penguin

So I'm in the midst of a gluten challenge, and my muscles are kind of aching but my joints are popping a lot!

I noticed when I first went gluten-free that my joints (esp. shoulder) were poppy, but it seemed to lessen over time or I didn't notice it.

Now my shoulders and elbows are popping like crazy! It doesn't hurt, but I was wondering if it's gluten related maybe? I'm pretty sure the achiness is.

The achiness is kind of flu like in nature. You know how your shoulders and neck get achey and your legs get stiff before you get the flu? It's like that. Whenever it happened before, I braced for the flu to come but it never did.

Oh, and I keep running into things. Like, I keep hip checking the door jamb. It's like my trajectory is skewed.

Does this happen to anyone else?

See, you don't need a nutritionist at $80 a pop...

1. where is hidden gluten - Modified food starch, natural & artificial flavorings, malt, MSG (ok if in US), hydrolized vegetable/plant protein, starch, there are others also. When in doubt, call the company.

2. are we talking molecular levels - do I need my own toaster/cutting board/etc. - yes

3. if I'm not one of those folks who instantly reacts to gluten, how can I be sure I'm safe - Diligence, follow up blood tests

4. do I need a biopsy? - that's for your regular dr to answer, depends on blood tests and/or how firm a diagnosis you want.

5. how do I get myself a bone density scan, and how often do they need to be checked up (though this might be more for your regular doc) - that's for the reg doc and your insurance

6. how can I be sure I'm getting enough fiber? - metamucil is gluten-free, and plenty of veggies and fruits (ie: apples with the skin on, oranges) and brown rice, etc.

7. if I'm unable to absorb nutrients through my intestines right now, how can I get some vitamins/minerals into my system? - liquid or sublingual (under the tongue) vitamins. Intravenously if the deficiency is severe

8. are there ways s/he knows of to help convince my family to get tested (Mom and sister) - research, and books like dangerous grains and Celiac Disease: a hidden epidemic. Keep on them, give them stats.

9. what are support groups in my area - google it

10. are there any studies that need my info right now? - google it

11. are there any physicians s/he knows of who are experts in celiac that I might consider seeing? - google it, ask other celiacs in your area

Caffene can cause problems, but it's not necessarily celiac related. My stomach (as in the stomach itself) is very sensitive and doesn't like caffene much. Also, if one has hypoglycemia, caffiene can exacerbate low blood sugar symptoms.

Wow Chelsea! I missed this thread till just now. You being carefull of your Hyposugar Stuff while you do this?

Yes sir, I am! I knew about the trademarked condition long before I knew about gluten-free, although my trademarked condition is much worse on gluten. It runs straight through my blood! I'm keeping watch on myself

Right Now in the changer:

6. Mateis-ayahu

Is that a different person than Matisyahu? Surely there isn't more than one reggae Hasidic rapper, right?

I can't think of any for myself, although there are plenty, but there's a funny one from my mom.

On my 17th birthday, my mom forgot in true 16 candles fashion (not totally forgot, since we had a party at the weekend, but forgot to mention on the day). It's January and we're in Syracuse (170" of snow a year, anyone?). I used to wake my mom up to take me to school, and on that day, and only that day, I went to wake her up and she goes "f**k". Yay . So she takes me to school and sends me on my merry way without saying happy birthday. By the time school was out, a big lake effect storm had come in and it was snowing pretty hard. I really didn't want to walk home (1.5 mi uphill) so I called my mom to come pick me up. She said, "I'm busy repapering Grandma's bathroom, take the bus" Well, by the time I got off the phone with her, the bus had left. So I had to walk home, in a huge storm, on my birthday. I was so livid when I got home, jeans soaked to my knees, hands frozen, an inch of snow in my hair. I went to my grandma's bathroom where my mom was working and said, "DON'T YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY TO ME???" She was like, "Oh! Happy birthday!!"

It's still a huge family joke.

And for the next two years, she called a day early thinking she had forgotten to call!

