When Just Being In A Restaurant Makes You Sick

[GlutenFreeManna]

The women's Bible study at my church meets at Panera Bread about every other week. I thought I could handle just going and getting coffee or tea. I was super careful. I got there early so I could choose a table without crumbs. I wiped down my chair and the table with lysol wipes and then cleaned my hands. I was careful not to touch things and not to touch my face (eyes, nose, mouth) while there. I got a sweet tea. I thought everything went well until I was sick with glutening symptoms the next day. This was months ago and I have not wanted to go back to Panera. But the women's Bible study still meets there. They keep inviting me to come. I keep politely declining. I miss the fellowship, but I don't miss being sick. I'm beginning to wonder if I should just tell them why I can't come. I don't want them to have to change where they meet when they have been meeting there long before I started attending this church (we are new to this area). But I also feel so sad I can't go. What would you guys do? Bring it up or just not go to the Bible study?

[Dixiebell]

Since they bake the bread there, my guess is that flour can get into everything. You could take your own drink and a few snacks in a small lunch bag or your purse and just don't make anything of it. Or just eat before you go and just bring a drink. So many people carry their own reuseable cups everywhere. Then if you still have problems I would bring it up to the person that heads up the planning and tell them that you have an allergy to wheat and you really want to attend the bible study but the resturant has been making you sick. If they are good christian women they will want to help you. Also, have resturant ideas ready in case they ask where you would feel comforable.

[starrytrekchic]

You might have been glutened elsewhere, and it's just coincidence that it happened after visiting Panera. I would give them another try. I've eaten at the local Panera several times without incidence (they're one of only a couple of places around here that offer gluten free veggie food.)

Cross-contamination is an issue of course, especially if they make their bread in house (some don't.)

Make sure the tea was gluten free. I don't know about Panera's specifically, but some teas aren't. At any rate, don't let celiac socially isolate you. I'd head right back to Panera for at least a second try.

[Skylark]

I agree. You should at least try again and doublecheck that the tea was plain old black tea. If you get glutened again and you're sure it's Panera, then you might say something to the church group. The group might decide they would enjoy trying some new meeting places.

[YoloGx]

I agree. You should at least try again and doublecheck that the tea was plain old black tea. If you get glutened again and you're sure it's Panera, then you might say something to the church group. The group might decide they would enjoy trying some new meeting places.

I agree--you should try it again--without the sweet tea! Bring your own instead.

However it is also possible that since they make bread there you could be getting glutened by the atmosphere. I have gotten badly glutened just walking through a pizzaria to use the bathroom and then sitting outside at one of their tables-- consuming nothing while my companion ate. Sure enough two hours later I began to get sick! It shocked me that I could be that sensitive, however I really am. Gluten dust in the air is a real no no for me.

However for a lot of people (who have celiac) it does not bother them.

Am hoping you are one of the luckier less sensitive ones.

If not, the suggestion of going to a different, safer restaurant for a meeting place sounds a lot better...

Meanwhile I am learning to be bolder and bring my own food and drink most everywhere I go in one of those little insulated zipped box containers. In a big group like that hardly anyone notices, including the servers.

Bea

[GlutenFreeManna]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I am super sensitive to CC. Maybe I will try again without buying anything. I can't think of anyplace else for them to meet so I'm not going to make a suggestion for now. I know the reason they go to Panera is so that people don't have to spend a lot of $$ on food or drinks and they can stay to talk as long as they want without being hurried out the door. Most people do just get a bagel and coffee or something. I wouldn't feel too out of place if I just brought my own tea in a mug I suppose. I had checked to see if the tea was gluten free prior to going the first time and I found an old post that said it was. However now that I think about it, just because the tea itself doesn't have gluten doesn't mean that flour in the air didn't get into the tea while they were making it. Or the sugar in the tea could have been CC with flour. This location does make the bread and bagels on site. So I'm worried about even breathing the air. Maybe I will try again. It's just that I have gone a couple months now without getting glutened. I'm just getting over a bad upper respiratory infection (that lasted over a month) and I don't want to be sick again. I'm starting to wonder if I will ever have sustained good health long enough to hold a job again. I don't want to be a hermit and never go anywhere because of fear of gluten, but I don't want to purposely go places and do things that increase my risk of getting sick. I guess I'm still trying to find a balance between freaking out and being careless. Seems I spend my time going between extremes.

