penguin

Oh the things that college health center doctors will tell you:

After telling the doc that I threw up a lot, "Are you sure you don't have an eating disorder?"

Apparently 19 year old girls can't be sick. Make an appointment to see the nutritionist.

After rating kind of low on one of those exhale and make the ball rise tests, without any athsma symptoms "I'm going to put you on a daily inhaled steroid"

"You're anemic, but it's probably because you're a woman." Nevermind that I had been on the pill 5-6 years and my periods were really light

Upon seeing that my red blood cells were small, "You have spherocytosis, a genetic disorder that effects those of middle-eastern and mediterranian descent" This was the look I gave her:

I had to make sure she was looking at me, because I'm white as a ghost and am a total WASP, with the exception of my 16% native american blood. Try again, idiot.

After an endoscopy and the GI doc put me on nexium (teeny ucler from too much advil and no esophogeal damage) and the glass-digesting pain came back near the end of the course of nexium, his nurse said, "That shouldn't be happening. You must not be taking it right."

"your platelets came back high, but I'm sure it's nothing to be concerned about"

I use the phenergan suppositories, personally. They work fabulously.

I had a lot of fun at La Bare, and I actually have not a clue what I drank, because after a couple of vodka tonics, um, I didn't pay much attention.

I wasn't as concerned mostly because they only had beer in bottles (I guess since it's a ladies only club they didn't think it was worth it to have beer on tap)

I don't think I got glutened, though who knows, since I had over-imbibed and probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Other than being sick in the middle of the night, I was fine, but I think the sickness was alcohol related.

I think I drank mostly kamakazie shots, and those are safe.

Thanks for all of your help!

I'm getting too old for that kind of partying!

Actually Lutherans believe the same thing as Catholics on that point!

I know, I went back and edited it because I forgot to mention it...sorry!

I'm not Catholic - and so I definitely don't understand why it's a big deal for the bread (or whatever it is) to have gluten in it?? How does having gluten make you more worthy? I don't get it! In my church (LDS - or Mormon) we take the Sacrament every sunday - which is water and bread. When I was growing up, my mom would just bring a piece of my rice-flour bread and give it to the boys who broke the bread - and we had our own tray that they would bring to our row - just for me. It didn't matter what kind of bread I ate - it was just the symbolism of what we ate to remember the promises we make with the Lord and to remember His sacrifices for us. It didn't make me any less worthy than everyone else who ate the regular bread. Can anyone help explain to me why it's so important for it to be one kind of bread that the Catholics use?

It's because communion isn't just a symbol in the Catholic Church. The bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. That's the difference between Protestant churches and the Catholic Church. We could get into Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation (although Lutherans are into the transfiguration part too), but it's not necessary.

The actual bread and wine becoming body and blood is called Transfiguration, and it happens when the priest blesses it, and he is first to receive communion. Because the communion wafer becomes the body of Christ, there are very strict rules about what is used. You couldn't use wonder bread and welch's for example. It has to be wheat bread because that is what was used at the Last Supper, and since you're recreating that during each mass, it's important to follow the guidelines.

That's also, at least in large part, why priests are celibate. They are supposed to emulate Jesus, who was thought to be celibate. There's another discussion there for another day on another board, so I digress.

In other churches, it's the symbolism that counts so it's not a big deal to use other alternatives to wheat wafers.

Thanks great aboutyour Pastor!

Many ppl have found that even some Catholic Priests will bend the rules for them. Officaly its not alwod, but that does not mean you should not ask. Its up to the local powers that be more often then Rome.

It depends on your parish priest, your diocese, and who your bishop is. It also depends on who talks, and how your priest really feels about certain aspects of canon law.

Lay Catholics can still participate in communion by having wine only, but that's not an option for a priest.

Aslo the government can NOT force a relious organization, such as teh Catholic Church, to ordane anyone.

It's kind of hard to receive holy orders when you can't receive communion. And I believe canon law states that the communion wafers have to be wheat. It's a huge contraversy. An 8 year old's first communion was invalidated by the church because she was given a rice wafer.

