VioletBlue

Pure coffee is highly unlikely to have gluten in it. Coffee beans live in the company of other coffee beans when they're harvested roasted and ground. The roasting equipment and processes are unique to coffee beans so they would not be sharing equipment with anything else. The exception would be some flavored coffees. Added flavorings can have gluten in them. The flavoring is not in the bean but added to the coffee as or after it's ground. I personally carefully check for those few companies that think chicory belongs in coffee. I'm allergic to chicory. But pure ground coffee beans are going to be gluten free unless someone deliberatly adds gluten to them, cross contaminates them in the process of brewing your cup of coffee, or perhaps uses the coffee grinder for grinding something other than coffee beans.

There is also the matter of what creamers and sweetners are used. I'm highly allergic to that Stevia crap. My reaction to Stevia is horrendous, much worse than to gluten. Others have allergic reactions to other sweetners. Some people, particually those newly diagnosed have issues with concentrated amounts of sugar and or milk products. Not all non dairy creamers are gluten free.

Trouble with coffee: YES. I am newly diagnosed and of course am still sorting it out like the rest of us, so here I am, sitting with the biggest bloated sore belly ever. I can't ever remember coffee not doing a number on me, but isn't it strange what we will put up with for a buzz? I think that coffee is really rough on the entire digestive system, and possibly there could be some gluten traces in it. Why not? Everything else seems to have gluten in it!

Tell them to go to the See's store next time. A friend bought me a small sampler from See's for Christmas. She did good. The ingredient list on the box was in plain English so I ate without fear. I hadn't had See's in so long since the nearest store is over an hour away now. I liked the sampler and miss See's so much I decided to order from their website. First I sent them an email about their dark chocolates just to be sure before I ordered. I don't see the point in milk chocolate, LOL. Why dilute a good thing. Got this response:

"Thank you for visiting Sees.com. In response to your request for information about the presence of gluten in our candies, our Quality Assurance Manager has advised that we have reformulated our products and eliminated wheat as a direct ingredient in all of our candies packed in standard boxes. We also do not use rye, barley, oats or malt as ingredients in our candies. Therefore, none of our Custom Mix pieces contain gluten as a direct ingredient and cross contact is no longer a possibility. This would include our Peanut Brittle, Krispys, and our recently introduced Sugar Free products.

You may have noticed that we do have some products which are manufactured for us. Some of these items that do not contain gluten are our Milk Chocolate Drops, Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate Foil Novelties, Super Chips, Sugar Sticks and Sour Chews. As we've noted, most of our products are gluten free.

However, we do have a few items which our Quality Assurance Department does not consider to be gluten free because of their decorations or they are produced in a facility that processes gluten. These are the Climber Canes (decoration), decorated 0.8 oz. Easter Eggs (decoration), decorated Chocolate Butters (decoration), all candy canes, and the 3 oz. Bordeaux, Chocolate Walnut, and Dark Raspberry Hearts (decorations). Also, we wish to advise that the distilled apple cider vinegar used in our Butterscotch Lollypops and Little Pops is grain based.

I hope this information is helpful. Thank you for your interest in See's Candies and we hope to have the opportunity to serve you soon."

As far as gluten intolerance, I don't eat gluten. It's the simpliest cure for a disease there is. Any attempt at "moving past" that doesn't involve strict gluten avoidance I would view as denial of the core issue and one's very genetic make up.

I had the conversation with my siblings when I was diagnosed. I explained that they should be tested, and that the complications of Celiac Disease can kill people and it came close to killing me.

Neither of them has been tested. One was diagnosed this year with prostate cancer, the other has a history of other auto immune diseases.

I love them, but I cannot make them listen. I've accepted that and moved on. I watched my brother battle drug addiction after he returned from Vietnam over thirty years ago. Thankfully he beat it, but it took almost twenty years and he did it only once he hit rock bottom and realized what he was doing to himself. I learned from my experiences with him that people change when they're ready and able to change and you can't make someone listen.

