Some People Are Cruel

[lynnelise]

I'm so glad you confronted her! What she did was sick!

[jerseyangel]

I think you let her off easy. Feel better soon

[luvs2eat]

I think you let her off easy. Feel better soon

I do too! Feel better soon!!

[Jestgar]

You totally took the high road. Good for you!

[kayo]

You're a better person than me - I would have pressed charges! And the temptation to slug her would have been hard to overcome.

I'm so glad you confronted her, showed her the rash and pointed her to this site. This is not a person you need in your life. She is devoid of compassion.

Dear canutillomom's cousin,

I hope you are reading this thread.

What you did was criminal, unconscionable and downright cruel. You have been let off easy and I hope you now understand what your actions have caused. Your desire to be 'right' and to purposefully poison someone is right up there with psychopathic and sociopathic behavior. Please seek help for your behavior before you decide to poison another person for your own kicks. I pray you do not have children of your own.

[Mtndog]

Thank you so very much for your replies! I went over last night and showed her the outbreaks and she could not believe how bad it was. I also gave her this website address and a book on Celiac. Finally, I told her, "Sorry, but I will never eat here again and it will be awhile until you see me again." Ok, said it with a little more emotion- and I think she finally got the message!

GOOD FOR YOU! I am so sorry that you had to go through this but am so glad you stood up for yourself.

Why anyone would do this is beyond me, but you handled this with a LOT of integrity and should be proud of yourself!

[PrincessHungry]

Holy crap, this is my worst fear! I can't believe this actually happened. I'm so glad you confronted her!

I would go to her house, hold her down in front of the computer and MAKE HER READ ALL OF THESE POSTS!

This is beyond unacceptable, beyond! I'm a little crazy about my food, where it is, where it came from, what it's packaged in...and heaven forbid someone try to touch or snack on my food...I go from fine to psycho in 5 seconds.

I immediately imagined the scene from Mean Girls with Lindsay Lohan when she jumps across the table. That would have been my response.

What did your family say when this happened?

[Pac]

To be honest that's what I fear the most when eating food I don't prepare myself. Not the cross-contamination or unintentional use of gluten-containing spices, but people with "you survived whole 27 years so it can't be that bad" or "it's all in your head" attitudes.

My mom did a similar thing to me few years before I was diagnosed with gluten allergy. I was becoming allergic to more and more laundry soaps, so she tried to "cure" me with washing my clothes in the worst one without me knowing it. Not suspecting anything, I put on both pants and long-sleave shirt and headed off to 5am bus, busy lecture&exam-filled day ahead. I spent the day literally "sitting in a bag of fleas" and skipped the first less important lecture to buy at least new shirt, not having enough money for pants. Thinking she'd just forgot, I asked my mom later about what soap she used. I got a bit hesitant answer: "The one that is OK for you." ..."Are you sure? I've got itchy rash all over.", showing her the much worsened ekzema on my elbow. "Why do you thing I would wash it in the other soap?" was her reply. Later that evening, she came to my room with 'I-didn't-do-anything-wrong' statement: "I thought you won't get sick if you don't know about it. I think you're just over-reacting." The next day she apologized, but unfortunately none of us learnt the lesson. Whole my life my health and mental/psychological issues were blaimed on my psychological instability, later when GI syptoms hit home, it was even blaimed on not eating enough bread(!!!) and still I didn't get it. It took me another 5-6 years to get over the "maybe they're right and it's all in my head" way of thinking. I went gluten-free 14 month ago. The change was tremendous - no astma, ekzema, brain fog, migraines, need to sleep 12-16hrs/day, bleeding wounds that won't heal and much more. I tried to share my excitement with others just to find out that some people still believe it's all in my head - the symptoms as well as their disappearance, I'm imagining it all. It hurts when these people are your own family members, but I keep on telling myself that nobody's misinformed opinion is worth spoiling a sigle second of my day. I try to love my relatives unconditionaly and avoid eating their food.

Hope you'll get better soon.

[Mskedi]

Thank you so very much for your replies! I went over last night and showed her the outbreaks and she could not believe how bad it was. I also gave her this website address and a book on Celiac. Finally, I told her, "Sorry, but I will never eat here again and it will be awhile until you see me again." Ok, said it with a little more emotion- and I think she finally got the message!

You are one awesome person. Good for you for standing up to her, and good for you for not punching her in the face (which even I, a pacifist, would be inclined to do).

[ReneeBTX]

I have been gluten free for a few weeks now and had finally started healing (the first 2 weeks or so were sooo very bad). I explained to my family what was going on and thought I had their support.

Well, my cousin had our family over for dinner 2 nights ago and swore to me that everything would be gluten free. While we were there I questioned the safety of one dish and she said she had used a mixture of corn starch and potato starch and not wheat flour.

After dinner she asked how I liked it and how I felt. I said that everything tasted it very good and I felt fine. Then she started saying I don't have celiac disease because that was wheat flour!

24 hours after that I started itching like crazy and feeling like I had been rolled up in barbed wire and I spent most of last night in the bathroom for "different issues."

I am furious! And extremely uncomfortable! I have new outbreaks on my inner thighs and across my stomach.

Why would someone do that? (she said she did that because I didn't receive a "clinical diagnosis" just the doc saying what it was and wanted to prove to me that I could eat gluten). Are there other people out there doing stuff like this???

That would be the very LAST time I EVER ate at her home, or had her over to mine. I'm sorry, but you don't mess around with food sensitivities or allergies! You don't play games with diseases that are fatal if not taken seriously! She is DANGEROUS. I'm not even remotely joking. I would never step foot in her home, and never have her in mine. That's just how it is. If this were a deadly allergy......she could have KILLED YOU. And actually, it needs to be explained to her that way. I don't mean to sound like I'm yelling at you, I am not, but people like that just tork me right off. Playing games with other people's lives will land them in jail, in court, etc. I'm sure she felt like a real winner that night, but I feel differently on that matter.

I am so sorry you have to deal with family members like this. Sadly, I can relate because all of mine think I'm a complete and utter hypochondriac, and I refuse to eat at their homes or allow them to cook for me or have access to my food because I have no doubt that they'd probably try some little stunt like this.

I have not read all the replies, but I have no doubt that you'll handle this the way I probably would. I can't stand people who think they know everything.

[sandsurfgirl]

Thank you so very much for your replies! I went over last night and showed her the outbreaks and she could not believe how bad it was. I also gave her this website address and a book on Celiac. Finally, I told her, "Sorry, but I will never eat here again and it will be awhile until you see me again." Ok, said it with a little more emotion- and I think she finally got the message!

Good for you! Please please tell me she apologized. You know, there are some nasty people in the world, but this thing has gotten under my skin. It's so deliberately evil. I just can't find another word for it. If somebody did that to me... oh I can't even think of it.

[idonteatwheat]

I've said it so many times, if I had to use an epipen for this so many more people would get how serious it is for me to eat a fraction of a crumb. It's so easy for someone to say it is imagined even though it causes you a whole host of issues for days afterward. Sometimes now though I have to just stop eating, I can tell at that point (but not always) and by that time it doesn't matter because it is in me and the whole icky process has started.

I've wondered at times if I have had this happen with people. I'm pretty darn certain it has happened eating out, they don't care, I just stop eating there after it happens, they lose my $.