LauraTX

For an irritated exit point, I really like the Preparation H wipes.  Much easier than the ointment.  Just fan your fanny dry after you use them, lol.

Hi Brit16,

You probably haven't gotten many replies because your child is so young and his doctor has done the right thing by referring you to a specialist.  At this point it will just be a wait to get further testing done by the specialist.  Let us know what happens.

Edit: And yes, as mentioned above, do not discontinue feeding him gluten yet.

No problem, it is a common mistake we all can make.  I just put it in bold for future readers

I agree that a note or card letting her know how much she has helped you in your career would be very nice.  

i wish I had posted just a few minutes later, as I also found "Annie's cheddar bunnies" a few columns down. I've had great luck with Annie's before, so I will personally be ordering these.

Open Original Shared Link

 

----------Annies Cheddar Bunnies ARE NOT GLUTEN FREE!--------- they contain wheat.

They do make some of the gummie bunnies and a few kinds of bunny grahams in a gluten-free version, but not the cheddar ones.  Be careful when browsing Annies products, a lot of the packaging looks very similar and I myself have come close to buying a gluten version of my intended gluten-free product.

Also, on the forum the admins don't like when we put links to amazon because they have spammed here before.  You can just put the product name or link to the manufacturer website.

The goldfish puffs are all pretty good.  Kind of like a cheeto.

Also, I find the closest gluten-free thing to cheezits are Van's Say Cheese cheddar gluten-free Crackers.  They are really really good. Open Original Shared Link

Welcome to the forum!  It seems you have read up and familiarized yourself a bit so that is really good.  You may want to get a formal diagnosis some day, just keep it in mind for the future when you have means to.  As for your questions...

1. The recovery from celiac intestinal damage can take a while.   Everyone is different, but usually there are a few good months of ups and downs before you start to feel way better, it is a gradual thing.  Being very strict in the first few months helps a lot.  NCGS people can be a little different, but it too can vary.

2. With the convection oven, the fan doesn't blow extremely hard, so as long as there aren't a lot of fine loose crumbs or flour particles that can come off the food, I wouldn't worry too much.  Just maybe keep your item on the top shelf, and if there is something that may blow around, you can cover one of the items with foil.  Also, if you ever need to cook something gluten-free on the oven rack itself, put foil down first.

3.  When it comes to how you get gluten into your digestive tract, it has to go into your mouth.  The breath of someone who recently ate it is not a problem at all.  If you have a significant other and kiss them right after they ate gluten, then that can be a problem.  The only time where you may want to be careful is if you are cooking, or in the kitchen when people are cooking with flour or a baking mix that can go into the air.  If you think about what happens when you handle flour too rough and it coats everything in the immediate vicinity, that is how it can potentially get into your mouth when it is being handled near you.

LauraTX, has your OCD improved at all since going gluten-free? I have GAD with OCD symptoms. 

 

I have to LOL at your signature. I was curious at the backstory so I googled "Silly Yak Girl" and then I found "Silly Yak Bakery." It took me saying it out loud to realize that Silly Yak is a play on words for celiac!

Nah, my OCD definitely isn't celiac related.

In your opinion, where is the line between a healthy level of caution and gluten phobia? And how do you know when you've crossed the line?

As a person with OCD, anything like this becomes a problem whenever it interrupts your life and you can no longer properly function.  You have to find a happy medium level of it.

 Now maybe if you eat TP? 

Ever seen that show "My strange addiction"?  TP and other household goods eaters abound!    Maybe if one of them is celiac.... LOL   

When it is late at night and I can't sleep, I will go take some benadryl and eat whatever sweets I have in front of the TV until it kicks in.  I like that show on animal planet called "Too Cute."  (it shows litters of kittens and puppies)  ..... really relaxing and it helps me fall asleep, lol.

I like to make pasta with mushrooms, zuchinni, and sometimes yellow squash sauteed, tossed with a little cooked pasta and Parmesan cheese.  I will reserve the pasta water and add a little in to make a little sauce.  Sometimes I add meat in the form of cooked ground turkey, cut up chicken, or italian sausage.

I also like to sautee cubed sweet potato with kale and add in grilled chicken chunks.  Really good.

You are definitely welcome to post here!

There are many people on here that also do not have a formal diagnosis, but have a glaringly obvious problem with gluten so they are gluten-free for life.  A lot of times when you first mention it, people will encourage you to get diagnosed, but a lot of people will have a hard time going back on gluten for a diagnosis so they have no desire to do it.  Since gluten affects your emotional health, I wouldn't blame you if you had no intention of going back on gluten just for a formal diagnosis. 

Welcome to the cool gluten-free kids club

I will also add, after reading what Georgiaguy said about outside parties, that when we have outdoor BBQ's I will serve gluten hot dog/hamburger buns for costs sake.  gluten-free people get first shot at the food, then once everyone else touches it, any leftovers get tossed or sent home with guests.  I put out condiments, veggies, and sides in quantities I know we will use and can always go get more.  Also the people I have over are generally understanding to not touch Laura with your hot dog bun, haha!

Luckily, a lot of things these days are labeled "gluten-free" so I just have people buy those if I need to dumb it down, and usually it is okay.

When I have get-togethers at my house, I do them all gluten-free.  While I will allow my husband to have gluten or 1 or 2 other people who understand how to keep it clean, other people who are just piggies and have no clue are a recipe for disaster.  If you already explained to your friends who are helping you host that you are having gluten-free items at your house only, then tell this person they just can't bring it over.  Now, it may have been better to tell her whenever she was telling you about her ingredient difficulties, but just tell her since you are new to this you didn't think it through the first time.  If she is a person not worth dealing with or makes a huge deal of it... offer to carry it into the house for her and "accidentaly" drop it and dump it in the front lawn.  (Willows response inspired me to think of that... haha!)  But overall just being very clear up front that you don't allow gluten food in your house will help you when you have to be stern later.