I'll be there if they ever decide to take that step and get tested, but I don't press them on it. They've got the information if they ever decide to act on it. They're adults and it's their life. Life is too short for me to spend whatever time I have with them pushing them to do something they're not ready or able to do.

Violet

And yeah, it does contain wheat Fortunately my gastro reactions are mild compared to some. I'll probably feel it in my mood in the next couple days however. Sucks. Perhaps they just don't get it. They seem to think they have a warning on the package and on their website. While there is an ingredient list on the website, it makes no mention of the product specifically containing wheat. Now I know the difference, and most here know the difference; soy sauce usually contains wheat. But what if you don't know.

I made a mistake, I know that. But they could have improved my odds considerably with a very visible warning on the product somewhere near the ingredient list.

There is no warning on the package. It has a best by date of 02/22/08. How could this package possibly have been kicking around in the retail world for over two years??? If I remember right anything manufactured after 01/01/06 was required to have a warning?

Here is the response I got from them.

Thank you for your constructive email. Unfortunately, you must have

received one of our older bags that does not have the warning on it.

The labeling law does not pertain to our older product. All of our new

bags have an allergy warning that the product contains soy and wheat and

it is featured on our website as well. My roommate is actually a celiac

and we are sensitive to gluten and soy allergies.

Regarding the choice to put soy on our chips. I'm sorry you do not

think it is a good idea it is part of what makes our chips unique and

low in sodium. I don't think the world needs another plain chip or

Dorito. There are a number of people who do enjoy the chips otherwise

we would not make them. There are people with a lot of different tastes

out there and we can not please everybody.

Happy Holidays.

Christian Bunte

It IS possible that they used wheat-free Soy Sauce, since that does exist.

Most products that use soy sauce that contains wheat do something like this (Because of the law requiring they list wheat ingredients): "Soy Sauce (wheat, salt, soy, xxxx,xxxx)" with the ingredients contained within the soy sauce inside parentheses right afterwards.

I think that the law DOES require that they list, or make clearly visible, any ingredient that contains or is derived from wheat. SOooo, maybe it doesn't and you won't react!!!!!

I made a mistake today. I'll probably pay for it shortly. I'm allergic to GMO corn as well as sunflower oil. So finding a corn chip that I can eat is an exercise in futility most of the time. I came across Cabo Tortilla Chips in the store. They're made from organic non GMO corn. Then I read down to the oil. Safflower oil, great. Somehow I missed the last ingredient on the list which was Soy Sauce. Who the hell puts soy sauce in corn chips?

I bought a package, came back to the office and ate a couple before I happened to read the label yet again and saw the last ingredient list.

It was my understanding that if a product does not clearly list WHEAT in the ingredient list, but there is indeed known wheat in the product it must have an allergy warning on it for wheat? This product had no warning. Had there been one THAT I would have seen.

I'm pissed at myself, but I'm also pissed at this company. Am I not understanding the labeling law?

Violet

I don't know if it's normal. My appitite decreased significantly and there have been days when I simply wasn't hungry for most of the day. And being hungry doesn't have the urgency it once did. Before I couldn't think of anything else if I was hungry. Now I can ignore it if I'm busy or in the middle of something. I am overweight as well. But more importantly I'm no longer gaining weight. I had been steadily gaining weight for the last few years and that abruptly stopped when I went gluten free and I've lost some weight since.

Violet

Is is normal to have a drastic drop in appitite? I'm 2 months gluten-free and my appitite is no existant. I like that I am losing weight (I am overweight) but if this isn't normal I'll need to see yet another doctor to see what is going on.

It is so nice to have a place where we can come and ask questions. It has made the transisition alot easier so to all of you - Thanks! If it weren't for you guys I would have ripped my hair out by now.

The best thing I can say is that it takes time to heal. How you feel and how your body behaves will change over time as you heal. Don't get us started on poop stories here, this place is legendary for it, but suffice to say I've been through every possible, eh, consistency and frequency since I was diagnosed this time last year. Things are more or less consistent now.

