corinne

Barbara - I'm starting a teaching job at Cal Poly and I'm SOOO excited. I didn't get to see much of the town when I came out for the interview (which was pretty much my first time in California), but it looks like a beautiful area. The farmer's market sounds good and I love seafood.

My main passion is mountaineering, but I run several times a week as cross-training. I do at least one session of high intensity intervals and then some medium distance runs. I've been gluten free and completely grain free (no corn or rice either) for 3 months now. My carbs come entirely from fruits and veggies. I was really surprised that my energy increased even though I'm not eating very many carbs. I've noticed that my stamina has increased - I wasn't tired after 12 miles of rough off trail hiking on Sat. My running pace has actually decreased by 30 seconds per mile over the past 3 months and I'll be running a 5 K race in two weeks. Maybe it's the increased absorption of nutrients that has helped.

WOOHOO! As of today, I have been on the SCD and dairy free for 3 months.

Pluses - no diarrhea, stomache cramps, gas, mouth sores. Normal periods. Lots of energy. I can't believe the change. The biggest change - I'm down to 1.5 peptobismol per day from 8.

Minuses - my weight is really low. That will change eventually when I can tolerate nuts and fats.

Weird - I've had the exact same symptoms - occasional severe stomache pain and occasional dizziness, for 2 weeks. I've been gluten/dairy/corn/rice/caffeine/nightshades etc free for 3 months. So I know that it's not food intolerances. Wish I could figure it out.

Finally, something to show my doc. I actually have collagenous colitis. My mother is celiac. In spite of many people with collagenous colitis responding to a gluten free diet, my doc insists that collagenous colitis is not related to celiac and that anti-diarrheal meds or steroids are the best treatment. This article clearly states that collagenous colitis is related to celiac disease.

I'm moving to SLO in July. I too would love to hear about where to eat. I can't wait for the seafood.

I tried coconut milk for the first time last week. I made a smoothie, but it was so greasy/rich I could hardly drink it. Is it just the brand of milk I tried?

Having a rough day today. The diet is working and everything is normal on that end of things. I've been able to cut way down on the peptobismol. Now, I'm getting burning pain in my stomache. I think it's probably because my stomache is used to being coated with bismuth 3 or 4 times a day and now it's not, I'm getting gastritis. It woke me up at 4 and I couldn't get into work until 11. Then it's that time of the month and cramps started. I can't take any tylenol for the cramps because of my stomache. ARRGHH!

I've been adding just one food every 3 or 4 days. I react to a lot (well it seems most foods) so I've had to go really slow. So far it's just canned fruit, squash, beets, carrots, meat and eggs. All very well cooked. I got impatient at first, but felt sick so decided I needed to go slow.

For most lab tests, that it is too small of a difference to tell whether it is statistically meaningful.

I've been feel really good - everything completely normal. I'm almost starting to believe that this might work long term. As of today, I'm down to a quarter of the daily pepto bismol I was on last summer (I found out the hard way that I have to wean myself off REALLY slowly). I can't wait though to eat some fresh veggies and fruit (bananas and avocado are ok now).

We have pizza, cake etc. all the time at work or for rewards etc. I usually keep some stuff I really like at my desk and then eat that when the pizza etc comes in. That way I can socialize without feeling like I'm missing out. I don't think it's fair that my coworkers should miss out on the stuff they really like because of me. My diet is my responsibility.

What kind of work do you do? I do a lot of fieldwork and it's nice not being in the office on a sunny day.

A few more things. If you decide to do chelation, be very careful to get an experienced physician. There is certainly evidence that it can be beneficial for autism, but chelation can remove essential elements such as iron and calcium and can lead to lack of blood coagulation and even in very rare instances death if done improperly. Oral chelation therapy is unlikely to be beneficial. Most of the compounds which chelate to mercury are very poorly absorbed from the gut into the bloodstream so intravenous methods are better.

The amount of mercury in a vaccination averages 25 micrograms; there are on average 34 micrograms of mercury in a can of tuna.

recipezaar is my favourite. Also like the bon appetit magazine recipe site for fancier stuff.

At first, I reacted to everything except chicken and mushy carrots. I have been able to add quite a few foods back in (so far zucchini, squash, beets, red meat, canned pears, peaches, apricots). After 2 weeks, I could also add eggs back in.

