JennyC

Hi everyone,

I have not posted in quite awhile, but I thought I'd share that I found gluten free cheese ravioli next to the other refrigerated ravioli at Costco! I sampled it in the store and it was very good. I have not made it at home yet, but I'm very excited to do so. The Costco location was Clackamas, Oregon. I hope it is at other locations as well.

Sounds like too much liquid.

I've tried a couple of her recipes that I have come across on different gluten-free blogs. Her cheese cracker and cinnamon rolls are amazing! I was just thinking about trying to find her book on amazon!

Where can I find these delicious crusts?

I have studied celiac disease, and I want to share this article with you. The only thing that it does not cover is how gluten makes it through the tight gap junctions of the small intestine. The article focuses on immunology.

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Also, I don't think it takes months in many cases for antibody levels to increase in response to consuming gluten. We were going to try the gluten challenge with my 6 year old son, so we gave him gluten for 3 days and he had to stop the challenge. We went in to have his blood drawn and his tTG went from 9 to 17 after 3 days of gluten!

I have not posted in a long time, but I thought that I would come here to share my recent experience. My son was diagnosed with celiac disease three years ago based on clinical symptoms and blood work. When he went gluten-free all of his many symptoms went away. He has been under the care of a great pediatric gastroenterologist for the last three years. At his recent visit, she asked if we would be interested in doing a gluten challenge. I agreed because I thought that having a positive biopsy might make his life easier a later on. I started giving him gluten on Wednesday and he got SO sick. He is back to his pre-diagnosis symptoms, having D three times a day. He is also in a great deal of pain. He wants to go back to eating gluten-free, and I am not about to force him to eat gluten! So now we are going to get a tTG drawn. I feel so bad for him. I've been giving him Tylenol. The GI told me to give him Gas-X. Does anyone know if I can give him Pepto? He is nearly 7 years old and weighs 47 pounds.

Thanks for listening!

We use pie crust and sprinkle it generously with cinnamon and sugar. It's surprising how much it takes! It's not quite like the fried version, but I guess that you could try putting a thick coating of oil on the cookie sheet if you want to try to mimic the fried texture. Even without the oil it's delicious and a little healthier too!

Add me to the list! My son's diapers were like that before he was diagnosed with celiac disease and placed on a gluten free diet. They looked like light tan sand with occasional mucous. I think that was a result of malabsorption. I would get your child tested for celiac. If the test is negative, then I would try the gluten free diet to see if the diaper situation improves!

Yes, you can donate blood products. It's a great thing to do for others.

I just thought that I'd add that vitamin D deficiency is very common. I work in a hospital laboratory and nearly every patient we test is vitamin D deficient. A tech tested her own blood, and she too was deficient even though she takes vitamin D supplements each day.

Thanks, I have been recommended Dr Terry from another doc, so will call on Monday. We have been on the run around for some time and my daughter is struggling. Something is wrong with her and the only dx I have so far is Celiacs. We have been strictly gluten free for 5 months with little change. Her skin is absolutely awful. She is having a difficult time dealing with it, not to mention the constipation. Any help will be welcomed.

Dr. Terry is great! She's also recommended by GIG. If you think something else is going on with your kiddo, try going to the pediatrician I listed. She has no problems referring you to a specialist. I was concerned about my son's growth and she was more than willing to refer him to an endocrinologist. (In the end, we did not do that because his rate of growth has been increasing.) She takes your concerns seriously, which is enormously important.

Doernbecher Children's Hospital has some great doctors.

This is my son's pediatric gastroenterologist, Dr. Terry:

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This is his pediatrician. She is great and really takes the concerns of parents seriously. Her name is Tara Schwab.

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Bob's Red Mill gluten free oats are grown separate from wheat, processed by wheat-free equipment on the field, transported and stored separate from wheat, and processed in a separate factory. BRM goes through a lot of effort to ensure the gluten free status of their oats. Remember that oats do have some structural similarities with gluten grains, and an estimated ten percent of celiac patients react to gluten free oats. If you can tolerate oats, I think the extra cost is well worth it.

1. Would an Ig A deficiency cause me to not react on an allergy panel, or to have a delayed reaction to the testing?

No, allergy panels are based off of IgE antibodies. IgA bodies are mainly found in the gut, saliva, tears, and milk.

2. If I am Ig A deficient would I even feel those allergic reactions to pollens and stuff (mostly stuffy nose and itchy

face)?