He did not say 10, he said "with enough washing" and never put a number on it. Also he stated as somthing he THINKS to be true, rahter thank KNOWS to be ture. Personaly, I tossed all mine and got the gladware containers for now. Ther very cheap and work well. Well I got the storebrand ones, even cheaper, same idea.

I think I posted that, because that's what my chemical engineer husband said, and he specializes in plastics. He said the same thing about teflon pans. He just gave an "enough" answer. To that end, I don't think I've ever been glutened by my tupperware or my teflon. In my case though, neither had scratches.

My body is definitely not happy with me. If anyone ever decides to do a gluten challenge, try some tabouleh! Good Lord, I had some last night and was SO bloated and my neck hurt. Nothing like straight bulgar wheat to tear you apart! It may have been that and the combination of the two Taco Bell chalupas and taco, though.

I have an insatiable appetite! I just had a big bowl of cream of wheat and now I'm eating pizza because I'm still hungry. No wonder I'm gaining weight. I usually don't have such a huge appetite! Sheesh.

What sucks is that I'm still getting the D cramping, just without the D. I'm still having to go rather often, but it's a lot more difficult. Where did I put those prunes?

Carla - I didn't mean to undermine. The way this is going, I know that gluten certainly isn't good for me. I'm tired, bloated, ravenous, and foggy. I can say with 98% certainty that I'll go back to the diet once this is all over. Intolerances are bad news also.

My point is that if you have the attitude that it's "just" a gluten intolerance like it's something less than celiac, then 20 years down the line when you're my age, you might see more serious consequences.

Okay, now I'm sounding like a Mom, but I can't help it ...

Understandable

I didn't mean to undermine an intolerance, although it is a bit more "just"-y than celiac. I'd still be gluten-free, since it would make me feel better. I really don't like feeling stoned all the time

I also want babies, and I don't want to interfere with being able to do that!

I thought it was pretty good, too! I added some sour cream at the end to help it a little, though. It was so convenient! Wahoo!

You've already determined you're sensitive to gluten ... you want celiac removed as a pre-existing condition ... maybe having the endoscopy gluten-free is the way to go ... just a thought. I KNOW I have a gluten problem, but my endoscopy was "negative" therefore the medical community considers me "healthy" based on their definition of it. I guess I got lucky! My internist has my enterolab results in my file, but I don't think that qualifies as a diagnosis, does it?

With the enterolab thing, I guess it depends on what your doctor and insurance company think. Since it's not widely accepted by the medical community, you're probably ok.

I hadn't thought about being gluten-free to get the pre-existing condition taken off, not a bad idea, really. I'm ok with having a celiac diagnosis, as long as I actually have celiac. I see it as a win-win. If the biopsy is positive, then I really have celiac and know exactly what I'm dealing with, and that I risk passing it on. If it's negative, then I'm just intolerant, my insurance doesn't care, I have some peace of mind, and I can go on with my life.

i know its not a answer for evevryone but you should consider looking into candida as well/ unless you became perfectly fine gluten free but if u still had symptoms after 3 months look into that,it can cause sensativity to foods not intolerancy but it can cause sensativity, and lots of other things. im seriuse though eat a cheesy gordidta crunch for me mmmmmm

There is definitely taco bell in my plans, no worries! I'm not nuts about the gordita crunch though...

About candida, I don't really believe that it happens all by itself. I think it happens as a secondary kind of infection to a larger problem. Candida is always present in your body, so when the good bacteria that keeps the yeast at bay gets flushed out of your system or is killed by antibiotics, the candida can take over. That's why yeast infections happen.

Thing is, a lot of the symptoms are the same in celiac and candida, and I kind of think the celiac (or other autoimmune thing) causes the candida more often than not. Your immune system has to be comprimised somehow.

I think I've only been on antibiotics maybe 3 times in the last few years, always for short courses (usually a bladder infection). I will admit that I was doing really well until I had to take strong antibiotics for a cellulitis infection. That was only 5 days though. I don't crave sugar anymore or anything.

