Shared Kitchen

[santae3g]

Hey everyone, I'm Mark

I signed up a few months ago and been reading the forums for tips about the gluten free diet. I had an upper endoscopy back in October 2008 and the biopsy showed damage to the villi in my small bowel. I also had an ulcer but no h. pylori bacteria was found in the biopsy. My GI doctor gave me omeprazole for the ulcer and told me to go on a gluten free diet. The problem is I live with my family and I have to share my kitchen with my mom. I eventually got my own set of cookware and utensils. I keep everything separate but somehow I am still getting sick. The first few weeks was really hectic as I didn't know what to cook that I could eat. There were days I wake up all depressed and then few days later I feel better and the next day depressed again. There was 2 steady weeks during December when I felt like I was recovering and didn't feel as tired as I usually do and I had a follow-up appointment with my GI doctor then. I told him that I was feeling a bit better and I scheduled another EGD. So that EGD was about a month and a half ago and it showed that the villi was healing and that I should stay on the gluten free diet. But even with that said, I've been struggling to keep gluten out of my food. My mom doesn't believe a word that I'm saying. I keep telling her that I can't eat most of the stuff she makes because of some of the ingredient she uses. And the rest of my family keeps asking why the doctor won't give me medication.

Sorry for the long story, anyway my main question to some of you who have more experience is how do you prevent cross-contamination when you're sharing the kitchen with someone who cooks regularly? I use my own pots and pans, bowls, utensils...almost everything. I also ordered a few of those EZ Gluten Test-kits to test some of the stuff I use, they all came out negative for gluten.

[MySuicidalTurtle]

Let's see, I always make sure to use a clean rag when I wash my pans (most have to be hand washed). We don't share anything that has to be hand washed. We keep anything that can cross-contaminate separate: his bread in the pantry and mine in the box on the counter. In the fridge and pantry we have our own spaces. I never put my food directly on the countertop, I use a cutting board or plate always (this includes the microwave, too). I have my own dedicated toaster over.

You may be getting gluten from somewhere else. It took me MONTHS to become entirely gluten-free out of my newness to the diet. I would think I was doing well then find out I wasn't eating the right thing at all! You may also be sensitive to other things, too. My brother and I are both sensitive to casein. We would eat it okay at first while gluten-free, then we got troubles and thought lactose intolerant, but then Lactaid didn't help, goat's milk didn't help, but the elimination of casein and the use of alternative milks worked. I also find that when I am overloading my diet with corn based products I feel bad. This could be due to how they process the corn mill (same mills as wheat maybe). So, it takes awhile to figure out how your body will react to each food even if you are gluten-free.

Hang in there! Don't let your family get you down. Some people just will never understand that a common element will make you sick and that a pill just won't fix it. Gluten is our poison, so, stay away from it!

[dilettantesteph]

My son and I are both sensitive to very small amounts of gluten. We tried for a year to do a shared kitchen. That was without using any flour in cooking too. It was not possible. We kept getting sick until we went to a totally gluten free household. I can see how that won't be possible for you. Maybe you could get a dorm fridge, microwave, and toaster oven for your room???