[Takala]

I am more independent minded than most. If a group of people whose purpose was supposed to be concern about my welfare kept asking me to go to a place where I was in danger of getting sick, I would just tell them no, I can't go there because it has a great chance of making me sick and let the chips fly where they may.

I don't expect people to be able to read my mind, but I also don't expect people to invite me to things I'd rather not do and then expect ME to be apologetic that they issued the invite and I took a pass.

The last time I went to a bakery type place they had this conveyor belt above, with wire baskets with the loaves of bread actually sailing around the ceiling above everything in the place. Altho I was almost desperate for a caffeine hit I thought "You Have Got To Be Kidding. No Way" and marched myself right back out.

That being said, I also have gotten nailed BIG time at a coffee dispensing type place that we used to stop at all the time when driving from here to the coast. It was a coffee house with free wifi and a lot of student type clientele as it was near a college. It used to have coffee and snacks, some of which I could even eat, like fresh fruit or some types of candy bars, and it used to have nutritious sandwiches for the regular people. It was always busy and the back room was full of people intently studying and drinking coffee. It changed ownership and with that it also changed themes, decor, and the owners also put up obnoxious little signs all over the place that alternated between NO OUTSIDE FOOD OR DRINK, NO LOITERING, CUSTOMERS ONLY, 5 MINUTE LIMIT ON INTERNET, and, I kid you not, many little signs to the effect that God Loves You, paraphrased. All the good food was gone, no more egg salad, tuna, fruit gone, healthy snacks gone, even the decent chocolate is gone, and there was, I swear, nothing but a few packages of ramen noodle soup mix in the display case. It almost rendered me speechless, like what did you do to the coffee place and what possessed you to think that this was going to be a big success. So I got coffee. And of course, I get sick off the coffee later. This was about a year ago, so we may sneak back some time and see if their new business model has failed yet. We've noticed a lot of vacancies in this shopping center as we've driven by this summer. (HA! I just looked on google maps and the building is now a famous chain coffee shop. Customer service fail. ) Of course, famous chain previously offered a gluten free treat and then jerked it back off their menu, and currently has the typical CYA statement about the potential for cross contamination on their website.

Customers can get ingredient information by asking their barista or calling 1 800 xxx LATTE

Yeah, we get it, and we're just not that into you, either, Famous Chain Shop, mostly because we can take coffee at home, add a lot of stuff to it, and make it high in calories and sweet, without putting wheat into it. Duh. And we don't use Tazo, some of the flavors of which aren't gluten free.

I don't consider myself that sensitive to cross contamination compared to some people, and sometimes I will eat out at places which have a gluten free option. Most of the time I'm okay, a few times I haven't been.

If they do well, I praise them. For example, I stopped in at a bookstore last month and asked nicely to see the tea before they served it, the lady behind the counter humored me when I explained it was an allergy and had done this before, so I just wanted to check to make sure, and then I noticed they actually had a gluten free snack bar right there on the counter, a flavor I could eat out of that brand, pre packaged so there would be no cross contamination. So I got the tea, and the "Kind" bar, and said this was absolutely fantastic that not only was the tea safe, unlike the brand used at competitor store "xxxx" (which is true) but that THIS brand of granola bar was also safe, which meant that they were being considerate of people with wheat allergies/gluten intolerance. And she said, "oh, I never noticed that about those snack bars, I just noticed they were selling." So this is a win - win situation, celiacs and gluten intolerant and people with allergies get to have options at this bookstore, we are loyal customers when we find out something that works, and she learned something.

Regarding tea, I like to do hot water and a tea bag and I control what sort of sweetener goes into it. I don't trust iced tea in restaurants, period. It is a good idea to carry tea bags in your purse and some sort of sweetener if you need that, this way you can just get hot water. You can also get a glass of just ice with it... You can even figure out how to carry white stuff, gluten free coffee creamers, if you are clever. But regarding restaurants, there is always the risk of cross contamination. Even if you manage to communicate successfully with the waitstaff, you just don't know what is really going on back there in the kitchen.

[GlutenFreeManna]

I am more independent minded than most. If a group of people whose purpose was supposed to be concern about my welfare kept asking me to go to a place where I was in danger of getting sick, I would just tell them no, I can't go there because it has a great chance of making me sick and let the chips fly where they may.

I don't expect people to be able to read my mind, but I also don't expect people to invite me to things I'd rather not do and then expect ME to be apologetic that they issued the invite and I took a pass.

