gfp

Evil indeed!! You should write them a letter about this very thing. Harrumph!

Excellent jokes, everyone!

and Ill Mitch - - - OMG - - maybe he'll show up on American Idol......

That the irony... it will cost me nearly as much to send it recorded as just pay! And why waste my time over $20?

Its all to trivial to be angry .... I just think its beautifully ironic...

Another one is my cell company, the main thing I don't like is they keep calling me with offers....

I keep explaining I don't want the offer... indeed I want to switch operators... BUT why... ? because you are the third person today (having just hung up twice) to violate my privacy and interupt me .. why don't you give me your home number and I'll call you about 2AM and we can discuss this?

click....

An excellent reply from Tarnalberry ....

I honestly think I need examples...because you can stick to the truth in many ways...

My last job I quit for multiple reasons ... I mentioned some but not others....

Reasons

They were dishonest with me.... when they moved me to Paris they promised amongst other things a house and a French course .. (I spoke no French at all) I ended up with an appartment and no French course... the apparmtment was important to my ex-wife... as was thier transparency... and after I accepted the appt instead of a house was a turning point in the divorce... This I omittited.

Secondly was again lack of honesty... they wanted to move me back to Nigeria... they neglected to tell me that it was because the guy I was taking over from had been issued death threats ... and in all likelyhood so would I.

Considering my ability to find the small arms I need just to be safe relies on my company and my evac plan also does and they already lied to me on many issues... I decided against it... I kinda implied this part without directly saying it ws their lack of honesty.

That they wanted to move me right at the time my girlfriend was moving to Paris.... this I mentioned...

That my job had deteriorated into a joke because of office politics outside my control and nothing to do with me... I told to my immediate boss and the HR people back in the UK...

That celiac disease was a large part and the frequent travelling and inability to find gluten-free food was making me ill.... I didn't mention specifically because it can be mentioed on a reference in a "harmless way" ... like "Carla is very good at her job and we recommend her completely, she only left because she was unable to undertake part of her duties eating with clients because of her medical condition".

This might not even be relevant to the next job but its an easy backhanded way to have a dig you can't sue for being incorrect (if you actually mention it) ... if your really good at your job... they might just do this to stop another company benefiting from your experience.

I once wanted to hire two guys.... shouldn't have been any problem .. budget was under my control and I knew the guys could do the job... (better than my present staff even)...

However HR stopped me hiring because .... when thier company was merged with ours they took a package to leave instead of moving to the oppostite end of the country....

Somewhat ironic... we then merged again and moved back to the original location!

These people were not rehired, even with my best attempts simply because the company decided that if someone wouldn't up and move to the other side of the country where another language is spoken (albeit understandable) to a completely different life and lifestyle (and bearing in mind after they move they could STILL loose their jobs)... well that they must be traitorous and unreliable and whatever else... I also had contractors and many of those were refused by HR on the same reasons...

I can't add anything ursa didn't say...

I'm sorry you suffer so bad, I do too... and for just as long... BUT it gets better....

Sometimes people here think Im OTT on gluten risks.... I won't drink grain liquor or McDo's fries etc. and this is exactly the reason why.. along with neuro complications...

I know I react and even if the glutening is so mild my intestines hardly notice my mood and neuro symptoms do.. and take forver to get right...

In short, I don't mind the odd mistake if it was just D and cramps... but spending two weeks feeling like **** about myself is for me far worse.

Talk to the ped and ask that they do it.....

Yes scare him silly... but the ped telling him will IMHO carry more weight then you can alsways refer back to "the doctor said ...."

Thanks all. I may switch litters, but we all know the upheaval that can cause furry old ladies!

when you switch just put back some pee soaked stuff for the first few days... and gradually replace it ...

you know cat's .. it's all about them

Oh...don't get me started!!!!! They'll send you a bill for $0.05 if they want it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Evil (we need a little devil icon)

Funny thing, because of a refund onthe same card I had 20.something in credit for 3 months.

Again not a lot of money but I guess they didn't send me a cheque because of all the reasons I found sending a 27p cheque stupid?

