All About Anabelle..(new Here)

[grace-inspired]

My daughter is almost 8. She was born premmie and wasn't able to nurse...she reacted strongly to formula and was place on soy(which was still a bit of an issue). She always seemed to react to new foods and constantly had illnesses and diaper rashes as a baby.

Since then--she gets sick all of the time! Strep throat at least once a year--and seems to get a "bug" every few weeks. She also seems to have progressive chemical sensitivities. We can hardly go anywhere w/out her being ill w/ belly ache and headache.

she has always had constipation issues--but over the past few years has gotten really bad. She was finally diagnosed as chronic constipation last year(and bad acid reflux). I imagine she hasn't been "cleaned out" in years. This ould help explain the chemical sensitivities(overload of toxins in the system due to reapsorbtion through bowels) and the immune system overload.

Now--no doctors want to find out WHY she has this horrible issue. They want to give her laxatives for long periods of time and be done w/ you. We eat "healthy". Fruit/veggies, low fat, no "white" carbs except occasional potato stuff. Lots of wheat though...whole wheat, but wheat all the same.

We arrived at the celiac though by my "forever searching" about what could be wrong. (my Dh and Ds have gastro issues too).

I'm reading about all of the stuff that gluten is in and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I'm sure everyone does at first...but geez. She also seems to have dairy issues...so we are planning to "phase out" these two things in the coming weeks. Sounds simple--but those two things are in EVERTHING!

Did anyone else that these things as symptoms--I know many people have diarreah instead...

I am concerned about fiber in the diet, as a lot of the gluten free recipes seem to lack that. What do you asll use to get fiber in your kids diets?

Blessings,

Christina

[Lisa]

Christina:

Welcome to the board and my I say that Anabelle is a lovely name.

I had constipation issues before my Celiac was triggered and I believe it is common among us.

If you intend for Annabelle to go gluten free and dairy free, you have just hit a gold mine of information that can be found no other than here.

We have a lot of extremely knowledge people from all over the world.

To begin your search...Search here under Members and find "nini", and click on her beginners list. She has compiles many files that are invaluable to beginners. When you begin this diet, it is also important to check her lotions, glosses/lipstick (8yrs), shampoo and toothpaste, in that anything that can get into here mouth can be ingested.

It rather overwhelming in the beginning, with lots to learn, but it is very much doable. We are here to answer any question you make have.

Read as much as you can from past post and please stay in touch.

Lisa

[Guest nini]

you don't have to search for me, I'm here...

simply click on the link in my signature below for my web page, scroll to the bottom of that and you will find the link for the "newbie survival kit"...

[happygirl]

Christina,

Welcome to the board! We are happy to have you here!

Just so you know, if you want an "official" diagnosis from an MD, in order for the blood tests (which is the first step) to be as accurate as possible, your daughter would still need to be eating gluten. I am not advocating for/against having an official dx, but its one of those important bits of information that I felt I should share. If you decide not to get testing, that's fine-you obviously know that you don't need a doctor's note to tell you to go gluten free. However, if you do decide to get tested, print out this list of tests needed (Open Original Shared Link - its the first FAQ on the page) and bring it to your doctor. Many doctors do not order the full panel. Again, having negative tests doesn't mean that she is 'not' a Celiac. Also, the blood tests only check for Celiac, and doesn't detect non-Celiac gluten intolerance. But, if you are having your daughter tested, and your husband and son have issues....I'd go for them all at the same time!

Those are all things I wish I had known when I started this journey, because my doctor knew nothing about Celiac and gave me vast amounts of incorrect info and didn't do all the right tests under the right conditions.

Celiac is often referred to as a medical chameleon. It can present itself in various ways, with contradictory symptoms (i.e., constipation vs. diarrhea, weight loss vs. weight gain, no symptoms at all vs. completely debilitating symptoms). They 'now' believe that "classic" Celiacs (diarrhea etc) actually are in the MINORITY. Celiac can affect just about anything and everything. Often, the effects aren't seen until the person really gets better and they realize many of their other ailments are gone.

Also, many Celiacs are "temporarily" lactose intolerant. The enzyme, lactase, that breaks down the lactose, is essentially located on the tips of the villi in the intestine. Celiacs, when they consume gluten, have damaged villi, which affects the lactase production. For some, once their villi have healed, they are no longer lactose intolerant. Or, some people are lactose intolerant - not related to Celiac. Others are casein (the actual dairy protein, different than lactose) intolerant and there is not a pill for this one, like there is for lactose intolerance.

Tinkyada (rice based, instead of wheat) pasta is by far the best pasta out there! We eat it all the time and serve it to non-Celiacs. Many regular grocery stores carry it, or health food stores, or you can order it online.

Let us know what else we can do to help!!!! Feel free to ask any and all questions!

Laura

[grace-inspired]

Thanks! I'm having my dh print that off at work--it wouldn't do it at home for soem reason. We are "transitioning right now. I was at whole foods to buy some flours etc--wow! I got almost nothing for 40 dollars! Does anyone here buy the whole grains and grind them at home to save money? I noticed that the cost of the whole grain was about half the cost of the flour already bagged....

Anyone get rice/quinoa etc from the bulk section of the grocery? I was wondering how careful they are about cross contamination....

[Jestgar]

I buy from the bulk section. My store has all the non-gluten stuff on top and the gluten stuff down low so I don't worry about fallout. Sometimes I wonder about some dufus using the wrong scoop, but I haven't had a problem yet.

[rez]

My 2 cents is get the blood test before you go gluten free. Then, if it's positive, you have a definite answer. If it's negative, you can always do the diet to rule out the test being false negative.