How Can I Tell How Sensitive I Am?

[IChaseFrisbees]

Hey everybody. I'm living on campus as a freshman in college, and I'm eating most of my meals in the dining hall here, which is working out okay. Every week they seem to get more with a program that suits me, as I badger them 3 times a day as to the contents in their various meal options.

They have rice bread in the dining hall, and they usually have plain grilled chicken twice a day. A few weeks ago they started providing burgers, hot dogs etc. separate from the buns, then they began putting up signs with all the nutrition facts of their foods, and now they've even added wheat to their little "allergen" tags at the bottom of the ingredient lists (though only the managers know the difference between wheat and gluten intolerance, so I still have to ask questions.)

Recovery wise, I seem to be one step forward one step back, but overall I'm much improved since I actively gave up gluten. My question is since I'm still in the recovery process, many of my digestive issues are still here, making it hard to tell how many of my symptoms are due to previous damage and what problems are from recent glutenings. How can I tell how sensitive I am? Can I risk eating a super taco from a mexican restaurant, because I know they usually fry them on the same stove as the tortillas, but I don't know how sensitive I am to cross-contamination.

I don't have confirmed celiac, just Enterolab diagnosed gluten problems.

Any help would be great, thanks so much.

[ShayFL]

The thing is that you cannot know how sensitive you are until you get all better. And you might not heal well eating the dining hall food. I know it would be very hard to do otherwise, but there are other college students who are managing without the dining hall. And they get better.

Once better, you can see what you can tolerate.

If you want ideas on how to be completely gluten-free, just ask! There are many here with great ideas.

[ravenwoodglass]

Can I risk eating a super taco from a mexican restaurant, because I know they usually fry them on the same stove as the tortillas, but I don't know how sensitive I am to cross-contamination.

I don't have confirmed celiac, just Enterolab diagnosed gluten problems.

Any help would be great, thanks so much.

Please don't eat that. If you really want Mexican make it yourself out of known safe ingredients.

How long have you been gluten free? You should really get at least the celiac panel blood test done. Celiac is not the only thing that can cause gluten intolerance and some of the other things that can cause it need a doctors care to recover from. If you haven't been gluten free for very long you should ask for a celiac panel. You should also ask for testing of your iron, folate, B12 and some other routine blood tests should be run. Your college clinic may be able to order them or they can tell you where to go.

As said you need to heal to be able to really know how sensitive you are, and for that to happen the fastest you need to be really strict and try to eat as little processed food as possible. But before you do that you really should get the blood tests run, the only exception to that IMHO is if you have family members that are firmly diagnosed. If those blood tests are positive every family member also should be tested.

[IChaseFrisbees]

I really want to get out of the dining hall, because I'm pretty sure CC or mislabeling/miscommunication are inevitable, but I don't drive and we don't have a kitchen in our dorms...

Next year I can move off campus, which would allow me to shop and cook for myself, but until then I'm not really sure what to do, except keep stressing to the dining officials how important it is that I know the contents of what they're serving.

[ravenwoodglass]

I really want to get out of the dining hall, because I'm pretty sure CC or mislabeling/miscommunication are inevitable, but I don't drive and we don't have a kitchen in our dorms...

Next year I can move off campus, which would allow me to shop and cook for myself, but until then I'm not really sure what to do, except keep stressing to the dining officials how important it is that I know the contents of what they're serving.

That was one reason I suggested that you get tested ASAP. If you are diagnosed the school may let you either have at least a microwave in your room or may even make a room with a kitchen available. You should have a talk with your advisor and also with the person in charge of dealing with students with disabilities. My DD for example was placed in senior housing her freshman year because they had kitchenettes available. The school even made sure she had a private room so she didn't have to deal with CC issues.

The effects of gluten can have a negative impact not just on your ability to get to class, Diarrhea etc, but also can impact your ability to learn and your emotional stability. You may be surprised how helpful the school can be and it never hurts to ask what they will do to help protect you.