BlessedMommy

Personally, I'd rather have all gluten free products. Then I don't ever have to worry about how close the product is getting to my mouth. I haven't found it very difficult to do all gluten free products, there are lots of options nowadays.

Yep, since you were diagnosed with DH, you have celiac.

Once a celiac, always a celiac....

 I was like "no thanks! I'd like to not die please." haha.

LOL! Yeah, that's about what it boiled down to, for me.

I have had severe neurological symptoms from gluten ingestion. After an ER visit during my gluten challenge, I decided to just forgo diagnosis and live as a celiac. It wasn't worth it to me.

I would second ravenswoodglass that I wouldn't attempt a gluten challenge without careful consultation with your doctor.

I'm sorry for the loss of your fur baby, bartfull.

I adopted a constipated kitty. His previous owner feed him gluten containing dry cat food. I switched him to grain free wet cat food and added things to it like canned pumpkin, extra water, prune juice, etc. My kitty's constipation has improved a lot. 

Now that I've read of the health benefits of wet cat food, I'm working on switching my other kitty other to grain free wet food.

I will say something like, "Is that food/dish/etc. safe for celiacs?" or will state that I follow a celiac diet or a strict gluten free diet for serious medical reasons and must avoid all of it. I also say to the server, "I'm not on this diet by choice, it's actually necessary, so please tell the kitchen staff that and have them take the necessary precautions."

Okay, I see. That's right, BRM would have nut cross contact issues.

The Golden Prairie one should probably be okay, since as far as I know, they just process grains. They offer gluten free oats, as well as the gluten free millet, and their gluten free oats are cheaper than BRM's gluten-free oats.

I purchase Bob's Red Mill sorghum flour in 25 lb bags. It's also available in smaller quantities.

I purchase my millet in 25 lb bags as well. It is Golden Prairie brand. Open Original Shared Link

You can bake bread using sorghum flour as a substitute for rice flour.

Yes, white rice is better than brown. I do Indian white basmati usually. For brown rice, I get organic brown basmati grown in California. (Lundberg)

Brown rice pasta is concerning. One serving of that stuff gives kids more arsenic than they should have in a whole week. It's best to rarely serve Tinkyada and types like that to children. Corn pasta and corn/quinoa blends can substitute for rice pasta. Other than lasagna noodles occasionally, I tend to avoid brown rice pasta.

If anybody doesn't understand your dietary restrictions and respect them, then they're not a true friend. Make sure that those close to you know and understand about celiac and why you need to be careful. Then limit your associations with those who feel the need to say spiteful things. My mother-in-law got accused of faking her cancer once. (though she was biopsy diagnosed with it) She passed away of cancer last fall. 

Some people are hateful and angry and will take it out on whomever, whenever. Seriously, if people have no better things to do than to worry about what others eat or what people's medical conditions are, they need to get a life. 

I don't even have a diagnosis, but I carefully emphasize to people that gluten nearly brain damaged me (had a mini-stroke during a gluten challenge) and most people really don't question me much. They see me stick to my diet consistently and faithfully, so of course I'm not a fad dieter. I'm been gluten free for almost 5 1/2 years now and I really don't care much what people's opinions are of the gluten free diet. I don't need a doctor's note to do what's best for me and since other people don't have to suffer my symptoms or pay my medical bills, I don't really pay much attention to what they think. 

Luckily, the gluten free diet has done one thing for me, it's taught me to stand up for myself and be confident in my decisions. Remember if someone is mean and spiteful they will find something to pick on, regardless of if it's celiac or something else.

Keep on keeping on and know that you're doing the absolute best thing for your health!

One sure bet for safe corn tortillas is to make your own with Bob's Red Mill gluten free masa harina.

Welcome to the board!

I can't do 2-3 months of gluten, so I live 100% gluten free. It works for me and keeps me as a functioning, productive member of society.

Welcome to the site!

No, a celiac cannot have any gluten.

When you have celiac, even if you don't have visible symptoms, the auto immune damage is happening in your intestine which in turn affects your ability to absorb nutrition and the health of your whole body. Over time, this can lead to anemia, osteoperosis, diabetes, and even cancer, even if outward symptoms are minimal. 

Have you explored the various recipes? There are many gluten free cookies that are delicious and won't make you sick or cause auto immune damage. I held a 100% gluten free baby shower recently and everybody thought that my menu was great, even the gluten eaters. 

A good place to start here is our Newbie 101 thread. https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/91878-newbie-info-101/

 It's chuck full of good information on how to maintain a safe gluten free diet, including avoiding cross contamination. It's difficult at times, but good health and avoiding all the complications of untreated celiac disease is so worth it!

