I Worry Too Much.

[dandelionmom]

I couldn't sleep last night because I was worried about how Julia would keep healthy when she goes off to college. That is 15 years away! What is wrong with me?!

[buffettbride]

Oh my gosh! So do I! Especially about college since I know my daughter wants to live out of state to go to college.

She's only 10, so that's only 8 MORE YEARS!!!

Thankfully, she'd like to go to college in NY so I feel better about that being a gluten-free-friendly place than just about anywhere from what I've heard.

[shan]

You know what my fears are? That her social life will be a nothing, and that no one will like her (she is not yet 3!) but then i think that everyone has to worry about something! I also worry about who will want to marry or date someone who cant even be in a house where there is flour!

[hathor]

Rest assured, whatever you are worried about when your kids are little turns out not to be what the problems are when they actually DO go off to college

There is growing awareness of celiac. Even now, college students can go to the food service and work with them to get acceptable food. The latter have been dealing with allergies, diabetes, etc., for years. This is just one more thing. I think when gluten intolerant college students run into trouble it is when they don't talk to food service and just guess what might be safe.

Any child avoiding gluten for years will learn how to do so, what to look for, how to talk to restaurants, etc.

If someone is shallow enough that s/he wouldn't want to be with someone who can't eat a particular food, I say good riddance!

[buffettbride]

If someone is shallow enough that s/he wouldn't want to be with someone who can't eat a particular food, I say good riddance!

We assure our daughter of this CONSTANTLY and are trying to set a good example of what someone who cares for her would be like.

-Her home gets to be gluten free and a complete "safe" zone

-Her daddy even only drinks gluten-free beer now so he can smooch our daughter with no worries

We tell her that any boy who is worth anything won't hesitate to make those concessions to keep her safe.

Even at age 10, a boy in class who digs her is always showing off his gluten-free snack bar (his family is very organic and health conscious) to try and impress her. It is absolutely adorable.

[kbtoyssni]

If it makes you feel any better, I'm 25 and my social life is much better now that I'm gluten-free than it was before. By the time your children reach college, they'll be pros at the diet. They'll take everything you're teaching them now about the diet and how to deal with it with them when they go to college. You've got years to prepare them so I'm sure they'll be just fine.

[buffettbride]

If it makes you feel any better, I'm 25 and my social life is much better now that I'm gluten-free than it was before. By the time your children reach college, they'll be pros at the diet. They'll take everything you're teaching them now about the diet and how to deal with it with them when they go to college. You've got years to prepare them so I'm sure they'll be just fine.

If I could bottle your outlook and attitude and sell it to the masses, I'd be a very wealthy woman.

[debmom]

I can relate. My daughter was 15 when diagnosed and is 16 now. So college is just two years away. But she is SOOO good about her diet and has found so many things to eat that she enjoys. Occasionally she has a mini-meltdown, but overall she feels so much better that the diet isn't an issue.

I will still send her to school/ college with homemade goodies for all occasions. I make cakes and brownies and freeze them for parties and places she will encounter non-gluten free food that she used to enjoy. So far the kids seem to like my gluten free brownies better than the regular, so the only problem is that I'm baking them all the time.

Her girlfriends had a surprise party for her birthday last week and they were so cute. they shopped for all sorts of gluten free food and even worried about latex in balloons (which I assured them were OK) They seem so relieved to know why she was so sick and seem to cherish her friendship even more now that she is able to be back at school with them. So stop worrying. You will all adjust. I spent almost a year with sleepless nights, but rarely so anymore.

Kids are resilient. And if their friends are really friends, they will hlep your daughter cope with being gluten free.

[dandelionmom]

Thanks everyone! It is nice to know that I'm not the only one with these worries and the encouraging stories are so good to hear! My husband is fabulous and so supportive but he tends to laugh at me a little when I get going with my crazy worries.

[darlindeb25]

I had to laugh at this thread, not because you worry, but because just last week I told someone that "worry" is my middle name. I worry that my kids have celiac and aren't in the frame of mind to do anything about it for now! I worry that my grandkids will have it and their parents won't realize it! I worry that I recognize the symptoms in friends and can't make them realize the seriousness of the disease. I also worry about the weather, my family, my friends--you name it, I worry.

I do not know how to change. Yet, the way I am is who I am and if I change, then who will I be. Now I will worry about that.

[kbtoyssni]

If I could bottle your outlook and attitude and sell it to the masses, I'd be a very wealthy woman.

Can I get a percentage of the profits? I do have a very positive attitude. Life's too short to spend it being negative and bitter about things I have no control over.

[laurelfla]

I can so relate to this thread! I am a big worrier, too, and I worry about that and try to change it all the time! No luck yet...

I worry about when to introduce cereals to my baby and how to do that, and I am not planning to have children for at least three more years! I think developing Celiac or taking care of someone who has opens up an entire world of potential worry we couldn't even have imagined beforehand!

But to throw in my two cents, after diagnosis a little over two years ago, I met the man of my dreams who, once he found out what I had, investigated on his own to learn about the disease, still won't eat pizza in front of me, and readily accepted living in a completely gluten free house in December after we get married and eating gluten free at home for the rest of his life! He's more supportive than I ever would have dared ask for. So not to worry! These guys are out there!