IgA deficiency would not impact allergies.

3. I know that Ig A deficiency does affect the outcome of the celiac panel, so is there another blood panel that can be done for people who are Ig A deficient?

The most specific serological test for celiac is tTG IgA because IgA is found in the gut, and that is the location of the autoimmune reaction. You can have tTG IgG tested if you are IgA deficient.

How do I know if I am Ig A deficient for sure?

Get a total IgA count.

The tests that were run were for tissue transglutaminase antibodies, for both IgG and IgA antibody classes. Both of the tests are for celiac disease. You did not post any tests regarding antibody deficiency. A test for IgA deficiency would likely be called "IgA toal" or just "IgA."

I would not worry about it. 2.2 is far from the upper reference limit of 10. Most doctors would not consider it significant. But there's nothing wrong with repeating the blood work periodically along with you diabetes monitoring. If your tTG continues to rise significantly then your doctor may choose to take action.

Click on "View New Content" near the RSS icon at the right side of the page near the top.

Thanks! I guess that I was distracted by the bright blue buttons near by!

I can't figure out how to "view all new posts!" I don't have the time to go through each category to look for topics of interest.

I thought of your post yesterday while I was at Lingonberries and found Udi's products! They had Udi frozen bread, pizza crusts, muffins, and some other products. Lingonberries is a fantastic little market in Vancouver, Washington that sells only gluten free products. We go there every few months and stock up! If you google "Lingonberries market" and "gluten free" it should pop up.

I have Expandex but I don't notice a difference between Expandex and tapioca starch. You will be fine if you just use tapioca starch, and you will also save yourself a lot of money too!

I have bought Expandex a couple of times, but I really don't notice a difference when I use it in place of tapioca starch/flour. In fact I still even have some Expandex, but I never bother to grab it when I'm baking. I think it is a waste of money. You're better off trying to buy the individual flours at a good price and then make your own blend.

I know that you only need to have one copy of HLA-DQ02 or 08 to develop celiac disease. I do not know if having two copies makes you more likely to develop celiac disease. I am DQ-02 & DQ-08 positive but do not have celiac disease at this time. I know that I may develop it later in life so I pay attention to my body and get serological testing done periodically. My son, which definitely has at least one copy of DQ 02 and/or DQ-08 does have celiac disease. It's clear that the entire celiac mechanism is not fully understood. It is such a wildly complex disease.

lovegrov, I really like it when you tell it like it is.

I have to agree. The fries have been tested and have been determined to be gluten free. My son eats the fries and his tTG is near zero. In contrast, when he was eating the wheat-contaminated Wellshire Kids dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets his tTG was at the upper limit of the reference range.

Bob's Red Mill Cornmeal is now gluten free!

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I suppose we can all agree to disagree. I'm hardly ignorant. Don't go there!

Someday, your kids will want proof. They will miss a lot! Birthday parties,school parties, pizza after the football games and so many more social activities as well. What are you going to provide them with? A solid diagnosis from a gastroenterologist or a spit test or even a fecal test. Do it right and you won't have anything to apologize for later on.

The combination of biopsy and blood tests are at present the best way to ensure a proper diagnosis. Testing isn't perfect. The majority of celiac cases will be found with this combination.

As for you adults who decide on the gluten-free life, Of course I respect your decision! You have made that choice of your own free will. No one made it for you.

"The majority of celiac cases will be found with this combination [biopsy and blood tests]."

Well I suppose that depends on how you define diagnosed celiac. You likely define diagnosed celiac as villous atrophy, hence this statement is biased.

In regards to your other statement, my son has proof. He had all the classic celiac symptoms: falling off the growth charts, watery D three times a day that he struggled to control, bloating, pain, paleness, lack of appetite. He had a very positive IgA tTG (three times higher than the upper reference range). We went gluten free at the the recommendation of the pediatrician that ordered the tests, before we saw the pediatric gastroenterologist. The gastroenterologist held the same opinions you do. He was old, and it's hard to teach old doctors new tricks. In the time it took to get in to see him, all my son's symptoms disappeared and he was doing fantastic. Now it's three years later, and he's doing great. He also has a world class pediatric gastroenterologist from a renounced children's hospital monitoring his CELIAC DISEASE. I have no regrets. He has celiac. We have proof. Oh, and considering my genotype, he has at least one copy of the HLA-DQ genes associated with the development of celiac. It would be child abuse to put him back on gluten at this point.