Jump to content

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Oh Canada!

theceliachusband

Recommended Posts

theceliachusband Rookie
theceliachusband
Posted

Being new to this forum, what jumped out at me first is, how active the folks from down under are in this forum. Very impressive. Not that I would like to be called a copy cat or ME TOO man, but I think in the Gluten free world Canada has so much to offer. Kinnikinnick, Glutino, Rizopia to just name a few of the best.

My wife and daughter are both Celiacs and we just moved back to Canada. One of the best places on earth.

Let's see how many Canadians are in here and can get active. Let's post things we don't have up here (Brown Cow Yoghurt the best of all, Cocoa Pebbles, the best rice based cereal), or things we found when travelling the world (Schaer products from Germany), or just plain simple exchange info.

Talk soon, :P

Peter

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


Ursa Major Collaborator
Ursa Major
Posted

Hi Peter! Well, we have El Peto products (located in Cambridge, Ontario) and Little Streams Bakery (Perth, Ontario). El Peto has just brought out a new bread, which is called 'Gourmet Bread' and it is delicious! It tastes just like light rye bread. Even my daughter, who hated all other gluten-free breads, will eat it.

psawyer Proficient
psawyer
Posted

Hi, Peter, I am also Peter.

There are a number of Canadians who are regulars here, including two moderators (I am one of them).

:( In Canada, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce is not gluten-free. It is in the US.

:( Rice Chex are now gluten-free, but they have not been sold in Canada for many years.

Welcome aboard.

theceliachusband Rookie
theceliachusband
Posted
  • Author

Hi Peter,

glad to hear that are some Canadians in here. I am actually Austrian. Married to a Canadian.

So let's see what comes of it in here.

I believe that gluten free foods will become not only better, but also more widely available, as more companies become aware of the loyalty that Celiacs display.

solittletime Newbie
solittletime
Posted

Checking in from Mississauga... just learning this stuff but I'm so glad for Highland Farms and their huge selection of gluten free products, especially fresh bread - Sterk's Bakery (gluten-free Italian Hi-Fibre bread) from Vineland, Ontario. :rolleyes:

Chicklet Rookie
Chicklet
Posted

Hello, I'm just outside of Edmonton and have been to Kinnickinick a number of times. Great stuff.

Cattle Boyz BBQ sauce is gluten free and made in Calgary. Yum. :DOpen Original Shared Link

Chicklet Rookie
Chicklet
Posted

Cool, I liked your blog. :)

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


elye Community Regular
elye
Posted

Hi, Peter!

I'm in Ottawa. I used to order my Kinnikinnick products form their website and have it delivered, but I've since found a health food store in town that carries almost everything in their frozen section....a great find!

The one chain that hasn't made it up here, and boy, do we need it, is Whole Foods. We went shopping in one while we were on holiday in NYC......what a terrific source for our food!

If you are ever in the nation's capital, you must have dinner at Bella Vista Restaurant. The most delicious gluten-free pizza and pasta dishes....and gluten-free beer! :)

theceliachusband Rookie
theceliachusband
Posted
  • Author

We used to live in the USA for a while and yes, Whole Foods is a tremendous place to shop. We miss it very much. Not close to you. but int eh same province they do have one.

Toronto is the only place where you will find a Whole Foods market.

H.Peter

Hi, Peter!

I'm in Ottawa. I used to order my Kinnikinnick products form their website and have it delivered, but I've since found a health food store in town that carries almost everything in their frozen section....a great find!

The one chain that hasn't made it up here, and boy, do we need it, is Whole Foods. We went shopping in one while we were on holiday in NYC......what a terrific source for our food!

If you are ever in the nation's capital, you must have dinner at Bella Vista Restaurant. The most delicious gluten-free pizza and pasta dishes....and gluten-free beer! :)

theceliachusband Rookie
theceliachusband
Posted
  • Author

I am glad you liked my scribbles. Any ideas how to make it better, just let me know

H.Peter

Cool, I liked your blog. :)
theceliachusband Rookie
theceliachusband
Posted
  • Author

Guten Tag,

I am from Austria originally, moved here in 1995. Love it in Canada. Stay in touch.

