Newly Diagnosed

[kschmitz]

Thank you for all of your kind responses. It is such a comfort to know that someone understands what I am going through. I have a loving, supportive family. However, they do not understand what they call my "obsession" to seek out and eliminate gluten from my life. They roll their eyes when I talk of cross contamination, labeling, and all of the other new vocabulary that I am still learning. So please keep posting, everyone, because this forum is a lifeline.

[hthorvald]

I know exactly what you mean. My friends and family were very supportive at first, but the eye rolling thing is a good clue that I've about saturated everyone with my knowledge of this disease.

And I agree, this forum is an excellent outlet to learn, vent or give advice, about this curious ailment. I now find myself talking to people I don't even know about things I thought I'd only share with my husband. Alas, I don't share as much with him anymore. Some things I do, because he really wants to understand this disease better. But most of the time, he looks forward to me returning to my "normal" diet and lifestyle.

H.

[tarnalberry]

I think one of the things that helped me with regards to having people respect what you say about contamination is "less chat, more hat". Ok, the quote from The Simpson's falls apart a bit on those last two words, but basically, the idea was to stop talking about it, and just do it. In a friend's kitchen, I'd check which cutting board was reguarly used for bread, and when I got an inquisitive look, I'd just say that I want to avoid contamination - exactly with the confidence and self-assuredness (and, "I'm doing this no matter what"-edness) that I'd use for dealing with, say, raw poultry. I think they got tired, to a degree, with all the talking about it, when the important part is the action. (They were always receptive, but as much as they can respect the boundaries, it's not something they're going to spend much personal mental effort on, beyond what needs to be done to keep me safe.)

[hthorvald]

I agree about "action." I want to manage this disease, and not the other way around. I have gathered as much knowledge as one can in 4 months and it's time to step in to action and have this diet second nature to me. Probably easier said than done and this forum is a great place to ask questions.

H.

[DoggiePaws]

Hello everyone!

I was recently diagnosed (almost 2 weeks ago) and have been trying some glutten free foods for the past 3 days! I need a little help...where do I go from here? There is no support group here where I live (I have even researched and have yet to find one in this whole state). What kind of advice would you give to a recent newbie who had never even heard of Celiac Disease until almost 2 weeks ago?

[tarnalberry]

Doggie - the best advice I can give is to eat simply. I don't mean boringly, I mean stick with whole foods, and unprocessed foods. The produce aisle, the meat counter, the aisle with beans and rice, and the spice aisle are all you need to make a lot of very tasty food. (Ooops, and the dairy case, if you can have dairy.) (And a caveat on the spice aisle - avoid the "seasoning mixes" until you are comfortable reading ingredients and calling companies, but the common brands of pure spices tend to be gluten-free.)

Take some time to read through the resources on this site (particularly the safe/unsafe list), browse through the topics on the boards, and do some google searches on celiac, gluten intolerance, and gluten free diet. It'll take some time to get familiar and comfortable with the diet, but you're already on the right track by asking questions.

If you note where you're from, someone may know of a support group in the area.