This is from an article in the National Catholic Reporter:

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"In terms of how absolute the effect of the instruction will be, some canon lawyers point to the similar case offered by recent Vatican rulings on the ordination of men who are coeliacs, meaning wheat-intolerant, or alcoholics.

On August 22, 1994, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a seemingly absolute ban on such candidates, stating, "Given the centrality of the celebration of the Eucharist in the life of the priest, candidates for the priesthood who are affected by celiac disease or suffer from alcoholism or similar conditions may not be admitted to holy orders." <p>After much reaction and debate, however, the congregation issued a new document on July 24, 2003, which softened the ruling: "Given the centrality of the celebration of the Eucharist in the life of a priest, one must proceed with great caution before admitting to Holy Orders those candidates unable to ingest gluten or alcohol without serious harm," it stated."

Kind of makes one question their faith...

They can't be in the military or receive Holy Orders in the Catholic Church.

Basically, go play with the Buddhists and have a nice bowl of rice

My stomach has been kind of off today.

It's been making a lot of noise, bloated, looser than normal...

So I start panicking. What if it's dairy? I've never had a problem with dairy before, where did this come from? Did I even have dairy? Just cascade fresh yogurt, and I eat it all the time, what happened? Why would I suddenly be intolerant?

Around and around the circles went in my head...

And then I remembered:

I just came off a course of pretty strong antibiotics for a case of cellulitis (stupid allergy testing) and also some diflucan, (and I forgot all about the prednisone) so of course my stomach is effed up. I wasn't good about eating yogurt like I normally am during that time. I'm all about repopulating, I just wasn't.

Also, I HAD BAKED BEANS FOR BREAKFAST!

Frickin' A, no wonder I'm gassy and bloated. Yes, they were gluten-free.

Sheesh. Now I remember why I never eat beans...

Hello, my name is Chelsea, and I'm a very blonde hypochondriac

I use the recipe on the box of Hershey cocoa (only I usually do it with the special dark) and I add cinnamon and vanilla. YUMMMY!

I guess now I'm just confused as to what exactly I'm looking for on these labels...

here's what my list tells me for the most part...

no wheat, barley, oats, ...

no lunch meat, hot dogs

no processed cheese...

only gelatin for dessert...

no salad dressings unless it's pure mayonaise...

coffee and cappacino are ok...

Unless there is another reason to keep your diet so limited, some of those things are ok. Generally, with processed foods, you have to read the label.

Absolutely no wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt, or trictale. No question.

Wheat and barley (and oats I guess) are most commonly found in processed foods.

True, some lunchmeat and hot dogs have gluten in them as a filler. Regular Oscar Meyer hot dogs do not. Oscar Meyer hot dogs are fine, and if there was a gluten-containing ingredient, it's a Kraft product and would be listed (it will say wheat, barley, rye, or oats). Same goes for their lunchmeat. Buy the pre-packaged stuff, don't go to the store's deli (the slicers can be contaminated).

An example of Kraft labelling is: NATURAL FLAVORINGS (WHEAT)

Unless stated otherwise, their modified food starch is corn.

As far as processed cheese, velveeta, kraft singles, and cheez wiz are gluten-free. I think they're all kraft products, anyway.

Jello is gluten-free, but so are many puddings, including jello puddings. Many ice creams are gluten-free, and sorbets.

Salad dressings are suspect usually because of vinegar and natural flavorings, and if the vinegar is distilled (and not malt vinegar), you're good to go no matter the grain source (unless you have problems with yeast). Annie's dressings are mostly gluten-free, as is Kraft ranch dressing and others.

Be careful with flavored coffee, because some brands use gluten as a binder.

Label reading will become second nature! We're all here to help...

Welcome! That sucks that you're in college and got dx'ed. At least you can feel better! I just got dx'ed 2 months ago and I graduated in may, so I barely missed that bullet. Gluten free doesn't have to be horribly expensive, and you can do most of your shopping at your friendly neighborhood wal-mart or grocery store, depending on where you are. Lots of companies are good for celiacs in that they don't hide gluten.

