gfp

I agree about the ambiguity being a problem. However, right now I really need to focus on myself -- and I know that he really needs to focus on himself. I think I did make it clear to him how much I care for him -- I am unlikely, in the space of three months, to get involved in anything that would threaten that -- for all my bravado about dating, I'm not really out there very much -- more interested in friends and my work than anything else. I think he knows that about me. I kind of have to assume that he's in the same position if he still feels as though he might want to restart our relationship.

Sometimes you just have to trust -- and right now, I think that's the best thing. Sure -- either one of us could meet someone else, but we were together a long time and were very serious about wanting to make a real commitment. That's not something that changes so very fast -- moreover, if we each really want it to work, we'll think twice about starting up something that could threaten that.

For all the advice about getting out there to meet the other fish in the sea -- well, I know those fish are there and if they want to come find me, they can. It's nice to know that I'm still appreciated as a dateable woman. However, I'm not going to wither into a bitter old spinster in three months. I'm not so insecure about my ability to attract men I'm interested in that it would be such a great loss.

.... moved to make a more articulate answer

If he _doesn't_ know that I'm unlikely to seriously date other people right now, he does occasionally read this board and knows my username -- so he could know now! I may, after exams and such are done, get in touch with him to let him know that more clearly -- although Carla's advice is important too. Today is not the day for me to decide that, however. Today I need to be where I am and working on the things in front of me.

What Im saying is guys can be dicks! I should know! The way you see it and the way he see's the ambiguity are probably very different. I am also a bit weird... I expect complete trust in a relationship

We all have good and bad days... and on the bad days we can become obsessed with stupid things. We can clutch at straws or we can see unintentioned meaning in ambiguity. We can convince ourself that the unfounded optimism of yesterday was silly and unrealistic and decide for ourselves we should act to free ourselves of it to protect ourselves and bitterly regret it the next day.

Now, I'm not your ex.. but if it was me I would find meaning in the non-defined dating other people thing. Perhaps not today but some day I'm feeling down and introspective.

I might add that, as I keep healing from the celiac AND the breakup, I kind of feel like I'm getting better and better, so it's nice to be in my cocoon for a while letting this process happen and letting my wounds heal -- there will be a time for me to bust out and be glorious again, but it's not right now. Then there'll be mischief on the horizon for some guy, I can assure you!

eleep

Not to worry , I'm just giving you a guy perspective. I am certainly not suggesting any commitment outside of neither of you dates someone else at the moment but if you are the one who makes that call then the results will come back to you one way or the other and perhaps you would prefer to cope with them (either way) later on.

Last word?

That's not something that changes so very fast -- moreover, if we each really want it to work, we'll think twice about starting up something that could threaten that.

Wanting the relationship is in my experience not the same as not doing anything to threaten it.

If I'm brutally honest with myself I have had a relationship with someone over a year while not letting go of the previous one. (she walked out*) .. and it got left ambiguous for a while and sooner or later some girl who was actually a genuinely great girl who fancied me got a raw deal... I dated her and never gave up hope of the former girlfriend a really bad thing to do... and this in itself was the cause of the breakup with the second girl through 1001 faults of MINE.

When I look back the first girl was spoiled, manipulative and never accepted me for what I was vs what her parents expected. The second girl was genuine, loving and altogether a much better match for me. (This is 20 yrs ago now) ... Believe it or not I often think of the 2nd one.. not the one who I couldn't let go of.

I blame myself for both.... I should have let go of the first one but also I should have not succumed to the other's advances until I had deal with this. As it turns out with perfect 20/20 hindsight the first one was never really a match... but i truly beleived she was at the time and still I allowed the ambiguity (and seperate uni's) to let me in.

I don't think this is your situation.... what i am trying to say is even had it been your situation I would have probably done the same thing sooner or later. In many ways I think this is a difference between guys and gals. A gal see's the ambiguity as a trust thing but a guy is more likely IMHO to see it as a I won't make that commitment thing and in the end most of us spend a inordinate amount of time thinking with the smaller of our two brains!

edits: She walked out.... ? Well technically I accepted a prestigious Masters .. offer only 50 miles away... but she was the one who said we should put the relationship on hold. In retrospect I walked out perhaps from her POV... but more likely from the slimy guy she was part of a house share with who wasted no time at all.

As a guy there isn't much you can do in this situation... except to say he's poisioning you against me which of course the slimy guy has already covered! If I was your ex right now and still loved you I would be really really suspicious of any guy willing to give up lecturing hours for you... and if that guy say's he expects nothing in return i would be 10x more suspicious.

