Rusla

Welcome Bev, if I haven't already done so. I have the worst fingernails in the world and always have they split and tear off below the quick. They have always been that way ever since I was a child, except they are even worse now.

This is how strict I am, because a small crumb I can't see will make me sick. I clean everything off at work that I have to touch with alcohol wipes. I also wear vinyl gloves when I do it. I clean everything phone, mouse, desk, keyboard absolutely everything. I go t the bathroom and even when I go to open the door I do it with a paper towel.

Earth Balance has always had it since I have gotten it.

Soy is not bad for you unless you are allergic or have a sensitivity to it. Regular soy sauce is primarily salt and gluten. I love tofu but hate soy milk. If anyone thinks anything is a miracle cure for anything they are not all there. I know what is bad for me and what is not. Just like everyone else knows what is bad for them and what is not or what they do or don't like. But there is no way that article says soy is poison, it just says that it is not all it is hyped up to be but that is the same with anything they tout as being the greatest cure all.

They tout eating beef with all it's mad cow, hormones and dyes and none of that is good for anyone, least of all me. As for veggie burgers, nothing says they have to be made out of soy. Most veggie burgers that you buy in a store have gluten in them. Tofu is like any other protein, I think too much of anything is bad for you. I do not eat tofu every day or even every week but I love it with stir fry veggies. I like soy ice cream and have no problems with it but soy milk I find bitter and disagreeable but all milk to me is that way.

I believe it can look many different ways. Mine is an itchy and sometime sore but mostly itchy blisters. They look almost like white pimples at first but they have clear fluid in them. I started to get them in the corners of my mouth when glutened and down below my bottom lip, now they go up to my nose and under and on top of my left eyelid. They are far from pretty and itch like mad. They are horrible to look at and I feel like a leper with them. But that is one of the first signs of extreme glutening to me along with D and cramps.

I don't do dairy because dairy and I are not friends. But I do goat cheese, feta, mozzerella and cheddar. I love goat cheese it is the best.

If I have been glutened which is an immediate injested amount of any quantity, I know within five minutes. If it is do to other glutenings and not directly eaten but injested through crubms etc. It can take an hour or two, but the dh can show up within a half hour.

I was fine earlier at work, I have had no gluten today for sure. However, as three people were off today with a virus, I know that is what I have. It too was not the same as glutening. I would say you and I both have a virus now.

If I have been glutened I know within 5 minutes. I have spent most of the day in the bathroom and it is not the cramps of gluten. If it doesn't feel like a glutening, chances are it is not.

Welcome to group Greysaber. Remember to be truly wheat/gluten-free you need to make sure all skin and hair care products don't have those substances in them also. Gluten hides in cracks and holes and lives in peoples minds. Because it lives in our minds, wehave brain fog. It also hides in many places you would not suspect it of being.

I am so happy you finally found a doctor with a brain.

Welcome to the group.

Being light headed is a symptom. Also you were low in ferritin which is a sign of that also. I suggest trying the sublingual B-12, you will find it in health food stores. It goes directly into the blood stream. I could not absorb normal vitamin B-12 but the doctor at that time was not bright enough to figure out why.

Matodextrin and dextrins are fine. The way it is worded is a little odd. However it says; " This list may also be used by the celiac patient to identify gluten-containing ingredients. This list gives the standard industry names for ingredients as found in the International Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary." It doesn't mean all of them are grain carriers.

I agree on having your thyroid check. Make sure they check antibodies and have an ultrasound too. That is because the TSH can read normal when your thyroid isn't. I would lose handfuls due to anemia, thyroid and this. Now I don't lose so much hair but then, I have just eliminated over a foot of hair.

It is strange but my brother who used to call my sister and me the green sisters from hell. Now he declares he will not eat red meat because it takes up too much space. So, most of my family only eat seafood or poultry.

As for protein, beans and tofu are excellent sources of protein. I suffered from anemia without being vegetarian.

I once had a book called Recipes for a Small Planet and it was probably one of the first vegetarian books out. I have no idea where it is now but I did love that book. Just like we can make delicious gluten-free meals, just make them gluten and meat-free. Mine are that way most of the time.

My granddaughter told me two years ago when she was six that she was Vegetarian. My son confirmed that she does not like meat and on very rare occasions will eat chicken or turkey but she prefers vegetables. Her brother prefers meat like my son.

You are so right Lollie and gang. The first time I tried to go gluten-free was an abysmal failure. Then, I did not know about this forum or all of you. Without all of you and your support I would have been nowhere.As the song "If Not For You" says: "I'd be lost if not for you." In my first month on here I learned more than I could have ever learned from a doctor. The Celiac Association told me about Dermatitis Herpetiformus, getting a skin biopsy and a binder full of good stuff. All of you have have been more help and support than anything else could have been.

I like some others, have been toying with the idea of vegetarianism, for the last 33 years. Yeah, I know that is a long time to sit on the fence but when my son was growing up he did not like vegetables that much and still doesn't. So, the meat was for him, really. I could never be a farmer like my cousins unless it was a grain farm. I could not kill anything I have raised.

I never eat red meat. I only eat free range, no antibiotics, corn fed poultry. 6 months ago I had bought 4 packages of chicken and now have one left...shows how much I eat it. I eat more seafood than anything else and that is only once or twice a week.

I just can't see Yule without turkey. For us Tofurkey is not an option because it is loaded in gluten.

I guess one could say I am almost there. The more I see mad cow, avian flu the more it encourages me to stay away from it but for me it is more than that, it is the animals.

One of the most traumatic moments of my life was when I was four years old, seeing my cousin cut the head off the chicken and it chased me about the yard. I can't watch any show that shows that an animal may be killed or hurt because I am in tears.

Vincent-- that once use number has to be an American thing, it is certainly not in Canada.

Thanks for the advice Lynxear. I use Safari because I primarily use a Mac. I refuse to download any microsoft things onto my computer. The only program on here that is microsoft is word and that is because that is what publishers prefer.

Skoki-mom: told me to go join the Celiac Association in Calgary, great advice.

And so many on here informed me that it is not just what goes into your body but on your body has to be gluten-free.

Everyone on here has something to bring to the table, experience, trials and tribulations and trial by error. It is great to get such help and greater to give it.

Ovens differ in temperature but if you are a different altitude things will cook slower or faster. Maybe that is why the bottom came out mushy. I would have done the knife test on it, I do it on everything baked.

When I first went gluten-free I had a dream that I was being held hostage by people who had copious amounts of gluten. The had me tied to a chair and were forcing cakes, cookies, pies, and bread into my mouth. I kept trying to spit it out while I was crying.

Many years ago when Advair was first being tested they took me off of Ventolin and Flovent to have me test the dumb thing. Well to make a long story short I used it for a week it caused me not only to have an asthma attack, the end result being pneumonia and put me in the hospital. While they had me use it in the hospital I got worse. When we switched me back to Ventolin and Flovent I got better.

Welcome to the group. I have been unable to make it to any of my support meetings because of when they are held. I am sure glad I have this place for support.

Lynne, I am so sorry this did not come out the way you hoped it would. However, perhaps he was your knight in shining armor. If you think he is an excellent doctor and he told you that the surgery could go the other way then, perhaps he is afraid that could be the end result. Then you would be worse off than you are and that would not be good. I hope something shows up to help you in the near future.

It is not a symptom because they can't think outside the box. They don't think it can affect smell. Actually they probably don't list it because this is all in our heads.