H.Peter

Hi Peter! Well, we have El Peto products (located in Cambridge, Ontario) and Little Streams Bakery (Perth, Ontario). El Peto has just brought out a new bread, which is called 'Gourmet Bread' and it is delicious! It tastes just like light rye bread. Even my daughter, who hated all other gluten-free breads, will eat it.
Gerri Explorer
Gerri
Posted

Hi

Gerri, here from Kichener, Ontario not far from Cambridge, Ontario where the El Peto products are made.

Hugs

  • 3 weeks later...
hlmac Newbie
hlmac
Posted

Hi everyone

My name is Heather I am in Newfoundland Canada

I was diagnosed 4 years ago and at first it was really hard to find food but I am happy to say it is much easier now and in fact there is quiet a variety here now.

For anyone else from Newfoundland or traveling to....there is a great Bakery in St. John's called Manna Bakery you are required to call them a day ahead to place your order but they make gluten free bread, kaiser rolls, carrot muffins, partridge berry muffins, blueberry muffins and then best chocolate chip cookies I have ever found.

A number of restaurants have gluten free menus as well but the best I have found is The Old Mill Ruins in Campbellton NL the father of the owner is Celiac so they almost everything they have is gluten free and they are really careful with the products that are not. They even have a separate gluten free fryer for cooking french fries and things.

I'm so glad I finally found this forum it is great to have a place to ask questions and just read how other people are dealing with the disease.

Cheers

Heather

Rondar2001 Apprentice
Rondar2001
Posted

Hi and welcome Calgary!! This is my home town too and there are alot of great options here.

There is a fully gluten free restaraunt on 17 Avenue SE called A Tasty Menu. I also do quite a bit of shopping at Superstore, Community Natural Foods, Lakeview Bakery, and the Purified Water Stores as they all carry quite a bit of pre packaged gluten free foods. A couple of these places even hold gluten free pancake breakfasts during stampede week.

Enjoy the site and welcome.

NorthernElf Enthusiast
NorthernElf
Posted

I'm in British Columbia.

I too love some of the Kinnikinnick stuff. I buy their sunflower & flaxseed bread mix and make it, slice it, & freeze it. I also eat their english muffins and cinnamon buns. Ugh, didn't like the cinnamon buns the first time I tried them but they grew on me. ;)

I also like Quejos out of Vancouver - they make a mannioc/cassava based "bun". I first tried them out of the freezer at Whole Foods in Vancouver. They have varieties from cheese to jalepeno. Unfortunately shipping to where I live is a tad pricey.

I LOVE Riceworks chips. Costco has a large bag of sweet chili flavor but Safeway carries several other flavors. I've taken to the plain ones for salsa after some hit & miss experiences with Tostitos.

I am also glad Walmart has that Great Value brand - some things I can find there that are gluten-free. Also - Classico & Healthy Choice pasta sauces, Cattle Boyz bbq sauce, Grimms sausages (many varieties) from Costco...sliced ham too. I buy a large bag of brown rice from Costco that say glute free as well.

I am SO happy that new labelling laws are coming in...

theceliachusband Rookie
theceliachusband
Posted
  • Author

Holidays are coming to an end....there are more posts again in some topics. :P

Not much new, I am off to Europe for a while, back to Calgary mid September.

  • 1 month later...
Mommy2Ellie Rookie
Mommy2Ellie
Posted

Hello! Also from Canada here! A tiny town about 5 hours east of Vancouver, BC. I have a 16 month old daughter that has been "tentatively" diagnosed with celiacs. We're trying out the diet to see! We don't have a lot of the "big-name products", but we have a lady in town that makes all gluten-free frozen foods so we order a ton from her! Anything you can think of, muffins, lasagna, breads......all yummy. Oh, and we have some El Peso stuff at the health food store. Glad to see there are a bunch of Canadians here!

