Lisa

First, I would purchase some Triumph Dining Cards and carry them with you everywhere. They are laminated cards in several languages that describes Celiac and what precautions need to be made to accommodate you.

Secondly, after your party sits and perhaps ordered drinks, I would excuse yourself and talk to the manager, who then will confer with the chief. They will let you know what your options are. No need to interrupt your dinner party with questioning the staff at the table. I find it more polite to excuse my self and you might save yourself some explaining to your dinner partners.

I have found that higher end restaurants more knowledgeable and accommodating.

Hi Steve! Welcome

this can get so confusing! i actually don't have celiac...my husband does. I try my best to help him...I don't know you guys keep track of everything

The reason I was extra confused was because underneath the ingredients it said "Contains: soy, wheat" I will let you all know when I call the company and get an answer. Thanks for the input!

I missed the SOY Pudding. Like Phyllis, I have never seen that product. I would be interested in what the company reply is. Good for you for calling.

I eat they all the time. Distant memory recalls that hydrolyzed wheat protein, is when the offending protein is removed during the process, rendering it gluten free. You need to ask Irish Dave for the confirmation, though.

Is Kozy Shack

Emily, this might be of help:

Open Original Shared Link

I'm still waiting on the bloodwork to come back, but since the bloodwork on Monday I have been gluten-free or to the best of knowledge of I have been. My stomach has felt better each day and this morning really good and went to bathroom "normal"....until I ate breakfast....and for the first time this week I ate 2 eggs, glass milk and bacon....

What a mistake...within 15 minutes I had to run, RUN, to the bathroom and it was the "D"--- which I have not even had from the beginning....it's like the food just went straight through me and was YUK....

SO you think it was the eggs? The milk? or Both?

And now I feel crappy and tummy is kinda crampy, and little shaky feeling and having to take deep breaths..... This is just the craziest stuff...

What would you do?

If you have intestinal damage due to Celiac, any food will bother you until you are gluten free long enough that some healing can take place.

It's often recommended that you eliminate milk/dairy for several weeks until you can heal.

For the time being keep your meal simple and be careful about cross contamination with used toasters, wooden spoons, scratched pots and pans, shampoos, lipbalms/stick, creams, meds, ....ie. anything that can hide gluten.

Take this time, while you are awaiting your results to study here about the diet. This is an invaluable site. It does get better.

Yes, return to gluten to be tested. The blood testing and biopsies are not as accurate as we would like and certainly not eating gluten could further add to that inaccuracy.

A gluten diet for a couple of months would help reek havoc to show positive antibodies. If you are unable to do that, a positive dietary response is also considered a diagnosis, although it would be difficult to classify as Celiac, gluten intolerance or allergy. But you might feel better and that's the bottom line.

When you test, make sure that this is what is ordered:

Anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) both IgA and IgG

Anti-endomysial antibodies (EMA) - IgA

Anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTG) - IgA

Total IgA level.

These are the blood test that I hope you had:

Anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA) both IgA and IgG

Anti-endomysial antibodies (EMA) - IgA

Anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTG) - IgA

Total IgA level

Can you give us your blood work results? An endoscopy exam and biopsy would be helpful if your doctor suspects Celiac.

Currently there are three ways to diagnose Celiac:

1. Positive Blood Panel for Celiac

2. Positive Biopsy

3 Positive Dietary Response

Either one of these test can be conclusive. Many people here are self diagnosed by positive dietary response and they are quite comfortable with that conclusion.

You can begin the diet and if you resolve many of your symptoms, that can serve as confirmation for you and your doctor.

A good book to start with would be Celiac Disease: a Hidden Epidemic by Dr. Peter Green. And this site will be invaluable to you. Feel free to ask away.

Here is a good article:

https://www.celiac.com/articles/21596/1/Is-...ease/Page1.html

Welcome to the Club!

There are no false positives in either the blood panel or biopsies, only false negatives.

You will find that most of us here have to educate out doctors. An example of that is that it takes over 11 years for a diagnosis of Celiac.

Biopsies can be hit and miss certainly not conclusive. It depends where and how many samples are taken. And someone an early diagnosis may not show damage.

Okay, I am on day 5 of being gluten-free (even getting the lingo down tx to all of you).

I'm self-dx because I'm a) w/out health insurance for the 1st time in my life and tired of being dx with acid reflux and then put on acid reducers that don't work, including a nightmare-ish accidental overdose of Pepcid AC.

After just 5 days gluten-free I am happy to say that I am no longer contributing to global warming through my voracious methane gas production. I was sure GoogleEarth had a cloud over my house.

My diet experiments last week showed heartburn within 20 minutes of eating whole wheat crackers, but not from eating spicy chips and salsa (both confirmed gluten-free). My conculsion - gotta be the wheat/gluten in the crackers. Ditto the wheat bread, but not the separately eaten peanut butter and jelly.

I'm reading "Living Gluten-free for Dummies' and have ordered the gluten sensitivity stool test from Enterol Lab just for fun.

Sooo, if I can eat Pamela's Raisin Walnut cookies with no heartburn, but I DO get heartburn (w/in 15 min) of eating Pamela's Shortbread Swirl cookies....can I assume the Shortbread cookie is contaminated, or do I have yet another sensitivity to discover?

Trying to figure this all out - tx!

Welcome!

Five days is a very short time, if you have had any damage or irritation for that matter. If you do have a compromised insides any foods could give your heartburn until it has healed.

You might want to limit your diary intake for a month or so until that healing takes.

Gluten free for Dummies is a good start. After that, start on Celiac Disease: a Hidden Epidemic, by Dr. Peter Green.

