Jump to content
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.




  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):



    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):


  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

I Was So Proud Of Myself


Pink-Bunny

Recommended Posts

Pink-Bunny Apprentice

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.


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



Jestgar Rising Star

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 Apprentice

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 Contributor

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 Apprentice

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

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 Community Regular

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 Apprentice

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. :)


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



Ursa Major Collaborator

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 Contributor

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! :rolleyes:

Nantzie Collaborator

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 Rising Star

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

blueeyedmanda Community Regular

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 Apprentice

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 Community Regular
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. :wub:

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. :rolleyes: Hang in there and know that we feel your pain!

SchnauzerMom Rookie

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 Community Regular
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....

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):
  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      133,258
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    Tdodge
    Newest Member
    Tdodge
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.6k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):
  • Who's Online (See full list)

  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • suek54
      Wow KK, thank you so much for all your attached info. I had a very quick scan but will read more in depth later.  The one concerning corticosteroid use is very interesting. That would relate to secondary adrenal insufficiency I think , ie AI caused by steroids such as taken long term for eg asthma. I have primary autoimmune AI, my adrenals are atrophied, no chance if recovery there. But I am in touch with some secondaries, so something to bear in mind. .  Niacin B3 Very interesting too. Must have a good read about that.  Im sure lots of questions will arise as I progress with dermatitis herpetiformis. In the mean time, thanks for your help.
    • knitty kitty
      Welcome to the forum, @suek54, I have Dermatitis Herpetiformis, too.  I found taking Niacin B3 very helpful in clearing my skin from blisters as well as improving the itchies-without-rash (peripheral neuropathy).  Niacin has been used since the 1950's to improve dermatitis herpetiformis.   I try to balance my iodine intake (which will cause flairs) with Selenium which improves thyroid function.   Interesting Reading: Dermatitis herpetiformis effectively treated with heparin, tetracycline and nicotinamide https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10844495/   Experience with selenium used to recover adrenocortical function in patients taking glucocorticosteroids long https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24437222/   Two Cases of Dermatitis Herpetiformis Successfully Treated with Tetracycline and Niacinamide https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30390734/   Steroid-Resistant Rash With Neuropsychiatric Deterioration and Weight Loss: A Modern-Day Case of Pellagra https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12532421/#:~:text=Figure 2.,(right panel) upper limbs.&text=The distribution of the rash,patient's substantial response to treatment.   Nicotinic acid therapy of dermatitis herpetiformis (1950) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15412276/
    • suek54
      Thank you all for your advice and the dermatitis herpetiformis article. The latter made me realise I had stopped taking my antihistamine, which I will restart today. The Dapsone has cleared the rash entirely but I still get quite a bit itching, absolutely nothing to see though. I know its notoriously hard to clear and its still relatively early days for me.  The iodine issue is very interesting. I do eat quite a bit of salt because I have Addison's disease and sodium retention is an issue. I also have autoimmune hypothyroidism, not sure how a low iodine diet would play into that? Because of my Addison's I am totally steroid dependent, I take steroids 4 x daily and cannot mount any defence against inflammation. I need to increase my meds for that. Now that I know what is wrong I can do just that if Im having a bad day. Life is very sweet, just so damn complicated sometimes! Hey ho, onwards. Thank you again for your advice.  
    • trents
