Help Please!

[diapason05]

Alright. Here we go. I'm going to give a brief overview of me.. I've been hanging out here for a few weeks and I want to finally post something. Please read. Many of you are very knowledgable about this subject and all of its possible complications.

Me:

Age 3- Chronic Sinus/Ear Infections- Tonsils OUT

Age5- Appendix BURST

All Ages- very bad allergies (runny nose/sneezing kind.. anemia.. lots of colds..)

Age 15- Hodgkin's disease- 4 months of chemo and in remission

AGe 21- Did allergy test FINALLy- tested positive for all kinds of wild grasses, dust mites, wheat and soy. I do realize a wheat allergy reaction does not mean I'm intolerant of the gluten in wheat tho.

Age 22- period stopped/shingles/grew white hair on my head!! DIAGNOSED MYSELF WITH HYPOTHYROIDISM. did all the research and my oncologist ran tests for me and confirmed that I have auto-immune HASHIMOTO'S disease. Started 88 mcgs levothroid. period came back, hair grew under arms, boobs grew! whoa, amazing what that little thyroid hormone is capable of.

Mom has rheumatoid arthritis and symptoms of what I think are thyroid problems. She is eastern european.

Dad is Irish/Swedish- HAS hypothyroidism. His sister/ My aunt has CELIAC. evrybody has melanoma and my grandma and her sister had breast cancer and died of it ;(

I'm currently a 22/f.

5/13 I started being gluten-free. I immediately felt better and lost weight. I totally screwed up about a week ago and ate SUNCHIPS- definitely had some sort of um bowel reaction. I ate quite a few of them and gained about 3 lbs overnight. (this is common with me. I always gain an obscene amount of weight after eating these sorts of things.. bloated from gluten?)

I have been drinking half n half every day in my coffee and have not noticed any problems.. I've had yogurt and fat free lattes and while the coffee may seem to hurry along any bowel stuff that is going to happen..

Today I had a lot of Cocoa pebbles because I was sick of eating what I've been eating. I had these with a lot of 2% milk. This was a BAD IDEA. My guts rumbling now and I believed that these things were gluten-free.

Is it all the milk maybe????

Either that or I switched the type of food going into my body too fast.. It was used to a lot of protein, I guess.. and veggies.

I know most of you might say I ought to get tested first, but i dont have health care at the moment and If you noticed.. No one diagnosed my thyroid disease- I was given prozac and birth control pills to manage the symtoms. I had to do my own research to fix it. I figure that if a gluten-free diet (and milk free?) can help me, I'm going to do it. I am sick of being so sick!

[ravenwoodglass]

I am not one who is going to tell you of the need to test first, there are too many false negatives. Your body and it's reaction to gluten is really the deciding factor. I replied on your other post also, your plan is solid for now. I do want to note on the issue of the cereal, the one you mentioned has a very, very high chance of CC. Do not judge whether it was milk or gluten by that cereal. EnviroKids makes a chocolate rice cereal that is also very good but is less likely to have CC issues.

The gluten free diet is a very healthy diet for the most part and if you start out like your other post plans for a couple months when you do add processed food back in you will have an easier time telling if you are reacting to it.

[lmvrbaby]

I agree with Ravenwoodglass. The thing that I was told was to stop milk cause it damages the villa in the intestines. I went months after gluten free diet and then had problems with milk. I went to rice or soy milk and haven't had those kind of problems. You can try it, not to much different than regular milk. Kind of like trying different breads, you try different kinds til you find the one you like best. Kepp up and maybe when you have health insurance you may have testing done. Just keep trying and I do hope you get better soon. I know how it is being sick and then you r fine for awhile then there is a mistake on a food and then stomach pains.

[loraleena]

I may be wrong but I thought Coco pebbles weren't gluten free anymore. Also, you should stay a way from junk food while you are healing. You should stick to whole foods.

[diapason05]

I am not one who is going to tell you of the need to test first, there are too many false negatives. Your body and it's reaction to gluten is really the deciding factor. I replied on your other post also, your plan is solid for now. I do want to note on the issue of the cereal, the one you mentioned has a very, very high chance of CC. Do not judge whether it was milk or gluten by that cereal. EnviroKids makes a chocolate rice cereal that is also very good but is less likely to have CC issues.

The gluten free diet is a very healthy diet for the most part and if you start out like your other post plans for a couple months when you do add processed food back in you will have an easier time telling if you are reacting to it.

Alright.. I am going to stick to the simplest diet I can. It's an inconvenience for sure.. (Like when i am flying to Hawaii next week.. 17 hours of travel.. what do I eat???!)

But I am so bloated and in pain right now I think it's definitely worth any inconvenience.

[gfgypsyqueen]

As for the trip to Hawaii: pack your food for the plane. They have really cute soft coolers that look like tote bags now. Get a letter from the dr if you need to. Pack, sandwiches, fruit, scones, chips and dip, pretzles, all gluten-free of course. I am not found of sandwiches any more, so I make a sliced meat, salsa, and veggies mix. It fills me up and tastes great, plus it wont spoil easily like mayo.

You can buy water, chips, and candy bars at the airport. I wuold not eat much candy though.

Make a gluten-free list of foods to bring with you so you have an easier time on your trip.