LauraTX

Since you have a lot of time, you may want to get a note signed by your doctor- I have one on an RX pad that I keep in my wallet.  Had my primary care doctor write it before I went to a big convention where no outside food is allowed, and decided it is a good thing to have on hand so I have her rewrite it at my annual exam.  Mine says "Patient requires gluten free diet or be allowed to furnish her own food."  That way if you encounter someone with an authority complex, hopefully it will nip that in the bud.  Just make sure you don't bring any foods that are perhaps prohibited for export/import to your countries along the stops or any weird things like that.

Congrats ken!  Now I want a fruit smoothie!

Luna Bars????  didn't know  those  were gluten-free????  Lara bars  yes  gluten-free....

Some of the Luna protein bars are gluten-free.  The cookie dough ones are really good.

Welcome Telith  So just to clarify, are you saying you don't want to bring nuts to work to avoid exposing others?  Nice thing of you to do if that is the case.  I, too, get sick of the fruit bars like Lara bars after a while.

If you are a cooking type, you can have pretty good luck making your own.  You can use sunbutter as the base to avoid nuts, and other than that there really are endless recipes you can find online and adjust based on your likes.  A lot are oat or quinoa based but just do a google search and you will bring up a ton of recipes.  Just make a big batch, wrap individually in wax paper, and throw one in your bag/pocket every day to eat at break.  The Enjoy Life Foods brand makes a lot of good top 8 allergen free + gluten-free bars, but I don't think they are protein/meal replacement ones.

When I need on the go snacks, nuts are my primary protein source usually.  But I am a fan of old wisconson brand jerky- they have turkey bites and sticks I like a lot.  If you have space to pack a lunch cooler you could do hummus or another bean dip, or cheese to snack on.  But my personal favorite of stranded without food snacks are Van's chocolate chip granola bars and a banana.  I am also a huge fan of Snyders gluten-free pretzels and keep those on hand, but they are not highly nutritious.

The short answer to your question is that you probably do have celiac disease.  There are some people who had similar circumstances and just call themselves Celiac because doing a gluten challenge would be unbearable.  There are some downsides to not knowing, particularly if you have or may eventually have kids.  But if you feel content with not having the diagnosis on paper and will take eating gluten-free seriously for life, you will have gone the same route as many other people.  If you haven't already, there is a good bit of discussion on this topic that has happened and you can use the search function to see what some of the other replies have been.  

The one test that can be done accurately while being gluten-free is the genetic test.   I would recommend keeping your GI appointment and letting them know exactly what you let us know here, and they may go the route of only doing that for now and then go from there before they put you through anything else.  The genetic test especially will help you evaluate risk for family members that may also have Celiac symptoms.

Your questions do make sense!  There are many things that are thought to possibly stress the body to manifest Celiac disease.  According to the Mayo Clinic "Sometimes celiac disease is triggered — or becomes active for the first time — after surgery, pregnancy, childbirth, viral infection or severe emotional stress."   Whatever triggers it is a separate issue from the celiac disease, and the celiac is there to stay, unfortunately.  

Yeast would not cause the blood tests to be positive.  The ttg and ema are related to celiac only.  Also, I wouldn't look too far into the yeast thing- female problems are very common, and unless your dermatologist definitely said the yeast found is what is causing your rash, there may be no real link to the two.  Also, be cautious as to what sources you read online about yeast problems, they can go into gray areas.

I know it is a bummer to have to wait, let us know what the GI says when you have your appointment.

I, too, enjoyed these fringe benefits when I had to replace everything.  I took the opportunity to get the nice kind of everything so it lasts a good long while, basically for Christmas I told people I want kitchen store gift cards and bought what I wanted.  It was very nice because I, too, am usually a cheapo when buying things for myself and have a hard time splurging.

Usually I only go to places that have a gluten free menu and entrees on which I don't have to make much modification.  There are a few local places I go that can feed me gluten-free, like our local BBQ place, and when I walk in I always say "Im the celiac girl!" and the owner always knows exactly what to do.

