Recently Diagnosed...and A Bit Distressed...

[fletch84]

Hi everyone

My name is Haley, I was recently diagnosed with a gluten-intolerance (or Celiac...my doctor's never were very clear) and I have been eating gluten-free for the past 2 weeks. But, last night I ran into a little fluke at a restaurant, and accidentally ate some salad dressing that had gluten. Which was a bit...upsetting.

I was just wondering if it gets easier as you go along? And if people get to be a bit more...understanding about the disease (a few of my friends have been less-than-supportive about my bouts with GI issues over the past few months.) I was also wondering how to deal with being glutened, and the best home remedies for when this inevitably happens again.

Thanks!

-Haley

[RKB-MD]

Haley -

Best thing you can do is read a lot about this disease state. The disease is: non-tropical celiac sprue, also known as gluten enteropathy. There is a tropical variety, but it is caused by an ameoba, and curable with antibiotics. It's got a couple of different names, but they all mean one thing - you must avoid anything that contains the kind of gluten (actually a sub-protein of gluten called giladin) found in wheat, barley, hops, and some other grains. Corn gluten is OK though.

Basically you are now into a life of reading labels in the grocery store, asking a lot of questions of waiters and friends, and hoping that people are honest with you.

It's not an easy diet, but it can be done.

Will everyone be considerate? No. (You will learn very quickly who your real friends are.)

Will you always have a "pure" diet? Not unless you yourself prepare the meal and know exactly what is in it.

Will you get sick if you eat out? Possibly - although things have gotten MUCH better over the past 10 years. There are several chain restaurants (Chilis, Outback, Bonefish come to mind immediately) that actually have gluten-free menus - but you have to ask and persist - it's extra work for the teenager server, and they usually roll their eyes and act put out. Will the waiter in the higher-end place always convey to the chef what you need? NO, and let the owners know afterwards!!!!

Is it worth keeping pure? YES - the consequences of long-term gluten exposure are worse than irritating diarrhea and itchy spots! Small intestinal lymphoma is the ultimate negative consequence.

The best remedy I have always found is bananas and Gatorade.

The last time I completely screwed up involved eating soysauce marinated beef with a soysauce-pepper dipping sauce - I wasn't paying attention and was ill for 3 days. I haven't been that sick in years. I treated myself with a series of bannana, ice, honey, and rum slushees.

Russ

[BRUMI1968]

Hi and welcome to the site. I don't know of any home remedies for being glutened - I so far have not have quick responses to being glutened, except once, and that was bizarre since C was always my problem and not D, and D I had and how.

Anyway, there is an enzyme pill called Gluteneze that might help some folks who have been glutened. It is not for taking so that you can purposefully eat gluten, though, no matter what the company might say about it.

Stick with the diet - it is worth it. There will probably always be butt heads about it. I'm 38 and a few weeks ago my Dad gave me a completely hard time to the point of calling me paranoid for not wanting to eat out at a restaurant. I can't figure out why it mattered to him that i sat there with tea and didn't get food (I ended up eating a dry baked potato--surely they couldn't inject gluten into that)...but whatever. i cried in the car on the way home. I need to figure out how to stand up for myself, especially my health. BUT I have found that the healthier our guts get, the healthier our expression gets - so it should get easier as we go along.

Take care. Your closest friends should be able to see a change in you -- feeling sick less often, brains more on top of it, etc. And then they'll be able to appreciate how you don't want to lose that just to go out to dinner. They might even learn to cook you something.