You might also consider that there could be other allergies at work. I had intense itching that was not DH. DH from what I understand is a visible rash. Itching can be a sign of an allergic reaction to something. In my case it was Sunflower oil which is used in a lot of things these days. Once I started carefully avoiding Sunflower oil and seed, most of the itching stopped. Have you tried using an anti-histamine to see if it effects the itching? There are also capsicum creams out there if it is really hard to live with the itch. Capsicum lotions have their own side effects so do some research and be very careful with them, but they are very good at numbing the surface nerves and stopping the itch.

I also am allergic to potatoes which means I can't use flour mixes with potato flour or starch in them. That is another thing to consider about the gluten free cookies you ate. What flours were used, could you be allergic to one of them or to some other ingredient in them?

I get the lightheadedness sometimes too. It usually doesn't last long and it's an odd feeling. I've chalked it up to nerve damage. I used to fall down a lot for no reason and slam body parts into things without meaning to. I rarely have those issues anymore so there has been some healing in the last year. Nerve damage can heal but it takes time. Our nervous system plays a big part in out ability to walk and move around and know where our body is. Nerve damage can short circuit some of the connections between the brain and the body and lead to some odd feelings of displacement or disorientation. Then there's just the infamous brain fog that a lot of us feel when glutened, or felt when we were eating gluten. That too usually gets better with time and a gluten free diet. It varies in intensity from person to person.

Good luck Joe. It really does get better.

Violet

Um, yeah, ditto that. Sucks too. My symptoms of accidental glutening have been up till now mostly neurological. I become a head case. But the last accidential gluten via white chocolate - who knew - resulted in nausea and stomach pain. That was a surprise.

Violet

Also, you may find, as you continue with your gluten free diet, that you symptom may change after being glutened.

I read that soda water was supposed to help. I couldn't see that it made one bit of difference when I tried it in bread. I'm starting to think flour and flour mixes are what make the biggest difference. I've started trying every gluten free flour I can get my hands on. The experiments are ongoing, LOL.

Has anyone ever tried adding soda/cola to their bread/muffin recipes? It was a tip in one of my books that is supposed to help make the recipe turn out lighter?

I made dumplings the other night and they were like raw thick dough balls in the middle, ick! But I didn't use the exact flour mix that was stated in the recipe. I'm beginning to think that does really make a difference.

I though maybe club soda or seltzer water might work since I wouldn't want the added sugar.

Anyone tried it or heard of it???

Sulfites are used to process modified food starches as well as some corn starches or potato starches. Unless the starch is heat processed or "Physically treated" it will contain a significant dose of sulfites and or modifying chemicals which many people are sensitive or allergic to. And heat treated starch will not be labelled as modified. Modified denotes a chemical process. Unless the product is labeled organic, it's a good bet the starch in it was chemically modified. If you're allergic like I am to sulfites, you gotta know what they hide in.

Someone correct me if I'm mistaken, but it's not "chemically modified" per se, in the sense of adding chemicals to it to change it. It's "modified" by an application of heat and/or pressure. Usually it's done to change the viscosity and physical properties. This allows it to be used in a wider variety of applications. By no means does it turn it into a poison. It just makes it thicker and stickier.

Thousands of foods are "modified" in many ways. It's not neccessarily always a bad thing. Many times it's to improve foods. Milk, has to be homoginized and pasturized. Again, that's applying heat and/or pressure to make it safe.

Seems some of us get so hung-up about so-called chemicals. Yes, certainly there are chemicals that are suspect. Some people have intolerances for the preservatives nitrites/sulfites for instance. But most people don't. All of us Celiacs have an intolerance for wheat. Wheat's not a chemical. Salt's a chemical, and it's in everything. Like everything else in life, we have to use our brains to figure things out. The use of chemicals is not a black & white thing.

best regards, lm

I have the same reaction to most restaurants and to frozen dinners. The boss loves to microwave frozen meals for lunch. The smell makes me nauseous, particularly the pasta meals. Whether it's all in my head or not I do not know. Now that I realize how many chemicals and how much crap is in most restaurant food just thinking about how I used to eat that stuff makes me sick. But the frozen dinner thing is just the smell. It's an almost suffocating smell. I often have to step outside or open a window. It's not a gluten response, I just now find the smell highly unpleasant. I don't know.