If it is a chain place with a gluten-free menu, I am always extremely polite and ask the hostess to get me a gluten-free menu when we are seated.  When the waiter comes up I always order first because if we need to walk out I don't want to have wasted my time.  I say something along these lines:

Waiter: "What can I get for you guys today?" 

Me: "So just to let you know, well you can see I have the gluten-free menu here... I have celiac disease and can't eat gluten, and it is pretty serious so it needs to be treated like a food allergy.  I looked ahead online and I see that I can have [dish] *gesture to it on the gluten-free menu* and can you let the chefs know that I have an allergy so they can take the precautions needed?"

-depending on how confident I am after hearing back from the server, especially if I am ordering a menu item needing heavy modifications and haven't spoken to the kitchen staff, I will give them my dining card.  I have an English and Spanish one, because in my geographical area many kitchens have Spanish speakers.

Me: *hands cards to waiter* "And I have these allergy alert cards, can you pass these along to the kitchen staff and keep then with my ticket and the entree?"

Most higher end establishments will get you someone from the kitchen staff to talk to you before you order if there is not a fixed gluten-free menu and just a statement saying they can deal with food allergies.  If the place doesn't have a gluten-free menu but it is a nice restaurant with a lot of items on the menu that should be gluten-free, you can ask to talk to the chef to make sure what you order is safe.  However, I highly recommend calling and doing this ahead of time.  If the restaurant has an active social media presence, you can use that as well, but I prefer to call.

Overall, to express the seriousness of what needs to be done, like Katie said above, I like to say "Treat it as a food allergy" as my buzzword.  And of course, you can go into the spiel of what celiac is and what gluten is... sometimes you will be ask "How allergic" you are to something.  I like to say that "Well, I won't instantly die like a peanut allergy, but Celiac actually causes damage to the small intestine and it causes really bad tummy and bathroom symptoms."  and that gets them the jist of it.

There is also more than one manufacturer of generic synthroid, if you can figure out which you had before, you can try another.

Also check out:

Open Original Shared Link   (near the end is a mention with a source)

and

Open Original Shared Link

Overall, it is inconclusive, but I think that is potentially something that may be uncovered more in future research.

Just wondering why you feel Ghirardelli is ok? The label on their cocoa (my favorite) changed recently to "may contain wheat." I contacted them and they said it is now made by a "co-manufacturer" on shared equipment. I stopped using it and have been trying to convince myself that I like Hershey's cocoa.

I was referring to the OP asking about chocolate bars.  The only product I buy of theirs is the filled squares... cocoa I haven't looked at since it is totally different and I buy the nestle tollhouse cocoa, and I also haven't bought any in a good while since I sparsely use it.  But a recent change in the labeling is a good reason to practice reading every label, every time.  Ever try scharffen berger chocolate or cocoa?  It is pricey but their stuff is sooooo good.  gluten-free and says so on labels to take out guesswork.

To second what has been said by all of the above, don't do it.  You may benefit from going to the website Karen linked, which is the University of Chicago Celiac Disease center, and reading further through the tons of information they have there.  Try to get a more thorough understanding of your disease before offering advice to others on the same subject.  If you would like more info from this forum that was posted in the past, just put in "cheat" into the search box and you will see many topics with similar information to this one.

If you have all of the information you need and your problem is one of self-control, you may want to speak with a counselor or other emotional health professional to help you before you cause yourself harm.

It should not be too difficult to find "A2" milk in France.  The Guernsey cow is the most popular cow in France and Europe and it has A2 proteins in the milk.  The cow with the next highest level of A2 protein is the Jersey Cow. Both of these are the most popular milking cows in France. Because this country needs good milk to make excellent cheese, they still use the best cows, they care more about quality than quantity, unlike the USA and Australia.  New Zealand is in the midst of  a 10 year plan to change all herds to A2 herds. Food, or rather, Milk for thought!!!

Welcome to the forum, xmasdeer.  Please note that this topic is four years old and the original poster hasn't been on since then.  Information on this topic may have changed since 2010.

