Just Diagnosed, First Time Here, Help!

[GuitarGurl]

Hello to all and thanks for letting me in. I am over 50, and just diagnosed this week with "severe Osteoarthritis, end-stage" whatever end-stage means, and I am being referred to an Orthopedic Surgeon.

My good friend has been gluten-free for several months now, and says her knees are so much better now that her arthritis pain is gone, so she referred me here. However, I don't know anything about Celiac Disease, or gluten-free, or how it relates to Arthritis. Can someone direct me how to find out?

And I need to find out the basics of a gluten-free diet, please don't make me cook everything from scratch, I can barely stand long enough to make myself a cup of tea!

Thanks to anyone who will lead me through this learning process!

[tom]

Well, GuitarGurl, coming here is good way to start gluten-free.

I just put down MY guitar to write this!

You'll find a lot of info here in the cooking/baking sections and in the gluten-free Products section.

Straight gluten-free is a helluva lot easier than it used to be.

I bought a breadmachine to make the bread part a breeze - never did find a store-bought loaf worth eating, tho I haven't looked in a few yrs.

I've been off yeast for a while now but I used to just buy a Bob's Red Mill bread mix and toss it in the machine and have fantastic fresh-baked bread before long.

It IS daunting at first, but in a few wks you'll have no problem eating great & gluten-free.

And, of course, probably feeling much better too.

[Guest j_mommy]

Mrs. Leepers brand pasta is good...I like the corn variety...still don't are for rice noodles!

www.sillyyakbakery.com and www.grandmaferdons.com : both of these sites have awesome premade bread!!!!

Good Luck to you!

Note: Gluten intolerance and celiac disease suck the nutrients out of your body(everything goes right through you) so this causes your bones to not get what they need which in turns causes osteo problems!!!!

[Guest lorlyn]

Hi and welcome Just keep trying it does get easier.

[mftnchn]

Since there are lots of causes for arthritis, I would suggest before you delve into the gluten-free diet, ask for a celiac blood test panel

Antigliadin (AGA) IgA

Antigliadin (AGA) IgG

Anti - endomysial (EMA) IgA

Anti - tissue Transglutiminase (tTg) IgA

Total Serum IgA

If that is negative, consider Enterolab, which tests for gluten sensitivity and some other foods. Use that as a guideline, not a diagnosis for celiac.

Then you could do a trial on the diet. Just know that if you are celiac, you might need to wait for months to see the improvement as it is related to the healing of the damage in your gut and other places from the gluten. If you do stews in the crock pot and so forth, the cooking is easier. Do you have someone who can help for part of the work?

If you are celiac, you may need some supplements as your arthritis may be worsened by malabsorption.

We really hope to hear that you are better!