Ok, now this cracks me up

Visa add some charge to my card, it was 27p (about 40c) but I have no other transacations that month on that card.

I forget what is was a currency transaction... some surcharge they added the followingg month.

it costs me about 50% more to post a cheque (standard rate) and about 20x more for a guaranteed delivery...

Today I get my bill ... 12 pounds for late payment .. total 12.27

yeah I realise its a contract and its still trivial money but are they serious...

I just find the whole thing rather funny!

okay well that was positive too, but not nearly as much as that... another question...now since it was positive, why on earth would a dr., if he knew anything about celiac disease, tell you to eat gluten free BEFORE goin to see a gastroenterologist..? I swear...these people know nothing.

however, a positive AGA IgG is indicative of a response to gluten. I'm not saying a Celiac response, but it might indicate a gluten intolerance. IgG food "allergy" testing (delayed food allergy=intolerance) is used for other foods besides gluten, as well.

You need to have the FULL Celiac panel run while still eating gluten.

I just want to add a little....

If you are making the antibodies then you have a sensitivity.... full blown celiac disease or gluten intolerance doesn't really matter...as far as treatment....

You can't just pop a sandwhich before the test... you have to be eating gluten for a reasonably* long time and in reasonably* large amounts.

*reasonable: Yep wish I could say for definate what that is.... the problem is it varies between people and probably even in the same person at different times of their life or general health. This applies equally for biopsy and blood.

A good time frame is 1-2 months... but its not cast in stone.... and regarding biopsy there is no way to guarantee because the samples are a very small and unrepresentative part of your whole intestine... the more you deliberatly damage it they better the chances of finding a sufficiently damaged part....

You might want to reread that again....

Yes.. the aim of the biopsy and challenge is to deliberatly damage one of your bodies major organs ...so someone can take a sample and say "hey you won" ...

The dangers of this are multifold....

Firstly just how much and how long? Some people with celiac disease NEVER have a positive biopsy... but still get serious and fatal conditions from it... because the intestine is only one area celiac disease expresses itself... to illustrate this...

Imagine you had a blood test showed with 98% accuracy you had cancer...

The MD says well the most common area for a woman is the breasts, lets run an MRI... the MRI comes back negative yet your platelet count indicates you have cancer.

Its not definitive... they have no other firm explanation... would you be happy with that diagnosis?

I'll presume not...

So they tell you it might be some other form of cancer... they recommend you start a course of medication designed to make the cancer spread so its easier for them to find because ... well MRI time is expensive.. Oh and the medication os going to make you feel like crap!

You would be right to be concerned... what if the cancer growth is then inoperable?

Wouldn't running a few more expensive tests be safer....

This is the situation for the biopsy although less extreme.... I just used an extreme example to illustrate...

Your villi might never recover, you might get long term neurological issues or even non hodgekins lymphoma... its unlikely but why take that risk and make yourself ill.

A challenge biopsy is simply this... its a cop out and a way that you the patients discomfort and health is subsidiary to the costs of doing the job properly... in this case you should have been TOLD... you need to eat gluten... and then ALL the tests run...

The time delay for blood is by definition shorter.... you can't start villi damage UNTIL you have the antibodies... AND they can test every week for antibodies... its just a prick. As soon as its comfirmed, its comfirmed... you can stop taking that "medication making you ill" .. and the thing is once you have antibodies the villi just don't dissapear... they get attacked, they divide and repair... and its not until they are being destoryed faster than repaired that any significant villi damage will be found...

HOWEVER .. your risk of cancer is not linked to them being destroyed, it is linked to them being repaired... mytosis is the birth of cancer .. The risk is not large from a single 3 month challenge but its not ZERO either... however lots of other nasties are also possible including thyroid damage or neurological problems and in the end... the biopsy might be taken badly and negative so they send you away for another month...?

The use of cancer is not to scare you here, its extermely unlikely BUT the risk of other less serious complications isn't...

What you need IMHO is either a diagosis of what they got or a scheduled FULL celaic panel at weekly intervals... up to a maximum of 1-2 months...

