Can A Celiac Live In A Gluten House?

[karenhockley]

Hello all,

I have an odd question. I would like to know how many of you out there still live in a gluten house? I do ALL the cooking in our house so I don't mind having gluten products in the house. The only time my husband does any kind of cooking it's bread and cookies or cakes for him and the kids. And it actually works well for us. I haven't had any cross contamination and they still get the goodies that they like. I've recently met some people who are Celiac and they give me a strange look when I tell them that yes we still have gluten in our house and yes I will make (from scratch) a batch of cookies for my kids. Is this strange? When I was first diagnosed my husband and I had a long talk about making the whole house gluten free but I want to teach my kids to take responsablility for themselves. I understand that my kids have a chance of being Celiac at some point in their lives and I want to show them that yes you can live in a gluten world and not get sick. Is this wrong?

[lovegrov]

I would never try to force my wife and son to be gluten-free. I've lived in a house with gluten for eight years now.

richard

[ksymonds84]

I agree and also live with gluten. Everyone is careful with me and we all get along great. My daughter will be coming home next week from college and will be expecting all her wonderful gluten Christmas goodies that my hubby and she will make together. I have three children and only one has a recent diagnoses of celiac (she is older and doesn't live with us but comes over all the time to eat!) I will make my gluten free substitutes for she and I and some of them are good enough that the gluten eaters will eat too!

I understand that some families choose for the whole household to be gluten free and that is okay too if everyone is agreeable with that. I feel that its a personal decision that only you and your family make together.

[kenlove]

Never would have asked my wife to go gluten-free but I have had to ask for limits. No flour in the house for example. She can have bread/cake in a separate area but has to be very careful of crumbs.

If she bakes something for her class and gets a mix she does it outside. I found early on that I get very sick and bad DH if there is flour or some cake mix in the air.

What you do may depends some on your degree of sensitivity.

good luck

ken

Hello all,

I have an odd question. I would like to know how many of you out there still live in a gluten house? I do ALL the cooking in our house so I don't mind having gluten products in the house. The only time my husband does any kind of cooking it's bread and cookies or cakes for him and the kids. And it actually works well for us. I haven't had any cross contamination and they still get the goodies that they like. I've recently met some people who are Celiac and they give me a strange look when I tell them that yes we still have gluten in our house and yes I will make (from scratch) a batch of cookies for my kids. Is this strange? When I was first diagnosed my husband and I had a long talk about making the whole house gluten free but I want to teach my kids to take responsablility for themselves. I understand that my kids have a chance of being Celiac at some point in their lives and I want to show them that yes you can live in a gluten world and not get sick. Is this wrong?

[Roda]

I am in a shared house also. Our meals that we eat together are gluten free. The kids still eat cereals, bread, and pasta. However, most of my baked goods are gluten free. If on the off chance they want a goody that is not gluten free they keep box mixes of brownies, cake etc and make it when the mood strikes. They have their own set of utensils for it. I have made stuff for a bake sale and did not want to have all the regular flour in the kitchen. I went out and bought the biscuits, crescent rolls, and cinnamon rolls you get in the can from the refridgerator section. I do have one bag of regular flour in the cupboard that I used to make glue for pinata's and made a snake sandwich out of regular bread dough for our halloween party in Oct. I could not afford to feed 30+ kids (not including adults that stayed) gluten free food for the party. I had myself and 3 others that needed gluten free food so I made and set up a separate table away from the rest. I scrubbed down the kitchen very well and noone, including myself, got sick from cross contamination. My husband is pretty good about keeping his stuff cleaned up on his part of the counter. I'm teaching my boys to wash their hands after they eat something I can't and to be aware of where they put and touch things. So far in the year I have been gluten free it has worked. They have adjusted to most things gluten free and they still get their treats when they want them.

[jerseyangel]

We have a shared house too. My husband has cereals and crackers and things like that (already prepared) that contain wheat. I do all of the cooking, so all of the meals at home are gluten-free. I only buy/cook rice pastas and we both like the pancakes made with Gluten Free Pantry Pancake Mix.

I don't keep wheat flour or "regular" baking mixes of any kind in the house, and don't use my pots and pans for gluten containing foods.

We rinse all dishes well before going into the dishwasher, but they all go in together--never a problem.

I wouldn't ask my husband to go gluten-free for me, no more than he would be careless and cause me to be glutened.

[nasalady]

Interesting.

I think Ken is right on target about one's degree of sensitivity affecting how you deal with this issue. I happen to be very sensitive, unfortunately.

I tried to just go gluten free without making the family go gluten free. Maybe I just wasn't organized or careful enough, but I was constantly being glutened by crumbs. So after a couple of months of hell, I decided to cook gluten free meals exclusively.

Now, I have to say I don't believe that I imposed any great hardship on my family by doing this. I've always been the cook in the house, and I learned how to make gluten-free substitutes for almost any of my family's favorite meals or desserts; they like my cooking.

