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cdog7

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  1. Ok the wonderful guy who runs the glutenfreedrugs.com site got back to me before anyone else (including the manufacturer). In case anyone else here ever ends up in this situation, the magic answer is : Corn Starch. They use corn starch, not wheat starch. Also, the company annoyingly refuses to say it's gluten-free just because they don't want to officially guarantee it and be liable for anything. But it has no gluten in it, yay!

  2. Loryna – a generic form of Yaz – was what I recently got at my new pharmacy when I went to pick up my Yaz (which is gluten-free). It's not listed on the glutenfreedrugs.com site, and I can not find anything online about its gluten-free status. The manufacturer's website leaves a number and email to contact them to find out ingredients of any medicine they make. The number goes to voice mail, so I just emailed them and am waiting to hear back.

     

    But does ANYone here know if it's gluten-free or not? Ugh I hate this wild goose chase they make you go through with every single Rx. Can't take it until I know, might have to try to return it and just HOPE they can replace it with something else (and then probably go through this again, wheee). Any help is so immensely appreciated!

  3. I can barely stop myself from sending out a vaguely threatening email about hunting down the culprit, but I won't. I will not. It's hard but I won't do it. The magic kitchen fairy wants revenge so bad, though! ("magic kitchen fairy" made me LOL)

    But I'm restraining myself for now, and for as long as I can.. I'll just take a lot more protective measures from now on.

  4. Ok, so the problem comes down to: My office mates are kind of slobs. I think some of them take great pride in that! We share a set of metal utensils, coffee mugs, glasses and a set of ceramic plates/bowls in our kitchen, because that's supposed to be much more 'green' than using disposables. Every day, a huge pile of barely-rinsed (sometimes not rinsed) utensils and plates etc. all get washed in a dishwasher. The next day it's all put away in cabinets and used again.

    Question: Are any of these things safe for me to be using? Because I have been, although I've also had too many mysterious reactions lately where I never knew the culprit. Now I'm starting to suspect I've been crediting our dishwasher with some kind of magic it doesn't really have.

    I know that with 'proper usage', dishwasher-washed stuff should be safe. But lately I see plates that literally still have noodles caked onto them just stuffed in the dishwasher, forks with who-knows-what all over them, etc. and frankly it's kind of terrifying. But the stuff looks like it's clean when it's put away.

    We just recently instituted a new 'kitchen cleaning plan' where everyone in the office will get a week assigned to do the kitchen cleaning, because without such a plan, it always fell to the exact same two females, and that was depressing and wrong (and really not what they're paid for). So in that sense I am happy about this new plan (and I will wear gloves when it's my week). However, as I mentioned, some of the people here just really don't care and kind of suck at cleaning. They all sort-of know I'm celiac and can't eat gluten, but very few get what that really means, or retain any memory of it once shared. Once a coworker told me he heard that celiac can be cured with some kind of colored light therapy, I'm not even making this up. But this not like talking to friends or family, as I have to worry about staying professional and on everyone's good side here in addition to keeping my health safe.

    Just wondering - am I getting spooked over nothing (and dishwashers really are magic), or should I probably start hand-washing everything before I use it, too? Or should I do something else entirely? (Besides find a new job, easier said than done these days!)

    Your input is greatly appreciated!

  5. Wow, good to know! Yeah I am a spicy-food addict. I'll have to tell people not to be afraid to spice it up! So long as all their spices aren't pre-blended with flour or something odd, I don't see why that should be a problem. But yeah, it's one of those things you don't even think you'll need to tell people, seems so obvious to us! I've had people tell me I can't eat something because it has rice in it - sometimes people are just trying to cover all the bases, and they add a few extra bases in there I guess.

  6. Ok I was watching the Travel Channel, and couldn't help but notice that Every. Single. Dish. in this show about Louisiana cooking was either battered or cooked in a roux. At some point the host even said you can't cook anything here if you can't make a roux.I admit it, I cried. I was entertaining this fantasy that some day I could visit this land and eat some great seafood gumbo, at least. It's a roux. Am I wrong? Can celiacs get any good local dishes there? Is there a culinary point in visiting? Or would I just have to live on PF Changs and hurricanes? Just hoping I'm overreacting.

  7. I'm pretty much chained to my desk during the day at work, and sometimes I get headaches. Recently someone restocked our first aid stuff with CareOne brand acetaminophen tablets (white tablets, not gelcaps). No info on the bottle about inactive ingredients, and no info on the company's website. Whoever got these tossed the box it came in.

    Does anyone happen to know if these are safe? I don't want to take one headache away and replace it with suffering from the other end! Naturally. I happen to be in head-pain at the moment, but haven't taken them yet.. Thanks anyone who might know!

  8.   On 5/17/2011 at 1:15 AM, shadowicewolf said:

    Wow, that guy sounds like a major you know what <_<

    Petty people have petty minds :( They won't accept what is different from them.

    Haha! So glad that comes through with only one quote! But yes, it's been observed by others too... <_<

  9. Thanks all for the replies. It's really interesting to me, and it makes a lot of sense really, that if gluten has neurological effects on us, removing it from our diets can basically change the way we think. That seems to be what happened with me. While I was sickest, searching for a diagnosis, I was pretty depressed too, and lost a lot of my enthusiasm for religion/spirituality, though I still made some efforts. I was just so fatigued and ill there was not as much I could put into anything. I was also suffering brain fog. I had many physical symptoms, including the classic ones, as well.

    Going gluten-free began to correct these within a couple weeks. I started to feel better in days, but within a month I was losing weight (lots of bloat), energetic, thinking clearly, normal bathroom trips, no more constant pain, even the dark circles under my eyes were gone. And I think it was the thinking more clearly that coincided with this change. But I think it just took me longer to fully realize how my thinking had changed, beyond just feeling less 'foggy'. I had to actually interact with that subject before I could understand what had changed. At first I thought I was just getting cynical, because of what I had been through. And I still don't know how much my other life events changed me versus the celiac changes.

