pixiegirl

Oh I'm sure you know this but this sort of guilt is just a waste of your good time and energy. It is what it is and there is nothing you can do to change it and having guilt doesn't change a thing other then your "energy". Its unproductive and hurts you and everyone around you. I gave up almost 100% on guilt in any form a long time ago.

Instead put your energies into other things, learning to bake and cook gluten-free. Its fun and quite an adventure at times.

I've been gluten free for over 6 years and I've never felt sorry for myself at all, heck finding out I needed to be gluten-free was a relief for me, finally I could feel healthy again!

Then I found out that my daughter has to be gluten-free ( she also has had a life long life threatening allergy to peanuts and gluten-free and nut free is twice as hard!) and I've not wasted any guilt on that either, I can't change it so why bother with the guilt.

Instead I've tried to recreate some of her favorite things... bread, pizza, sweet treats. We just made homemade fudge in 5 different flavors! Fun.

Of course we've all heard that we must focus on our glass as being half full instead of being half empty but.... it wasn't until I got a little older with a broader perspective that I really "get" it. We have a disease that is easy to treat... no drugs, we can be healthy, enjoy life...

Good luck, you can do this!

Susan

3rd in less then a week? What are the other 2 new ones?

Susan

Well I never went to Mayo but I bet a lot of us have similar stories to tell in how we arrived at being gluten-free. My personal journey took 11 years and if I eat gluten I have both physical and neurological symptoms, after being gluten-free for 6 or so years I'm also very sensitive to it and the slightest little bit makes me sick for weeks.

I had a Dr. that insisted I did NOT have celiac. I didn't care what he said, I went gluten-free and felt so much better after just a few days. I did have the symptoms of classic celiac and I was still ignored. So don't feel its because your symptoms weren't classic, it can happen to anyone and its all about the individual doctor and their beliefs. My doctor was a bit older and I'm sure if he even learned about Celiac in med school it was that it was very rare and as a doctor you'll never see it. Thats how it use to be taught. We all know thats just not true and more and more medical people are becoming aware of it.

I changed doctors, got scoped (actually for other issues) and was diagnosed formally but I didn't need that. I knew I had it. Things are changing but slowly..... but I can tell you this, in the 6 years I've been gluten free... at the beginning of that time period when I'd go to a restaurant virtually no one had heard of it. Now there are very few places I've gone too in the past year or so where when I start telling the waiter that I can't eat wheat, most of the time they look at me and say, "oh do you have Celiac"? And most of the restaurants I go to have handled it many times in the past and do a darn good job at it. (granted I don't eat fast food and don't do much casual dining, more individually owned bistro type places).

So change is happening all around us.

Good Luck, Susan

My home is not gluten free (I have a teenager that eats gluten and is messy to boot). I don't have any trouble at home at all. Before I make myself a meal I clean the granite countertops really well and I do have my own cutting board.

Although I do go to Whole Foods and other speciality stores I mostly buy most of my food at a regular grocery store. Fruits, veggies, meat, cheese, dairy, canned beans, tomato sauce, etc.

Classico pasta sauces I believe are all gluten free. I buy Mission corn tortillas, I buy those chips by Hain Naturals. I get Annie's salad dressing and my gluten-free pasta in the "health food" section of the regular grocery. I buy various cheeses there and for pizza cheese I buy the Kraft cheeses in bags. I eat Yoplait yogurt.

As far as using pots and pans that some times hold gluten things.... I'm sure some people go as far as buying their own set of them to be used only gluten-free (I have my own toaster and if you go to Kmart you can buy one for about 9 bucks) but our pots and pans are all stainless steel and so if my daughter has used them for things containing gluten I first hand wash them to get off anything stuck on, then run them thru the dishwasher and I never have reactions (and after more then 5 years of no gluten I'm very sensitive to it).

We have 3 colanders in the house, 2 stainless and one is some sort of enamel. I'd never use the enamel one, its a bit chipped and I feel like gluten could get caught in it but I use the stainless ones all the time. I go over them first with a brillo pad then run them thru the dishwasher. No problems at all.

Hope this helps a little!

Susan

I love rachel ray's! We made some last week and are making some for gifts this weekend. You can use all chocolate or chocolate and butterscotch morsels (I think only hershey's butterscotch morsels are gluten-free).

Then we add all sorts of stuff to it: dried cranberries, coconut, raisins, nuts, broken up peppermint sticks. Its fast and easy. I don't do mine with the hole in the middle like she suggests, I just put it in a glass greased pyrex dish and cut them into pieces. I make it a day ahead of time and put it in the fridge so it sets up well.

susan

I've been away for a while and I see the forum has changed a bit... I use to be able to click on a topic and read all the posts on that topic right from that page, I didn't have to click on each post in a topic to see it. Now I have to do a lot of clicking.... is there a way to expand all the posts within a specific thread. I looked around but can't find a way to do that.