  • 2 weeks later...
Wonka Apprentice
Wonka
Posted

Hello from a Vancouver Celiac. One of my 13 year old triplets is also in the process of getting her diagnosis (positive ttg and rising and has the DQ2 gene, biopsy scheduled for Dec 4). We have 2 rice bakeries here, Panne Rizo and Choices Rice Bakery. I tend to make all of my own baked goods though, as I also can't have soy, all legumes(including cashews - who knew it was a legume), nightshades(tomato, potato, peppers and eggplants), carregeenan(found in commercial icecreams, sour cream, cream cheese and most dairy alternatives) and I'm off dairy because I'm not sure about it at this point.

Lots of gluten-free food to be found here. I don't buy the Capers or Choices gluten free flours because they are bought in bulk and repackaged in a non designated facility (they just aren't safe for a Celiac person to consume). Best to ask your local grocery store to bring in flours from companies that have a designated facility (ie Bob's Red Mill).

If you live in the Lower Mainland or Kelowna, there is a Gluten Free Health Fair being put on by Choices Market. See flyer Open Original Shared Link

theceliachusband Rookie
theceliachusband
Posted
  • Author

Those Fairs look pretty interesting. I googled some of the exhibitors, very good stuff some of them have.

Hello from a Vancouver Celiac. One of my 13 year old triplets is also in the process of getting her diagnosis (positive ttg and rising and has the DQ2 gene, biopsy scheduled for Dec 4). We have 2 rice bakeries here, Panne Rizo and Choices Rice Bakery. I tend to make all of my own baked goods though, as I also can't have soy, all legumes(including cashews - who knew it was a legume), nightshades(tomato, potato, peppers and eggplants), carregeenan(found in commercial icecreams, sour cream, cream cheese and most dairy alternatives) and I'm off dairy because I'm not sure about it at this point.

Lots of gluten-free food to be found here. I don't buy the Capers or Choices gluten free flours because they are bought in bulk and repackaged in a non designated facility (they just aren't safe for a Celiac person to consume). Best to ask your local grocery store to bring in flours from companies that have a designated facility (ie Bob's Red Mill).

If you live in the Lower Mainland or Kelowna, there is a Gluten Free Health Fair being put on by Choices Market. See flyer Open Original Shared Link

  • 3 weeks later...
vcSmall Newbie
vcSmall
Posted

Hi. I live in Calgary, AB. Born and raised! I'm new to all this celiac stuff. I just received the results of my biopsy yesterday. My symptoms are quite mild - just bloating after meals - no other discomfort.

Has anyone heard anything in the news in the last couple of days about the Canadian food labelling law? I read something in the Calgary Herald today indicating that the bill had been dropped. Not having reason to follow this until recently, I'm not familiar with what this is all about.

I have so many questions! What about oat flour as an ingredient in a cereal (Capt'n Crunch)? What about my face cream that contains some kind of barley extract and oat extract? If I apply it and wipe off my lips is that OK? What is the scoop on natural and artificial flavours? What about caramel colour or flavour? What about rye whiskey?

OK, that's enough questions for now. I'm not handling this well and want to try to figure this out.

Thanks for listening to me.

Wonka Apprentice
Wonka
Posted

Hi vcSmall,

Even though you have mild symptoms, you will still be creating damage if you do not adhere to a very strict gluten free diet (my symptoms were not severe until I went gluten free and now I react strongly to any exposure to gluten). Stay away from mainstream cereals, the oats can have cross contamination issues (they get processed, transported etc with/around other grains including wheat so you are taking a big risk consuming them). There are some other cereals that are specifically labelled gluten free and these are safer choices (most mainstream cereals also use barley malt, a big no no for us).

With natural and artificial flavours, they could be perfectly safe or not. You need to contact the manufacturers to ensure that no gluten or gluten derivitives are used in these flavourings. Same for caramel colour. Most alcohols are distilled and the distillation process renders them free of gluten (there are some that are still wary but many that drink the grain alcohols without incident, I'm a non drinker so I can't give you first hand experience on this). Most vinegars are safe with the exception of malt vinegar.