You can if you have room (in a dry place not a garden shed) buy bentonite in bulk... for a few $ a ton.(or just buy a 100lb sack).. this is the major deodoriser and adsorbant part.... I found you can cut it 50/50 or even 25/75 with sand...

techo asnwer

Actually it has a negative milk correlation....

IgA is transferred in breast milk wheras IgG is only transfered across the placental barrier once blood is transferred after several weeks...

celiac answer...

How that matters is pretty much unknown... the exact reason the TTG IgA is high but the IgA is low? could mean something but you would need a really good expert to say what? While this might be interesting the treatment is the same, a gluten-free diet...

Deb, I know this is the internet and all but trying to guess without your reasons is a shot in the dark ...

I would question Van's waffles. If this has been a staple in her diet almost everyday. THere have been MANY people on here that have been gluttened and sickened from their waffles. I don't know if they test them or not. They make alot of wheat products too. Maybe some other people will let you know what they think. I don't eat Van's waffles, because so many people said they reacted to them.

Otherwise, I don't know what would be causing her levels to be elevated still.

Monica

I don't know Van's waffles but I'd definately question anytihng that is a staple.

Same for dairy or soy...

If you are eating anything often and that product from time to time gets contaminated or just bad QC then the chance is you will get it... and if you buy in bulk, probably quite a few.. it might just be a slight amount of CC (even CODEX gluten-free) but if you eat the same thing often then chance is it will build up...

Is she old enough to be cheating?

Buy the book for yourself, read it and tell him he wouldn't like it ... then he'll really want to read it!

That might well do the trick

In general the problem is not just husbands, many of us have family members who only half beleive us or think we are going over the top and why can't we just shut-up about it...

However in most cases its just overload and thinking its an excuse...

One of the biggest problems IMHO is that the lethargy and depression and other non GI symptoms (I just want leaving alone)... leave people thinking were just banging on about the same old thing or being paranoid.... and the hardest for many is getting the horse to drink...

Heck its so common it should be on the diagnosis

"Do/does your spouse/parents/children not believe you or think you are exagerating? "

Men can be extra funny over stuff they feel they should be able to protect you from and also if they feel your just using it as an excuse... we easily feel victimised... just like bigger versions of schoolboys...

I'm not making excuses, its just the way many men are... me included... but I think it definately makes it hard in situations where the woman is for some reason expected to cook/clean etc.

Personally I do all the cooking.... my girlfriend doesn't SEEM to appreciate that... when it comes to tidying up etc. she'll complain I did nothing all day... to which I think .. erm yep other than doing the shopping, making your meals and doing the dishes... with as much work thrown in as I get time for (between posting here )

At the same time anything mechanical, DIY etc. its more or less expected I fix it .. and that sometimes grinds my gears.. I often feel when I ask for help I don't get it or I have to spell things out...

As an example I made dinner the other night, all that needed to be done was the rice and I was doing 3 other things as well.. so I asked her to put the rice on ... which she did and promptly went away.... (GRRRR)

I guess I should have said..can you put the rice on and then watch it ... and drain it when its ready... ?? or she'll come in and keep telling me she's hungry... ?? Erm OK I think, thats food in the fridge and cabinets... ??

I guess because I do 90%+ of the cooking I can understand a bit of both.... except because I'm a guy my reaction to not getting help cooking is a guy reaction... I get all pissed because I think , hey this isn't my job... Im not paid to do this... whereas I think most women would not get so pissed as I do...

What really grinds my gears though is when she makes food for herself... and doesn't think of me or buys food on her way home (when I've cooked already) to feed her gluten addiction...

That all said though... its just different ways people handle different things and some girl vs guy ways of viewing things...

From my perspective saying "could you cook the rice, drain it and then serve it, then dish out the vegetables and stuff I cooked while I'm fixing your/our <insert item>" is redundant... but to her it seems needed... so I just have to spell it all out...

If she spelled it out like that for me I'd consider it nagging....

You can additionally ask to have someone accompany you and make sure your not streamrolled....

