Just Diagnosed

[PatB27]

I just got back from the doctor. Surprised me! He had done a full load of blood tests and hydrogen breath tests. I was expecting to just be put on antibiotics for my stomach. Instead, he told me, that although the blood tests were negative, with my symptoms he felt I had celiac disease and was lactose intolerant. He started out by saying he was sorry and that my life was going to change drastically.

While the nurse gave me information on lactose intolerance, she forgot the information on celiac disease. I see there's a lot out there.

BUT.... WHERE do I start?

My head is still spinning.

[Dixiebell]

Welcome to the forum PatB27.

Living Gluten Free for Dummies by Danna Korn is a very good book to start with.

[Npealer]

Hi Pat,

I just found out 2 weeks ago that I had Celiac's. I actually found a lot of answers to my questions here I saw a nutritionist last week and she didn't really have anything to tell me that I hadn't already learned from here. I'm still doing plenty of learning about celiac disease but anytime I am not sure about something I have found answers on here. Hang in there

[Financialman]

In addition to this forum there are a lot of support groups you can contact in your area depending on where you live. Google support groups on your computer for your location and then try several of the meetings. I have found that they were extremely helpful to me and I continue to go. Plus I met a lot of new and interesting people and made a few new friends. I have not found any downside to going to Celiac support meetings.

[Takala]

Did he say that he is encouraging you to go on a gluten free diet now, or wait until a biopsy is done ? Because if he's going to send to a gastro doc for a biopsy, they will want you still eating the gluten until that is done.

However, if you are supposed to just change over, welcome. You are supposed to avoid the proteins in wheat, rye, and barley, and cross contaminated oats. Lactose is milk sugar. Lactose intolerance may lessen slightly as you stick to a gluten free diet longer, as these two conditions go together. You may still be able to eat hard cheeses, or safe, gluten free yogurts. ( You might end up having a problem with soy, or not, but start with the wheat, rye, barley, and lactose first.)

Where to start. Well, I would make a list of what I typically ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and then make a shopping list. Then I would gluggle, er, google, "gluten free name of my nearest town" and see what stores popped up. You may live near enough a regular grocery store that has enough gluten free items that you can grocery shop at, without having to go to a specialty or health food store, or you may be making a trip there to said specialty store. The main difference in your life is you are going to read labels more, and you're going to get to be a real expert at knowing what you're consuming, unlike the rest of the glutenoids.

The biggest thing is that if you are a big carbohydrate eater you may be either discovering that you need to be a lower carb eater, or you just don't like any of the gluten free breads available, and you may end up baking a lot more. If you like to bake, this is fun. If you don't like to bake, well, go to the baking section of the forum and start searching for the easier gluten free recipes, or you may have to search for a bit for substitutes you like or that don't have the one lousy ingredient you'd rather avoid. I think most people can handle making a 'bun in a cup' in the microwave. Now a days there is also a lot more fresh and frozen gluten free breads in the stores, some of which is much more edible than even a few years ago. There are also lots of gluten free mixes and they can be mail ordered in bulk.

If you live a great distance from the stores with your favorite items, you may want to invest in greater storage space, because you will be depending on your pantry more. We have a small spare refrigerator in the garage because I tend to come home with things like 10 lbs of almonds or 4 kinds of gluten free flours, and I freeze things first to kill any bugs and then store it in a refrigerator, because in my climate it's just too hot in the summer to do otherwise, and this way things don't go rancid.

Gluten free rice cakes, rice crackers, rice pastas and corn tortillas can be real sanity savers. There are also lots of gluten free cereals and snack bars. Some lunch meats say gluten free right on the label. Plain meats, poultry, fish,nuts, fruits, vegetables, olive oil are all gluten free. Coconut oil can be used instead of butter, if you cannot tolerate it, or there are gluten free butter substitutes such as Earth Balance or Spectrum. I find that organic dairy makes a big difference, for me. There are lots of gluten free condiments available now. Coconut milk in cans is a great coffee creamer for the lactose intolerant. There are LOTS of different type of gluten free milk substitute beverages in those aseptic boxes, in many flavors.

For your kitchen, you will need a new toaster, cutting board, and new tupperware or plastic type storage containers. Wooden things such as spoons, etc, need to given to the thrift store, too. Likewise, cooking utensils with porous cooking surfaces, such as teflon. If you are thinking Oh My get a roll of paper towels and learn to put them down on the counter or plate and use that for a cutting surface during the shakedown phase. A big drinking glass can work well to roll out pie crust.... oh yeah, scummy old pie tins may need to be retired, also.