I Was So Proud Of Myself

[Pink-Bunny]

The only person that seems to be supportive is my boyfriend (who in all honesty is the only support I truly need) but I would love to have the support of my gram (which of course I don't)

Today I was trying to make bread and well right now it's in the oven but it doesn't look to good. Anyway when I was mixing all my different flours to get my 'all purpose flour' she's like you don't do it that way. Well, I said I want to mix it all and my all purpose flour like what you get in ONE BAG at the store. Then she started her rant about how long are you going to do this, it's just a fad, it's not making you feel better because your still crappy as h... I said I was going to do it until I have the money to get the enterolab test done. So she just put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day...

Then Lenny (her boyfriend) asks us to go to dinner. I had called earlier in the week to make sure that Olive Garden has a gluten-free menu of some sort. Manager had said yes and that they would do whatever to make my OG experience a good one. So I mention that we could go to Olive Garden and we wouldn't have any problems. So we get there and I ask for the gluten-free menu they get it for me. I check the prices and my gram goes nuts about how much my meal is going to cost *$15ish* Lenny's like as long as you eat it i don't care what you get. So I order it waitress says and you want me to tell the chef about CC too right. And I said yes please. While she's gone my gram starts complaining about how there's not going to be any croûtons in the salad blah blah blah. The waitress comes back with the salads and breadsticks. I put my salad on my plate first and my gram throws a breadstick on MY SALAD! The waitress came over and said let me get you a new plate and silverware. My gram goes nuts again and mentions to the waitress that I don't know if I really have a gluten intolerance that it's just a fad. The waitress looks at me and says 'are you feeling better off of it?' I said 'so far yeah' and she's like 'that's all that matters.'

Get my gluten-free meal and I'm just staring at the breadsticks that NO ONE is eating. I wanted one so bad...but I didn't eat any...and the only thing that's bothering me is my stomach is gurgling a little bit...but not from dinner I had some cookies and milk when we came home and I think it's the milk that's hurting now.

My gram asked me during dinner what I was going to do about Christmas. I said why does everything have to be surrounded by food. I NEVER ate much on holidays anyway (except burnt stuffing on Thanksgiving). So it's no big deal if I don't eat much anyway. I just don't get why she's so pushy about me doing this. She hates it and I'm starting to hate her for not supporting me in this.

Sorry for it being so long. But thanks for letting me vent.

[Jestgar]

Maybe she's realized that she, too, feels bad after eating gluten but doesn't want to accept that it could be real. If she can force you to admit it isn't real, then she's off the hook.

[Pink-Bunny]

that's what I was thinking...even though my mom was adopted so I wouldn't get my genes from my gram...and when I mentioned that it was genetic she 'kindly' reminded me that my mom was adopted so she wouldn't have it. Granted I never even thought that because everyone knows that my mom is adopted it's just the fact the reason I said it was genetic was because we don't know my mom's family history...and she then reminded me that my mom didn't have any symptoms...then I said she could have just had the gene...but we'll never know now since my mom's been gone since for almost 20 years now...

[kbtoyssni]

Sorry that she's being that way. Maybe it's time to only do non-food activities with her until she is willing to be a little more understanding. Maybe she just doesn't understand why you're doing this and how much better it makes you feel? You would think that she would be fully supportive of anything that woud make her grandaughter feel healthier. Maybe you could ask her for a gift certificate to Enterolab for Christmas

[Pink-Bunny]

hopefully she'll understand eventually. I mean it's definitely new to me too, so I'm still learning.

I tried asking for just money for Christmas that way I could get it...but she said no. either way I'll get it eventually...maybe when my refund check comes from school for spring semester.

[blueeyedmanda]

Some people do not understand at first. When I first went gluten free it was when Atkins was huge and everyone kept saying...Oh you are doing Atkins... That was very rude she threw a breadstick on your salad. Even if she didn't do it on purpose.

So I am curious what did you eat at Olive Garden? I would love to go back there one day.

Like the waitress said, as long as you are feeling better thats all that matters.

[Pink-Bunny]

Oh she definitely did it on purpose...