ITs much easier for a MD to steamroll one person than when you have someone to back you up...

Remember its close to 1:100 people have it... so don't get fobbed off with "but its so rare" or "I don't think you have it" like Jestgar says either this or something else is wrong and this can be diagnosed with a simple blood test.

If the MD insists then ask what all the symptoms are... can he test for why you have .... (insert your list)...

Make sure you get a full panel and you need to be eating gluten for a month or so before hand to make sure...

This might sound extreme but ....

Firstly put it in writing....

Secondly insist on a celiac panel... it seems a good idea anyway to rule out the fever being from gluten.... but if not you can have a before and after...

Secondly, buy some sample bags (little ziplocks or something) and tell the hospital all the food they provide will be tested if the celaic panel at the end of the stay comes back elevated. Depending on the length of stay you might need to freeze the bags.

Tell them, if they can't guarantee and cope then you will provide the food in sealed containers to be reheated for her.

Do not trust the hospital, I know of one person who went in for testing got glutened and their immune system went crazy... and to cut a long story short contracted viral menengites whilst her immune system was compromised.

happy dog suz,

get him the book in my signature, and see then if he thinks its all in your head.

I doubt he'll read it.... it will just be considered more pressure/nagging...

Better to buy the book for yourself and leave it somewhere not too obvious....

It's weird, when I read about some of you being so upset when you go gluten free--I wasn't. Of course, my sister went gluten free in March and I could see the improvement in her, so maybe it was my role model!

That makes complete sense... its like before I quit smoking (the 1st time) I thought I just couldn't do it... impossible etc. etc.

Somehow I ended up smoking again 2 yrs later... but the 2nd time was much easier... I knew it was possible and I knew after a while I'd feel "normal again"

A friend who smoked 60 a day has recently given up and he said he knew he could do it partly because he saw me do it...

If you combine this with perhaps you were so ill anyway .. it might help explain why you didn't get it then but did later...

Its like the old joke where someone complains to the Dr that their arm hurts and he jumps on theior toe and says "does your arm still hurt?" If you were so ill before gluten-free you felt SO BAD... then perhaps this could mask the withdrawal and the benefits outweighed it... and perhaps we all have different amounts of withdrawal too.

I was so happy to feel better, I didn't mind not having gluten. In the beginning, I ate ricecakes with peanut butter and cottage cheese with fruit. Not all celiac's must give up dairy. My sister, nor I gave it up.

Yep exactly....

My sister had yogurt for breakfast everyday.

Hmm. perhaps its lactose not casein... both yogourt and especially cottage cheese are full of casein but low in lactose...

Gluten is addictive to us, we do go through withdrawal. I didn't in the beginning, yet I did last summer. I mourned food so much, of course, I have given up a lot more than gluten. I eat no grains anymore except for my ricecakes.

Or you werte just so ill and at rockbottom perhaps the gluten withdrawal seemed minor..?

Keep at it, don't give up. The alternative to gluten free is not a pretty future.

Very true!

Thanks so much for your insight. I forget that men think so much differently than we do. Maybe instead of saying - you're doing this wrong and this wrong, etc. I need to be like I am with my kids (no offense!)

Non taken, the older I get the more I realise we are all just bigger boys...

and say thanks so much for... whenever he does something to help me or washes his hands after eating gluten, etc. Then maybe he won't feel so helpless... and he'll be able to see what I need him to do to keep me healthy. But positively.

Yep exactly, think about it the other way.... if you only bring the subject up when he does something wrong he's going to associate the subject with blame, nagging, etc.

Each time you bring it up its a little cringe...what did I do now...

Men do make efforts but often they fall short of expectations... but it doesn't mean we don't make the effort, its just not always appreciated..

My girlfriend is far tidier than I am... I often do a quick kitchen once over or perhaps do the worst parts like the hobs or scour the worst part of the bathroom (like sticky toothpaste) but stop at her make-up shelf... in a lot of cases she doesn't realise I made an effort... it just wasn't a huge one... because it wasn't what she would have done... so I blow my own trumpet and say hey look, I know I didn't do everything but I did x,y,z... slowly but surely she notices more of my pathetic guy efforts and appreciates the effort. The difference is she is cleaning the kitchen to have it sparking, I'm just cleaning to make her happy... (below certain tolerances)...