I don't understand why the doctors think that it wouldn't be worth it. It's just a simple blood panel and not particularly expensive and invasive. If nothing else, they need to at least rule out celiac, with the symptoms that you're having. My daughter's doctor didn't hesitate to order the celiac tests for my daughter, at my request. The tests turned out to be negative, which helped us to have peace of mind that gluten wasn't the problem, so we could move on with confidence.

Due to circumstances and poor medical advice, I was never tested. I can't go back in time now and fix it as a gluten challenge would most likely be fatal for me, but if I had it to do over again, I would've gotten tested, even if I had to pay for it out of pocket.

I have wanted to try these for a long time, but they were WAY out of my price range. I was thrilled when I found them on sale at Earth Fare for $8.49. From what I've read, you can make lasagna multiple times out of each pack. I'm pretty excited to try them! Has anybody else here tried them?

Open Original Shared Link

Even in the absence of symptoms, a celiac patient suffers intestinal damage each time they consume gluten. That damage can add up to a lot of health problems, over time.

What a blessing that you were diagnosed! That doctor sounds like a really good one!

Yes, Sunshine Burgers are good. I also like Amy's Sonoma veggie burgers.

Being vegetarian in addition to celiac is totally doable.

I'm vegetarian and gluten-free. (in addition to other things, like limited soy, mild dairy intolerance, low sugar, etc.) It reduces the amount of convenience foods available, but that's not always a bad thing. I have a great gluten-free/vegan/soy free recipe for spicy italian "sausage" if you want something resembling a vegetarian hot dog. I also make a vegetarian burger crumbles out of quinoa. 

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

My ultimate end to eating gluten was having a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA or mini-stroke) after days of severe headaches during my gluten challenge. I figured that there was no way that I could ever in good conscience eat the stuff again, regardless of any test results or lack thereof.

People don't generally pressure me much, because I've made my stance on gluten pretty clear. Plus, lots of people remember the painful symptoms that I was having, before I even realized gluten was an issue. (I got a severe skin rash and later figured out through the process of elimination that it was wheat related)

Plus, lots of people don't even know what celiac disease is or don't understand it very well, so having a diagnosis of it doesn't always mean that you'll get more accommodation. Saying that gluten almost killed me and I'll never touch it again is pretty much as effective as having a celiac DX. Awhile back my in-laws voluntarily, with their own money, bought a grill for me to use on gluten free items at their house. My mother-in-law is deceased now, but my FIL's fiance is really great about things too. I was really clear up front with her about how careful I need to be and she will gladly let me go get my fruit and salad before they are cross contaminated and will suggest that I set my gluten free entree in a separate part of the kitchen.

Good communication up front seems to solve a lot of problems. When my FIL's fiance wanted to know about cooking gluten free, I explained to her that I don't generally eat items prepared by others. I told her that it's easier for me to make my own food and enjoy the company of others, rather than worrying about getting sick. So every time, we get together for a family meal, I bring something that I can eat, they bring stuff that they want to bring, and we can all enjoy the fruit, salad, sorbet, juice, etc.

Don't worry about what other people think! I've been gluten free for over 5 years without a DX (had extremely severe reactions to gluten challenge and had to discontinue it for my safety) and I've gotten to the point where I'm nearly totally comfortable with living as a celiac, despite the lack of DX. If living gluten-free allows me to be a functional productive member of society and eating gluten nearly killed me, that tells me all that I really need to know. 

Just make sure that you communicate well with family and friends up front and let them know how careful that you need to be. Being casual at first and then getting more serious with the diet later is tough. It's far easier to enforce a "you can't cook for me" rule if you start at the beginning.

I tell the waitress that I'm not doing the gluten free diet by choice, but out of actual medical necessity, so to please let the kitchen know so that they can take necessary precautions.

And boy was it fun! It was really cool to be able to just eat whatever I wanted from the table and have no risk of CC.

My SIL is expecting a baby in June and I decided to throw her a shower. Other people volunteered to help with other aspects and I planned to do the food. My SIL avoids gluten for thyroid issues, so a gluten free menu was a positive for both her and me. 

I had a lot of fun picking out and prepping food for the baby shower. What was really fun though was when some gluten free friends of my SIL showed up. They were amazed that everything was gluten free and that even the oreo cookies were safe for them to eat. 

I had a blast and I'm convinced that I need to do more gluten free entertaining. How fun it was for me and my gluten free guests to be able to eat whatever we wanted. The non-gluten free people who attended thought that the menu was great and had no complaints!

My worry is that we would go through it way too fast which would negate the price savings on the larger bag, LOL! For that reason, I might choose the 5 pound bag instead.

My kids LOVE banana chips.