I haven't heard anything about the bill being dropped. That would be a huge step backwards. I googled and checked out the Canadian Food Inspection site but found nothing about this being dropped (or moved forward).

Are you feeling a bit overwhelmed by your diagnosis? It is overwhelming at first. I started out by making small baby steps. I was overwhelmed with tackling my kitchen so I did it in stages. I cleaned a cupboard a day and designated one counter and one cupboard gluten free (one of my daughters has just been diagnosed recently so we are probably going to go completely gluten free in our house. I have been very sick recently with other food intolerances and, what I think is crosscontamination issues causing me to have leaky gut issues).

I bought a new toaster. It is impossible to clean a toaster well enough to be safe for our use. I replaced any plastic/wood utensils that were scratched. I replaced my sieve and collandar (sp?) and cutting boards.

I buy squeeze bottle condoments, and some that I label as just for my consumption (so that the gluten eaters do not contaminate them).

Cooking gluten free has not been to much of an issue for me as I have always cooked from scratch. I have just switched some of the ingredients that I used to use ( ie. gluten free soy sauce instead of reg soy sauce which contains wheat).

You will need to become a strict label reader, every time you purchase something (manufacturers are often switching ingredients so

they can change).

You will make mistakes. Forgive yourself and move on. This is a process and it does take some time getting used to.

There are some really great gluten free blogs on the internet where people share there experiences and there food/recipe successes. Eating gluten free is very doable, there are good cookbooks out there to help you out. Many good recipes are found on this site as well.

Here are some of my favourite sites:

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

I hope I haven't overwhelmed you with too much information. You can email me anytime, through this site, I have lots of tried and true recipes that I have collected and I'd happily be moral support, through this early stage, for you.

Veronica (Wonka)

Treen Bean Apprentice
Treen Bean
Posted
Hi and welcome Calgary!! This is my home town too and there are alot of great options here.

There is a fully gluten free restaraunt on 17 Avenue SE called A Tasty Menu. I also do quite a bit of shopping at Superstore, Community Natural Foods, Lakeview Bakery, and the Purified Water Stores as they all carry quite a bit of pre packaged gluten free foods. A couple of these places even hold gluten free pancake breakfasts during stampede week.

Enjoy the site and welcome.

I'm not from Canada, but my husband and I drove through Calgary on our honeymoon. He did his research and surprised me by taking me to A Tasty Menu.... I cried! It was amazing! The cheese rolls were to die for. We bought extras to take home with us!

theceliachusband Rookie
theceliachusband
Posted
  • Author
Hi. I live in Calgary, AB. Born and raised! I'm new to all this celiac stuff. I just received the results of my biopsy yesterday. My symptoms are quite mild - just bloating after meals - no other discomfort.

Has anyone heard anything in the news in the last couple of days about the Canadian food labelling law? I read something in the Calgary Herald today indicating that the bill had been dropped. Not having reason to follow this until recently, I'm not familiar with what this is all about.

I have so many questions! What about oat flour as an ingredient in a cereal (Capt'n Crunch)? What about my face cream that contains some kind of barley extract and oat extract? If I apply it and wipe off my lips is that OK? What is the scoop on natural and artificial flavours? What about caramel colour or flavour? What about rye whiskey?

OK, that's enough questions for now. I'm not handling this well and want to try to figure this out.

Thanks for listening to me.

There is a couple of Canadian producers of "de glutened" oats.

www.Lame Advertisement.com is one of them.

As for bread and cakes, in Cochrane you can find gluten-free Patisserie.

Hope that helps

The Celiac Husband (GOOGLE)

  • 1 month later...
JJoan Newbie
JJoan
Posted

Hello,

I am also a Canadian, living in London, Ontario. I was just diagnosed about a month ago and am still adjusting to the changes. I had been lactose intolerant for about 7 years but it has miraculously gone away on the gluten-free diet. I am now hoping that other things change, like my osteopenia, migraines, and fatigue.

Finding appetizing alternatives to bread and cereal have been my biggest challenge besides having to give up some of the things I love. We do have a good health food store here but I have a feeling I'm going to have to start baking.