Thanks for any help, Susan

Well this is an interesting topic for me... I've been away from the forum for a while and every time I come back I learn something new! I am also lean but I'm not sure that has anything to do with my bruising. The bruises on my legs are often so dark purple and large that my doctor tested me for every disease that could cause this condition (some really awful ones too) and thank god I don't have any of them. I've had my blood tested a million times and its always fine, but I'm not sure if a regular blood test would test for vit. k or c (I doubt it).

Burdee said in a post above that she takes probioitcs... and its helped with the bruising, what do you take?? I'd love to make this less of an issue I'm always sporting huge bruises on my legs and I never know what I did to get them.

Susan

I have no desire to eat gluten again, however; with all the travel I do... I'd welcome this pill... I very rarely get glutened, maybe once a year at most however my last glutening was LAST NIGHT and I'm so ill that if I had the ability to take a pill before I ate out, I would. I certainly hope the pill not only blocks the "sick" response but somehow makes it so you don't get gut damage. But either way, anything that would prevent me from going thru how sick I get when I get any gluten at all would be so welcome.

Susan

I have used the chebe stuff before and I like it, basically (if i remember) its tapoica, spices, milk, egg, some sort of gum i think. It tastes good and makes a very flat pizza crust.

I don't have any right now but I have a lot of gluten-free baking ingredients and want to make some pizza. I searched the board and it seems all the pizza dough recipes have yeast in them, why is that? If you like a thin crust, sort of crispy won't putting yeast in it make it more bready?

When I use to make real gluten pizza dough it was basically flour, water, salt and olive oil.

Does anyone have a recipe for gluten-free pizza dough that makes a thin crust ?

**** OOPS - editing this post, I looked up my old gluten pizza recipe and it does have yeast in it but why does it come out thin crust and the gluten-free ones I make (except for the Cheebe) are all doughy, like a piece of bread, I want thin and crispy! Thanks!

Susan

Thanks so much! Yeah this doctor use to be MY doctor but I changed after fighting with him for years about what was wrong with me. But my mom thinks he's the best - ugh!

Also thanks Happy girl for remembering me, I've been so busy lately I haven't posted but I do come back and read posts now and then!

Susan

Yes I understand that but my mother is 80 and was brought up to believe in her doctors, so what I am looking for is something from a website that says you have to be eating gluten for the test to be accurate so I can show her and her stupid doctor.

Susan

I've been on this list a few years, I have celiac disease. My mom has felt for some time now that she has it too (or some sort of issue with gluten). However she is still having GI issues and has been going to her doctor. He ran blood tests for Celiac (I think 4 of them) and they all came back negative. HOWEVER, my mom has not eaten any gluten for at least a year. I told her that the tests are not even close to accurate if she has not been eating any gluten and she asked her doctor about this. His answer was you can NOT have celiac disease, the results of these tests say so.

She told him that I told her that she has to be eating gluten for the tests to be accurate and he said hogwash. She said, my daughter is sure of it, that I had read it on the internet. He made a comment about how not much on the internet is true. Sigh. But he did say show me where, on a reliable web site it says that.

So my question is, does anyone know of a place on the internet that I CAN show him that the tests won't be accurate unless she is eating gluten? I've been searching but most of what I've found is written by regular people not on medical web sites.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Susan

Well we all have our own opionions on this issues thats for sure, I can't make any decision about it until its a reality, I mean until then we are just guessing.

However someone said (maybe Deb) that we have an autoimmune disease and there will never be a cure for it. Again this is my opinion but I believe you are completely wrong... think of how many medical things they said "we'd never have...." and we now have them. Personally I do believe there will be a cure for Celiac and I don't think its a long time coming. I think with things like stem cell research and all the work thats being done with genes they will soon (in our lifetimes) learn how to turn particular genes on and off and that could be a cure for a lot of things, celiac included.

Send out positive energy on this issue, I think its just around the corner.

Susan

Hi!

First of all don't be embarrassed, I honestly don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to look our best. I've had a bit of cosmetic surgery (my nose when I was younger and recently my upper eye lids) and my goal is not to try and look 35 but just to look darn good for my age.

I can tell you a bit about lipo because my 2 closest friends had it and I was the person that went with them for the surgey and took care of them. Both had fairly extensive lipo done to their mid area (tummy, hips, rear and one also did the top of the thighs).