Violet

I used to like the smell of restraunts and have found I now find those smells horrible and it makes my stomach turn.... its not something that happened all of a sudden itst happened over time and I figure its becuase my brain has been trained that I cant eat what I am smelling anymore so its a "turn off" rather than a "turn on"

I used to love the gluten-free pretzels too until I realized I was allergic to non organic corn and terribly allergic to corn starch in particular. The more allergies someone has the fewer options, and the allergies are a result of Celiac. I can't touch the pretzels now. I never thought I'd ever live like this. If someone had told me two years ago I'd never eat bread or potatos or potato chips or store bought corn again I would have said it's not possible. If someone had told me I'd never bake another loaf of wheat bread or roll out another batch of cinnamon rolls I would have said I'd sooner die. When you have mutliple allergies you have to be picky. The gluten-free Pantry mixes invariably contain potato flour and or potato starch. Some of us are just luckier than others when it comes to the particulars of Celiac Disease.

I have to disagree. I have had some seriously better than gluten stuff so far. For one, the pretzels! Normal pretzels are dry and flavorless, our pretzels are yummy and my friends are always stealing them. And I have had some out-of-this world brownies. And if you really still can't find anything, make the hot fudge cake on the recipes section of this site. Holy crap I almost cried. Not to mention the Gluten Free Pantry chocolate chip cake being utterly fabulous. Maybe I'm just not as picky though.

Oh no.

I'd forgotten about Christmas cookies. Many of our vendors love to send us boxes and baskets of goodies. I'm not looking forward to that. Lets see, the big tin of popcorn? Nope, allergic to GMO corn. The big box of gingerbread cookies? Nope, gluten. The bottles of wine? Nope, allergic to sulfities. Great, I get to watch the parade of pretty crap come through here. So not looking forward to that. What are the odds I can steer them all towards fruit baskets?

If it makes you feel better, I just started crying because I thought I bought frosting that I can eat and found out that it wasn't gluten free. It took me months before I could sit in a pizzeria (and I still sometimes cry) or bakery. It will be a miracle if I make it though Christmas without crying over christmas cookies.

I wish that I could tell you want would make it better, but quite simply, celiac stinks. I miss pizza. I miss bread. I miss brownies. And, I don't care what anyone says, the gluten free alternatives are no where near as good.

Hi and welcome. I think the consensus is 18 months for most people to heal years of damage. Aren't you so glad you asked

Sorry, couldn't resist. It does tend to take awhile because there are usually secondary issues like vitamin and mineral deficiencies and things like arthritis and what not caused by the Celiac. I saw a difference in the gastro issues after a few weeks, but building up my iron and B vitamin reserves took nearly a year.

Once I went gluten-free I realized there were other allergies at work and I've been weeding stuff out of my diet ever since. The neurological or psychological issues that resulted from the gluten have taken longer to resolve, and after a year gluten free most of those are starting to fade. I still have bad days there, but they're much fewer and farther between. I also have nails that don't break and splinter now.

The way I look at it, my diet before was providing a constant source of gluten, meal after meal, day after day. Once I cut all the gluten out I was able to figure out what else was bothering me because I don't eat most other things daily. It was like turning off the white noise machine and suddenly being able to hear everything else my body was saying about what I was feeding it.

OK guys, so I'm a newer member here, and I've seen a few posts here and there regarding this topic, but I wanted to put it up for discussion here in one place...

I've been gluten free for one week at this point. I have not really seen any major changes yet. I feel pretty good and maybe some of the brain fog has lifted. I haven't broken out in any skin rashes in this time. But what I can say for certain is that I haven't noticed a huge change in the gastro symptoms. I am still using the bathroom a few times of days, sometimes it's urgent. I still get a little bloaty and gassy in the evenings. Those have always been my biggest symptoms. I don't want to be outwardly graphic, but where else can I be totally honest about this stuff?

