I Failed My First Test

[cbear6301]

Yesterday at church, we had a potluck. I was prepared, brought my own food and even made a gluten free dessert. I had down what I needed to say and thought I was ready. I got there and my church family was loving and supportive, told me they had friends who were gluten-free, they had made dishes just for me... etc....I didn't know how to refuse. I made sure I was in line first, thought that would be a good idea. I was told by the hostess that this or that was gluten-free and it was safe, that she understood because of her friend who has it...she showed me the bottle..She had made loose meat sandwiches.. I didn't get the bread..I thought it was fine. I then chose from the veggie tray because that would be safe...and my own dessert.. I really thought I did well....

I woke up at 4 am with a migraine and my stomach rolling..I took an imitrex because the pain was so bad..then my hands went numb two hours later.. seriously..I don't know what I did wrong.. I missed yet another monday and I am upset. I was crying and I am hoping I am not fired... I can't believe it...

so besides the obvious... ( stop eating at others houses) could it have been cross contamination.. does it go beyond knowing the ingredients.. will this get easier ....I feel like such an idiot...what is it about weekends... would grocery shopping cause symptoms...I didn't do anything else....we have cleaned our house of gluten, bought a new mixer, I just don't know what is going on...how do i stop this monday migraine?

[rinne]

Sorry you are suffering.

It is difficult in the beginning, I suspect it was the meat but who knows it could have been something else. In the beginning it is often most helpful to stay with the simplest of foods. I always tell people that I will bring food and please not to make anything for me because I am such a pain.

I hope you are feeling better soon.

[Takala]

No, no, no, you passed your first test.

Q. Do you eat other people's food unless they themselves are g/i/c or a family member you've trained ?

A. **** NO !

Q. Why ?

A. Because they always screw it up.

Q. Are there any exceptions to this?

A. Never.

Q. Never ?

A. Yes. It is infinite, everywhere in the Universe, and it's heading towards your plate.

Q. How do I avoid these people who are trying to poison me ? What can I do ?

A. Eat before you go. Arrive late. Bring your own plate of food. Activate force field upon entering the premises. Bring gluten free decoy food for other people that looks really good. Set decoy plate down upon table of offerings. Take one little piece of it and put it on your plate. Sit down quickly and dive into your own food. If and When somebody tries to offer you other bad food, thank them but say:

"Oh, that looks wonderful, but I just found out I'm allergic to (name an ingredient that it likely contains) and I just can't. " If it's an alleged gluten free item, I would suggest tapioca for baked goods, (because it's so common) and soy or corn for everything else. Read labels and select something complicated sounding if you're creative. Is that genetically modified corn in the high fructose corn syrup in that sauce? You get hives from the herbicide resistant gene they engineered into it. Sweet baked good? Your blood sugar is too high, or better yet, you get migraines from whatever artificial sweetener they put in it. Stevia ? You're allergic to ragweed and will get asthma. Dairy? Was that yogurt from cows getting growth hormone? Rice malt syrup in that milk sub product? Was it made with barley? You get the idea.

The objective is to get them to say "I don't know what's in it, " whereupon you get a really sad look on your face and say, "oh well, better safe than sorry !"

You may as well borrow my legendary, hit- and- miss sensitivity to regular commercial dairy products while I'm not using it. I can eat organic dairy, but some of the regular stuff gives me quite a reaction I can feel within a half hour of consuming it, I assume the cow was treated with some sort of antibiotic or fed a lot of wheat or there was some sort of chemical contamination going on during processing.

While technically this is neither correct nor completely truthful, it does get them off of you neatly and quickly most of the time.

The other thing I would do is carry your own water bottle or beverage with you, if you are suspicious of the coffee maker or the iced tea mix. I saw powdered lemon juice to add to beverages in the grocery recently. It had wheat in it.

[cbear6301]

wow...ok.. thank you... I guess I have some mantras to learn...thank you!

[samcarter]

I'd almost bet money that they used soy sauce to flavor the meat. I have never heard of "loose meat" sandwiches before, but soy sauce is used in a lot of meat dishes. Or the worcestershire sauce they used, if they used it, might not have been gluten free. Or it was cross-contamination.

But, yeah, you have learned why it's best to bring your own food, and to help yourself to the buffet items before others to avoid cross-contamination.

[tarnalberry]

Unless it's someone I've trained, I get the chance to peruse the ingredients (and labels), and watch the prep, yeah, I usually say no. (Ok, if the host puts out a bag of tostitos and a jar of tostitos salsa, I know those are gluten free. )

Pretty much, assume things are unsafe until PROVEN otherwise. (Not suspected, but PROVEN.) That's one good reason why it's a good idea to eat first or carry food with you - your standards for proof may be lower when you're ravenous.

Don't fret too much, once you're feeling better. It's something we all learn - and sometimes have to relearn - and it's not easy, since it is *SO* the opposite of how we generally treat food.

[miles2go]

Pretty much, assume things are unsafe until PROVEN otherwise. (Not suspected, but PROVEN.) That's one good reason why it's a good idea to eat first or carry food with you - your standards for proof may be lower when you're ravenous.

If you find yourself staring at something and actually calculating the probability of it being gluten-free, you've already gone too far.

STEP AWAY FROM THE FOOD.

[ang1e0251]

I loved the advice another poster recommended someone tell her MIL...

"My dr and I are working on unravelling some new sensitivities and symptoms I have. He advised I not eat outside prepared food for now."

This isn't a big stretch because you don't know why you are so sick on Mondays so you are still trying to figure out your illness. I like the eat before you go and arrive late advice, very good. Shared buffets of food are kind of a smorgasbord of illness for us.

[loxleynew]

I made this mistake.. Two weeks ago I went to a friends house where he made some chicken curry. I was starving and thought to myself.. Should I check the ingredients in the spices? And thought no way it's got to be safe! Why would there be wheat in curry sauce??

I am fortunate and not fortunate that my reactions don't come up for 12 hours or so. My not so fortunate thing is I get bad acid reflux and fatigue. I was dealing with it for like 3 days after that. I also sometimes get the reaction when I tell people I'm gluten intolerant "You still follow that diet? Does it even work?" Sigh....

[Welda Johnson]

Wow Takala! I love your spunk. I feel like printing out your reply and carrying it with me. Thanks for offering the best response I've read in a long time about how to respond when others are harrassing us about any number of things concerning our diets. I'm impressed. I truly think you should consider writing an article or book, from your viewpoint, about dealing with others as we travel this journey to recovery. Thanks for making me smile today. Welda