But the important thing to say here is that we discovered that every single one of us has some degree of gluten sensitivity! We never would have known this if I hadn't put the entire family on the gluten free diet.

Within a few weeks my son and daughter experienced significant improvements in their chronic skin conditions (keratosis pilaris and eczema). My daughter was diagnosed "Failure to Thrive" and has always had great difficulty gaining weight.....she has suddenly had a growth spurt, amazing her pediatrician and her gastroenterologist! Testing reveals that Emma has the HLA DQ2 gene marker and even though she tested negative for the autoantibodies I would argue that she has celiac, just because of her spectacular response to the gluten free diet and the family history of celiac disease. The celiac blood tests are notoriously inaccurate in small children.

The next surprise occurred when my husband decided to drink some beer during Superbowl weekend, after being gluten free for several weeks. Within a short period of time he broke out in the nastiest blistery rash which turned out to be dermatitis herpetiformis (aka DH), plus eczema and a HORRIBLE case of psoriasis.

Surprise, surprise!! My husband has celiac disease too! He had absolutely no idea, which is fairly typical for those who tend to present with DH....they are frequently asymptomatic or "silent celiacs".

So from my experience, I would argue that you are not doing your family any favors by allowing them to continue to ingest gluten. This is particularly true for your children, because half of their DNA came from YOU....and you have celiac or NCGI or you wouldn't be here.

OK....I'm climbing down from my soapbox now!

[digmom1014]

Add me to the list! My husband and 13 yr. old son are gluten eaters but, do not cook! I have make exclusively gluten-free meals and if they want to make something on their own, so be it.(doesn't happen very often)

I still bake for my son but, I too can't have flour floating around. (I got sick making fake blood for my son's Halloween costume.) I have found the Betty Crocker or Pillsbury cookie mixes work for me. Those are the kind you dump in a bowl and add water, eggs, butter, etc. No flour floating around to inhale and he has never complained.

[Puddy]

I live in a mixed household with no problems...the only one of five that is gluten free. I have my own drawer in the fridge and my own counter that no one else is allowed to prepare food on. They are very careful around me and I have had no problems in the 2 years since I have been diagnosed. They eat regular bread, crackers, cereal, packaged sweets. The one thing I do not allow in the house is wheat flour. I do use gluten-free flour when baking. So far, so good!

[Darn210]

We have a shared house too. My husband has cereals and crackers and things like that (already prepared) that contain wheat. I do all of the cooking, so all of the meals at home are gluten-free. I only buy/cook rice pastas and we both like the pancakes made with Gluten Free Pantry Pancake Mix.

I don't keep wheat flour or "regular" baking mixes of any kind in the house, and don't use my pots and pans for gluten containing foods.

We rinse all dishes well before going into the dishwasher, but they all go in together--never a problem.

That pretty much sums it up for our household.

Also, pantry is for gluten free items and cabinet contains the gluten items. My daughter knows she can have anything in the pantry and nothing from the cabinet. Items in the fridge are marked with a sharpie. I think it has worked very well for us and we've been doing it for 2 1/2 years.

I also agree that it depends on the sensitivity of the person (celiac) and the attitude/thoughfulness/rule-following of the rest of the household.

[jackay]

My husband was going to bake cookies with wheat flour today. I asked him to go to his parent's home to bake. He said he just wouldn't bake but was not pleasant about it. He won't substitute any other flour.

I keep commenting about cross contamination. I know everyone should keep washing their hands. Am I just not learning how to be careful? I am being extremely paranoid. If I use a paper towel to turn off faucet, I somehow end up touching something else before I start eating. It seems to be a vicious cycle. I know my home will never be completely gluten free and unless I start feeling better I am not going to relax about contamination.

[gfp]

I live in a mixed household with no problems...the only one of five that is gluten free. I have my own drawer in the fridge and my own counter that no one else is allowed to prepare food on. They are very careful around me and I have had no problems in the 2 years since I have been diagnosed. They eat regular bread, crackers, cereal, packaged sweets. The one thing I do not allow in the house is wheat flour. I do use gluten-free flour when baking. So far, so good!

Yet you also said:

"My question is how do I know if I'm making mistakes on the diet if I have no digestive symptoms."

https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index.ph...c=43959&hl=

So how do you know that it is "so far so good?"

[jerseyangel]

I also agree that it depends on the sensitivity of the person (celiac) and the attitude/thoughfulness/rule-following of the rest of the household.

Definitely What works for me may not be the best solution for everyone. I think it's helpful though, to hear lots of scenerios and then pick and choose ideas and do what works best for you and your household. That's how I came to do what works for me--and for the record, I'm extremely sensitive. If I were being contaminated, I'd know it....and so would my husband

[ksymonds84]

Definitely What works for me may not be the best solution for everyone. I think it's helpful though, to hear lots of scenerios and then pick and choose ideas and do what works best for you and your household. That's how I came to do what works for me--and for the record, I'm extremely sensitive. If I were being contaminated, I'd know it....and so would my husband

I know what you mean Patti, my husband sometimes knows before me that I've been glutened! He knows my fog symptoms right away! I also agree that it is good to hear what works for others.

