Still Worried About Mom

[jasonD2]

she was hardcore gluten free for a few weeks and lost 6 lbs (shes a bit overweight) but shes been traveling for work and she kinda regressed with the diet. she does not eat bread or pasta, eats gluten-free stuff and when she gets sandwiches she removes the bread but i fear this is just not enough. all her celiac tests were negative and she doesnt have the genes but her enterolab stool test was slightly elevated for gluten antibodies. she is probly just intolerant but i feel her life will really improve if she cuts it out completely...unfortunately i dont think she will and theres not much more i can do. i beat it to death and kept drilling it into her head but it just is what it is. anything else i can do at this point?

also my stepdad is very old school and isnt very accepting of my diet and most certainly isnt with my mother. hes always dangling food in her face when they eat out..here try this try this and she always does

[SGWhiskers]

It's frustrating when you see loved ones eating gluten when you think it is hurting them. I've got a few family members that I think would benefit from the diet as well. All we can do is educate and if they decide to try the diet, enable them to get the yummiest gluten free products before they decide tapioca bread is the best the gluten-free world has to offer. The more consistent you are with your diet and the healthier you get, the easier it will be for her to know what to do and have support if she decides to give the diet a try again. Since mom has negative blood work, it may be a bit like encouraging her to quit smoking. She may know it is something she should do and stick with, but she may need to give it a try more multiple times. Your step father probably has spent years sharing bites of food with your mom while she was on some weight loss diet or another and does not see the difference. Give you mom the support she needs when she decides to try gluten free agian. In my family, if I pushed with too much education and pressure on the gluten free diet for mom, she would never give the diet a try because she would be proving herself wrong and me right. So, instead, I'm waiting for her to try the Atkins again and then after the 2 weeks when she reintroduces limited grains and feels terrible like she always does, I'm going to pounce on the fact that she felt good for the two weeks because it was essentially a gluten free diet.

So when you say I don't think there's much more you can do, I think you are probably right. Just be there for her when she tries it again and be consistent with your diet so she can see the benefits of how gluten free is helping your life.

[sahm-i-am]

I hear ya! I have Celiac and when I was diagnosed I made my girls and husband get tested. (Why my husband, he isn't blood related? His brother has it, too!). Hubby's bloodwork came back positive. He won't get an upper GI and still eats gluten. We have really cut out gluten at home but when he travels or goes to work he eats it. I don't nag or say anything anymore, but he knows what he needs to do. He's a grown man and has to make his own decisions. He complains of upset stomachs or D and I look at him with the "Look". But what can I do? Frustrating! Don't know what he's afraid of. Our lives are gluten free at home, how much easier can it get?

[Marz]

Hubby's bloodwork came back positive. He won't get an upper GI and still eats gluten.

Woah, positive blood test and he still eats gluten?? What I'd give for positive tests >.>

Perhaps buy/borrow a book on celiac disease, like "Dangerous grains", to try explain the the effects of not following a gluten-free diet when you have celiac disease. The blood tests are very specific, if it's positive it's highly unlikely it's a false positive. He might be asymptomatic now (But you say he gets D anyway), but it could turn ugly in a few years time.

Jason - I'm in the same boat - my mom continually complains about her stomach ulcers, sore stomach, sensitive to all sorts of foods. She's overweight, and has lots of problems - cholesterol, border-line diabetic, high blood pressure. I'm sure she'd do a lot better gluten-free, but trying to persuade her to try it is like attempting to move a mountain. And my Dad acts like the diet is torture, continually feels sorry for me, and says he's sorry for me - doesn't help encourage her to try it!

Well done that you got her to at least try it, hopefully she'll get a week or two of really being gluten-free, and then maybe she'll see the difference when she cheats with her husband's food? You can't do much more really, she has to be motivated herself to keep to the diet.

[luvs2eat]

I think we ALL have relatives who we think/know would benefit from a gluten-free diet. I sure do. But my sister's blood work was negative and even tho she says she feels better w/ no/less gluten, she's not about to give up the bread in France... can't say as I blame her either!

Hubby's bloodwork came back positive. He won't get an upper GI and still eats gluten.

My blood work came back positive too. My doc told me an endoscopy wasn't necessary ... that's how positive my blood work was. If hubby's blood work is positive... well, you know and TELL him what he needs to do!!

[sahm-i-am]

BELIEVE me when I say, I've told dear hubby what he needs to do! He has been right beside me through my whole ordeal, I have educated him on everything I read. He knows that if I don't stay gluten free that I will possibly have worse diseases come along. But, when it comes to him he is in denial. He thinks the antibodies are caused by something else because he says he doesn't have symptoms! Well, HELLO! I had none of the typical symptoms either. With this disease the doctors are still learning so you never know.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Hubby is going on the PALEO diet after Christmas to lose some weight. That means he will be taking even more gluten out of his system, so if he ever eats it again he will have a bigger reaction and hopefully see.