Most of them don't know about my gluten issues. So far only the pastor, his family and a few other people in the church know because I had to make arrangements for taking communion. I am new to this group and new to this city I'm living in. They are not inviting me to be rude or even thinking about it being an issue for me (because they don't know). Some ladies from church even offered to bring me food when I was sick with brochitus and I had to tell them to please not bring me anything because I have food allergies. They respected my wishes and asked if there was anything else I needed. I never said they were trying to make me feel guilty about not going to Panera for Bible study. I WANT to go and I'm sad about it. This is an important part of my life to me. I'm just trying to figure out how to handle the situation.

[Marz]

I'd suggest going and not eating/drinking anything (Just say you're not feeling well). If you react, then it's to the flour in the air (or possibly touching something on the table and then touching your mouth or something), and then the only thing you can do is tell them.

You might find a few fellow sufferers if they know Not sure if they'd change the location to suit you, but they could at least change the location once in a while to one of your safe recommendations. Possibly most would love a change of scenery but don't know how to raise the topic to change their meeting place

Otherwise if you don't react, just bring your own drink in a flask and snacks. I took some fruit for a work breakfast the other day, because I really didn't feel like glutening myself on some bacon and eggs, and no-one looked at me twice when I whipped out my own snacks I did order filter coffee though, pity their tea is contaminated 0.o

[lovegrov]

Good golly, woman, tell the folks in your church about your celiac. Then take it from there. I can't imagine a reason not to.

richard

[lynnelise]

I would give Panera another try just to be sure it wasn't a coincidence.

I also agree that you should just tell them. It's nothing to be ashamed of!

[Skylark]

Most of them don't know about my gluten issues. So far only the pastor, his family and a few other people in the church know because I had to make arrangements for taking communion. I am new to this group and new to this city I'm living in. They are not inviting me to be rude or even thinking about it being an issue for me (because they don't know). Some ladies from church even offered to bring me food when I was sick with brochitus and I had to tell them to please not bring me anything because I have food allergies. They respected my wishes and asked if there was anything else I needed. I never said they were trying to make me feel guilty about not going to Panera for Bible study. I WANT to go and I'm sad about it. This is an important part of my life to me. I'm just trying to figure out how to handle the situation.

Is there any way you could invite them to your house occasionally for Bible study and offer some gluten-free snacks that everyone could eat?

[GlutenFreeManna]

I'm not hiding it from them, but other than the issue of meeting at Panera there has not been an opportunity to tell a lot of people. Like I said I am NEW to this group. I haven't gotten to know very many people yet. They have had some church picnics in the park where everyone brought their own food. I wasn't out of place with my packed gluten free lunch because everyone packed their own lunch. It NEVER came up. And I had a GREAT TIME FEELING NORMAL! For ONCE I got to eat with people and talk to them about something other than my health. I mean this is what I'm trying to figure out, how/when to tell people. It's not like I can just get up in church on Sunday and make an announcement. I'm all for spreading awareness; every person that I already know that has health conditions related to celiac I have made aware of this disease and encouraged testing. But I also like to keep my medical conditions private until people need to know or ask. And some people are NOT intersted. Until I have to make special arrangements I'm not going to just walk up someone and start telling them about celiac. I made an appointment to talk to the pastor because he needs to know and anyone administering communion needs to know why I am not taking the bread (I will have my own gluten free bread). I guess what I'm trying to navigate right now is the issue of making new friends and at what point do I bring this up. Some people in this group will end up being good close friends, I can just tell that already. But some people may not be in my life for a long time. I live in an area with a lot of military; it's common for people to be here for 6 months and then get moved. I shouldn't have to disclose celiac to every person I shake hands with in church. People pass in and out of a group like this all the time for various reasons. I'm trying to stick with just close friends/family and the people that may make decisions related to my food and drink.

I guess the best option is for me to try going to Panera again and not buying anything. Thanks again to everyone that gave imput. You would think it would be as simple as "just tell them" but I don't think it is that easy unless I'm having to make arrangement for special food. If it comes up while I'm at Panera or I get sick again I will certainly make someone aware of my issues. I'm just not sure I want to ask them to change meeting locations just because of me. As far the suggestion of meeting in my home, I live in a tiny apartment with no visitor parking. My place would also not be big enough for hosting a group this size at all. I only have seating for about 5 or 6 people comfortably in my living room. This group has about twenty ladies in attendance.