Dh And Forum Frequency

[Di2011]

I just started to wonder tonight about how much we DH sufferers spend cruising this forum. May be just my imagination but are we really the crazy forum members? Is it really so long to get it out of our system (skin) that we seem to be around, and so regularly, that we appear so regularly and longer term?

To be honest I thought back in June that I'd be temporary here on the forum. I'm not diagnosed celiac or officially DH, never likely to be. My unmistakable DH has me returning regularly to this forum and often at night (Australian time). I find the night time hard with the itching getting worse mid-afternoon and thereafter. Being a single mum I find this time of day/night hard (son in bed and now well past 9pm and itching like crazy). I sit here with cold/ice packs to calm my arms and hoping that this my last and final bad patch.

[Di2011]

and seemingly so few DH diagnosed members on this forum?

[ravenwoodglass]

I just started to wonder tonight about how much we DH sufferers spend cruising this forum. May be just my imagination but are we really the crazy forum members? Is it really so long to get it out of our system (skin) that we seem to be around, and so regularly, that we appear so regularly and longer term?

Many will be on the forum until they are feeling better and have a good understanding of what is going on and how to protect themselves. Others remain, sometimes for years, to help others and give support. It doesn't mean they are still suffering greatly.

I had DH since childhood but haven't had an outbreak now in years even though I have been glutened a couple times in just the last year or so. Still being active on the forum kind of gives a purpose for all the years of suffering. I stay because I don't want others to go through all the difficulty I did. I didn't find this forum until a couple years post diagnosis. I wish I had know of celiac. com when I was new as there is a fantastic group of 'oldtimers' here that help those who are struggling with diagnosis and all we have to go through afterwards.

I hope it won't be too long before your outbreaks are a thing of the past. When that time comes if you move on that is fine. You are also welcome to stay and help others if that is what you feel the need to do.

[Di2011]

Can't thank you "oldtimers" enough, ravenwoodglass. Doesn't matter what condition you are in you are always here to help. This has certainly been my place of sanity and you all know SO much!! I hope I stick around too because I wonder how many people are out there in the wilderness and really need to find this forum.

[squirmingitch]

Can't thank you "oldtimers" enough, ravenwoodglass. Doesn't matter what condition you are in you are always here to help. This has certainly been my place of sanity and you all know SO much!! I hope I stick around too because I wonder how many people are out there in the wilderness and really need to find this forum.

I will add my thanks also. As well as saying I hope to stick around too for the same reasons expressed above.

I sit here now having thought I was gluten free from at least Nov. 1st but Thanksgiving night my hubby discovered I had missed spotting gluten in a food we had been eating. That was a major low point for me. Like taking a giant step backwards. And I had gone iodine free for 3 weeks to boot. I feel like all my efforts were wasted & for naught. So now I've begun the count over again at Dec. 1st as I'm allowing the leeway from Thanksgiving to the 1st. Besides, it's easier to remember the 1st. When the 30th rolls around I will (hopefully) be able to say I have 30 days under my belt. It's like spending time in prison. So Thanksgiving night I began getting new outbreaks & they continued to multiply. Then they stopped coming. A few days & I thought I would just have to suffer the present ones until they had run their course. Then I wake up 3 mornings ago with it starting on my lower back again. Then 2 days with no new. This afternoon a blister formed on the back of each leg behind the knee. I'm so weary. When will it end?

[pricklypear1971]

Eventually it will improve. I'm sorry it's so rough right now. It can take a while for the iga to lower in your skin. Everyone is different.

Figuring out food ingredients is hard... I noticed I started picking up "favorites" the other day at the store - stuff that has been "safe" and I wasnt checking labels. That's a recipe for disaster and I know eventually that will get me if I continue. It's just so tiring rereading labels and it takes SO LONG. I swear I don't eat stuff simply so I don't have to read the label...

[mushroom]

I am usually hear to commiserate wih the nighttime stragglers, but even I go to bed before you do

[squirmingitch]

Thank you both. I know I just have to grit it out. The eating part wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the torture of dh. Pricklypear --- i know what you mean about not eating stuff simply for not wanting to read labels and you've been at it a lot longer than I.

I also feel like I have put my hubby in prison. He still eats gluten but is trying very hard to be cognizant of what I can eat (or can't eat)& tries to plan meals & I'm sick of saying, "I can't eat that, I can't eat that, I can't eat that". So he will change the menu so we can eat the same things but I swear I wish he would just eat his way & leave me alone & I could eat what I CAN eat. I think it would be easier that way. Or maybe it's just that I would feel less guilty that way.

