Feeling Really Demoralized

[BabsV]

I'm just having a couple really rough days...tried some chicken on Saturday night from supposedly one of the best butchers in town and had a major reaction to it. Plain old chicken breasts that I baked and I've paid for it with insomnia, anxiety and extreme pain plus the fun shakey feeling I get in my limbs. Strangely enough no GI symptoms this time around.

Anyway, I am just so very worn out trying to find things to eat here. I'm in Poland and I swear I'm starting to really wonder about the quality of the food. I had problems with meats from the supermarkets so I stopped eating them...stuck to plain frozen fish that was clearly marked for allergens (EU products) and seemed to do a bit better. I've had problems with rice. Plain old rice. One brand made me miserable and on the next trip to the store I realized that the same brandname sits on all the boxes of barley down the aisle...so I'm thinking possible cross contamination during packaging? Other rices don't seem to cause a problem. Tons of things aren't labelled at all or have vague labels and no way to contact the manufacturer. I'm trying to avoid a lot of the gluten-free replacement foods except for treats every once in a while...but I'm running out of things I feel I can eat. Plus there was a huge kerfluffle in the last couple of weeks because a food producer was found to have used industrial road salt in many products (nothing I ate but still?!?!?) Not to mention that availability is hit or miss -- there is something to be said for eating in season but I'd kill for a decent avocado right now since I seem to tolerate them well. I am sick of carrots and don't ever want to have to touch another turnip, parsnip or celery root!

I know a lot of this is residual from the glutening but honestly, sometimes I don't know how I'm going to get through the next four months until we can go home to America. I'm also really stressed out waiting for some meds to arrive in the mail -- one of my doctors wants to try something for the pain issues that will not subside (he thinks it might be some sort of nerve damage from previous abdominal surgery that took place about a year before my Celiac diagnosis because nothing is working and they cannot figure out what could be causing the problem -- lots of tests, no results.) He had to order the medicines from a pharmacy in the US since they don't have them here in Poland (I swear, I've had better health care in 3rd world countries...this place is the pits.) ARGH!! I just want to feel better and I was...spent 5 days in Rome a couple of weeks ago and by the time we left I was feeling the best I'd been feeling in almost a year. Then we come back to Poland and within a week and a half I'm miserable again. Maybe I'm allergic to the place?!?!

I just had to vent so I can try to get back to thinking positively. My 6 month blood tests show a big drop in my antibody levels so the diet is working. Plus a lot of the other health issues I had seem to have either improved or gone away. I have so much more energy and can do so much more than I could last July plus I've managed to put some weight back on but still, the pain is really well, a pain to deal with every stinking day.

I'm stop whining now...

[josh052980]

I'm just having a couple really rough days...tried some chicken on Saturday night from supposedly one of the best butchers in town and had a major reaction to it. Plain old chicken breasts that I baked and I've paid for it with insomnia, anxiety and extreme pain plus the fun shakey feeling I get in my limbs. Strangely enough no GI symptoms this time around.

Sometimes chicken breasts are injected with chicken broth to "enhance" the flavor, and as a result, fresh chicken turns out to not be gluten free. I ran into this as well and it was infuriated. It sucks having to worry about EVERYTHING you eat, without having to worry about fresh poultry to top it off. I use Tyson brand stuff if I need some fresh chicken breasts and haven't had any issues.

Hang in there and feel better!

[Takala]

Can you mail- order safe food from other places in the EU or the USA ? How about some canned chicken or tuna ?

[Skylark]

Sounds awful. Whine away! I agree with Takala. You need to treat yourself to a mail-order goodie box from somewhere in the EU.

I turned up this thread on gluten-free resources in Poland. Maybe it will help?

[YoloGx]

Until you can find safer sources of food, I'd stick with squash and root veggies for carbs for now. I ate that way for 10 months on the SCD diet. Though not to be able to trust the chicken either--that sucks!

Any way you can go to some local chicken farm to get your chickens direct??

[BabsV]

Thanks for the responses. I'm feeling a bit better today...recovering from the glutening so the pain has decreased a bit plus the venting helped! It was extra hard this time around since we'd just had such a successful trip to Italy -- I ate chicken, pork and beef there and had NO PROBLEMS! Ah, the joys of Western Europe!

I do have some canned tuna and chicken (gluten-free) from the US but I'm getting tired of eating it. Also tired of salmon and tilapia but I'll go back to it for the time being. It is tedious making two different meals (one for me, one for the family) but honestly, I am not going to make them eat like I have to eat! Really ready to be back in the States where labels are much more user-friendly...

[BabsV]

Until you can find safer sources of food, I'd stick with squash and root veggies for carbs for now. I ate that way for 10 months on the SCD diet. Though not to be able to trust the chicken either--that sucks!

Any way you can go to some local chicken farm to get your chickens direct??

Yolo -- consider yourself lucky with grocery selections! I haven't noticed squash in at least a couple of months in the stores or the outdoor markets (but to be honest I have not trekked all over looking for the them.) I'm hitting Carrefour this morning and maybe they'll have some. They never have yummy ones like acorn squash...I feel lucky when I can find sweet potatoes which are imported at great expense. I'll pay whatever price I have to for them however. Plus I horde them; I might share with my hubby but not with my daughter since she doesn't really like them and won't eat much if I give her any. I consider this a supreme waste of a food I CAN eat without any problems!

I've tried organic chicken from the bio stores and it was vile. I opened the sealed package and it reeked in a really bad way. It was well before the expiration date but I'd been told they bring it down from Warsaw (no local place produces it) and I have doubts about how well they refrigerated it during transport. I still cringe at the thought of it. *shudder* This was from one of the best bio stores here supposedly.

There is a woman I've found who raises turkeys and she'll slaughter them on request but you're looking at about US$ 30 for a 9 lb turkey. That gets pricey really quickly. So I'm sticking with fish...

Sigh. It is just the price you pay for living overseas.

[BabsV]

I turned up this thread on gluten-free resources in Poland. Maybe it will help?

Oh, thanks for sharing. Very interesting. I know about the local gluten free products -- they make a lot with gluten free wheat starch which I can't have (tried it once by accident and was miserable.) I stick to Schar since I can find it at the bio store close to my house and the pasta sometimes shows up at Carrefour. I'm not eating much in the way of gluten-free replacement foods but I do feed the family gluten-free pasta and gluten-free bread sticks plus the ciabatta rolls are amazing (I will admit to having a bite and out of the oven it was delicious!) I'm not at the point of eating out...not sure I trust it anyway, wheat and barley ingredients are EVERYWHERE in Polish cuisine. Maybe if I were further along in the healing process...I know that Yellow Dog (Asian cuisine) here in Krakow is good about the gluten-free thing -- aware of cross contamination and has a lot of Thai dishes that are naturally gluten-free. There is also a place in Kazimierz that is almost 100% gluten-free as the owner has had to go gluten-free. He told my husband that basically the only things that would end up having gluten by the time he was done with revamping the menu was the desserts because the price of gluten-free replacement flours is so expensive here. I might have to try it before we leave.