Plus, the classic candida symptoms that are more exclusive to candida infections, I don't have. Thanks for the suggestion though!

you don't have to be consuming gluten for them to test for chrons or colitis, AND you can have those along with gluten intolerance or celiac... and honestly, to me there is NO difference between gluten intolerance and celiac. Yeah, technically celiac is confirmed villous atrophy, but what if you are not to that point YET? Like Ursula said, are you going to continue eating gluten and possibly poisoning yourself UNTIL you have a positive result? NO? Well then why do it for a challange. To me that's just silly. And you did show improvement on the diet. That's good enough for me. They can continue to rule out other things without you having to put gluten back into your body. That's what doesn't make sense to me.

I know that I can have all of the bad digestive things at once. My line of thinking is that as long as they're sticking cameras into my digestive tract, they may as well do a biopsy, and I'm not going through all of that gluten-free. They're going to have to come at me from both ends to make a colonoscopy worth my while.

You know what the biggest difference between celiac and gluten intolerance is? Insurance. I didn't self-diagnose, my doctor diagnosed me, and therefore, it's on my permanant record. I want a second opinion to know it's correct. If there's any way to take that pre-existing condition off my record, that would be great.

Will I go back to the gluten-free diet? Probably. I like having the full use of my brain and body.

It may be silly, but I'm simply not confident in the way that I was diagnosed. After nearly four years of being sick, I probably do have atrophy if I have celiac, and hopefully they can catch it. If they don't, so be it.

I know you care and that you don't want people to make themselves sick, but this is something I have to do for myself.

and chelse what i ment by that is, if im hanging out with friends or i just want to have a uplifted time instead of depressed i can smoke and i will be in a happy and fun mood, but with this brain fog im just constantly depressed and feel tired and wierd all the time, weed usualy only lastes about 30 minutes for me not all day long like this

Not to still be the party pooper, but, your brain fog may very well be withdrawl from the pot. If you're a chronic user, your body can become dependant on it. It's not in the same way as say, cocaine, but it still causes depression, listlessness, etc.

THC is stored in your body for like, 6 weeks. It's stored in fatty organs, like the liver. You may only feel it for 30 minutes, but your body is feeling the effects of it much longer. I only *feel* the immediate effects of glutening for a couple of hours, but it's still in my body causing problems for much longer than that.

I wouldn't be saying this stuff if I didn't care, and if I hadn't seen other people in my life with this same problem. I'm not trying to attack you, I'm just trying to get you to see the big picture of what you may be doing to yourself.

i only smoke maybe 1 bowl a day now. and he knows i smoke cigs, plus im on medical mj for my back pain so its not technacly illegal-------- i have been a chronic smoker of mj for 5 years now so its a hard habit to lift when i find life so boring without it. but as i said with this brain fog i cant bring myself to smoke any...

and mj does not cause any problems with your stomic, hell they give it to patients with chrons disease down here in oregon

Not to start any kind of debate on mj, but, JFHC only one bowl a day?!

That and all of your cigarettes are going to give you lung cancer in about 5 minutes. Don't tell me pot doesn't cause lung cancer, because it does, it's just as carcinogenic as tobacco, and in some ways more so. My sister's dad has black spots on his lungs from mj, and he doesn't smoke tobacco.

MJ affects you systemically, until you are drug free, you won't have a clue what you're working with. So I guess your dr is the one who prescribed the daily mj for your back pain?

I also don't think that boredom is a medically sound reason...

i do recommend kettle chips just because out of all there chips only 2 contain gluten so cc is usaly very rare

Incorrect, Kettle Chips are notorious for cc. They don't reccomend that celiacs eat their chips. I've been glutened badly by them.

once this brain fog is lifted maybe i can finally smoke bowls agian lol, i have felt so intoxicated without it its just been sitting there agening lol.

Hang on a second - you're waiting for the brain fog to lift in order to chemically (and illegally, for that matter) induce brain fog? What part of that makes sense?

I have oft joked that I'm a real cheap date, while everyone else passes the bowl around, all I need is a loaf of wonder bread

I hope you're telling your doctor about your smoking habits, since it can definitely effect whatever you've got going on internally.

Phew! I'm glad the nuts are optional!!!

