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Latest Celiac Disease News & Research:
Everything posted by tarnalberry
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ARCHIVED Please Tell Me It Will Get Better
tarnalberry replied to cheesycow5's topic in Coping with Celiac Disease
Are you being treated for the low testosterone and borderline low thyroid? Both of those will significantly contribute to everything you've said. (I have low testosterone, and under normal circumstances, I am on meds for it. Topical didn't do much for me, so I took a 1mg troche (dissolve under the tongue, has to be compounded at a compounding pharmacy... -
ARCHIVED Child's Blood Test Results
tarnalberry replied to nicolebeth's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
I agree with ravenwoodglass on the genetic test front - if you're only going to test for a couple things, and then say it's conclusive... well, that's not good testing. And yes, with a low IgA (which that is), the other tests could be wrong. Doesn't really matter WHY the IgA is low - even if it's transitory, it's going to cause the other tests to be low... -
ARCHIVED Sticky Social Situation
tarnalberry replied to sandsurfgirl's topic in Coping with Celiac Disease
If it's the truth to say "I REALLY appreciate the effort, but I just don't feel comfortable taking the risk", SAY THAT. I've had to say that to a long time friend who made a dinner specifically friendly for me, but I had forgotten to ask about wooden spoons! I make sure to explain that it's about whether or not *I* am willing to take a particular risk,... -
ARCHIVED If You Could Only Use A Paragraph To Describe Celiac Disease
tarnalberry replied to MRM's topic in Coping with Celiac Disease
My short description: "Celiac is an autoimmune condition in which gluten causes my body to produce antibodies that attack my intestines. That makes me feel crappy for a week." (For the "don't even suggest eating gluten to me" shock value, since I'm pregnant, I would add "According to recent research, those antibodies also attack the placenta, so I'm... -
Well, the primary cause of death wouldn't be "eating gluten", and it's not an issue of the intestines shutting down. Rather, the autoimmune reaction causes other problems that can cause death. Anemia and osteoporosis (or just frequent infections due to vitamin D deficiency) are certainly not good for the body, other auto-immune diseases are not either,...
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There's no magic trick that will keep you from cheating. We tend to take food, and eating, for granted in our culture. But every thing we eat, every bite we put in our mouth is a CHOICE. Slow down, take the time to be aware of that choice, and then you can make better choices. (This whole "it's a choice" thing isn't to say "you've made bad choices"...
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Are your meals sufficiently balanced? Enough carbs to replenish the stores you are using, but enough fat and protein to keep blood sugar steady as that is happening? (It looks like you're citing a lot of carbs and not a lot of balance, but you don't list the bulk of your day's meal specifics, so I could be totally wrong on that one.)
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ARCHIVED Testing For Celiacs For Toddlers
tarnalberry replied to AugieAlexMom's topic in Parents, Friends and Loved Ones of Celiacs
Your doctor's comment was extraordinarily ignorant on two (make that three) fronts: 1) it's not an allergy; it's an auto-immune response 2) infant presentations are quite common (it used to be thought that it HAD to present in infancy), particularly around the time of food introduction 3) "failure to thrive" and falling off the growth charts isn't the... -
ARCHIVED Blood Test Positive...biopsy Needed Or Not?
tarnalberry replied to GraceAnew's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
I'm not sure what about getting biopsies taken from your intestines is supposed to allow you to automatically prevent your arm from stuffing bread in your face. Is there some strange switch in the intestines I don't know about? Seriously, the idea that it is impossible to choose your food until you have a medical procedure is a little ridiculous. My... -
ARCHIVED Was My Doc Right?
tarnalberry replied to celiacmom2's topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
It pisses me off when doctors say this. "Oh, this is too hard for you to do, so it's ok if you fail." I find that utter BS. They don't say "quitting smoking is too hard, so just have a couple cigarettes a day". They don't say "oh, watching your blood sugar is too hard, so just kinda do it, and we'll deal with foot amputations when we get there". They... -
ARCHIVED How Well Do You Feel Gluten Free?
tarnalberry replied to dhiltonlittle's topic in Coping with Celiac Disease
Well, many of us have other (sometimes related, sometimes unrelated) issues going on. I would say "I feel fine" but compared to others I know without other medical issues (particularly fibro, chronic migraines, and hypermobility (but not Ehler's Danlos)), I would never say I feel "great", but it's a relative term anyway. I certainly can still get an upset... -
ARCHIVED Am I Asking Too Much Of My Boyfriend?