I just borrowed this from another recent post:

Kraft isn't the only company that will clearly list gluten. Here's a list of some that will either list gluten or, in some cases, wheat. But it's my understanding that wheat is what we have to worry about in natural flavors. Some of these companies are actually Kraft subsidiaries.

Balance

Baskin Robbins

Ben & Jerry

Betty Crocker

Blue Bunny

Butterball *lists wheat only

Breyers

Campbells (wheat only, I think)

Cascadian Farms

Celestial Seasonings

ConAgra *lists wheat only

Country Crock

Edy's

General Mills

Good Humor

Green Giant

Hellman's

Hershey

Hormel

Hungry Jack

Kozy Shack

Kraft

Martha White

McCormick

Nabisco

Nestle

Old El Paso

Ortega

Pillsbury

Popsicle

Post

Progresso

Russell Stover (wheat only, I think)

Sunny Delight

T Marzetti

Tyson

Unilever

Wishbone

Yoplait

Zatarain's

richard

All of those companies clearly list gluten! I don't buy much at the health food stores and nothing online. Eating whole foods like meats, fruits, veggies, rice, potatoes, etc. will help. There are only some things you need, in my opinion, to buy specialty stuff. One is tinkyada pasta (made from rice), chebe pizza mix, and gluten-free cereal.

I buy A LOT of Kraft products like oscar meyer hot dogs and lunchmeat, cheeses, etc. Mission corn tortillas are gluten-free.

Read around, you'll find almost anything you need to know!

No help from me on the butter issue, but as far as the shortening-in-cookie thing, Alton Brown had a Good Eats episode called "three chips for Sister Marsha" (can't tell I'm a fan, right?) and at least one of the recipes used shortening. If you could catch that episode, he'd explain all of the wonders of using different fats for different results. I think in all three recipes he used variations of the Toll House recipe!

The shortening one was the "puffy" cookie...

The episode will air on Food Network on these dates:

AIR TIMES:

March 25, 2006 10:30 PM ET/PT

March 26, 2006 2:30 AM ET/PT

April 01, 2006 5:30 PM ET/PT

April 02, 2006 4:30 PM ET/PT

I was gonan aswer this.. but I just cant think straight right now.....

EXACTLY!

My face going numb and having the rest of my head on the ceiling is really annoying, especially at work. DH doesn't appreciate it either, my attention span goes from zero to negative...

The D is pretty annoying also, nothing like abandoning your cart a half hour into your wal-mart trip to ruin your day. And stinking up the place. Luckily Target has mini Oust air freshener so that I can do that public service of decontaminating the bathroom ...

I know about all of the other sad posts, but since it's Friday and all, I thought I'd try to bring a bit more fun back to the thread...

I HATE it when Sonic forgets to put the marischino cherry in my dang cherry coke!

Hey, the little things count too!

Wow, nestle! Forgive me for tossing out baking chocolate because I thought the ingredients looked funny...

I <3 Nestle!

I'm going to have to try those cookies! I'm famous for my cookies... Let's hope it rings true for gluten-free, too!

Why is it that gastroenterologists are all part of the MEDICAL DIETY club?

Pisses me off.

My internist (my normal doc) is the one who diagnosed me. She said that going to a gastro was unnecessary, given my funky bloodwork and dietary response. Think about it- your PCP is the one who sees you the most often, sickness and health, and knows your history on a day-to-day basis. It seems to me, in my experience, that internal medicine docs tend to keep more "up" on things than specialists. They're good at seeing the whole picture. My doc also encouraged me to research stuff online, and that I would find more that way than through a nutritionist.

I won't even go into my experience with a gastroenterologist.

Sounds like your PCP has her act together, and her word is just as valid as the numbnut that played a cheap "you're dumber than me" card.

Stick with your doctor, and it's not like you produce antibodies for no reason, and borderline is still positive.

I'd really reccommend not chugging milk...drinking it slowly is probably a better idea, IMO. Even if it's skim milk, it's still kind of rich... Drinking milk fast will make anyone sick.