I went to a cooking and tasting demo a couple weeks ago by Annalise Roberts. She made an incredible Submarine Bread and it seemed pretty easy so I bought the cookbook and figured I'd give it a try.

Well I made it last night and it's great!!!! I'm not sure if it rose as much as it should have, but it did rise and it looks pretty decent. But most importantly it tastes awesome! It's a great bread for submarine/hero sandwiches, garlic bread, even to slice thin and use for bruschetta, etc.

And it really wasn't that hard. I mean it was my 1st time trying to make it.. well and trying to make any bread which everyone always says is so hard, so I was a bit nervous but YAY I made yummy bread!!!

Wanna share the recipe???

My 3 year old says though "if it doesn't work the first time it's practice, if it doesn't work the second time, it's a mistake, and if it doesn't work the third time, get Daddy to try"

I think I might live by her philosophy when it comes to baking..........

What a little Buddha you're raising!

M&M's are definitely gluten-free, except for the crispy ones, which I don't think they even make anymore. There was a thread a while back about the m&m's not showing up on the phone gluten-free list, and there was some glitch or something.

Also, I'm pretty sure M&M's/Mars clearly lists gluten on the label.

No, that's exactly what I get like when I get a lot of gluten!! If you weren't like that before, and you are now that you are overloading, it sounds like it definately could be a gluten problem!

I think my body is confused

In a normally functioning person, it wouldn't make a digestive difference switching between gluteny-diet to gluten-free diet, right?

Could you describe your lost-of-gluten symptoms for me?

Open Original Shared Link

There's the link for the most recent hair coloring discussion. We all basically agreed that our vanity exceeded our safety every few months to color our hair

I haven't had a reaction yet...

I think you will be surprised at how slowly i figure it out LOL. This is way too much mircomanaging for me LOL

I'm very against the micromanagement of my body

You'll learn what your body can handle, it just takes time. You may eat a candy bar and say, "wow, I feel really crappy now" or eat a bowl of oatmeal and say, "wow, I feel pretty good" or eat a salad and say, "gee, I didn't get enough sustinance"

It's not so much micromanagement as it is trial and error. Keep in mind people like Tiffany, Emily, and I have been dealing with our respective blood sugars for years, I guarantee you it took us all time to figure it out. Youll get there

Anyone have any secrets how to flavor their coffee the natural way?

I have been making my flavored coffee from scratch. What I have been doing is adding things to the coffee grounds before I brew the coffee.

Like I have been adding a few (3 or 4) of the little star anise to it. You can use fennel too. Its so so good. You can use cin·na·mon too. And I add a cap full of vanilla extract flavoring to a cup it's really good too. Also I have been taking frozen raspberries, or blueberries and cooking them just a bit in the microwave, then adding them to the coffee grinds to be brewed in the coffee maker.

Anyone else flavoring their coffee this way?

If you get into roasting your own coffee (like in the oven) you can add anise seeds, vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks, and whatever else to the bean batch while they're roasting. I never thought about just putting flavoring stuff into the filter with the coffee, though, good idea! I wish I could do coffee again, my tummy doesn't like it! I can drink the stuff cold brewed in a Toddy, but even too much of that makes my tummy hurt.

In the end you may have to ignore your mother, as it is your body, not hers.

Eh, true enough. I just think she doesn't want something seriously wrong with her favorite kid, to be honest.

I don't know what's going on! I'm starting to get C now...I've never had C in my life! I can go, but I don't feel like I've "emptied out" like I should. Maybe it's because I'm so used to having D all the time I don't know what normal is! The lower parts feel very "active" though, in spite of not having D.

I've gained about 8 lbs since Friday. Not good. That's what, 2 lbs. a day? It's probably because I'm eating a bunch of junk food to make up for the last 4 months, I guess. You wouldn't believe all the crap I bought yesterday when I was shopping. Corn dogs, lasagna, hamburger helper (?!?!), oreos, triscuits AND wheat thins, lucky charms, cream of wheat... I guess that's why people doing a gluten challenge who haven't eaten dinner yet shouldn't go grocery shopping

I'm really sleepy, and foggy. I'm surprised I'm not sick. Maybe gluten isn't my problem?