I have no personal experience with chelation therapy, but I'm an environmental chemist (study the effects of arsenic, mercury etc). Mercury etc. bind really well to sulfur compounds which is why they are excreted into the hair and the concentration in the hair is a good measure of the concentration ingested. Chelation therapy uses sulfur compounds to bind these type of metals and remove them faster from the body. The amount of mercury from vaccines is very small relative to the amount he would have taken in from drinking water, food etc. over the last 14 years. There is some evidence that chelation therapy is beneficial for autistic children, but there isn't any scientific evidence that it is beneficial for digestive disorders. Chelation therapy can also have adverse side effects (can remove essential metals from the body too) so you should probably have him tested first to see if he really is suffering from the adverse effects of mercury.

Chelation therapy only removes heavy metals such as mercury. It does not remove any other type of toxin. It also does not remove calcium deposits (you can't remove calcium without dissolving your bones or causing heart problems from low blood calcium).

His hair is probably growing better because he is absorbing nutrients better and is less malnourished.

PM me if you have more questions.

If you're still having problems ie bloating, it might be worthwhile to take a step back until you solve them.

I can't do dairy and initially, no eggs so I did eat chicken+carrot soup (no onions or celery for me) for four days. It depends on whether you think the benefits outweigh the symptoms. Cooked fruit and veggies are much easier to digest than raw so that helps the insides heal. Also, I wonder if you're eating too much fruit. Fructose is absorbed slowly and excess fructose can cause bloating. Some veggies especially the cruciferous veggies can also cause bloating.

The ski trip went super well, lots of fresh powder snow. No problems with the diet and I felt great, lots of energy, no stomache problems. I had lots of carrots, beets, zucchini and burgers+chicken. It's great to feel that I can get back out camping.

Christine,

A number of us for whom gluten free only doesn't work, have had success with the SCD. There have been some recent threads you might want to check out.

The SCD is gluten free. The difference is that in addition to being gluten free, it is essentially free of all carbohydrates (corn, rice, potatoes, many types of beans) except those that are easy to digest such as simple sugars. For me, gluten free didn't work. I was free of D, vomiting and cramps within 2 weeks on the SCD. I also had to eliminate all dairy including butter - there was no improvement until I did. Dairy free and gluten free only doesn't work for me either.

The SCD does take some planning, but once you're used to it, not really any more time than any other diet. I just eat lots of well-cooked non-starchy veggies (ie carrots, zucchini, beets, squash), lots of canned fruit and lean meat. Eventually, I'm hoping I can tolerate fresh fruit and veggies. I work long hours so I spend an hour or so cooking up a big pot of soup or veggies 2 or 3 times a week. I just got back from a 3 day backcountry ski trip (10 miles from the nearest road and 80 miles from the nearest town) and the diet went fine so it is very doable.

If gluten free is not working, the SCD is probably worth trying for a month or so. Keep a food and symptom diary and see if it helps.

Backpacking gluten free is really doable. I just got back from a 3 day backcountry ski trip, I can't eat any grains or dairy at all and I felt well-fed.

If I could eat grains, I would probably take:

breakfast: cream of rice with a bunch of dried fruit (apricots, peaches, pears or berries) and a handful of nuts

lunch: corn tortillas with tuna or chicken (can get the foil-wrap packages) or cheddar cheese or cream cheese, baby carrots, sun-dried tomatoes.

dinner: lots of possibilities - mountain house and several brands make gluten free freeze-dried, soup (knorr has some gluten free) with dried meat or chicken or tuna, black beans and rice (if you don't mind an extra pound of weight put the beans in a water bottle in the morning with some hot water and then they'll cook up fast in the evening), stir fry - boil up dried vegetables first (carrots, peppers, mushrooms) and add to some rice, grits + cheese.

snacks: make your own trail mix, lara bars, chocolate, gluten free pretzels, dried fruit

I didn't realize that 14 was a late start. I started at 15 and my mom at 16.

I really like this recipes in this magazine. Unfortunately, I am missing Summer 2004, Fall 2004, Spring 2005 and they are sold out. I would love to get my hands on these copies, particularly the pumpkin recipes in Fall 2004. Would anyone be willing to part with their copies (I'd pay for the cost of the magazine and shipping) or would be willing to photocopy the recipes?

Thanks

Corinne

Gluten free changed mine too. My periods were the opposite of yours - very heavy and long (average 12-15 days). Since going gluten-free 3 months ago, they're now pretty normal, about 5 days. Woohooo.