Help!

[Bubba's Mom]

The past couple of days I've been having strong gluten-like symptoms and have been racking my brain to figure out what has gotten me.

I just found out my Hubby got several bales of WHEAT straw and scattered them in the back yard because the dogs were tracking mud in.

When he told me his great solution to our mud problem I freaked out! He said he noticed a lot of seed heads when he scattered it. He gathered up most of it,and burned it, but there's still some there. Does anybody have any idea how long it would take for the gluten to break down enough to be safe?

I immediately scrubbed down the floors and threw the rugs outside, and I'm going to be sure I don't go barefoot around here.

Any ideas on what else to do? I'm frantic!

[kareng]

The past couple of days I've been having strong gluten-like symptoms and have been racking my brain to figure out what has gotten me.

I just found out my Hubby got several bales of WHEAT straw and scattered them in the back yard because the dogs were tracking mud in.

When he told me his great solution to our mud problem I freaked out! He said he noticed a lot of seed heads when he scattered it. He gathered up most of it,and burned it, but there's still some there. Does anybody have any idea how long it would take for the gluten to break down enough to be safe?

I immediately scrubbed down the floors and threw the rugs outside, and I'm going to be sure I don't go barefoot around here.

Any ideas on what else to do? I'm frantic!

Demand some serious jewelry? Move out to a nice hotel? Get a smarter hub? (Tell him I suggested these things)

If your yard is already a muddy mess, could he just try to rake up the rest, then turn the soil? Cover it with wood mulch? Maybe the birds will eat it? Put down some of that weed cloth to hold the seeds under it?

[Bubba's Mom]

Thanks for the suggestions Karen! We are both in panic mode.

I hope I don't lose my marriage over this blasted disease. He says he can't deal with this crap. There's no pleasing me.

[Aly1]

My hubby gets frustrated too - he just wants a "normal" life. Hmm, don't we all!

Sorry you got glutened in the strangest of ways!!

[mbrookes]

Don't graze in the yard. You have to ingest the gluten for it to hurt you. Walking on it is totally safe.

[Takala]

Oh, mercy.

I intercepted the contractor 2 months ago with a pickup load of "anonymous" straw heading towards our pasture where they had put the new septic lines in, and told him we'd just be scattering hay on it instead, since the one horse is allergic to many different types of hay/straw plus my wheat "allergy," thank you, but what I really didn't want was the allergic DOG getting into it (vet bill alert, warning, DANGER beep beep !) . The county mandates that it actually be covered with something (trying not to laugh, it's a pasture area I'm afraid is going to go feral- vegetation because now I am not supposed to graze anything on it, but mow it , and they actually came out and checked to see that it was being fenced off and ground cover was started on it. )

I put wood chips down once on a muddy area in a corral per the recommendation of horse peeps who live up in the west coast area Canada where they claim a lot of people do this every winter when it rains a lot.... I think they call it hog fuel.... this is when I discovered that some horses, are, incredibly, ALSO reactive to certain types of wood chips.

Currently the naked part of the yard where the Great Ditch of Excavation went thru, on its journey to the Lateral Lines of Rivendell, is sporting a new covering of rounded pebbled river gravel, it was pricy, but, By God, so far it has not caused any reactions. The largest dog thinks this stuff is the Best Thing Evah, and likes to dig depressions in it and lounge out there. I have never in my life been as fond of anything delivered in bulk to my house.

[Aly1]

Don't graze in the yard. You have to ingest the gluten for it to hurt you. Walking on it is totally safe.

Ha, this is a good point... But. If the dogs track it in and say, jump on the sofa, and you out your hand there then touch your face...it is theoretically quite possible.

[Bubba's Mom]

Oh wow Takala! I thought I had problems?

I'm glad you figured out a solution. Years ago we a new septic system put in and it was a mess!

Hubby found a couple of bales of wood chips in the garage. They're supposed to be for absorbing oil, but they worked to cover the area where the wheat berries are.

We have 3 dogs that go in and out about half a billion times a day. They would have tracked that nasty stuff all through the house over and over again.