      So, essentially all of the nutrition in the food we eat is absorbed through the villous lining of the small bowel. This is the section of the intestinal track that is damaged by celiac disease. This villous lining is composed of billions of finger-like projections that create a huge amount of surface area for absorbing nutrients. For the celiac person, when gluten is consumed, it triggers an autoimmune reaction in this area which, of course, generates inflammation. The antibodies connected with this inflammation is what the celiac blood tests are designed to detect but this inflammation, over time, wears down the finger-like projections of the villous lining. Of course, when this proceeds for an extended period of time, greatly reduces the absorption efficiency of the villous lining and often results in many and various nutrient deficiency-related health issues. Classic examples would be osteoporosis and iron deficiency. But there are many more. Low D3 levels is a well-known celiac-caused nutritional deficiency. So is low B12. All the B vitamins in fact. Magnesium, zinc, etc.  Celiac disease can also cause liver inflammation. You mention elevated ALP levels. Elevated liver enzymes over a period of 13 years was what led to my celiac diagnosis. Within three months of going gluten free my liver enzymes normalized. I had elevated AST and ALT. The development of sensitivities to other food proteins is very common in the celiac population. Most common cross reactive foods are dairy and oats but eggs, soy and corn are also relatively common offenders. Lactose intolerance is also common in the celiac population because of damage to the SB lining.  Eggs when they are scrambled or fried give me a gut ache. But when I poach them, they do not. The steam and heat of poaching causes a hydrolysis process that alters the protein in the egg. They don't bother me in baked goods either so I assume the same process is at work. I bought a plastic poacher on Amazon to make poaching very easy. All this to say that many of the issues you describe could be caused by celiac disease. 
    • catnapt
      thank you so much for your detailed and extremely helpful reply!! I can say with absolute certainty that the less gluten containing products I've eaten over the past several years, the better I've felt.   I wasn't avoiding gluten, I was avoiding refined grains (and most processed foods) as well as anything that made me feel bad when I ate it. It's the same reason I gave up dairy and eggs- they make me feel ill.  I do have a bit of a sugar addiction lol so a lot of times I wasn't sure if it was the refined grains that I was eating - or the sugar. So from time to time I might have a cookie or something but I've learned how to make wonderful cookies and golden brownies with BEANS!! and no refined sugar - I use date paste instead. Pizza made me so ill- but I thought it was probably the cheese. I gave up pizza and haven't missed it. the one time I tried a slice I felt so bad I knew I'd never touch it again. I stopped eating wheat pasta at least 3 yrs ago- just didn't feel well after eating it. I tried chick pea pasta and a few others and discovered I like the brown rice pasta. I still don't eat a lot of pasta but it's nice for a change when I want something easy. TBH over the years I've wondered sometimes if I might be gluten intolerant but really believed it was not possible for me to have celiac disease. NOW I need to know for sure- because I'm in the middle of a long process of trying to find out why I have a high parathyroid level (NOT the thyroid- but rather the 4 glands that control the calcium balance in your body) I have had a hard time getting my vit D level up, my serum calcium has run on the low side of normal for many years... and now I am losing calcium from my bones and excreting it in my urine (some sort of renal calcium leak) Also have a high ALP since 2014. And now rapidly worsening bone density.  I still do not have a firm diagnosis. Could be secondary HPT (but secondary to what? we need to know) It could be early primary HPT. I am spilling calcium in my urine but is that caused by the high parathyroid hormone or is it the reason my PTH is high>? there are multiple feedback loops for this condition.    so I will keep eating the bread and some wheat germ that does not seem to bother me too much (it hasn't got enough gluten to use just wheat germ)    but I'm curious- if you don't have a strong reaction to a product- like me and wheat germ- does that mean it's ok to eat or is it still causing harm even if you don't have any obvious symptoms? I guess what you are saying about silent celiac makes it likely that you can have no symptoms and still have the harm... but geez! you'd think they'd come up with a way to test for this that didn't require you to consume something that makes you sick! I worry about the complications I've been reading about- different kinds of cancers etc. also wondering- are there degrees of celiac disease?  is there any correlation between symptoms and the amnt of damage to your intestines? I also need a firm diagnosis because I have an identical twin sister ... so if I have celiac, she has it too- or at least the genetic make up for having it. I did have a VERY major stress to my body in 2014-2016 time frame .. lost 50lbs in a short period of time and had severe symptoms from acute protracted withdrawal off an SSRI drug (that I'd been given an unethically high dose of, by a dr who has since lost his license)  Going off the drug was a good thing and in many ways my health improved dramatically- just losing 50lbs was helpful but I also went  off almost a dozen different medications, totally changed my diet and have been doing pretty well except for the past 3-4 yrs when the symptoms related to the parathyroid issue cropped up. It is likely that I had low vit D for some time and that caused me a lot of symptoms. The endo now tells me that low vit D can be caused by celiac disease so I need to know for sure! thank you for all that great and useful information!!! 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.