to doctors everyday about celiac it won't ever be in the front of their minds. It is so frustrating to see how many doctors are not educated at all about it.

Honestly I understand which is why i suggest printing out a few relevant papers ....make sure they are good medical ones and conveniently have them. Im presuming as a sales rep you travel... so just say you printed em out for your own use but finished with them.

If you wanna play then let the Dr's EGO work and ask them to explain the paper over lunch ....

[mythreesuns]

Oh, I'm TOTALLY OCD right now! And I had an already diagnosed anxiety disorder, so I didn't have far to fall. LOL

What I'm OCD about is my own home. I wish I could be as strict as some of you, but I have DH, 3 small children and two pets, so it would not be fair (or cost effective) to only allow gluten-free foods in the house.

I do have a shelf for just my stuff, and a door shelf in the fridge, but every time the kids make toast in their toaster, you'd be surprised how far the crumbs fly.

Before I make anything for myself I scrub my "safe area" of the counter, I scrub the pot and utensil, the knives, put my gluten-free cutting board on the freshly scrubbed counter, etc. And then I still worry that there was something on the plate, that I touched something with gluten on it....

[gfp]

Oh, I'm TOTALLY OCD right now! And I had an already diagnosed anxiety disorder, so I didn't have far to fall. LOL

What I'm OCD about is my own home. I wish I could be as strict as some of you, but I have DH, 3 small children and two pets, so it would not be fair (or cost effective) to only allow gluten-free foods in the house.

I do have a shelf for just my stuff, and a door shelf in the fridge, but every time the kids make toast in their toaster, you'd be surprised how far the crumbs fly.

Before I make anything for myself I scrub my "safe area" of the counter, I scrub the pot and utensil, the knives, put my gluten-free cutting board on the freshly scrubbed counter, etc. And then I still worry that there was something on the plate, that I touched something with gluten on it....

This is not OCD this is common sense!

Anyone working in an analytical lab works like this all day everyday, its just good practice because without it human error will occur.

[mythreesuns]

This is not OCD this is common sense!

Yeah, but it sucks when making a simple salad takes almost an hour.

[gfp]

Yeah, but it sucks when making a simple salad takes almost an hour.

Erm then get rid of all the gluten in your kitchen......

seriously... its not only easier but safer.

[queenofhearts]

This is an interesting thread...

I know I have some OC tendencies (anyone who saw my artwork could spot that in a second!) & I do think the diet has increased my overall level of anxiety. For instance, I've developed a mild phobia of crumbs! Even the ones I know are gluten-free, from my own bread that I've baked myself, arouse a sort of automatic unease!

But actually, when I was first diagnosed, I made a list of Things I'm Grateful For (yes, listmaking is an OC thing too) & one of the things on the list was "I'm detail-oriented & meticulous." The way I look at it is that a touch of OC is a great advantage in coping with this disease. If my husband were diagnosed, he'd have a dreadful time of it because he has such difficulty in focusing on minute details. He can cope with all sorts of things going on at once (which I decidedly CAN'T) but detail focus is really tough for him. He'd be glutening himself every day.

Luckily I do 99% of the cooking in our household, so I'm not worried about the food I eat. He makes himself sandwiches with gluten bread, & has gluten cereal, but other than that our house is gluten-free. I've always been squeamish about preparing food directly on the counter anyway, so I have little difficulty keeping my food uncontaminated. We have a toaster oven rather than a toaster. I prepare all my toast on a special pan that came with the oven-- it has holes in it, & I think it was meant as a broiling pan, but I'd never used it until I was diagnosed, & everyone in the family knows it must be kept gluten-free. I do NOT share mayo & pb with the rest of the family-- they might be entirely well-meaning but it is just not natural for them to focus on keeping the crumbs out!

I also keep my own stick of butter. Funny thing about that, I have always been totally grossed out by crumbs in the butter-- I considered it bad manners to put a spreading knife into the butter. I was always taught to serve with a clean knife & then spread with your own butter knife. This was merely a question of etiquette & aesthetics though, until 3 months ago!

Leah

[Heater]

I laughed when I read the bottom part. When I was a little kid, long before I'd heard of celiac disease, I used to have temper tantrums when there was crumbs in the butter, and insisted on having my own butter plate

"I also keep my own stick of butter. Funny thing about that, I have always been totally grossed out by crumbs in the butter-- I considered it bad manners to put a spreading knife into the butter. I was always taught to serve with a clean knife & then spread with your own butter knife. This was merely a question of etiquette & aesthetics though, until 3 months ago!"

[par18]

I laughed when I read the bottom part. When I was a little kid, long before I'd heard of celiac disease, I used to have temper tantrums when there was crumbs in the butter, and insisted on having my own butter plate

"I also keep my own stick of butter. Funny thing about that, I have always been totally grossed out by crumbs in the butter-- I considered it bad manners to put a spreading knife into the butter. I was always taught to serve with a clean knife & then spread with your own butter knife. This was merely a question of etiquette & aesthetics though, until 3 months ago!"

Wow this brings back memories. Before my Dx I did not worry about crumbs in the butter. The thing that always upset me was that I either wanted butter on toast or jelly on toast but not butter "and" jelly on the same piece of toast. My pet peeve was to see butter in the jelly jar or jelly in the stick of butter. Yuk!

Tom