I mention this because you have mentioned your ex occaissionally reads this board AND the other matter.

I am not in love with you (sorry you seem perfectly dateable ) but if I was this would certainly be playing on my mind. As a younger guy I would have dealt with this perhaps by sleeping with some other girl.... just to affirm my own self esteem.

BY LAW it is NOT made from Wheat Barley or Rye in the US (I think it's from corn/maize).

If "made in US" it is safe.

I'm not sure about by law. By law it should be labelled if its from wheat but as i understand it this is simply chance/economics that it is made from corn.

This may have changed but this is my recollection from older studies.

The biggest danger is that in the EU it is usually made from wheat... and dextrine is a commodity like any other.

If economics dictate it could be used from anything. My GUESS is the US has only a handful of processing plants making dextrine and maltodextrine on a large scale and these factories are not about to change if they are tooled up to corn.

What is more likely is someone buys maltodextrine from outside the US whicvh is unspecified. It all goes back to plausible deniability, they can claim it had no gluten warning and blame their supplier who is safely somewhere else.

In all probability its just undigested fat's.

Just got off the phone with the doctor.

He said:

-I shouldn't eat gluten if it makes me sick

-"The proof is in the pudding" (I.e. the fact that I feel so much better on a gluten-free diet means *something* is up, likely Celiac, and I shouldn't be eating gluten)

and last, but not least..

-No, I don't need to eat gluten in order for the antibodies to show up

WTF?!!!!????????????????? This contradicts everything I've heard and read, which say you DO have to be eating gluten in order for the antibodies to show up.

But guess what? I've let go of the outcome. After 48 hours trying a "gluten challenge" I grew tired of being so sick and I've been strictly (stricter than ever!) gluten-free again since Saturday afternoon. I'm going to take the blood test next weekend and if it comes out negative - Well, so be it.

I also sent away for the full Enterolabs panel today so hopefully that will give me some answers.

I would not take the tests if I were you. A false neg is not a good thing to have for many reasons.

Your Dr. may be less than knowledgeable on the tests but most Dr.s don't want to admit to mistakes like this.

You can find yourself in a position insurance wise where you have to write you tested negative.

On the other hand, if you push them for this on what they said then you can get a +ve diagnosis and always claim later, if its convenient for insurance etc. you were never tested.

On the other hand you might be in a position needing to prove this (hospital etc.) and you can say the Dr. stopped the challenge because your reaction was so severe.

Really think about this... I'll try and find some med papers, you do the same which state the eating gluten before testing.

I will 3rd avocado's

Often more regualr sized meals is better than increasing portion size or just adding calories.

Take small meals and a rest afterwards, Sumo eat mainly vegetable soup ... just lots and sleep after.

Doing exersize will stimulate appetite.

I don't think simply consuming high calorie foods is the way to go. Many times those are empty calories. If you can, you should try and seek out a nutritionist. If you want more calories, get them from eat a good diet, just a lot of that diet. At your age your body is growing and can take in one heck of a lot of calories. But that changes one day. smile.gif

But its true, you are what you eat.

Also, chew your food, eat slowly. Make it easy for your body to extract nutrients from what you eat.

It is unfortunately all to common a problem.

The best suggestion I can think of is most people shy away because its weird, minority disease ...etc. etc.

If you can get one of them to accompany you to a local support group then they might slowly come to realise its more common and the symptoms more diverse than they think.

I'd have to disagree with you. There are many types of cow's milk cheese I used to enjoy. It's just a matter of personal taste if you only have found two that you like.

For me it was largely a backwards process. When I decided to reduce cow milk products I actually realised that most of the ones I actually REALLY liked were sheep or goats.

It might just be personal taste....but it might also be a bit of the body knowing what's good and bad?

I have to be really strict with myself over cheese in any event because I can't afford the calories so I started thinking, if I'm only having a small amount infrequently I should just buy what I really like regardless of cost.

When I did this I just found that nearly all the cheeses I really loved were sheep and goat and the odd buffalo but most of the chesses I could take or leave were cow. Like you point out cow cheese is a pretty new affair and most of the cheeses I like pre-date the dominance of cow milk.

But in any case, no cow's milk cheese is in my future, including Parmagiano Reggiano.

According to Dogtorj, cow's milk has only become a major component in the diet in the past 500 years, with the arrival of mass dairy businesses. Previously people mostly kept goats and sheep, which were more manageable.

I find that goat cheese is fine. I hate the taste of goat's milk, so I don't use it. Sheep's milk cheese give me the same casein reaction as cow's milk.