I wasn't planning on grazing, but I don't want a steady stream of gluten in it's strongest form brought in here repeatedly.

[GFinDC]

Oh great, seeds. You might have a nice crop of winter wheat by spring! Good for hubby grinding up some chips to cover it. I wouldn't want that in my backyard either. Most of the time they use wheat straw for mulching. After the oat groats are removed the straw makes good mulch. Most of the big bright yellow bales of straw are oat straw, not wheat straw. Oat straw is tougher and breaks down slower so it makes better mulch. Wheat straw would more often be used as feed for livestock.

Something else to watch out for with pets is their food. There is often wheat or barley in pet foods.

[Bubba's Mom]

Oh great, seeds. You might have a nice crop of winter wheat by spring! Good for hubby grinding up some chips to cover it. I wouldn't want that in my backyard either. Most of the time they use wheat straw for mulching. After the oat groats are removed the straw makes good mulch. Most of the big bright yellow bales of straw are oat straw, not wheat straw. Oat straw is tougher and breaks down slower so it makes better mulch. Wheat straw would more often be used as feed for livestock.

Something else to watch out for with pets is their food. There is often wheat or barley in pet foods.

One of our dogs has had allergy problems since puppyhood. He was a resue dog, and when we got him one eye was swollen shut and he had major hair loss, along with pustules on his face. He had been abused and neglected. We fell in love with the poor guy. We put him on allergy dog food right away. It was surprising to watch him come back to health from having a grain free diet.

Then, my grown son had to move back home with 2 dogs, due to hard times. It was shortly after they moved in that I was DXed. I put all of the dogs on a grain free food. My son's dogs stopped having itchy skin, and their coats got much nicer.

I hadn't even thought of the straw being a danger to THEM.

Thanks for telling us how to spot the oat straw versus the wheat straw. We had no idea. That info could help others here too?

I think with the panic we had here over this episode we're going to have to stick with wood chips or mulch?!

[GFinDC]

That's cool that you got a rescue dog. My cat Muffin is on grain free food also, BG (Beyond Grain).. She does better on it than the regular food. She likes gluteny cat treats but she throws up if I give them to her. So she doesn't get those anymore. Muffin is a rescue too. She doesn't seem to know that though, she thinks she is the queen of the house!

The thing to do I guess is call the seller and ask them what kind of straw it was. Since it had seeds you will probably have a nice crop of whatever it was come spring. But a little spring mowing should take care of that. All you would need to do is mow it down before the seed heads form. If your yard starts looking like this though there's trouble:

Image courtesy Olga's Gallery:

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[sariesue]

Oh wow Takala! I thought I had problems?

I'm glad you figured out a solution. Years ago we a new septic system put in and it was a mess!

Hubby found a couple of bales of wood chips in the garage. They're supposed to be for absorbing oil, but they worked to cover the area where the wheat berries are.

We have 3 dogs that go in and out about half a billion times a day. They would have tracked that nasty stuff all through the house over and over again.

I wasn't planning on grazing, but I don't want a steady stream of gluten in it's strongest form brought in here repeatedly.

Go get disposable dog feet covers and some disposable gloves. Cover the dogs feel when they go out and use the gloves to take off the booties when BEFORE they enter the house. Then it's not a concern. And just don't let them out as much. If they need excerscise, take them out on leashed walks that avoid the hay.

[Bubba's Mom]

That's cool that you got a rescue dog. My cat Muffin is on grain free food also, BG (Beyond Grain).. She does better on it than the regular food. She likes gluteny cat treats but she throws up if I give them to her. So she doesn't get those anymore. Muffin is a rescue too. She doesn't seem to know that though, she thinks she is the queen of the house!

The thing to do I guess is call the seller and ask them what kind of straw it was. Since it had seeds you will probably have a nice crop of whatever it was come spring. But a little spring mowing should take care of that. All you would need to do is mow it down before the seed heads form. If your yard starts looking like this though there's trouble:

Image courtesy Olga's Gallery:

Open Original Shared Link

LOL..all cats think they're Royalty? They say dogs have owners..cats have staff?