    But weeks after my dx I tried going to some services with my mother. It felt strange, and I had a hard time putting my finger on why. I felt like I was just going through the motions. I tried to get back into it, but it felt empty and weird even to pray. It took some time to investigate my feelings and thoughts, and to come to terms with such a dramatic change. Something I had previously always 'felt' and a state of mind I could previously just conjure up at will were now absent. Honestly it was a lot like finding out that someone you've known for years is a hallucination - but no one really tells you, you just suspect it, and then you see it. So I think if I get back into any religion again it will have to be from a different point of view, and a different approach. But yeah, it was disturbing in a way to get to a place where these visions were no longer self-evidently real to me - it was something that took some work to get used to. I can imagine that anyone trying to recover from schizophrenia would need even more time to adjust - the basic cognitive changes can begin soon, but the full recovery has to include a sort of reintegration into life.

    I don't mean to sound like it's been all bad, losing my religion - actually in some ways it's been a relief. There's a lot less for me to take personally! And I still have strong ethical beliefs and a strong empathy for others - if not more. I just don't engage in the kind of magical thinking I used to. Sometimes I even have moments where I think, 'hey, I totally would have thought this was some Sign, something of deep significance and meaning for me personally before,' - some coincidence or connection I notice, but now I just see it as chance. I hope this helps others who are going through something similar.

  10. Ok, I don't want to be controversial here, and I'm not trying to make any general statements about religion. But I used to be a very religious, spiritual person before all my celiac symptoms really caught up with me. All those severe health problems hit me right as I was going through a divorce too, which I'm sure affected my outlook. But still, sometimes I'm just astonished by how different I am personality-wise since going gluten-free. As in, I just don't make the connections I used to make, mentally, and I don't believe in any higher power of any kind - and I don't know if I'd ever be able to believe again.

    It's actually a bit sad sometimes, because I had some really beautiful personal moments in spiritual contemplation. And now I wonder if I was just tripping on gluten! My spirituality was very much based on my personal experiences, what I felt and envisioned, and the connections I drew between everyday events around me and something larger going on. Now, I just can't buy that, and I don't experience these things anymore. I feel like psychology, imagination, denial and escapism explain everything I felt - and maybe also the connection between celiac and schizophrenia I've read about. I mean, religion was very much a mystical pursuit for me, almost hallucinogenic (if not actually at times), and I have schizophrenia in my family. I've even worried that I was borderline schizophrenic at times because of my spirituality, just knowing how it would sound to someone else.

    Again, I hope this doesn't offend anyone. I guess I'm just wondering if this sort of thing has happened to anyone else

  11. Yes, we'd all prefer the raise, since we've had frozen salaries since 2009! (And frozen hiring) Basically we're all pretty slammed with work, short-staffed, and the boss wants to do something that doesn't cost much to just try to bring a few smiles. And that's awesome. But I've heard a few others grumble about the free food approach too, since it just doesn't solve the problems. Really, I think if it were possible to just give everyone $5 gift cards they'd like it way better. But maybe there's some reason we can't do that, or give out cash

  12. I love the idea of non-food-related morale boosters. :) I know I'm not the only one here who'd appreciate it, too!

    And I do agree with bringing my own treat on these occasions. Something to make me feel 'rewarded' even if it's just coming from me. :)

    I think if we did have more 'perks' that weren't entirely food-based, it would just be a huge weight lifted.

    Someone who used to work here actually used to ask me when he ordered food if there was anything on the menu I could eat. It was awesome. I loved that guy. There was a pizza place that makes a gluten-free risotto which I love. Everyone saw me eat it, love it, worship it, praise it. I even shared some. I almost feel like we stopped doing that because of the extra expense (also that guy left). And yeah, money is tight, and a lot of times the gluten-free options are more expensive. Maybe that's the real reason - the stuff they get is the cheapest way to do something for the office? Maybe there's someone here I can ask tactfully if they know whether it's a budget issue.. I really don't want to seem like someone who demands all the expensive stuff when no one else gets it. Will probably suggest the outdoor meeting thing. :)

  13. I can appreciate why you'd rather provide your own food. For the same reasons I am wary of pot lucks. But there are actually nearby restaurants - even a Whole Foods grocery with a gluten-free bakery - where I can safely get food. So it's not an issue of not having any safe options, they just always choose the options I can not have.

    I always end up bringing/getting my own food in anyway, I just want to understand what their thinking is.

    Hm, yeah the social issues are pretty much the worst part of this for me. I don't mind the diet so much, but that's because there are plenty of genuinely delicious options out there! My meals at home are still quite satisfying, even most of my meals dining out. I love food, I just wish it wasn't such a source of stress and disappointment when it comes to the office. Someone else just stood up and made a joke about how little they care about the salad, so long as they get pizza - it's just like a recurring insult.

    Sorry to be so negative, I did just have a reaction to something this weekend. :-/ Just starting to get better!

  14. I have a frequent problem with friends and coworkers (mostly the latter) seeming completely oblivious to my diet needs, and not caring to really understand it, when it comes to social situations with food. At my office, this includes every single management effort to promote 'bonding' in the staff, and typically leaves me out. People around me get excited about their pizza, or their free bagels, and I just feel depressed

  15. I agree! I think you make a very good point. And the fact is, when I'm trying to research a restaurant, if I don't already know about it from a celiac group, I do tend to browse Yelp and UrbanSpoon looking for any mention of gluten-free options from the other reviewers. These are the places most people look

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