I will personally eat from shared facilities, but will not eat from shared equipment unless it is from a trusted company like ghirardelli.  If the label blatantly says "may contain" I will pass.  I think you got a good deal with your chocolate bar trade!  I wouldn't recommend trying a little bit to see how you felt, especially if you are at work and don't want to have bathroom Armageddon there.  All depends on your sensitivity.

Simplest answer, but you might not like it.  Instead of replacing bread, pancakes, pasta, etc, learn to live without them, or minimal amounts.  Eat meat, eggs, veggies, fruits, cheese, nuts, potatoes, rice - real food.  Look into Paleo and South Beach diets for ways to cut down on grains and starches.  Also saves money over the cost of gluten-free replacements.  The latest studies show no link between dietary saturated fat and heart disease, but there is a link with sugar and carbs.  Two eggs with spinach and ham will keep you full for hours, as opposed to pancakes with syrup or bowls of cereal.  A big honkin' salad with cheese, nuts, veggies, and balsamic vinaigrette will be a healthier lunch than a sandwich (although possibly less convenient to eat).  Going gluten-free can mean paying a lot to replace all of your familiar foods so you don't have to change the way you eat very much, or it can be a chance to re-evaluate what you put into your face and think about how to eat for maximal health.

Couldn't have said it better myself!  If you get into gluten free baking, which is basically re-learning everything, you can control what goes in a little better.  I use brown rice pasta (Tinkyada brand) over the white rice and corn pastas.  When I make the pasta I replace half with veggies to cut down on the amount of pasta.  But for the cheaper and healthier meals I just stick to whole foods that are naturally gluten-free, including a lot of lean meats and beans.  I eat grilled chicken, green beans, and sweet potatoes for a meal at least twice a week.  As you get used to being gluten-free and reading labels, you will be in the habit of it anyways and can check out the nutritional content while you are at it.

4 pounds in two days probably isn't permanent weight loss, just fluctuation.  Usually healthy weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week.  I lost 5 or 10 pounds when I first had to go gluten free after my celiac diagnosis, because all I really knew what to cook was grilled chicken and veggies.   Then I learned the ropes some more and went back to normal eating. However, gluten-free isn't a weight loss diet, it is a medically necessary diet to prevent exposure to something that makes you sick, just like a diabetic would be on a sugar free diet.  

If you do end up being diagnosed as a Celiac and go gluten-free, you need to understand that any of the processed gluten-free foods are usually worse for you than non-gluten-free foods, like more calories, fat, and sugar.  If you eat the unhealthy replacement foods, you will gain weight.  Also, many people who are malnourished from advanced intestinal damage will gain weight once their intestines heal and they start absorbing again.  However, the recommended starting point for a newly diagnosed celiac is to 1. Avoid eating out because you will get cross contaminated and that is not good for healing.   2. eat whole foods on the outside of the grocery store like meat, veggies, and fruit, and 3. Avoid dairy for the first three months.

If eating whole foods and getting your veggie intake is very different from what you currently eat, you may lose weight.  Especially if you eat a lot of processed and prepared foods like I did and change your habits to the other end.  But, if you end up re-learning food habits, you can use that chance to make your habits more weight healthy as well.  Let us know how the GI appointment goes!

I have been tested for Lupus...when I first got tested for Celiac...but none of the others...I'm not sure I have any of the other symptoms? My current symptoms are fatigue after eating anything, daily nausea, joint pain all over, abdominal cramping...

You can definitely seek out additional autoimmune testing.  Those things can pop up even if a previous test was negative, and especially since you have had a sudden onset of symptoms again, it would definitely be worth knowing.  Rheumatologists do a ton of tests to rule other things out, as well, because there are many diseases/conditions that have similar symptoms.

Getting the testing done now is investment in peace of mind for later.  Knowing an official diagnosis can help your family and offspring with answers to any possible related problems.  A lot of times you can get a payment plan going for procedures like an endoscopy, honestly it is worth begging, borrowing, and doing whatever you can so you can cross that task off permanently.  

Good to hear you finally have some answers, Fenrir.  Welcome to the "Nooooooo I don't wanna be in that club" club.  