Hubby called the seller and asked about the straw AFTER spreading it around. They confirmed it was wheat straw. If it starts to grow, it will get mowed right down with the rest of the lawn.

Little booties for the 3 dogs..our Blood Hound had a wound on one foot last year. I had to cover it before he could go out. He wasn't co-operative. I can't imagine doing that on 12 feet every time they go out. LOL

I appreciate your ideas though. All suggestions could help someone else who might face this situation..and apply whatever they think would work best for them?

[dilettantesteph]

I hope I don't lose my marriage over this blasted disease. He says he can't deal with this crap. There's no pleasing me.

I feel for you. My husband used to be like this. At first I didn't get better all that quickly due to my super sensitivity. Part of it was living with him when he wouldn't take it seriously and would leave crumbs all over the place, and leave gluten in the gluten free areas etc.

It's been four years now and he has seen enough to know that it is all very real. We are still together and things are much better between us now, though we still have things to work through. I hope that your husband will see the light too.

I would be very upset by wheat straw all over my yard. I've done worse things my own self though. I put down slug bait and then discovered that it contained gluten. What a dummie!

[Bubba's Mom]

Hubby was real snotty when I realized that he had just spread poison all over and said we had to get it cleaned up. I know he felt bad, but he asked me if the people on this forum are married because he can't see how a relationship can work between celiac and non-celaic people!

I told him it will take time to learn everything. It's all new to BOTH of us. All we can do is try to be thoughtful and careful, and learn from any mistakes we make.

He leaves a lot of messes in the kitchen too. If he cooks anything he leaves a trail of destruction in his wake, usually gluten ingredients. If he doesn't clean it up in a reasonable time after he's eaten, I call him on it. I do it in a joking way..saying uh-oh..you're gonna lose your kitchen privledges..or something similar, because I don't want it to be a fight.

It's definately a challenge!

I used to tell him it was sexy to take out the garbage. Now if the garbage is full I just say.."man too bad there's no sexy guys around here", and he gets it. Seems to go over better than nagging him to take the garbage out?

[Melissa Palomo]

Wow I don't even know how I would respond to my husband if he made a comment like that on making relationships work between celiac/non celiac folks. Maybe because I've dealt with his disease since high school (type 1 diabetes), it was an easy transition for him to accommodate me at home. He reads labels for me and goes out of his way to make sure I'm taken care of - isn't that what marriage is all about? I'd have trouble not responding with "It's not making a relationship work between Celiac/non Celiac folks that's the issue, it's making it work when one party is selfish and unwilling to alter their lifestyle to accommodate the other!"

[dilettantesteph]

it's making it work when one party is selfish and unwilling to alter their lifestyle to accommodate the other!"

That's what I think, but I've managed to hold my tongue so far.

It's also his son, who was only 10 at the start of all this. How selfish is one who won't make an extra effort to keep his young son healthy?

[Bubba's Mom]

Well..hubby has always been a bit selfish, and doesn't seem to have any "protective instincts" in regards to my safety? He thinks nothing of asking me to go somewhere on my own late at night, etc.

He also travels for his job during the week. He's gotten so he looks out for himself because he has to, but not for anybody else. He's also used to maid service in the Hotels. As a result, he's not used to cleaning up after himself when he's here.

He has good qualities too. I hate to make him sound like a total ***. The reason he got straw to spread around the backyard was to prevent mud being tracked into the house by the dogs. He's learning to read labels. He's just not "getting it" with the CC isues.

[dilettantesteph]

He's just not "getting it" with the CC isues.

It's hard. It took a long time for my husband to understand exactly how small an amount could be a problem, and he's a chemist! He may get there yet. I find it helpful to relate it to people with severe peanut allergies.

[Jestgar]

He's also used to maid service in the Hotels. As a result, he's not used to cleaning up after himself when he's here.

Perfect! Tell him you'd like to start interviewing maids as soon as possible.

[Bubba's Mom]

Perfect! Tell him you'd like to start interviewing maids as soon as possible.

LOL!!! I like the way you think!