Adelle

Both of our dogs and both of our cats can't do gluten. In fact, One dog can't have any grains, the other can't have grains, pork, or beef!! LOL! Ninja is our allergy boy! When we adopted him he was almost BALD and had all kinds of D (they were feeding him 4 cups/day of Science diet and he weighed under 40 lbs!). But now he's all kinds of beautiful! We feed raw now because it's just easier than finding food they can both eat!! Animal allergies are more common than we think!

I have to disagree with the "kid friendly" thing. DH and I can't have children and at this point we HATE kid friendly places, because usually "kid friendly" means "kids running and screaming everywhere completely unattended". We don't go to places like that. DH and I eat out once ever 6 months or so and we want to enjoy it!! The BEST solution I found (I don't know if this will be feasible for you) is a separate dining area. The ONE restaurant we go to is pretty nice and quiet, but they have a separate room in the back for families if you ask for it. It's all enclosed and kids can be as loud as they want without disturbing other patrons. 2 weeks ago my girlfriends (both vegetarians), me, and their kids went out to eat there, it was actually great!

I really hope your DH's results are good! I'm glad your family doc agreed to test! Usually once you know what his results are you can figure out what your odds are and what you want to do, but you'll still have to do tests to make SURE there aren't any problems on your end. But I think it's better to do the men's test first. Oh and load up on that vitamin D! That's definitely not helping (it might even be the whole issue, you never know!). Good luck!

We found out last year (DH was 24 and I was 22 at the time) that we have infertility that's pretty much untreatable (DH had a 0 motility). I know what it's like to have problems finding a doctor who will test you. We'd been trying 16 months before we were able to be tested. Don't bother with an OB/GYN, they won't listen. Find a Reproductive Endocrinologist. They will probably test you. We had 3 regular doctors roll their eyes when we said we'd been trying as long as we had. One actually asked if I was secretly using BC and asked my husband if we were having sex at all (yup we were trying by abstaining.... ). Anyway, Once we found a RE (we called the LARGE hospital about 1.5 hours away) they agreed that at our age we should be able to get knocked up passing each other in a small hallway so something was obviously wrong. They sent me for my tests (but that takes time since they have to be done on certain days of your cycle), but we did DH's SA (Semen Analysis) that day! It only cost $100 (I know that can be a factor, since insurance doesn't cover infertility stuff). But make sure you ask for a "full" count. Some places will only look at count (how many sperm exist), but you really want motility (how many are moving in the right direction), morbidity (dead ones), count, volume, and any other information you can get. After we got the awful news we went to a Urologist to make sure DH didn't have a varicecole (I think I spelled that wrong) and I did all of my tests. Ok so for us the news was bad. But for you it might not be. It could be a varicecole (which is fixable) or a small hormonal imbalance (which is also fixable). But it could be bad news and I think you need to prepare yourself for that in some small way. Last year was the hardest year of our lives, but actually.... things are getting better. There IS life after infertility. I hope sincerely that it's something small and fixable (or that you get pregnant during the wait). But if it's not just know that you aren't alone, I didn't know that and that's what hurt the most. Oh and it can take a while to get an appt with an RE so call in advance (our wait was 4 months). And know when you OV, how many days your typical cycle is, what day of your cycle you'll be on when you have an appt, etc etc. They'll want to know and you'll need to be able to tell them! Good luck!

Actually we do NOT give food to the food banks in our area. I've called every food bank I can find asking if the gluten-free food I donate would be set aside for gluten-free patrons (you know, like sugar free food for diabetics). NO. Each one of them told me that they just give people a box of whatever. They said that if someone doesn't "want" certain items they can return them (not in exchange for anything). So I don't donate to them. The local Celiac support group does tend to gather and give to individuals.... but that's it. The answer is if you are homeless and Celiac, try not to be one or the other of those.

I'm glad I'm not alone! I usually stick to 1 small glass unless it's homemade gluhwein which is cut with 1/2 water (and some of the alcohol cooks off) I took a hydrometer reading and it's about 8% alcohol so I'm getting the same amount of booze, but with more flavor and bulk in a warm mug. Mmmm.... Anyway. I do hope you get your health issues worked out. Stay in good health!

the problem is I have tried all of the sleep aids on the market (natural and perscription) and they just make me feel sick. I also suffer from extreme sleep paralysis and they just make that problem happen 5+ times/night instead of once. So those are out. I've also had my adrenals and thyroid extensively tested and I'm all good there. The problem is really that for some reason my body doesn't sleep correctly (I've always been a "bad sleeper" from the day I was born). I can't afford a holistic doctor, and I'm kind of done with doctors anyway. I'm just so tired of any medical professional, I'm not going to see them anymore. I just feel like doctors can't help me, so I'm trying to figure out how to help myself you know?

I live in a small town outside Salem, Oregon and I HATE snow!! HATE!! Our town has no plans for keeping the roads clear in any way, so I haven't been able to go anywhere for a week!! Things here haven't thawed at all, they've gotten worse. Sunday I woke to find a solid inch of ice on everything. It took 2 kettles of hot water to open my car door so I could back it up away from our leaning tree (which thankfully didn't break). DH has had to walk out to the main road and ride in to work with a friend (he could take vacation time, but she can't so if she gets stuck we didn't want her to be stuck alone) today to drive on the road into Salem (finally reopened, when it got bad they simply closed it and waited for a thaw). There is about 1/2 inch of solid ice on the road, covered by snow. Oh and no chains to be found...... I've lived in the Willamette Valley my whole life, RAIN I can deal with, but snow? Who are we kidding here!?!?!?! I'm a housewife so I don't leave the house much anyway, but not being ABLE to leave... it's driving me crazy!!! JNBunny: I know how you feel, in Oregon we get TONS of rain. It rains from September-May here. You'd think SOME of the people would remember how to drive in the rain from LAST year. But if you thought that, you'd be wrong.