Another weird example, I don't like cut flowers... I don't see the point of buying sometihng already dying and watching it die...

My girlfriend however loves em so I buy them anyway ... I just don't get it but that's OK if it makes her happy.

I also noticed buying flowers can get me a reward (if she's not too tired) ... I respond well to that

Some negative examples... my girlfriend will often makes not too "subtle" hints... like starts banging the pans in the kitchen as she empties the dishwasher ... this often feels like I'm being bossed about... made to feel guilty and being a stubborn guy I react badly...

Just come and ask me ... she remembers she filled the dishwasher so its my turn to empty..? fair enough just say so ...

Here's an interesting article on something called the "Hygiene Hypothesis", which basically suggests that autoimmune diseases such as Crohn's disease and inflammatory bowel disease are more prevalent because we're too "clean". That is, our modern way of life is too sterile, so without exposure to the natural presence of microbes, the immune system doesn't develop properly.

Open Original Shared Link

It caught my attention, as I've been wondering about this for years. I mean, we become immune to chicken pox only after exposure, right?

its something on my mind too.

Just to set the scene I come from a obsessively sterile environment ... when I was growing up meat had to be really dead... not just "mostly dead" (as Billy Cristal might say)... by which I mean if there was any slightly pink part it was recooked...

Milk, cheese you name it, everything was sterile... blue cheese never entered our house... if a fly so much as landed on a plate it would be thrown out and this is bearing in mind we were not well off, each meal my mom made was a dent into the monthly budget.

When I moved to Africa I noticed people were ignoring flies... I continued wildly trying to brush them off and by this time I had an income where the price of food was immaterial and food was so cheap anyway... slowly but surely I gave up, its just not possible ..

One thing I noticed was latin expat people didn't seem to suffer the same illnesses as the anglo community. Perhaps genetics or perhaps they just grew up in a hotter country than me?

A while later a friend of mine was extolling parma ham... I just found the whole idea disgusting.. raw ham ... ugggh

When I arrived in France I had problems getting my steak cooked... back to my idea of really dead... and the French ate all this weird stuff, raw beef and eggs and unpasturised cheese. UGGHGH

It was desperation made me try sushi... the first few times I gagged my way through it... raw fish ?? pile on the gluten-free soy and wasabi and try and keep it down...

I was still frankly amazed that the French didn't all drop dead of nasty parasites and stuff... I figured sushi must be OK they are allowed to sell it in the UK...

At one point I looked up WHO figures for life expectancy and infant mortality...

I really expected to see some evidence of Italians, Spanish and French dropping like flies... but I found the reverse..

All of these nations where raw meat, eggs and unpasturised dairy are common place live longer than the UK and much longer than the US and infant mortality was equally lower... not at all what I expected....

At some point I managed to eat carpaccio, crunch on the fries and drown it in oil and lemon... but it was a "safe" gluten bet and I kinda forced myself..

I am starting to believe its not just isolated diseases, the bigger picture is more (for me) use it or lose it.

If your immune system is coddled just like the article says its like having a muscle you never use...

Later on I did some other research on probiotics.... what I found is that one of the common ones people here take is actually found in sheeps stomachs in large quantities and meats in lower... when we pasturise the milk we kill the probiotic... when we cook the meat we do the same...

It seems sensible in one way to think, ah but your also eating bad bacteria..and probiotics isolate the good ones but I'm starting to think its not so simple... perhaps our immune systems benefit from exersize just like our muslces and brain and ... well the rest of the body, indeed put like that it seems unlikely it doesn't?

Another place to look is nursing staff... sure they have increased chances of catching stuff but is it in proportion... they spend their time around contageous patients ... its surprising they are ever well?