Mushroom, I read your list under your sig. line & simply can not fathom WHAT you manage to eat --- how you feed yourself --- no caffeine, no soy, no legumes, no potatoes, no tomatoes, no citrus, no corn. How in the world do you survive?

[Di2011]

Hi squirmingitch,

This afternoon a blister formed on the back of each leg behind the knee. I'm so weary. When will it end?

It will end for you!! Just keep getting on here for reassurance whenever you need. For me to get any real improvement I have learnt to mistrust any food I don't see prepared or prepared myself. Against my introverted nature, I've had to learn how to be very overt with people. When someone tells me I should be able to eat a 'little bit' I tell them "no, I can't eat a little bit". When someone tells me 'it can't be wheat or gluten because it is taking so long to heal when you've been so strictly gluten-free so long' I tell them 'yes it is and it may be another 6-12 months before it is completely healed'. I am no longer afraid to flash my upper arms (and it aint pretty ) at people who think they know better. I've been trying to toughen myself up about it all but still have lots of down times. I try to remind myself just how lucky I am that I don't have the very serious and life-threatening conditions others have.

I still find it weird how it appears on both left & right at the same time

Maybe not the same for everyone? But mine appeared on my both ankles first, then went all the way north and then down my arms to my hands always left and right at the same time.

[mushroom]

Mushroom, I read your list under your sig. line & simply can not fathom WHAT you manage to eat --- how you feed yourself --- no caffeine, no soy, no legumes, no potatoes, no tomatoes, no citrus, no corn. How in the world do you survive?

The only time it is a problem is when someone else tries to cook for me (other than hub and big sis) Apart from that I eat lots of yummy foods. (just finished a bagel and cream cheese).

[ravenwoodglass]

I still find it weird how it appears on both left & right at the same time

Maybe not the same for everyone? But mine appeared on my both ankles first, then went all the way north and then down my arms to my hands always left and right at the same time.

That is one of the hallmarks of DH although there are some folks who may only get lesions on one side of their body it is usually bilateral.

[squirmingitch]

The only time it is a problem is when someone else tries to cook for me (other than hub and big sis) Apart from that I eat lots of yummy foods. (just finished a bagel and cream cheese).

Ohhhhhh that sounds Gooooooood! So do you think you can now tolerate lactose because your villi have had time to heal? I'm not doing dairy myself right now --- only egg whites & I am hoping once my gut has time to heal that I will be able to go back to it. Milk has always been my very favorite food. Even as a kid when everyone else wanted a soda I wanted MILK! Also, do you mind telling me what brand of bagel you eat? You don't do soy & that's another thing I'm not doing now as I found it to cause bloat. So apparently you have found a soy free gluten-free bagel.

[mushroom]

Ohhhhhh that sounds Gooooooood! So do you think you can now tolerate lactose because your villi have had time to heal? I'm not doing dairy myself right now --- only egg whites & I am hoping once my gut has time to heal that I will be able to go back to it. Milk has always been my very favorite food. Even as a kid when everyone else wanted a soda I wanted MILK! Also, do you mind telling me what brand of bagel you eat? You don't do soy & that's another thing I'm not doing now as I found it to cause bloat. So apparently you have found a soy free gluten-free bagel.

Well, number one, I am currently resident in New Zealand so our products are different. This is actually listed as a toasting BAP, (no hole in the middle) and is a bit more bready than a bagel, but works well anyway. Not only no soy but no potato starch either.

Yes, I do feel that my lactose tolerance is due to a healed gut; however, I was always able to tolerate yogurt, hard cheeses, sour cream, any cultured lactose product because the enzymes and cultures digest most of the lactose. I just had to avoid milk, cream, ice cream and frozen yogurt. By the way, eggs are not dairy - they are a separate protein and allergen all on their own. Fortunately I do eat them.

I think gluten free would be pretty easy without all the other "frees" that came up Try to find a corn-free menu or a legume-free menu

[squirmingitch]

Well, actually I am corn free but not because I want to be nor because I have reason to believe I have a problem with corn. I love grits, another of my traditional comfort foods. I like tacos, cornbread. But I have not been eating them as I have not found anything in that arena yet which is processed in a gluten free facility & at this point in time I don't want to take ANY chances on CC. Things are complicated enough. I can be more experimental once I get this gluten-free down pat & the dh lays down --- I desperately need a break from it!

HOWEVER --- I wouldn't touch trying to find a legume-free menu with a ten foot pole! And I applaud your ability to do so.

BTW, the no egg yolks is for iodine purposes.

And how does everyone seem to automatically know I'm in the US? I can't tell where any of you are unless you say something about your locale.