I had the garden salad no croûtons and the pork tenderloin done in oil and rosemary....with seasoned broccoli (which tasted just steamed to me). It was sooo good...when I used to go there I got the pasta Alfredo. But not anymore. I was so happy that I managed not to eat the breadsticks.

[Ursa Major]

Lisa, are you living with your grandmother? That would obviously make it worse for you. It must be hard not to have her support, especially since you don't have a mother.

Good for her boyfriend to tell you he didn't care how much your meal was. He is supportive in his own way by saying that. And I like what the waitress said, she must know at least a little about celiac disease, or intolerances in general.

That your own grandmother would purposely throw a breadstick on your salad makes me angry, that is clearly abusive. I hope she doesn't gluten you on purpose at home, too, without you knowing about it.

I hope things will get better soon.

[Looking for answers]

Hey!

Yeah, I agree with others, your grams' behavior is disrespectful. Stay strong. There's no way she can deny the fact that you are feeling better and getting healthy. Keep educating yourself as much as possible about gluten intolerance . . . as they say, knowledge is power!

[Nantzie]

Ugh. That's awful.

For some reason this type of story is so common here. It's almost like those movies where a person decides to go off drugs or alcohol and all their friends get mad. (They say that wheat has opiate qualities, so maybe at some point they will discover that that's got some truth to it.) People just go freaking nuts on you.

My husband went off on me when I was still not finished with my testing too. He thought it was just another health kick, thought I just wanted to be sick, thought I was being sick for attention, thought I was a hypochondriac, etc., etc., etc. He just blew up and yelled at me and argued with me for over an hour. It was really bad. That was Oct 2005.

By February 2006, he didn't buy me chocolates for Valentine's Day because he couldn't remember which ones were gluten-free. Instead he went to the gluten-free section of the grocery store near his work which he had noticed, and bought me a whole bag of products and mixes.

Now, over a year later, our kids have been tested and are gluten free as well. Our whole house is gluten free. If my husband wants something with gluten in it, he eats it for lunch. He doesn't kiss me if he's eaten gluten. He also eats all the same gluten-free stuff as the kids and I do at home; bread, pasta, cookies, crackers. He even drank the gluten-free beer I bought to taste-test.

He gets irritable about it every once in a while, but very rarely. Like maybe one snitty comment a few times this year when he's in a mood.

All I did was do exactly what you are doing. Just plant your feet and do it anyway.

It's great that your boyfriend is being so supportive. And that waitress! She deserves a medal for not only being so well informed, but sticking up for you AND getting you a new salad. That's amazing.

Nancy

[debmidge]

are you sure your gram doesn' t have beginnings of alzheimers? Aggressive behavior is one of the symptoms & change in personality.

[blueeyedmanda]

Your meal does sound very good. Now I am getting hungry. I would always get the chicken alfredo...and eat the leftover for breakfast because it was good reheated.

[Pink-Bunny]

Ursula, yes I am living with my gram (and her boyfriend moved in this past summer). I've been living with her since I was 6 (and off and on before that). I basically make my own food. We sit down to an actual meal very rarely because I got sick of hotdogs...that's all that she usually makes. My only fear for the house is I still need to buy my own pots, pans and utensils. So far haven't had anything happen though. Plus I don't work because that's a no-no while I'm in college so I've been using my check from school to pay for this stuff. And she's complaining about how much it was. She did buy me Tinkyada pasta though.

Nancy, My boyfriend before he worked for Kraft was always saying 'your always sick and you don't look sick' then he started working at Kraft. The other night we were out and he's like should I not eat stuff like this around you? I said it doesn't bother me that you eat it (he had onion rings and a hamburger from BK). I didn't go into the kissing CC with him yet. So far I haven't really kissed him after he eats stuff. I wish I had money with me to add to the tip she was amazing.

debmidge, we don't know last semester she was horrible and now that lenny is here she doesn't seem to be as bad. she basically doesn't want to know if anything is wrong with her.

blueeyedmanda, I used to the same thing with the seafood alfredo. The meal last night was very good though it was no alfredo, but good either way.