That sounds like 'Pizza Piazza' in Chapel Street, Prahran. Yes, we have been there quite a few times and it is great because they have an extensive pizza and pasta menu and the owner is a coeliac so they really do get it. It is very good but the pizza at Wilsons Place in Bondi is better. I really think Wilsons have perfected the gluten free pizza base. They were telling me that they spent alot of time getting it just right.

Yes but do they have gluten-free beer!

Now you say the name yep, that was it.... a real life saver for me... I honestly think hunting down gluten-free resto's I saw more of Melbourne than most people... my girlfriends family we were stopping with who lived their whole lives in Melbourne hadn't been to some of the burbs we went to for gluten-free food.

yeah that's what i thought first, but i just had that tested and it's totally fine.

Dave they all fit depression too.

All I can say is when I was at my worst I didn't even notice lack of sexual desire until I climbed out the other side. Looking back I definately did have it but at the time I was pretty much so out of it that it was the last thing on my mind.

My worst times post diagnosis were when I was getting "micro-glutened" you can look up "brain fog" in the posts here.

I went from someone who loved food to someone who feared it... and I just felt so bad I lost all interest in not only women but work, my future and pretty much everything.

Gluten acting as an exorphin is real... it also damages the endorphin receptors which means your body cannot regulate mood and to some extent sexual desire because when it sends out endorphins they are not properly taken up .. after a while it realises this and sends out some more... so your body gets increasingly mixed up. This basically makes it depressed, the chemical meant to increase our "happy state" is being produced but not properly adsorbed to its receptor. It takes time for those receptors to heal, until they do your bodies mood control is being screwed about... each time you get gluten again its sets back the clock..

The difference to nicotine withdrawal is the length.... and periodicity. Nicotine is a much shorter cycle whereas gluten/opiates takes longer.

Just saw my gastroenterologist and he said based on my initial lab results that I did indeed have Celiac Disease, but by the time he saw me, the gluten free diet that I had already started was effective and that I currently don't have intestinal damage and my antibodies are dropping.

He said that I have been doing more for myself (by following the diet) then he could do for me so keep it up. He emphasized how underdiagnosed Celiac is and how few Dr's are familiar with it or how to test for it. (So hurrah for him!)

And he also said to get my son tested (who has had terrible dental problems, when my older kids have had none, psoriasis, allergies, and sporadic minor GI problems.)

I guess my main need for a confirmed diagnosis and hence why I was feeling discouraged is that I wanted to be validated plus I wanted to be able to demonstrate the high possiblity of my son suffering from it to my family and pediatrician. After years of no answers or validation, that just became important to me.

I understand everything up to the last paragraph?

You already have a diagnosis and your doctor supports it? The fact your biopsy is negative really means nothing... except your probably doing OK at gluten-free.

You could die and they could autopsy your intestine inch by inch and still find no major villi damage and it wouldn't mean you were not celiac..simply that you were either not reacting and destroying villi or you were keeping to the diet.

The main point of a biopsy nowadays is to confirm there are no other problems, a negative biopsy means practically nothing unless they take hundreds of samples or better still the whole lot in autopsy... because its so easy to miss ... the more damage the easier they find it to find a decent sample but if your gluten-free or even have been gluten-free then the chance of a "good" sample decreases...

I think what you should do is clap yourself on the back for doing so well..... and be releived you have a doctor who's knowledge of testing is not stuckl 10-20 yrs in the past and in his own words can't do more for you than you yourself are doing...

Your incredibly fortunate really, so many of us went through a chain of specialists before anyone even suggested celiac disease...

When you and your son feel its the right time you can do a gluten challenge and get tests done...

Thanks! I guess the severity of this is actually setting in! Sadly, I am an absolute mess in the Kitchen! I am a great cook, but horribly unorganized! I am going to have to change more than my diet!

The two often go hand in hand

As for CC... Its a dead cert if you cook gluten... we are all humand and make mistakes and for you and I cooking is a frantic affair of creativity... (I can tell from yourt post ) ....

I can honestly say you'll do it again because you sound so much like me and I tried so hard to do it and failed....