tarnalberry replied to Eli2003's topic in Coping with Celiac Disease
Two things: 1) what does "isn't very helpful" mean? is he sabotaging your food, trying to talk you into eating gluten, eating gluten around you, what? 2) within reasonable bounds, "how much support you should expect" depends on your needs - some people need more, some people need less. And it's ok to ask for what you need, within those reasonable bounds... -
Wrong. Those with chronic physical conditions - especially chronic pain conditions - know this well; you CAN improve your mental health even when you can't improve your physical health. No more excuses. (I'm the designated "tough love" poster for the day. Or something like that. )
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ARCHIVED Knorr Liquid Seasoning
tarnalberry replied to Shannonlass's topic in Coping with Celiac Disease
Looks like it's gluten free. Looks like it's food free, just chemicals, too. -
ARCHIVED This Might Be A Sensitive Subject But I Must Ask...
tarnalberry replied to Matchoo's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
While I'm not certain about it for the male, for the female, even "standard use" involves mucus membranes - the vaginal tissue can act as one. Condoms are definitely an exception, even with "limited use" to the "only worry about what goes in your mouth" rule. -
ARCHIVED Live To Eat Or Eat To Live?
tarnalberry replied to kayo's topic in Coping with Celiac Disease
I'm also in the "other" camp. I love eating tasty foods, but I don't live for it. I'm happy to eat just what I need to live, too. -
ARCHIVED New, Young, Very Very Sick
tarnalberry replied to skipper240's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
If you are IgA deficient, ANY IgA antibody test (tTg, antigliadin, EMA) will be useless; the reference ranges simply don't apply to you. At the least, you'd need IgG tests. General food allergy IgG tests may not tell you about celiac either; I don't believe they look for tTg or antigliadin antibodies in that particular test). IgE tests won't tell you a... -
ARCHIVED Is This Celiac Or Sensitivity To Gluten?
tarnalberry replied to michelley65's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
You don't need a blood test to know that gluten isn't good for you - your symptoms tell you that. Just like you don't need someone to tell you that smacking your head against the wall is going to hurt - you just don't do it. Ok, ok... maintaining a gluten free diet isn't quite that easy; we don't have people banging their heads against walls all the time... -
ARCHIVED Gluten-Free Vegan Desserts?
tarnalberry replied to gintare519's topic in Gluten-Free Recipes & Cooking Tips
I like coconut milk yogurt. Or just a piece of chocolate (dark). Fruit salads are good. You can make crazy things like chocolate "pies" or strawberry "cheesecake" that are gluten free and vegan - raw food recipes will be a great resource here. -
ARCHIVED Stopped Breastfeeding- Hair Is Falling Out!
tarnalberry replied to kprince's topic in Related Issues & Disorders
You can also find doctors who specialize in JUST breastfeeding. They're rare, and tend to be pretty booked, but they're out there. -
ARCHIVED Gluten Transfer In Deep Fat Frying
tarnalberry replied to Oboysfun's topic in Gluten-Free Restaurants
It's actually not clear, from a chemistry standpoint, if merely "denaturing" (breaking down the tertiary structure - but actually "denature" isn't necessarily specific to tertiary structure; it would depend on the molecule itself) is or is not enough of a change. The tertiary structure (the way a protein molecule folds in on itself after forming either helices... -
ARCHIVED I Feel Like A Hypochondriac...
tarnalberry replied to emerald-eyes's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
Also tell him how long you've been gluten free, the change in symptoms, how long you've been back on gluten, and the change in symptoms after that. -
If anyone brings a sandwich into your house, if your family ever brings a hamburger bun in - even in a room that's not the kitchen, then you have shared facilities. There are strict rules about cleaning. Is it possible to get contamination from shared facilities? Yes. ANYTHING is possible. Realize, however, that virtually EVERYTHING passes through...
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ARCHIVED Gluten Transfer In Deep Fat Frying
tarnalberry replied to Oboysfun's topic in Gluten-Free Restaurants
It requires temperatures over 600F to denature the gluten protein (particularly the segment that causes the autoimmune reaction). This is not true of all proteins - gluten happens to be a VERY stable, tightly held together protein. While deep fryers are hot, they're more on the 350-400F realm; they are not nearly hot enough to denature the protein. Shared... -
ARCHIVED How Common Is Lactose Intolerance In Celiac's?
tarnalberry replied to 1morething's topic in Coping with Celiac Disease
While celiac induced lactose intolerance generally occurs earlier - before damage is reversed, lactose intolerance itself, regardless of celiac tendencies, is quite common; the majority of humans cannot digest lactose into adulthood. The ability to breakdown lactose is a genetic abnormality (in the scope of all humans), and many, many cultures can't digest...