It's great meeting some fellow Canadians on this forum. I just discovered the site this morning and am delighted to find a resource for help and sharing.

Joan

maile Newbie
maile
Posted

Another Canadian, from Vancouver. Nice to see there's a few of us here :)

I've been haunting the local Choices recently but found that Famous Foods on Kingsway has slightly better prices for most products plus they have a seriously WIDE range of flours!!!

I have positive dietary reaction but negative bloodwork, my GP wont go to a referral for the biopsy without the positive bloodwork :( problem is I had already reduced my gluten intake for about a week or so b4 the blood test (I told him, he said take it that day anyway) and had been relatively gluten lite, by accident really, for the past couple of years.

I'm going to go the Enterolab route at this point and then take the results to my GP to discuss...any other Canucks have a similar experience with their GP?

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Celiac.com:
    Join eNewsletter
    Donate
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):



    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):



  • Recent Activity

    1. knitty kitty
      - knitty kitty replied to suek54's topic in Dermatitis Herpetiformis
      6

      Awaiting dermatitis herpetiformis confirmation following biopsy

      Welcome to the forum, @suek54, I have Dermatitis Herpetiformis, too. I found taking Niacin B3 very helpful in clearing my skin from blisters as well as improving the itchies-without-rash (peripheral neuropathy). Niacin has been used since the 1950's to improve dermatitis herpetiformis. I try to balance my iodine intake (which will cause flairs...
    2. suek54
      - suek54 replied to suek54's topic in Dermatitis Herpetiformis
      6

      Awaiting dermatitis herpetiformis confirmation following biopsy

      Thank you all for your advice and the dermatitis herpetiformis article. The latter made me realise I had stopped taking my antihistamine, which I will restart today. The Dapsone has cleared the rash entirely but I still get quite a bit itching, absolutely nothing to see though. I know its notoriously hard to clear and its still relatively early days for me...
    3. trents
      - trents replied to catnapt's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      3

      how much gluten do I need to eat before blood tests?

      So, essentially all of the nutrition in the food we eat is absorbed through the villous lining of the small bowel. This is the section of the intestinal track that is damaged by celiac disease. This villous lining is composed of billions of finger-like projections that create a huge amount of surface area for absorbing nutrients. For the celiac person, when...
    4. catnapt
      - catnapt replied to catnapt's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      3

      how much gluten do I need to eat before blood tests?

      thank you so much for your detailed and extremely helpful reply!! I can say with absolute certainty that the less gluten containing products I've eaten over the past several years, the better I've felt. I wasn't avoiding gluten, I was avoiding refined grains (and most processed foods) as well as anything that made me feel bad when I ate it. It's the...
    5. trents
      - trents replied to catnapt's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      3

      how much gluten do I need to eat before blood tests?

      Welcome, @catnapt! The most recent guidelines are the daily consumption of a minimum of 10g of gluten (about the amount found in 4-6 slices of wheat bread) for a minimum of two weeks. But if possible stretching that out even more would enhance the chances of getting valid test results. These guidelines are for those who have been eating gluten free for...
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):

  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      133,257
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    KariNoMoreGluten
    Newest Member
    KariNoMoreGluten
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.6k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):

  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • knitty kitty
      Awaiting dermatitis herpetiformis confirmation following biopsy

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      Welcome to the forum, @suek54, I have Dermatitis Herpetiformis, too.  I found taking Niacin B3 very helpful in clearing my skin from blisters as well as improving the itchies-without-rash (peripheral neuropathy).  Niacin has been used since the 1950's to improve dermatitis herpetiformis.   I try to balance my iodine intake (which will cause flairs) with Selenium which improves thyroid function.   Interesting Reading: Dermatitis herpetiformis effectively treated with heparin, tetracycline and nicotinamide https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10844495/   Experience with selenium used to recover adrenocortical function in patients taking glucocorticosteroids long https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24437222/   Two Cases of Dermatitis Herpetiformis Successfully Treated with Tetracycline and Niacinamide https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30390734/   Steroid-Resistant Rash With Neuropsychiatric Deterioration and Weight Loss: A Modern-Day Case of Pellagra https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12532421/#:~:text=Figure 2.,(right panel) upper limbs.&text=The distribution of the rash,patient's substantial response to treatment.   Nicotinic acid therapy of dermatitis herpetiformis (1950) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15412276/
    • suek54
      Awaiting dermatitis herpetiformis confirmation following biopsy