I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease about 14 years ago, and was medicated for that during this time period. Now we are fairly certain that I've had Celiac instead the whole time. If that is the case, there is probably significant damage to my small intestine. Those poor little villi have a lot of healing to do.

So here is my question... when can I expect to start seeing real changes in my day-to-day symptoms? I've seen some people posting about how as soon as they stop eating gluten it's like they've stepped into a brand new body within a day or two. Now after a week, I am a bit disappointed to not see more positive results. I would say that it could take up to a month for me to really start seeing the good in this, but I just wanted to put the question out there.

What have been all of your experiences in this area?

Thanks again guys... this is a wonderful forum for us to be sharing such valuable information.

I tend to eat leftovers from dinner the night before. I make double the amount for dinner and package the rest in plastic containers and stick in an insulated lunch bag. If you don't have access to a frig the insulated bags with a small blue ice brick works wonders. Last night I had roasted chicken for dinner. I made up a small salad and sliced some of the left over chicken and mixed it in with the salad. That and a drink and I'm set.

Chips are out for me too since I'm not only allergic to potatoes and non GMO corn but sunflower oil too. I've brought rice cakes and peanut butter a few times, and fruit. I also make gluten-free muffins sometimes with fruit. Namaste makes a pizza crust mix that is corn and potato free. I use that sometimes to make mini pizzas I can slip in a baggie and have for lunch. It's not a great pizza crust, but it's corn and potato free as well as gluten-free so I'm thrilled with it. Thai Kitchen makes indivdual meal size rice noddle packets. Do you have access to hot water? They also make rice noddle meals in plastic bowls that aren't bad; the kind where you poor boiling water into the bowl with the lid on and let it sit.

What do you eat for lunch at work? I can manage a celiac diet fine at home, but my list of lunch options is getting increasingly limited. I have very little time to eat at work. I am an elementary teacher and usually spend any breaks helping kids in the room or prepping my next lesson. In addition to gluten I can't have dairy, soy, corn, potatoes, or sesame. I've had jaw surgery twice so I'm not big on carrot sticks and other crunchy things. I'm living on nuts, pears, carrot juice, rice protein drinks, almond milk, and hemp drinks. Any clever ideas?

No, you're not crazy. We have probably all been there at some point.

I had this dream last night where I sat down at a restaurant and went through every menu item one by one with the chef and I couldn't eat any of it. Some would say that was a nightmare, LOL. In the dream I was terribly depressed because it was always going to be like this and my life was doomed.

One of the realizations I came to this morning in thinking about this dream is that I've never before in my life had to give anything up forever that I didn't want to give up. Then it hit me that what they say about giving up drugs and alcohol is very true; you take it one day at a time. I finally get what that means. When I stop and think about forever and never being able to eat bread again it's heartbreaking. So I try real hard to never think about forever. I've been taking it one grocery shopping trip at a time, one meal at a time. I try and stay on track and not think about never eating gluten for the next twenty or thirty or forty years of my life - sob. One day at a time, one meal at a time.

Violet

I found this recipe on the Living Without site and it's not bad. I substitute for the potato starch, but overall the flavor balance is good. I roll them out in buckwheat flour just to give them a little nutty taste. These are stickier to roll out than wheat tortillas so you need to make sure you're rolling it out with lots of flour of some kind or it will stick like crazy. I freeze them, and when I want to use one I pop it into the oven for a few minutes. I have also cut them up and fried them for tortilla chips and they're not bad that way either.

Gluten-Free Flour Tortillas

MAKES 6-8 TORTILLAS

1 cup white rice flour

1/3 cup potato starch

1/3 cup tapioca flour

1/3 cup fava bean flour

2 tsps xanthan gum

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sugar

1 1/4 tsp salt

2 TBs vegetable or other shortening

3/4 to 1 cup warm water

1. Combine all of the dry ingredients, then cut in or work in the shortening using a pastry blender or two knives or your hand.