Ok so years ago I had a sleep study done, and the doc called me... "wonky". Yup, I have really irregular sleep cycles (I didn't even hit every stage of sleep and almost none of the time did I reach them in any kind of order...). They sent me on my way without any idea what to do except deal with it (yeah, doctors rule... ). FFWD 3 years. I've been gluten-free for over 2 years and things are good. I don't sleep well, but we've adjusted to it. About 2 months ago a new local wine shop opened in our teeny town and I've discovered a new love for wine. I took to drinking 1-2 (4oz) glasses of wine just before bed and I slept like a DREAM (I actually did dream regularly for the first time in years!). I slept through the night (something I haven't done my whole life) and felt probably 10X more rested in the morning and I don't even need to nap or rest every single afternoon. So as a little "challenge" this last 4 days I haven't had a drop. Oh man, I'm exhausted. Back to my old sleep habits. So big is this difference that DH has insisted that I take up wine immediately. And that I never do this again. Am I totally insane? Am I the only one? I kind of think that as long as I'm not overdoing it and getting plastered every night, what's the harm? Oh man, I need a nap! Gah!

Ok to be honest, it's a hell of a transition. But if you just jump right in and accept that your life has changed, before too long you won't even think about it. I've been on the gluten-free diet for 2 years now and I don't even think about it on a daily basis. I think it's because my routines have changed and I've adapted to them (and my entire house is gluten-free, that seriously helps). Reading ingredient lists isn't a hassle now, it's just part of grocery shopping, I do it without even thinking. There's a gluten-free bakery not far from us, so I just buy bread (and treats if I'm craving) there. We don't eat out at all (well maybe once or twice per year we'll go somewhere), which actually makes up for most of the extra expense in the gluten-free diet (and we don't buy too many processed foods). I think the thing you have to do is look at gluten as POISON. Would you have eaten that sugar cookie if it was dusted with arsenic? No. Same deal. Plus, when I went gluten-free, I told my DH that since I buy, prep, cook, store, and otherwise handle the food our house is going gluten-free. I have a right to be safe in my own home. Later he found out he needed to be gluten-free too, so it worked out well . But I think keeping gluteney foods OUT of my house kept me from cheating in the beginning. If it wasn't there, I couldn't eat it!! Granted, there are people who have mixed kitchens and if that's the way you want to go, they can probably help you out. Welcome, and ask ANY questions you have, no matter how "silly" it sounds. Seriously, the people here are awesome!

I really think that most people are too STRESSED!! That's one of the reasons DH and I decided that I'd be a housewife. When we first got married, I was too sick to work anyway. Even now, I have some joint damage and I'm SUPER susceptible to stress, an outside job would NOT be worth it to us. So here we are, broke but happy! DH works all day and then comes home. By the time he arrives, everything else is done, so we have time just to hang out together. He works about 55 hours/week and it feels like we have TONS of time together. It's not all easy, we are going through financial struggles (we bought a house last year,we've always had brilliant timing ) but if we keep plugging away things will get better. Bottom line, our marriage is more important than anything on this Earth. Back to the main question though. DH and I do something "intimate" every single day. Every day. This was something that we learned from our struggles with infertility. When going through our "trying" time we'd have sex every day and then when it wasn't that time we kind of figured why bother? But after a few months I noticed how much fun we had with each other outside the bedroom during those days. So once we determined that we couldn't have kids and to hell with trying we kept parts of that lifestyle. I learned that Ryan (my husband) experiences emotion through sex MUCH more than I do. I don't generally feel love or affection through physical contact (I express/experience it in other ways) but he sees affection differently. Without sex he feels unloved. I can say, "I love you" until I'm blue in the face, but to him, it's not the same love. Once I saw it that way sex became even MORE romantic than it ever had for me. I don't know how "normal" that is, but I am one happy camper anyway!

Old wives tale is on the corner of burnside and sandy. They have a nice gluten-free menu from what I remember.

I've been gluten-free for just about 2 years (yay!). This might be TMI, but you ask so I'm gonna tell you! I've noticed MAJOR differences!! I used to have HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY bleeding for 7 days with debilitating cramps (I couldn't stand up for like 3 days, it was UNCOOL). Now I have heavy ish bleeding for 3 days, spotting for 2 and I'm DONE! I had really icky PMS for a while, but I don't have ANY anymore. I would say that it's entirely possible that your body is detoxing from gluten. I have no idea for sure though. I can tell you that I've been completely regular and perfect for 19 months now because we were TTC (before we discovered my husband's infertility and gave up) and I track my cycle religiously even though we can't have children, so I KNOW about the changes my body goes through. Give it time and I hope it gets better for you!

That's exciting!! Lincoln City is only about 1 hour-90 min (depending on the weather and traffic) away so I might just have to drag hubby up for a dinner one of these days! YAY!

I just saw the episode (we have a DVR so I tend to record a bunch of stuff and then watch whenever I have a chance!). The character's name was Carla and she was an overweight black woman, which is SO COOL!! Not only did they have a celiac reference, but she does NOT fit the stereotype that the ONLY people with celiac disease are skinny people of irish descent!!! Anyway, the one cop guy (Vera I think? I don't remember his whole name, the chubbier one) tries to bribe her (to process his evidence first) with baked goods and she says, "Lookin to kill me? I have Celiac Disease!!" (insert his confused expression) "I'm allergic to wheat". Although I'm not CRAZY about the allergy reference, it makes sense. I mean, in an office setting where you don't know the other person like at all, a lot of people would explain celiac disease as an allergy to wheat. So it's not the worst thing that's ever happened. Usually DH doesn't watch cold case with me, but I saved this episode for him to see! I'm TOO excited about it!