      By suek54 · Posted

      Thank you all for your advice and the dermatitis herpetiformis article. The latter made me realise I had stopped taking my antihistamine, which I will restart today. The Dapsone has cleared the rash entirely but I still get quite a bit itching, absolutely nothing to see though. I know its notoriously hard to clear and its still relatively early days for me.  The iodine issue is very interesting. I do eat quite a bit of salt because I have Addison's disease and sodium retention is an issue. I also have autoimmune hypothyroidism, not sure how a low iodine diet would play into that? Because of my Addison's I am totally steroid dependent, I take steroids 4 x daily and cannot mount any defence against inflammation. I need to increase my meds for that. Now that I know what is wrong I can do just that if Im having a bad day. Life is very sweet, just so damn complicated sometimes! Hey ho, onwards. Thank you again for your advice.  
    • trents
      how much gluten do I need to eat before blood tests?

      By trents · Posted

      So, essentially all of the nutrition in the food we eat is absorbed through the villous lining of the small bowel. This is the section of the intestinal track that is damaged by celiac disease. This villous lining is composed of billions of finger-like projections that create a huge amount of surface area for absorbing nutrients. For the celiac person, when gluten is consumed, it triggers an autoimmune reaction in this area which, of course, generates inflammation. The antibodies connected with this inflammation is what the celiac blood tests are designed to detect but this inflammation, over time, wears down the finger-like projections of the villous lining. Of course, when this proceeds for an extended period of time, greatly reduces the absorption efficiency of the villous lining and often results in many and various nutrient deficiency-related health issues. Classic examples would be osteoporosis and iron deficiency. But there are many more. Low D3 levels is a well-known celiac-caused nutritional deficiency. So is low B12. All the B vitamins in fact. Magnesium, zinc, etc.  Celiac disease can also cause liver inflammation. You mention elevated ALP levels. Elevated liver enzymes over a period of 13 years was what led to my celiac diagnosis. Within three months of going gluten free my liver enzymes normalized. I had elevated AST and ALT. The development of sensitivities to other food proteins is very common in the celiac population. Most common cross reactive foods are dairy and oats but eggs, soy and corn are also relatively common offenders. Lactose intolerance is also common in the celiac population because of damage to the SB lining.  Eggs when they are scrambled or fried give me a gut ache. But when I poach them, they do not. The steam and heat of poaching causes a hydrolysis process that alters the protein in the egg. They don't bother me in baked goods either so I assume the same process is at work. I bought a plastic poacher on Amazon to make poaching very easy. All this to say that many of the issues you describe could be caused by celiac disease. 
    • catnapt
      how much gluten do I need to eat before blood tests?