2. Add the warm water, starting with 3/4 cup and mix well.

3. Continue to add water until a soft, cohesive dough is formed.

4. Heat a comal, tapa or griddle to medium heat. Then, form a ball of dough into a flattened disk, cupping the outside edges a bit to form a round.

5. Using a bollilo or rolling pin, roll into a round disk about 1/8 inch thick and about 8 inches in diameter or to your preference.

6. Bake one at a time on a hot griddle until the surface bubbles. Turn only once, the first side should have brown flecks.

7. Bake until the second side has slightly browned - should brown in a very short time.

8. Keep warm in a tortilla keeper or wrapped in a cloth until served.

Note: Will freeze in a sealed plastic bag for up to three months.

Some of my favorite meals.

Amy's gluten free mac and cheese. I sometimes add salsa and hamburger to it, or cut up hot dogs in it.

Thai Kitchen's individual serving packets of rice noodles make a great lunch. I add veggies or meat to it sometimes.

Stir fry using Thai Kitchen rice noddles with veggies and meat in a simple WF soy sauce and sesame oil with ginger sauce.

Roasted chicken, beef roast or pork loin with a green salad

Sausage mushroom spinach and cheese frittata.

I finally found a decent recipe for gluten free, corn free, potato free wraps. So, some left over meat and veggies in a wrap with mayo. The wrap cut up and fried also makes a decent dip chip along the lines of a pita chip texture and weight.

Catfish breaded in rice bread crumbs with herbs and spaces and pan friend. I used to crust the catfish in instant mashed potato flakes, but I can't tolerate potatoes anymore.

I occasionally eat tuna salad on lettuce, but I don't eat more than one can of tuna every couple weeks because I'm sensitive to Mercury.

Farmed salmon sushi. Farmed has less of a mercury content. I love making sushi.

Fried rice or mexican rice with meat and veggies in it.

Soups or stews with left over meat.

Bunless hamburgers.

Skinless boneless chicken strips cooked just through and finished with gluten-free BBQ sauce. I like Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ.

It seems when we all start here we are scratching our heads going what can we eat? So I thought a thread on what's easy to make would be helpful. I have only been doing this gluten-free for a month now and still run low on some days so all ideas would be great.

Here is what is easy for me and I like to eat plus it keeps me worry free

LOL. Just goes to show. I have the opposite problem, mine turn out too gooey. WAY too gooey. Not a crumble in site. I'm at 6700 feet so altitude may have something to do with that, I don't know. I have the same problem when I make a flourless chocolate cake. I wind up leaving everything in way longer than the recipe calls for. So maybe if you took it out sooner? Or used more oil or water? I don't know.

Violet

So I always make Gluten Free Pantry truffle brownies. The last few times, I noticed that they would crumble when we were cutting them. This even happened when they had been cooled completely. So two nights ago I made them and saw on the package where it said to cool in a freezer for best results...This could't have been more wrong.

I stuck the tray in the freezer, it was only in there 10 minutes. I took them out and the pan was rock hard. When I finally did slice one it crumbled to hard chunky powder flying all over the kitchen. Even letting them warm back up to room temp didn't help.

Has this happened to anyone else?

I am a fan of vodka martinis. I admit it. Love them. But I've given up drinking them, at least for now. Hard liquor seems to be a problem at this point. I don't know why. It's not a gluten reaction for me from grain alcohols so I'm not sure what the problem is, but I'm honoring my body's reaction to hard liquor and staying away from it for awhile. I've been gluten-free for 12 months now.

Sulfites in wine are apparently an issue with me too, so the only wine I can tolerate are a few brands of dry sparkling wine. I finally got a local store to order me a case of Redbridge from their Bud distributor. It's a good beer, not great, but good. I'm thrilled to have it no matter what though, because I was out of options. While I don't drink often, it is nice to have the option, after a hard day at work to sit down with a drink and relax.

So you really need to see what you can tolerate. Some people may simply react to alcohol period after they go gluten-free and some may not. Celiac Disease seems to have a pretty profound effect on peoples bodies, and no one knows all the variables yet on what changes it can bring about. I'm amazed every day by this journey and the changes Celiac has brought into my life.