[Leanne63]

We have gluten foods in house.There are some foods my son and hubby don't mind eating but some they want the good stuff.I have my own bread,pasta,cookies and cereal.

If hubbys cooking, he knows I only use certain pans for my food and knows what substitute foods are mine.its been quite easy in our household.

[kenlove]

Maybe you should print out a number of posts from the forum to show him.

Cross contamination is a big big issue. Baking cookies with wheat just cant happen with most celiacs in a house. --maybe you can make some cookies with gluten-free flours that will make people happy. Lots of recipes around here!

good luck

My husband was going to bake cookies with wheat flour today. I asked him to go to his parent's home to bake. He said he just wouldn't bake but was not pleasant about it. He won't substitute any other flour.

I keep commenting about cross contamination. I know everyone should keep washing their hands. Am I just not learning how to be careful? I am being extremely paranoid. If I use a paper towel to turn off faucet, I somehow end up touching something else before I start eating. It seems to be a vicious cycle. I know my home will never be completely gluten free and unless I start feeling better I am not going to relax about contamination.

[karenhockley]

Thanks to all that replied. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who lives with gluten.

[Puddy]

Yet you also said:

"My question is how do I know if I'm making mistakes on the diet if I have no digestive symptoms."

https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index.ph...c=43959&hl=

So how do you know that it is "so far so good?"

I go every six months to have my Celiac blood panel run. After 9 months on the diet, my numbers were all in the normal range and have remained there ever since. If I have an accidental glutening once in a while, I don't know it, but if I was getting 'glutened' repeatedly, I think it would show in the bloodwork.

[woodnewt]

I did, for 3 years after going gluten free. Felt fine, thought we were keeping everything separate and that the gluten products in the household weren't affecting me.

Learned the hard way. Paying the price for it now.

Entire household is gluten free now.

but if I was getting 'glutened' repeatedly, I think it would show in the bloodwork.

I really don't believe the blood work tests are sensitive/accurate enough to pick up on cc unless it is a LOT of cc you are getting. I had the blood work done every 6 months after being diagnosed with celiac and going "gluten free" - and it all turned up negative, even as my health was falling apart and I was losing 2-3 lbs a week from ingesting trace amounts of gluten.

[oceangirl]

Late to the table here but, for the record, I live in a gluten free house because living with gluten just didn't work and my family decided it was worth it to help me stop getting sick. Needless to say perhaps, I am highly sensitive and actually suspect a Christmas glutening from being at my Mom's where she was baking many gluten-containing items. I eat NOTHING myself or my spousal equivalent has not made and rarely even eat any processed foods. It took a year for me to learn I kept getting cross-contaminated and we have lived this way for about 4 years.

For parties people bring gluten but I just act as if the house is contaminated until we deep clean afterwards!

I had to learn this the hard way, however, and I admit I am a wee bit jealous of those who successfully live around gluten!

lisa

[Lynayah]

For me, work has been very difficult. The lunchroom is wheat heaven -- people bring in treats all the time, and the only knives are serrated -- those little grooves are like crumb magnets. It is a small kitchen that uses real silverware and plates, with no dishwasher -- hand wash only.

I started bringing my own silverware, dishes, microwave cooking container, etc. When I wash the dishes (before bringing them home to wash in a dishwasher), I use paper towel instead of the scrubby that everyone else uses. So far, it is helping.

I do much the same at home, including putting down paper towel or newspaper on the counter while I prepare food. I have two dedicated chopping blocks -- one HUGE one that I work on top of.

That said, I still have days when I get gluttened "out of nowhere," and I'm beginning to wonder if we need to be even more strict at home. I catch my hubby making mistakes all the time, out of habit -- heck, we all do! Keeping a duel kitchen is definitely a challenge.

[OptimisticMom42]

Our household is currently 3 gluten free - 2 gluten eaters. We have learned the hard way that we can not have gluten in the house unless it is very obvious. So the gluten eaters have a loaf of bread, a box of Cheerios and their own peanut butter and jelly. Everything else in the house is safe for everyone.

If I get glutened I get a tummy ache and itch all over.

If DD gets glutened she will have "allergy" headaches for days.

If Kay gets glutened she gets a urinary tract infection and has to call her Mom, make a Dr's appointment, get a prescription. Her Mom has been laid off twice in the last year or so. Her insurance is OK-not great. In the fall I bought two packages of lunchmeat. One was gluten free, one was not. Besides making Kay really sick the lunchmeat cost Kay's Mom a lot of money and time. I'll never do it again.

So the way we handle gluten in our house wasn't a choice. We would all love to have store bought cookies that don't cost $7 dollars for a tiny container but we can't. We have to make our own.