Usually it is family holidays where I will tell everyone, "I am going to provide all of the food and make sure it is allergen free for me.  So I ask that you please don't bring any edible item without clearing it with me first."  Last thanksgiving I basically did it for free (including the extra cost gluten-free made) because two family members offered to give me money since they didn't want to bring not-good food.  So, that was nice.

Also, If someone really wants to make something for me or for something at my house, I will offer them to come over and make it here in my gluten-free kitchen.  

I am a big fan of soyrizo, I buy it because it is way less fatty than chorizo, and still really good in eggs.  The two brands I regularly see, I can't recall the names, but they are both gluten-free.

My Kitty has recurrent urinary tract infections so we have switched her to the Royal Canin canned urinary diet (by vet RX only) and it is gluten free.  Hooray!

A great kid, for sure.  Going to have a productive future!

I do need to find out of it was platelets or whole blood. Wonder how I can figure that out?

Assuming you got a good look at what was coming in the tube... Whole blood will look like... well, blood.  Hehe.  Just platelets will look different- a more transparent tan-yellow or yellow-brownish color.  (It isn't red because they spin it and take the red cells out)  For example pics, you can google image search "Platelets bag".

If you see a probable diagnosis coming, just take this time to do your research and look up the foods you already use, what your favorite store carries, etc.  Welcome to the forum, and let us know how everything turns out!

Righty here. Although when I had shoulder surgery (dominant hand) I got really good at feeding myself and getting coffee left-handed! (does that count?)<G>

 

BTW - Got official  diagnosis today... blood tests positive, mild blunting of villa.....

I am completely right handed.  I have to force myself to do things left handed or my muscle tone will be uneven.  When I had hand surgery on the right hand, it took me forever to do anything and it was a sloppy job, haha!  And, welcome to the silly yak club!

I just got the same reply in my email.  Sounds a bit like they are skirting around the direct question I asked.  I'm not a big fan of their products anyways, so it goes into the knowledge file in my head.

Also, welcome to the forum!

I have always head that Red Robin uses Udi's buns.  I haven't eaten there, but another place I had a burger at used Udi's buns and I believe they brushed them all over with butter, and toasted the flat sides.  I was like, this is an Udi's bun?  Just shows you have to pull a little magic to make it taste better, but I still buy the other option I like more.  

For Bread/Buns to be less dry and stale-like, thaw and toast them.  Even just very lightly toasted and not browned will make a difference in the flavor of most frozen offerings.  If you want to make, say, a peanut butter sandwich, and don't want browned toasty bread, thaw the bread slice most of the way in the microwave, then toast it just til it is warmed up.  If you want a hot sandwich you can just put the frozen bread in the toaster and let it toast it up.  With large buns you can toast them in a skillet, too... kind of like how you do bread with grilled cheese.

I know Udis buns are the market leader, but I hate them, I think they are gross and dry.  I buy a brand from here in Texas called local oven (Open Original Shared Link) and a lot of their stuff is free of other allergens, too.  They are soft when just thawed at room temp and don't have to be toasted, in my opinion they are the closest to the old bread.  I haven't tried a lot of other brands and I am sure others will hop on with suggestions.

For pasta, I find that there is a huge difference in taste and texture with what it is made with.  100% corn tastes strongly like corn and gets mushy very fast so I don't buy it.  The corn/rice blends are okay but can still be off.  The quinoa/corn blends are okay but a unique taste and not versatile.  I like the tinkyada pasta made with 100% brown rice.  It is the closest in taste and texture to gluteny pasta, they just have longer cooking time (13-15min) but they do not overcook easy like the other pastas, and keep very well in leftovers.  In the boxed mac and cheeses a lot use pasta that is white rice only, and it is pretty good but not widely sold.  But tinkyada is all I buy.  I also like their lasagna noodles the best.  There are some other brands of brown rice pasta I have heard are also good, but haven't tried them.

This is backwards too - gluten is found IN wheat, so if a product is wheat free where would the gluten be coming from? It doesn't make sense for a wheat-free product to have gluten in it, because the wheat holds the gluten protein. If a product is gluten free, the gluten protein may have been distilled or removed, but it could still be wheat free.

That can definitely confuse people. Like I was trying to say, gluten is a protein and it is not just wheat. Celiacs need to stay away from wheat, barley, rye, and anything else containing gluten. People with wheat allergies need to focus on staying away from wheat. I just want to stress that understanding what you are allergic to is important because consuming the wrong things can have negative affects on your body that you may not be able to see. It never hurts to see a dietician or allergist (or both!)

These are pretty clearly contradictory statements, I assume you just worded wrong since you now have voiced understanding of what is correct.  Celiac disease does not function as an allergy to gluten, the biological mechanics work completely different and it is actually an autoimmune disease.

Oh my gosh you poor thing!  *virtual hugs*

If you do just the ttg iga first, and it comes back glaringly positive, then it doesn't matter in that sense what your total iga is. (of course you could be like me and still have a positive ttg iga and also low iga)  If it comes back negative or borderline, you can then pay for the total iga if neccesary.  Basically paying for what you need incrementally as you deem it absolutely neccesary as to not bankrupt you.

-once again this only applies to georgiaguy in this scenario and applies to no one else-

I'm a rightie and I have 2 autoimmune disorders and an immunodeficiency disorder.  I'm like the layer cake of screwed up... haha!  If I were born 20 years prior I would probably be dead, so horray for modern medicine!  Triple score for right handers?