As a illustration of this, I worked on and off in labs all my life... I'm trained and practiced handling dangerous chemicals and I thought if I can do this at work I must surely be able to do it at home... its not the same... I enjoy cooking and it relaxes me...

if I need some therapy its usually in the kitchen... but I cook in semi autonomous mode...

My girlfriend occaisionally cooks but we have gno gluten in the kitchen, nothing to contaminate pans or spoons or get mixed up in the dishwasher.. she has some cereal which she has a special bowl for which is washed with disposable paper towels...

Hope this helps but I think you need to talk hubby into being onboard... for a creative cook like you I doubt it should be difficult...

I agree with your generally stopping away from replacement products... I do the same but I do get gluten-free pasta because its a quick convenient meal and the good stuff with the right sauce can be great but I don't eat it a lot, too expensive for what it is..

Lots of people love coming over for me to cook, its very rare they realise its gluten-free... until they ask for bread or something because there are so many recipees so easily adapted ... I try and stick with cooking good stuff from scratch and then you can control each part...

edits:

In other words if you cook best disorganised... your hubby might prefer the same creative cooking to you compromising on the creativity and making seperate stuff?

Since you have been gluten free for so long, it is disturbing that you have not stabilized. The first thing I would think of is other intolerances are still bothering you. I see that you are aware of several other intolerances that you have, so you are looking for those as well.

Is it possible that you are still getting contamination from food or other products? Cross contamination from home or work?

I just think that if you are gluten free for so long, you should be healing up and feeling better. If you are not feeling better, then maybe there is still another problem to identify. I think there are some other people on the board here who have experience with multiple problems - Lyme disease, thyroid problems, candida overgrowth...

I hope you can get some advice on what to look for, continue on the road to feeling well again.

Debbie

I gotta agree with debbie.... either the CC or an extra intolerance or something on top....

Regarding your diet though... you don't say why you can't eat cholesterol and unless you have been told so by a doctor and being tested regularly you might want to reassess this. Depending what fish you are eating you could be not getting anytihng like enough cholesterol and lean red meat really isn't so high in fat or cholersterol. I'm not suggesting you eat it 3 meals a day... but perhaps 3 meals a week might be beneficial ?

When you hear advice for people eating too much cholesterol its usually aimed at the Standard American diet not you.

Also all the fat soluble vitamins are in that fat... these are also the hardest ones to suppliment effectively... because they are the easiest to overdose on... C and B are both so soluble if you take an excess it more or less just get's peed out... but the fat soluble ones are a delicate balance.

Constant D? hardly supriosing if your living almost from fruit.... beleive me I did the same at one point... I also have a friend who is a cancer patient and got told to eat more fruit and stuff... he was rushed into hospital due to eating too much fruit for so long..

because he took the Dr's word to eat more and ate almost nothing else.

Thank you SydneyGF, Mango04, GFP and Tracey for your helpful suggestions.

We had a great few days in Sydney and my coeliac 10 year old daughter got to try some delicious gluten freen food whilst we were there.

Wellbeing - she had the beef noodle salad which was really very nice. They really should have signs in the store saying ' gluten free' on the products that are gluten-free.

DARE at the Rocks. She had a gluten free chicken wrap and a really delicious chocolate brownie. She loved the whole meal.

On Saturday we went to Bondi Beach and visited WILSONS PLACE at 65 Bondi Road.

She had the best gluten free pizza she has ever had there. The base was thin and crispy and the toppings delicious. Every topping on the menu was gluten free and they had delicious gelati too. Highly recommended but it only has two very small tables and very limited seating.

Didn't get to David Jones or find any of those elusive muffins though I did keep my eyes open for them.

I really think that every cafe, restaurant, take away food place should have a symbol on their menus indicated what items are gluten free, dairy free etc. etc. They would get more customers and less hassle.

Just a question but have you tried the Pizza's (place in Melbourne who's name escapes me)..I wish I could remember the name but its on a long "hip" shopping St. runs more or less N-S and next door to a Russian resto/cafe... if you go a bit further up there is a bar on the corner, kinda rough looking camera over the door and a sign saying "no shirts or ties" over the door.