Have you checked your pots and pans, cutting boards, colander, wooded spoons, toaster, cosmetics, shampoos, lipbalms... All can be sources of hidden gluten which will hinder your recovery. It took me about six months to truely master the diet and the learning curve is steep.

If you don't already, a food journal would be helpful to identify foods

Congratulations Collette and I want to say thank you for all the wonderful recipes that you have shared with us. You are quite talented!

My favorite funny dumb insult has got to be.... gee her happy meal came missing the toy

..one oar in the water...two bricks shy of a load...you knock and no one is home....

But, my favorite from my from my husband..."it's pouring like a cow pissing on a flat rock in a rain storm" and "sweatin' like a whore in church" and "nervous like a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs."

then again my favorite loose girl comment is "She is like the town bicycle everyone gets a ride."

...someone with round heels.

Nice quote, Lisa

Work'in on it

i'm here

"'Cause I just heard on CNN that the Russians have attacked Georgia--they gonna play h$ll if they attack Alabama!"

This sounds scary to me because I don't think this is a joke. This can really happen ya'll.

You have a good nose Steve.

I thought it was a good, informative article and worth submitting. Let others read it before you eat it up bit by bit, please. We all know how you feel. Thank you.

BEYOND RICE CAKES

Gluten-Free Food Labeling: The Whole World is Watching & Listening

By Vanessa Maltin

NFCA Director of Programming & Communications

Diagnosis of celiac disease is increasing at a rapid pace. According to new research presented at Digestive Disease Week 2008, there have been about 50,000 new celiac cases recorded in the United States in the four years since the NIH Consensus Conference on Celiac Disease.

Overall, 1 in 133 Americans

That's whats for dinner....Thanks!

Recently tested for Celiac disease, and my blood test (tissue transglutimase) showed positive for celiac disease.

I have an adult son who was diagnosed 12 years ago with celiac disease, and I suspect my Mother had it all her life (and was misdiagnosed with both colitis and IBS).

My doctor said that, given my positive blood test and the celiac disease in my immediate family, he felt a small bowel biopsy was not necessary.

Just looking for feedback on this, I have been reading various Celiac websites and they usually push towards the biopsy for confirmation. Maybe he's right that it's an unnecessary procedure in my case, given the celiac disease in my family?

I should add that I have been through the wringer, so to speak, with OTHER blood work prior to this -- all of which came back normal for thyroid, liver, kidney, pancreatic functions etc. Celiac was the last thing they looked at.

Welcome LDJ!

You seem to have one of the informed doctors.

A positive Celiac Panel, is in itself a positve diagnosis in addition to a strong family history.

In your case a biopsy can look for the level of potential damage due to Celiac or other digestive issues. With your other normal functioning test, your doctor does not see the need for further testing.

Welcome to the Club!

Lisa Mamma Goose

do you see the buttons............to the right of the page numbers for the thread?

Good Luck

Judy

Shhhhhh I'll play a little later when I have some time. Thanks J

Brenda,

I am certain that you will find this site invaluable to you. An example of information found here is a Forbidden and Safe List:

https://www.celiac.com/categories/Safe-Glut...3B-Ingredients/

It would be good to print out these lists for your customers to use as a reference. YOU will be in the know and they will marvel at your knowledge.

Here is a funny for ya'll. Feel free to substitute names and faces.

Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring kingdom. The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Arthur's youth and ideals. So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer and, if after a year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death.

The question?....What do women really want? Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable man, and to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query. But, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch's proposition to have an answer by year's end.

He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: the princess, the priests, the wise men and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer.

Many people advised him to consult the old witch, for only she would have the answer.

But the price would be high; as the witch was famous throughout the kingdom for the exorbitant prices she charged.

The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the witch. She agreed to answer the question, but he would have to agree to her price first .

The old witch wanted to marry Sir Lancelot, the most noble of the Knights of the Round Table and Arthur's closest friend!

Young Arthur was horrified. She was hunchbacked and hideous, had only one tooth, smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc. He had never encountered such a repugnant creature in all his life.

He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden; but Lancelot, learning of the proposal, spoke with Arthur.

He said nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to Arthur's life and the preservation of the Round Table.

Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered Arthur's question thus:

What a woman really wants, she answered....is to be in charge of her own life.

Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth and that Arthur's life would be spared.

And so it was, the neighboring monarch granted Arthur his freedom and Lancelot and the witch had a wonderful wedding.

The honeymoon hour approached and Lancelot, steeling himself for a horrific experience, entered the bedroom. But, what a sight awaited him. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen lay before him on the bed. The astounded Lancelot asked what had happened.

The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as a witch, she would henceforth, be her horrible deformed self only half the time and the beautiful maiden the other half.

Which would he prefer? Beautiful during the day....or night?

Lancelot pondered the predicament. During the day, a beautiful woman to show off to his friends, but at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch? Or, would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day, but by night, a beautiful woman for him to enjoy wondrous intimate moments?

What would YOU do?

What Lancelot chose is below. BUT....make YOUR choice before you scroll down below. OKAY?

Noble Lancelot said that he would allow HER to make the choice herself.

Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time because he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life.

Now....what is the moral to this story?

Scroll down

The moral is.....

If you don't let a woman have her own way....

Things are going to get ugly

Confirmed by phone, Mylanta, Ultimate Strength Antacid - Cherry, has no gluten ingredients.

The ingredients do no contain gluten, but they of course, will not guarantee chance of cross contamination. This, to me is a CYA statement.

You have gotten some good information already.

I would suggest that you continue with your testing. It is always important to to rule out other issues. As mentioned, it is recommended not to go gluten free until all testing is done. It may effect your results in your endoscopy/biopsy.

Many peope here are self diagnosed and feel quite comfortable with that decision.