I second what has already been said by Kareng.  If you haven't already been to a doctor for this specific issue, I implore you to go get checked out before you start with your self treatment.  Unfortunately, mercury toxicity is extremely rare and I don't know if there will be any others on the forum with the same experience.

Nuts in stool seem pretty normal to me.

 

Show of hands who has nuts in stool?    I DO

 

Colleen

Pistachios especially!  Haha!   Seriously, though... a little bit is normal. 

Well, you have to think about the sources you have.  One being the manufacturer who knows exactly what goes into their product in 2014, the second being a post from 2005 that is some random, now-inactive users blog that is oddly formatted and lacks sources.  I would give no merit to the second source.  Some people cannot tolerate a lot of drinking or some alcohols for other reasons- if you can tolerate drinking it is unlikely you are going to have a problem with it.  

Just remember to look at the reliability of the sources when you look things up.  That old blog post is a great example of an unreliable source.  The now inactive poster has a lot of posted blogs that look like copied and pasted stuff from things like Taco Bell's gluten-free menu.  Sets off the "don't listen to this person" alarm to me.

I happened to see this article today on gluten-free baking mistakes, made me think of this discussion.  It discusses the weight thing.   Open Original Shared Link

I use King Arthur Flour all purpose and baking mix.  There are two things you may want to take into account when testing gluten-free flour blends.  1 is the relative weight of the flour blend to the flour in the recipe you are using it in.  King arthur flour blend weighs more than bobs red mill blend, etc. so the cup amount is not going to be the same.  Go by weight if you can.  Usually I sub in KAF baking mix for self rising flour in regular recipes, but I go by weight, not cups.  (I want to say a cup of all purpose wheat flour is a cup minus a tablespoon of KAF flour blend) If you are doing a recipe with a couple cups of flour, that extra weight really adds up and sucks up all the liquid making it dense and gritty.

Also, for a lot of recipes if they turn out gritty, letting the batter sit for about 15 minutes before baking (don't go past 30 minutes if they use chemical leaveners) will help the starches fully develop and evenly distribute the moisture.  This is especially true for the more delicate things.  Also, for delicate things like muffins, you need to go against conventional wisdom and mix the crap out of it.  The mix just until blended and walk away thing is for gluten containing flours so the gluten doesn't overdevelop and make things tough, therefore it doesn't generally apply to gluten-free baking.

If these tips don't work, I got the America's Test Kitchen gluten-free cookbook recently and they have a flour blend recipe in there that they test a lot and claim to work in most things, and they have notations on all their recipes for the bobs and KAF blends.  With their flour blend recipe they have a ton of notations on the different brands of rice flours and how well they each worked, etc.  They also go through the science behind stuff a little bit, so it definitely aided my understanding of gluten-free baking.  I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to get a little better at the gluten-free baking thing, because you really do have to kind of re-teach yourself.

When I was unexpectedly kept in the hospital overnight after getting my gallbladder taken out, I had a 45 minute drugged up conversation with the dietary supervisor to figure out what they could make me for dinner.  Everything on their end was great except them wanting to put my gluten-free bread in a gluteny toaster, but the conversation was probably ridiculous on her end because of poor little me on all these drugs they gave me trying to ask coherent questions.  Took a few minutes for each question to get out of my mouth, but I eventually covered all the bases!  

Me: "Ummm... sooooo... okay soooo um you DO have gluten free bread?  Wow .... uhhh....  well that's great so like, um.... yeahh.... ummmm.... sorry I was going to ask you something I have to think really hard right now on all these drugs... oh yeah do you put the gluten-free bread in the ummm whats it called... oh toaster... used for regular bread?"  

Her: "We don't have a gluten-free toaster so for the sensitive people we can put it on a plate and just heat it up with plastic wrap over it, would that be okay?"

Me:  "Wooooaaaahahhhh... ummm... yeaaaaaahhhhhhhh!  I love bread!!!!!   Ummmm.....  ummmmm...... yeah."

-repeat for 20 questions, 40 minutes later... haha