Violet

I used to buy their syrup but stopped after I was diagnosed because of the labeling. I seem to remember something called "natural flavorings" or something like that on the label, and I've learned the hard way that secondary ingredients "natural flavors" and "colorings" can be gluten filled, particularly in brown colored liquids. Wheat and barley can be useful apparently in creating brown colorings in food items.

So I buy pure maple syrup. I found the real stuff to be sweeter than the fake stuff, LOL. So who knows, your daughter may like the real stuff even more.

Violet

I remember making one very blatant mistake early on. I'd bought these Indian rice chips from the organic store. I read the ingredient list and the chips were made purely out of rice. Great. I took them home, opened the bag and ate one. While I was holding the bag munching I read the ingredient list again and realized there were two ingredient lists on the bag. The list for the flavorings on the chips were listed separately from the chip ingredients and the first thing on the flavorings list was wheat. I had assumed since everything else on the bag was in two languages that the second ingredient list was simply a repeat of the English version so I hadn't read it. I spit what was left in my mouth out and washing my mouth repeatedly. It wasn't even the making me sick thing that got me, it was that it was poison to me and I knew it. My symptoms from gluten are very subtle and mostly neurological so I don't get physically sick. That was the only time I did in real life what I do in the gluten dreams.

Mostly those dreams have subsided. But the dreams I'm having now are somewhat disturbing. I have rarely had nightmares in my life, but lately I've had quite a few. I don't know what it is, but it seems to coincide with my body finally beginning to heal from years of vitamin and mineral deficiencies. I hope that's all it is and not yet another wrinkle. Maybe remembering your dreams and having nightmares are normal and I've been abnormal all these years, LOL.

Hey I was diagnosed bout 2 months ago and I have had dreams about eating gluten ever since. I have never made any mistakes (well that I know of!) and I am getting really parnoid about making a mistake! Let me know if you find a cure to this problem! I need it!

I sold health and life insurance for a couple years, but I've also been out of it for about four years so take that into consideration

With life insurance I don't know that a Celiac Disease diagnosis would be a deal breaker. I'm sure there's a question on the form about whether or not you've been diagnosed with an auto immune disease. Answering yes and specifying Celiac Disease is not as big a red flag as being diagnosed and treated for depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc., the "biggies". That there was a root cause for the depression isn't going to matter much to the underwriters. They just see depression and make a judgment based on that. They work off actuary charts and they don't take into account what you or I might consider mitigating circumstances.

The same is true to a certain degree with health insurance. Things like depression, high blood pressure and weight are always red buttons for health insurers. Also, as someone else pointed out, if you're insured through an employer, you're part of a group policy so you can't be canceled unless you leave that employer, and if you go to work for another employer who offers benefits, that health insurer MUST accept you as part of the group policy as long as you meet all the requirements and fill out all the forms correctly and in a timely manner.

Also, if there was no official diagnosis or treatment of depression by a doctor, you can honestly answer "No, I have not been diagnosed with or treated for depression". Just being depressed is not the same as being diagnosed as depressed. I used to tell everyone who applied for insurance through me "Just answer the specific question ONLY, think about your answers first, and answer in as few words as possible. DO NOT elaborate." At the same time, always answer questions truthfully. You can do yourself more damage by fudging the truth. If they find you did not answer truthfully about one thing, then all your other answers will be suspect.

Trying to purchase individual insurance is a whole nother story these days. It is extremely hard to get and keep an individual policy with any kind of pre-existing condition. I don't envy anyone trying to do that.

Violet

The thing is, I have really awesome insurance right now, and seeing a gastrointestinal specialist may help to find other possible problems, and if I get officially diagnosed it'll be easier to convince my son's dad (who I'm no longer with) that our son should be tested and/or put on a gluten free diet. But if the diagnosis won't help me get life insurance (having discovered the root of past depression and knowing that it was only a symptom of something else)... I don't know. I'm undecided at present.