      By catnapt · Posted

      thank you so much for your detailed and extremely helpful reply!! I can say with absolute certainty that the less gluten containing products I've eaten over the past several years, the better I've felt.   I wasn't avoiding gluten, I was avoiding refined grains (and most processed foods) as well as anything that made me feel bad when I ate it. It's the same reason I gave up dairy and eggs- they make me feel ill.  I do have a bit of a sugar addiction lol so a lot of times I wasn't sure if it was the refined grains that I was eating - or the sugar. So from time to time I might have a cookie or something but I've learned how to make wonderful cookies and golden brownies with BEANS!! and no refined sugar - I use date paste instead. Pizza made me so ill- but I thought it was probably the cheese. I gave up pizza and haven't missed it. the one time I tried a slice I felt so bad I knew I'd never touch it again. I stopped eating wheat pasta at least 3 yrs ago- just didn't feel well after eating it. I tried chick pea pasta and a few others and discovered I like the brown rice pasta. I still don't eat a lot of pasta but it's nice for a change when I want something easy. TBH over the years I've wondered sometimes if I might be gluten intolerant but really believed it was not possible for me to have celiac disease. NOW I need to know for sure- because I'm in the middle of a long process of trying to find out why I have a high parathyroid level (NOT the thyroid- but rather the 4 glands that control the calcium balance in your body) I have had a hard time getting my vit D level up, my serum calcium has run on the low side of normal for many years... and now I am losing calcium from my bones and excreting it in my urine (some sort of renal calcium leak) Also have a high ALP since 2014. And now rapidly worsening bone density.  I still do not have a firm diagnosis. Could be secondary HPT (but secondary to what? we need to know) It could be early primary HPT. I am spilling calcium in my urine but is that caused by the high parathyroid hormone or is it the reason my PTH is high>? there are multiple feedback loops for this condition.    so I will keep eating the bread and some wheat germ that does not seem to bother me too much (it hasn't got enough gluten to use just wheat germ)    but I'm curious- if you don't have a strong reaction to a product- like me and wheat germ- does that mean it's ok to eat or is it still causing harm even if you don't have any obvious symptoms? I guess what you are saying about silent celiac makes it likely that you can have no symptoms and still have the harm... but geez! you'd think they'd come up with a way to test for this that didn't require you to consume something that makes you sick! I worry about the complications I've been reading about- different kinds of cancers etc. also wondering- are there degrees of celiac disease?  is there any correlation between symptoms and the amnt of damage to your intestines? I also need a firm diagnosis because I have an identical twin sister ... so if I have celiac, she has it too- or at least the genetic make up for having it. I did have a VERY major stress to my body in 2014-2016 time frame .. lost 50lbs in a short period of time and had severe symptoms from acute protracted withdrawal off an SSRI drug (that I'd been given an unethically high dose of, by a dr who has since lost his license)  Going off the drug was a good thing and in many ways my health improved dramatically- just losing 50lbs was helpful but I also went  off almost a dozen different medications, totally changed my diet and have been doing pretty well except for the past 3-4 yrs when the symptoms related to the parathyroid issue cropped up. It is likely that I had low vit D for some time and that caused me a lot of symptoms. The endo now tells me that low vit D can be caused by celiac disease so I need to know for sure! thank you for all that great and useful information!!! 
    • trents
      how much gluten do I need to eat before blood tests?

      By trents · Posted

      Welcome, @catnapt! The most recent guidelines are the daily consumption of a minimum of 10g of gluten (about the amount found in 4-6 slices of wheat bread) for a minimum of two weeks. But if possible stretching that out even more would enhance the chances of getting valid test results. These guidelines are for those who have been eating gluten free for a significant amount of time. It's called the "gluten challenge".  Yes, you can develop celiac disease at any stage of life. There is a genetic component but also a stress trigger that is needed to activate the celiac genes. About 30-40% of the general population possesses the genetic potential to develop celiac disease but only about 1% of the general population actually develop celiac disease. For most with the potential, the triggering stress event doesn't happen. It can be many things but often it is a viral infection. Having said that, it is also the case that many, many people who eventually are diagnosed with celiac disease probably experienced the actual onset years before. Many celiacs are of the "silent" type, meaning that symptoms are largely missing or very minor and get overlooked until damage to the small bowel lining becomes advanced or they develop iron deficiency anemia or some other medical problem associated with celiac disease. Many, many are never diagnosed or are diagnosed later in life because they did not experience classic symptoms. And many physicians are only looking for classic symptoms. We now know that there are over 200 symptoms/medical problems associated with celiac disease but many docs are only looking for things like boating, gas, diarrhea. I certainly understand your concerns about not wanting to damage your body by taking on a gluten challenge. Your other option is to totally commit to gluten free eating and see if your symptoms improve. It can take two years or more for complete healing of the small bowel lining once going gluten free but usually people experience significant improvement well before then. If their is significant improvement in your symptoms when going seriously gluten free, then you likely have your answer. You would either have celiac disease or NCGS (Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity).
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.