Very important in any sort of cosmetic surgery is finding a good doctor. I tend to lean towards board certified Plastic Surgeons but other sorts of doctors do lipo (dermatologists, especially). The very most important is getting a doctor that specialized in the sort of surgery you want, one that does more lipo surgeries then anything else. When it comes to cosmetic work, experience counts and you may have to travel to find the best doc. Its worth it. I'm on a forum for cosmetic surgeries and if you go there they have an entire section on lipo, read back a bit and you will see the names of certain doctors come up again over and over. After you've read back if you have a question post it. Mostly its a very friendly group. The forum is: Open Original Shared Link Also I'd interview 3 different doctors about the same surgery and see who you like best.

Now on to the stories of my friends and a bit more info. Actually arms are a bit harder then say a tummy, because depending on your size and the amount of loose skin some times they need to take off that excess skin (each case is different) and there is no where to hide that sort of scaring on your arms, they do put the scar on the underside so its less noticable. However if your skin has good elasticity, if your fairly young, if there isn't too much fat to be removed you can get lipo to that area. I would guess compared to the lipo both of my friends had that just doing the arm area is pretty easy.

Here is why I say that: I flew to Florida for my best friends lipo. We went in the morning and by 3 pm I was bringing her home. She has a lot of lipo and a modified tummy tuck (very tiny scar) and she was drowsey and slept for a few hours after we got home. About 8 pm she woke up and was fine (ie clear headed). She took the pain meds, not because she was in pain but because the doctor told her not to get to the point where the pain is there becasue its easier to head it off at the pass then get rid of it once its there in full force. She said she was feeling pretty good. I fed her some soup and we talked and she went back to sleep. The next morning she got up and was moving around, slowly and bent over but was at least moving. She took the pain meds for 2 days. On the 4th day we went out to dinner! She said the pain/discomfort felt like a serverly pulled muscle.

My second friend had just mid area lipo and like the first friend was knocked out for the surgery. She suffered more from the anesthesia then anything else. She was dizzy from those drugs for about 2 days. On day 5 she went out to lunch with my boyfriend and I!! She tired easily was very black and blue in the mid section but just like my first friend, she said it was pretty sore but not painful.

Both were black and blue, both had a drain in for a couple of days (keeps the swelling down but i'm not sure if they do that for a small area like arms) both took the pain meds for the first few days, both went back to work in less then 7 days. I don't happen to need lipo at this point but after being their nurse for their sugeries I would certainly do it. The certainly didn't suffer and I've got to tell you, both are over 50 and have the flattest stomachs you can imagine!

good luck,

Susan

It took me just over 11 years to get diagnosed. Your lucky it was only 3 years! I kept marching back and forth from doctor to doctor, and first it was IBS, then I was "crazy". Finally someone of thought to test for Celiac.

Just be grateful you know.

Susan

I think you must be dating my boyfriend....

Susan

Yep both times and both at my moms house. And I hate to say but its almost intentional.. I swear she is passive aggressive about this...(I really do love my mom but this is turning into a huge issue with us) she has Celiac and should be gluten-free but won't do it, she "can't give up bread". and chips, and tortillas, and pancakes, and ....... you get the drift.

She describes herself as having a "touch of celiac" which of course drives me crazy (and yes she knows better) its her making excuses for her lack of will power. And at least once a week she will complain to me that she has the runs.. yeah no kidding!

Anyhow she buys things and says stuff like, "they don't bother me". "I eat it all the time", "it doesn't say gluten on the label". So once at Christmas and once on New Years day she managed to gluten me. I'm done eating at her house.

Susan

You know what... I've noticed this before but it often seems like a lot of "young" people have more of that difficulty coping.. Now please don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing younger people at all... but I do think that maybe when your older you have more perspective on life and value good health in a different way so perhaps its easier for us.

I wasn't diagnosed until my a few years ago and I had been so sick for so long that it was a huge relief for me to find anything out. I felt relieve not frustrated. As a single "older" person I bet I go out and socialize as much as you young people do and to top it off I have a gluten eating boyfriend (but he's so considerate and totally understands my gluten issues). I think after having so much life behind me, I have better coping skills.

That being said (and I know its not so helpful for you) I also think that young people have a lot of other stressers on them, school, job, money so its just another difficult thing added to all that. I'm not sure what any of us can do to help you, other then say we totally understand how you feel. And someone said that the "feeling sorry for yourself" stage is part of the whole process and I agree. So maybe you just need to indulge yourself in a bit of feeling sorry for yourself every now and then.

