jmengert

I've emailed various companies, and I've found that Bare Escentuals mascara is gluten-free, but that is the only definite I can find. I'm in southwestern VA, where I can't find a lot of the more "exotic" brands, so does anyone know any other gluten-free mascaras (or eyeliner, for that matter)? (Clinique, Lancome, Estee Lauder, Neutrogena, or any like that)?

Thanks for any info anyone has!

Argghhh! Kaiti, a question for you--I received some Russell Stover's candy, and the box clearly states that this candy was produced on the same lines with wheat, though wheat or any gluten containing product is not listed as ingredients--did you box say the same thing? I was SO looking forward to eating the candy, and now I'm scared.....

It's so great to know that Russell Stover is gluten-free--I'm such a chocolate person, so it's nice to know I'll be fine! Thanks for the tip!

Thanks, celiac3270, that helps a lot. I'm assuming that because Hershey's labels include anything with wheat, etc. in it that their miniatures (the peanut butter cups and such) should be okay for Valentine's day, too, right?

I love chocolate, candy, you name it...and because this is my first gluten-free Valentine's Day, I was curious about gluten-free chocolates and such. I've heard that Russell Stover chocolates (I'm assuming that includes their Valentine's products?) are gluten-free...anyone had their chocolate without a reaction to verify?

Also, any other gluten-free candy that's out there? I know Hershey packages their kisses and mini peanut butter cups with Valentine's colors--still okay for us?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide!

Yeah, I thought that I would have to get rid of my Clinique stuff. I think that I'm just going to go get all MAC stuff and maybe mix in some Lancome. It's so expensive, though, and I hate that I have to get rid of my makeup that wasn't so cheap itself, either. So very annoying!

While this makeup thread is going, I was looking, too, for gluten-free powder and foundation, as that is the most likely thing that I could injest other than lipstick (when I'm washing my face at night, there's sometimes "run-off" from the water onto my lips, and I'm trying to be SO careful!).

Any good powders or foundations? I currently use all Clinique makeup, other than Cover Girl lipstick.

If you're a pound cake fan (and believe me, I am!), I LOVED 'Cause You're Special's pound cake mix (the classic pound cake mix). I found it to taste as good as the homemade ones I remember--it is a heavy dessert, but most pound cakes are--that's the only complaint I had from my family, who is not gluten-free--otherwise, they said it was great, too. YUM!

I'm with most of you: I don't trust any meat product at a fast-food restaurant simply because of cross-contamination.

But, at McDonald's, their apple dippers are prewrapped and come with prewrapped caramel dipping sauce--all gluten-free and wonderful! (and pretty healthy!)

I also get their salads, which are prepackaged, without the chicken (it's actually the chicken caesar salad without the chicken) and have had success there, too--and most (or all?) of their salad dressings are gluten-free, too--nice to have some healthy options at McDonald's!

I was only diagnosed by the blood tests simply because I had to leave town for a month before they could get me an appointment for the biopsy. I figured, there was no way I was going to eat gluten for a month and keep feeling awful when my blood tests (all levels) were pretty high, proving enough to me that I had celiac disease.

So, when I went to the gastroenterologist a few days ago, I asked if I needed to have the biopsy now (it's now been about 2.5 months since my blood test results), and she said no because the diet seems to be working--in fact, she said that would be "cruel" to make me go back on gluten--I liked that response!

So if your blood tests show any of the four levels that is higher than normal, AND eating strictly gluten-free seems to help, I would go with that. The biopsy scares me because several people I've heard about will come back negative and had to get retested because there wasn't enough damage to get results from the first biopsy. And from all the info I've read (and boy, I've read a lot since my diagnosis), not all doctors firmly believe a biopsy is necessary.

Good luck! If you have any other questions, please let me know!

KLTerry--a very similar thing happens to me, but I don't get blurry vision (and I understand the fear of calling the doctor too much, too--I feel like they think I'm a hypochondriac).

I've been gluten-free for three months now, and I started having sporadic dizzy spells about a month or so into the gluten-free diet. Now, I'm noticing that the last 2 weeks, almost every time after dinner (why just dinner and not lunch or breakfast?) I get really dizzy--it's like the room is literally spinning.

I would love to know if anyone else has suggestions or similar symptoms, as it's really scary. I hate dizziness because it impedes my functioning so much.

Sally, as requested here's what I found out from my gastroenterologist about IBS and Celiac. She feels that I still have IBS, even with my celiac disease diagnosis. She said it's quite common for people to have both. Thus, she wants me to keep on my IBS meds (either Levbid, which isn't really doing anything anymore, or Pamine, which I've been nervous to start because I hate taking medicines, especially new ones). So, if you still have symptoms after being gluten-free for awhile, it may be IBS, too, at least according to my doctor. Of course, my experience with IBS is that it comes in spurts and it's certainly easier to control than celiac disease.

I hope this info helps. Please let me know if you have any questions/comments. I hope you feel better soon--it sounds like you've had a lot to deal with in celiac disease, so feel free to drop me a line any time.