[Sweetfudge]

Ugh. That's awful.

For some reason this type of story is so common here. It's almost like those movies where a person decides to go off drugs or alcohol and all their friends get mad. (They say that wheat has opiate qualities, so maybe at some point they will discover that that's got some truth to it.) People just go freaking nuts on you.

My husband went off on me when I was still not finished with my testing too. He thought it was just another health kick, thought I just wanted to be sick, thought I was being sick for attention, thought I was a hypochondriac, etc., etc., etc. He just blew up and yelled at me and argued with me for over an hour. It was really bad. That was Oct 2005.

By February 2006, he didn't buy me chocolates for Valentine's Day because he couldn't remember which ones were gluten-free. Instead he went to the gluten-free section of the grocery store near his work which he had noticed, and bought me a whole bag of products and mixes.

Now, over a year later, our kids have been tested and are gluten free as well. Our whole house is gluten free. If my husband wants something with gluten in it, he eats it for lunch. He doesn't kiss me if he's eaten gluten. He also eats all the same gluten-free stuff as the kids and I do at home; bread, pasta, cookies, crackers. He even drank the gluten-free beer I bought to taste-test.

He gets irritable about it every once in a while, but very rarely. Like maybe one snitty comment a few times this year when he's in a mood.

All I did was do exactly what you are doing. Just plant your feet and do it anyway.

It's great that your boyfriend is being so supportive. And that waitress! She deserves a medal for not only being so well informed, but sticking up for you AND getting you a new salad. That's amazing.

Nancy

Lol my husband gets like that sometimes. especially when he wants to go out to eat. I get cc most places that he likes to eat. we've started ordering to go it works pretty well! Although he can be really good about things sometimes. He did get a gluten-free cake mix and have his mom make it for my birthday.

Ursula, yes I am living with my gram (and her boyfriend moved in this past summer). I've been living with her since I was 6 (and off and on before that). I basically make my own food. We sit down to an actual meal very rarely because I got sick of hotdogs...that's all that she usually makes. My only fear for the house is I still need to buy my own pots, pans and utensils. So far haven't had anything happen though. Plus I don't work because that's a no-no while I'm in college so I've been using my check from school to pay for this stuff. And she's complaining about how much it was. She did buy me Tinkyada pasta though.

Nancy, My boyfriend before he worked for Kraft was always saying 'your always sick and you don't look sick' then he started working at Kraft. The other night we were out and he's like should I not eat stuff like this around you? I said it doesn't bother me that you eat it (he had onion rings and a hamburger from BK). I didn't go into the kissing CC with him yet. So far I haven't really kissed him after he eats stuff. I wish I had money with me to add to the tip she was amazing.

debmidge, we don't know last semester she was horrible and now that lenny is here she doesn't seem to be as bad. she basically doesn't want to know if anything is wrong with her.

blueeyedmanda, I used to the same thing with the seafood alfredo. The meal last night was very good though it was no alfredo, but good either way.

We need to figure out a way to make some good alfredo sauce...I'd love some seafood alfredo! Once you get your pots and pans, keep them where gram won't use them (like in a box in your room if you have to).

Hopefullly she will come around soon. Hang in there and know that we feel your pain!

[SchnauzerMom]

It's good to know that Olive Garden has gluten free stuff. I never dreamed that they would.

That waitress deserves an extra big tip. Especially for being informed on gluten free and for standing by you.

There is nothing worse than seeing a grownup throwing a tantrum and that is basically what your grandmother did. Has to have her own way, I guess. Hopefully she will come to understand and respect your need to be gluten free.

[Sweetfudge]

There is nothing worse than seeing a grownup throwing a tantrum and that is basically what your grandmother did. Has to have her own way, I guess. Hopefully she will come to understand and respect your need to be gluten free.

lol my MIL throws tantrums! she's so b*tchy sometimes! thank goodness i don't have to live w/ her anymore! i really hope gram comes around...we all gave my sister a hard time about being "lactose intolerant" when she was like 10, but to this day she still maintains she is...and now that i have my dx, i think i might know why....