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Guest havetobestrong

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Guest havetobestrong

Hello,

This is my first post. I was told today that I have gluton intolerance/Celiac. Sorry if I don't know exactly how to say all of this. I'm just a bit overwhelmed. I have not had a biopsy, but my bloodwork came back positive. I have a very long family history of autoimmune disorders. I've also been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, probable Lupus, Epilepsy, and dermatitis (along with about a zillion gastrointestinal issues). When my bloodwork came back positive, my doctor decided to go ahead and put me on the Celiac diet. I look at it all, and it just seems like so much. How do you all make sure you don't eat gluton? How do you know what medicines it is in? Does soap and toothpaste matter? I'm sorry if these questions sound silly...I just don't have a clue where to start. My doctor is getting me a packet of information together, but he also told me to look on-line at these type sites. thank you for reading and helping. -Jenny


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Guest jhmom

Hi Jenny and Welcome!!! B)

The Gluten Free diet is something to get use to and it seems a bit overwhleming at first but it does get easier especially when you see / feel an improvement in your health! :D You hang in there and feel free to ask questions, this is a great place for support and encouragement!

I too may have Lupus (currently being tested and treated) and seem to have more GI probs than most people but I'm hanging in there and hoping I will feel 100% better soon. ;)

Here are some helpful links that will answer some of your questions below and help you gain more knowledge of this disease:

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Safe & Forbidden Food & Ingredient Lists for Gluten-Free Diets

Mainstream Products that are Gluten-Free

Open Original Shared Link

Research on Diseases and Disorders Associated with Celiac Disease

Take care and God Bless :rolleyes:

lovegrov Collaborator

Last I looked the gluten-free drug list was outdated and included at least a couple that company says have gluten, like Tums.

richard

dana-g Newbie

I've had a lot of success putting the name of a drug together with the word gluten in quotes into google: "drug name gluten"

Guest havetobestrong

Thank you for your information! There is a lot to think about! -Jenny

  • 3 weeks later...
hapi2bgf Contributor

I started out by eating only home made meals. Fresh meat, plain rice or baked potato, fresh fruit. McCormicks 100 % seasonings are safe. Meaning the Basil or the Oragano are safe but check the mixed seasoning like SantaFe etc.

Make a list of all of the products in your house that do not clearly contain wheat and call the manufacturer to find out if it is safe. Go through and mark every bottle or box "gluten-free" or "Not gluten-free" based on the label or phone call. Personally, I think calling and asking is the easiest way to go. Get a list of the unexpected items to look out for and learn the trigger words like natural flavorings etc.

The diet is labor intensive at first, but soon you will have clearly marked gluten-free items throughout your house and then you will not feel so overwhelmed.

CSA/USA and Clan Thompson also sell product lists that you may find helpful.

Good luck.

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    • cristiana
      Hi @CC90 Ah... that is very interesting.  Although it is very annoying for you to have to go through it all again, I would say that almost sounds like an admission that they didn't look far enough last time?   I could be wrong, but I would not be at all surprised if they find something on the next attempt.  Coeliac damage can be very patchy, as I understand it, so that's why my own gastroenterologist always likes to point out that he's taken lots of samples!  In the kindest possible way (you don't want to upset the person doing the procedure!) I'd be inclined to tell them what happened last time and to ask them in person to take samples lower down, as  if your health system is anything like the one in my country, communication between GPs, consultants and hospitals isn't always very good.  You don't want the same mistake to be made again. You say that your first endoscopy was traumatic?  May I ask, looking at your spelling of coeliac, was this done at an NHS hospital in England?  The reason for the question is that one of my NHS diagnosed friends was not automatically offered a sedative and managed without one.  Inspired by her, I tried to have an endoscopy one time, in a private setting, without one, so that I could recover quicker, but I had to request sedative in the end it was so uncomfortable.    I am sorry that you will have to go through a gluten challenge again but to make things easier, ensure you eat things containing gluten that you will miss should you have to go gluten free one day. 😂 I was told to eat 2 slices of normal wholemeal bread or the equivalent every day in the weeks before , but I also opted for Weetabix and dozens of Penguin chocolate biscuits.  (I had a very tight headache across my temple for days before the procedure, which I thought was interesting as I had that frequently growing up. - must have been a coeliac symptom!)  Anyway, I do hope you soon get the answers you are looking for and do keep us posted. Cristiana  
    • CC90
      Hi Cristiana   Yes I've had the biopsy results showing normal villi and intestinal mucosa.  The repeat endoscopy (requested by the gastro doc) would be to take samples from further into the intestine than the previous endoscopy reached.      
    • Wheatwacked
      Transglutaminase IgA is the gold-standard blood test for celiac disease. Sensitivity of over 90% and specificity of 95–99%. It rarely produces false positives.  An elevated level means your immune system is reacting to gluten.  Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS) does not typically cause high levels of tTG-IgA. Unfortunately the protocols for a diagnosis of Celiac Disease are aimed at proving you don't have it, leaving you twisting in the wind. Genetic testing and improvement on a trial gluten free diet, also avoiding milk protein, will likely show improvement in short order if it is Celiac; but will that satisfy the medical system for a diagnosis? If you do end up scheduling a repeat endoscopy, be sure to eat up to 10 grams of gluten for 8 - 12 weeks.  You want  to create maximum damage. Not a medical opinion, but my vote is yes.
    • trents
      Cristiana asks a very relevant question. What looks normal to the naked eye may not look normal under the microscope.
    • cristiana
      Hello @CC90 Can I just ask a question: have you actually been told that your biopsy were normal, or just that your stomach, duodenum and small intestine looked normal? The reason I ask is that when I had my endoscopy, I was told everything looked normal.  My TTG score was completely through the roof at the time, greater than 100 which was then the cut off max. for my local lab.  Yet when my biopsy results came back, I was told I was stage 3 on the Marsh scale.  I've come across the same thing with at least one other person on this forum who was told everything looked normal, but the report was not talking about the actual biopsy samples, which had to be looked at through a microscope and came back abnormal.
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