Great! Thank you!

I know that Kraft products clearly list gluten in their ingredients; thus, if modified food starch is listed in their ingredients, but it's not labeled as containing wheat, barley, etc., does that mean it's safe?

I'm hoping to start experimenting more with baking, and their Jello instant and cook to serve puddings list modified food starch, so I'm a bit paranoid.

Thanks!

Great! The only thing that's annoying about the continuous color lipsticks is that you can't try them on--I bought a color that looked great in the package but not so great on. Ah, well--at least it's gluten-free! Thanks again for the info!

That's odd--I wonder what they consider to be their "fragranced" lipsticks? I bought the continuous color lipstick (the one that comes sealed in the plastic/cardboard package), so I'm hoping they mean that would be unscented.

Thanks for posting the info! I'll keep an eye on the labels to check for fragrances.

Thanks, Merika--I sent an email to Matrix (Biolage's owners) today, so hopefully I'll hear something from them. I agree with you--the products I'm most concerned about are lipstick and hand lotion because of the increased chance of ingesting it. Because I'm still a "newbie" with this disease, it just blows my mind with all the things we have to look out for.

By the way, does anyone know if we have to worry about soap, too? I've checked labels, and it seems like most soaps (dishsoap, bar soap, hand soap, etc.) pretty much are gluten-free--am I mistaken, though?

Sally, I think that's a great question, and one I really would like the answer to. As far as my personal experience, I was diagnosed with IBS five years ago but was never tested for Celiac (I had never even heard of celiac disease five years ago). They assumed it was IBS because I immediately felt almost 100% better after they put me on an anti-spasmodic (Levbid); thus, that's how they "diagnosed" me. I felt really good for five years (other than the occasional flare-up, which is common with IBS).

But, I now have been confirmed with celiac disease through blood tests about 2 1/2 months ago--I'm still taking the hyoscyamine because I'm assuming I still have IBS, but who knows? I've heard that celiac disease can lead to IBS, so I may have had undiagnosed celiac disease that gave me IBS. At any rate, I'm seeing my gastro on Tuesday, so I plan to ask him all of these questions; I'll let you know if I find out anything useful.

Great--thanks for the info! I had been nauseous for awhile and couldn't figure out why, never thinking that my makeup/beauty products could be "glutenating" me--it's nice to know that there are good gluten-free products out there.

Here's to hoping that Biolage is gluten-free; I just love their shampoos/conditioners...

I, too, have posted about wanting ideas on how to gain weight (I'm about 5'5 and 102 pounds and really want to gain back 15-20 pounds). I've been gluten-free for about 2 and a half months, and I haven't gained back a pound. Here's my thought, though: I no longer eat out (and if I do, it's at Outback very occasionally) and I no longer eat a lot of fatty, preprocessed food like I did pre-diagnosis. I think that's what may be holding some of us back from regaining the weight--I feel like in some ways the gluten-free diet is healthier in that it rids our bodies of all this processed stuff that's in so much food.

I've also been told that Boost Plus and Ensure Plus (both of which are gluten-free and lactose free) are great to add on weight; I haven't tried them yet, though.

Good luck to everyone out there; I can certainly commiserate, as I repeatedly get people commenting on how thin I am (some have even told me they believe I have an eating disorder--sigh).

I've read some conflicting info about Cover Girl cosmetics: does anyone know if they are indeed gluten-free?

Also, I love Biolage shampoos and products, but after reading people's posts about reactions from their shampoos and such, I want to switch to all gluten-free beauty products just in case I do have a reaction (I haven't had one yet, and I've been gluten-free since late November), so does anyone know if they are gluten-free? I can't find anything suspicious on their labels, but you never know.

Also, any good moisturizers that are gluten-free? I have awful dry skin!

Thanks!

Yeah, hyoscyamine is generic for Levbid, Levsin, some others, too, I think. When I was first put on it, years ago, it helped tremendously. Now, I feel like it doesn't work at all. Maybe I grew immune to it?....

My doctor tried Zelnorm one time, but I have diarrhea prevelant IBS, and it's supposed to make that A LOT worse, so I never took it (and was upset my doctor didn't realize that huge side effect!)

Thanks--I'd never heard of dicyclomine before; I have an appointment next week, so I'll have to ask about that next week.

Oh, the joys of having both Celiac AND IBS

I have both IBS and celiac disease, and my gastro prescribed Pamine (the generic is Methscopolamine) to help with my IBS. I'm currently taking hyoscyamine, and I seriously doubt it's still helping me (I've been on it for 5 years). I hate trying new medicines because almost all of them make me nauseous, so I'm curious if anyone is on or was on Pamine?

As far as cookies, pancakes, waffles, etc. go, I swear by Pamela's baking mixes: she has both a regular baking mix and a chocolate one. When I made the brownie cookies from the chocolate mix, my friends didn't even realize it was gluten-free. Pamela's also has prepackaged cookies that are great. Her line has been my savior for my sweet tooth since being diagnosed. Good luck with the food and recipe search!