Also, as far as Zyrtec is concerned, I'm allergic to tree nuts (oral allergy syndrome) and my reaction is NOT lessened by allergy meds like Zyrtec or Claritin. Someone mentioned that Zyrtec is slow acting, that's true, benadryl works more acutely, it also knocks you out...

Oh, FYI, my allergist said never to use topical benadryl for your skin in an allergic reaction, he said it makes allergies worse

I just saw a piece on the news about Texas and drinking. I guess they are really cracking down on public intoxication. So be VERY careful. On the news they were arresting people even if they had a designated driver. If they failed a field sobriety test in the bar, they were taken to jail!! I guess texas has a large fatality rate for drunk driving and they are trying to change that starting inside of the bars. They even arrested some bartenders for overserving some of the patrons. Wild stuff, so be careful.......and put a dollar in the strippers undies for me

-Jessica

Found a news article that is like the news piece I saw on tv. If nothing else, it's interesting.

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Yeah, Austin is a huge party town (6th street, anyone?) and they're doing that stuff here this weekend. Massive scandal. The cops are undercover and can arrest any patron who is drunk, a bartender for giving someone drunk drinks, or bar employees who are drunk on the job. It's pretty much BS, they say that you're not exempt from the public intox laws because you're in a bar. Beware drinking too much in Texas!

I'm a fan of hard liquor, because beer always made me sick. The punishment was always way harsh for the crime...

I don't drink rum, because of a conference incident in college...

I'm bringing my own absolut with cranberry juice and 7up for the hotel...

Are margaritas safe at bars? I used to drink long islands, but I don't know if they're safe

And tequila is my friend

Well, my friend's bachelorette party is in Dallas this weekend, and we're going to a club (thanks, Lollie!) and doing bachelorette type things...

I'll preface my next statement by saying that we are all over 21, and nobody is even thinking about driving anywhere that night. There will be some danger in wearing heels, however

Anyway, does anyone have a suggestion of some cocktails that would be safe? I figure I could always have Red Bull and vodka, but that gets really expensive and your intox levels can run away from you real quick...

To keep costs down, we're going to "pregame" at the hotel before hand, because drinks are expensive and we need to save our dollar bills. I think I've got that covered, it's just the club I'm worried about. I know the fountain stuff is a no-no

Help me, please, to find something good to drink while we watch some talented, erm, performers

Regular grocery stores don't have tons of gluten-free stuff normally, but Cali is a good place to go if you're looking for alternative diet food! this site should help you a lot:

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It's gluten-free in San Diego, which isn't anywhere near Palo Alto, but a lot of their resources have to do with chains that are all over the state.

I am SO DOWN with the gluten-free Iron Chef! Kick ass!

Just thought of the owner of my mom's company...he would always take the WSJ into the bathroom with him, in plain view of everyone, on the #2 trips---like "Guess what I'm going to be doing?" Maybe its a guy thing?

Women are taught to be very demure about their pooping. As far as my grandmother is concerned, nobody poops! (though I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't, she's pretty grumpy )

In college I had people thinking that I was in the bathroom all the time because I was throwing up. Everyone knew I was sick, they just didn't know about the D. Erm, I didn't correct them either, vomiting is much more ladylike I didn't know I was so good at keeping it a secret until I was dx'ed and my husband said, "you've had D everyday for the last 3 years?! and I didn't know?!" my mom had approximately the same reaction...

It is embarassing, but I've become a lot more open about it. DH expects to hear about it (I almost called him when I had my first normal, sinking poop )

My mom starts almost every conversation with "so how's the diarrhea?" Even as an adult, moms will ALWAYS find a way to embarass the hell out of you!

Oh, and she asks this on the phone no matter who she is with. Once my brother and his twins could be heard in the background singing the diarrhea song...

Omg, I just--not kidding--went to Linens and things to find bun pans. They looked at me like I was nuts when I asked. Jeeeez. Thank you Chelsea!! Made my day!

Glad I could be of service

The baker's catalogue is fantastic, they even have some gluten-free baking stuff, the company that runs the catalogue is King Arthur Flour (my fav before celiac). They're a great company!