But I know its been very helpful for me to find places I can eat. I've worked with a number of local restaurants and I have a few places that really do a good job. So when we are going to go out to eat I try and steer my group towards one of the places I'm sure of. Also to keep things interesting... I try and add a new place now and then (I go there first at an off time and speak to management and the chef to see how much they know and if they can work with me). This keeps it interesting for both me and my friends.

Yes it can be a hassle and we have to cope but you wil, sounds like a cliche but it really will make you a better person, more tolerant of others issues, stronger, more able to cope.

good luck, you have a lot of us here that are pulling for you and totally understand!

Susan

First of all, as we all know, putting "tone" or inflection in an internet posting is impossible! But when I read PennyGs' note I didn't think she was saying the original poster was narrow minded but that the doctor defination was. I'm sure she didn't mean the poster who clearly stated that it was a/her doctor that gave her that info. So no harm on foul on either of them in my mind, we were all just discussing!

A lot of us have food allergies (me included, to just about everything) and we all KNOW that there are so many different sorts of reactions.

Now as to the topic, no matter what I eat of Amy's I get a reaction so I've stopped eating Amy's products, I believe there is gluten cross contamination because I get gluten symptoms each time.

Susan

I use to answer these sorts of threads in a "just buck up" way and then stopped answering them at all because I knew I wasn't being helpful.

Now after 2 glutenings at my mom's house, (in a 2 week time frame) I can totally relate. I'm not sure what your parents issue is, certainly its a difficult diet to understand when it's YOU that has to be gluten-free and more difficult if your just learning the basics to make a meal for someone else. So maybe its just too much for them to take in... OR maybe it's like my mom , and its her form of passive aggressivness. But either way it makes life miserable, especially the days/weeks after glutening. I'm still in the recovery mode (mentally and physically).

I'm not sure we can "fix" this issue, I think we have to accept it and somehow work around it (I haven't figured out that part yet). I'm lucky in that my mom lives close by so I've decided that for the most part I'm going to host all the eating over here. And if she wants to treat she can take me out to dinner at one of the local restaurants that I eat at.

But in my book its funny that I can get a totally gluten-free meal that I don't react to at a restaurant but never at my own mothers house.

I'm sorry this happened to you.

Susan

I use to be able to drink 3 glasses of wine over the course of a meal and feel fine. Now 1 glass and I get drunk faster and feel terrible the next day. My theory is that my gut is very leaky still (I have other digestive issues as well) and that the minute I have a drink instead of being absorbed thru my stomach at a "normal" pace it just leaks right into my blood stream. I swear as I drink it I can feel it affecting me right away.

I still drink but I have only one glass over the course of an evening and I have a H2o chaser as I drink the wine. Pretty much its a sip of one and a gulp of the other (you guess which is which!). And I'm doing ok with it that way. All alcohol effects me much faster now but wine is the very worst one for me.

susan

I love Anna's. I've tried others and they either don't bake right or taste awful. I pour Anna's in my very old bread maker and in 4 hours its done perfectly every time.

Susan

Well now that Celiac is being diagnosed more readily I'm sure the medical communtiy will grapple with how and when to say who has it and who doesn't.

For me the Gold Standard was the diet. I never heard of Celiac but due to all my GI issues my Dr. tested for it. Immediately after taking the test I went gluten free and in 2 days I felt wonderful, my runs of 11 years were gone, so was the stomach ache, the itching, I felt like a new person. Imagine my surprise when the Dr. called me a week later to tell me the blood test was normal.

I told him how every symptom I had was virtually gone and he said its in your head you do not have Celiac disease. I found a new doctor.

I did have Dr.Fine's testing done a year or so later and it did turn out positive, but I knew that, because my gold standard was the diet. Its just been so obvious if I accidentially eat gluten I'm sick, when I don't I'm better, that seems pretty golden to me.

Susan

Hi Cathy,

well certainly everyone is different and I wasn't referring to any single post but it seems everyone was assuming the "pill" would just mask symptoms so I wanted to clairfy what the original poster said (or at least how I understood it) . But you've shown that everyone has a different take. Makes the world interesting!

I too started reacting to peanuts recently, not like my daughter does but I'm still allergic to them. But we'e had a peanut free house for years.

Enjoy your holiday!

Susan

I think it works wonderfully! I use it for colds, flu, menopause, it has a wide range of uses. It has its limits, like most other types of medicine (including western). I think the trick is with all the various forms of healing out there is to find what works with what.

I heard Andrew Weil once say this sort of thing. He said if I break my arm or have a car accident I want to be rushed to the nearest western medical center, however if I'm having dietary issues, skin problems, digestive problems (he went on with a long list) then send me somewhere else. (he is a Harvard trained Medical doctor and now practices more alternative/natural medicine). It takes a while to figure out what works best for you.

Susan