It looks like the dairy allergy or intolerance is a complex thing.

Open Original Shared Link

Yes I was giving the maximum lee-way since some cultures did or at least archaelogical evidence points that they did. Inparticualr the pre-dravidian peoples of the Indus valley...

With the exception of stilton and Parmigiano Reggiano there are really very few cheeses worth the name made from cows milk depending if you count buffalo as cow IMHO.

Also neither do goat or cheese products require pasturisation against TB and cheeses made from them contain many pro-biotics when not pasturised.

p.s. If you have never had real Parmigiano Reggiano it is nothing resembling the "copies" made in the US.

the cysts are not normal cysts, there like giant zits almost, like the ones on my legs i can squeeze really hard (hurts really bad to do) but i usualy can get them to burst and a nasty liquid comes out and then they go away in a few days but the one on my chest wont pop, and is starting to get longer and almost feels like its getting deeper

Sounds exactly the same. I find I have to cut them open or they just grow and grow. Obviously no Dr would agree on DIY but I'm not going to a Dr. everytime .. last time she wanted to refer me to a surgeon worried it would get infected etc. etc. then relented and finished it off herself and gave me a prescription for antibiotics and gauze etc.

I didn't bother with antibiotics since I never get infections anyway and mostly they mess up my stomach...

I believe it's the casein. When I tried to eliminate just the Lactose I only got limited results. I have a head full of hair, so if soy IS affecting me, it's not in that department! LOL

I actually started this whole journey by eliminating lactose, then added milk, then gluten. I really don't know if I could handle giving up any more right now! LOL

What kind of response did she have to it? What should I look out for?

That's the problem, D, indigestion ... pretty much the same as celiac disease.

I really don't think I'm having a reaction to it, but the only thing I do know is that my arthritis didn't rear it's ugly head until I went milk-free (and started injestion a lot more soy) but that seems like a pretty quick turn-around to me. Also, my migraines virtually DISAPPEARED after eliminating casein (and thus starting on the soy), so I don't know what to think.

I know its like a minefield.

Like I say I'm not rabidly anti-soy, I just minimise it.

The point is loads of stuff has soy and I don't want to have to cope with eliminating it altogether at a later date through provoking something now.

I'm a little suprised my doc recomended GOATS MILK. As a infant I couldn't drink cows milk but I could drink goats milk. I wonder why?

People have been drinking goat/sheep milk for a lot longer than cows milk. Goat/sheep milk has been around since man was a hunter gatherer ... cows milk is mainly only a dietry item for the last 10,000 yrs.

I work at a restaurant and while I don't actually cook/bake, I'm constantly handling gluten-filled products. I just make sure to thoroughly wash my hands and not touch my mouth or face while at work. I always shower when I get home, as well (more b/c I come home smelling like a Bloomin' Onion - I work at Outback haha!) I have no problems.

I think that if you use common sense and take the necessary precautions, you should be OK, but then again I don't know all the details of your situation...

- Lauren

I think there is a huge difference between handling cooked goods and actually kneading a dough.

I know from my gluten-free baking that it can get under nails, behind a ring and even inside the ring ... (just add food dye) and this is gluten free ... which is a lot less gluey than the real deal.

But even with this you can be diligent ... the problem is when you are baking and mixing flours they go everywhere and most people naturally don't pay much attention ... (why would they its just flour) ....

I'd say handling stuff like soy sauce is OK... especially if you wear gloves but actually baking is pretty much impossible.

Someone pointed out on a similar thread on eating out "we make our own luck" and its really true right up to when you can't control it anymore. As soon as the danger is others with airborne particles then this ends. IMHO.

However why not do most of the course, unless its specifically baking and actually use gluten-free items ... take your own ?

You do some of your best posts when you've been out all night!!

Perhaps but it would be silly to give someone advice on this when not 100%....

Why wait for a bus, you deserve to be riding in a LIMO and adored like a queen.

Quite a few people like buses.

When its a good one it brings social interaction... and you don't have the hassle or expense of maintaining something long term. If it doesn't go to the same place you want you can get off and catch another.

Yep, I know that. This guy went through a lot with me over the past few years, however, with my mother's long decline towards death, my health stuff, his degree and jobsearch and a union-organizing campaign that we both busted our butts for to the detriment of our personal stress levels -- and I can't fully blame him if it's been hard for him to tell me how much he cares. It's tough when a relationship is all about crises for a while because it also needs to be about joys and peace too. If he knew enough of me that he's still in love with me, we may have an opportunity to share some of that joy and peace. He may get to a point where he feels like telling me he adores me doesn't come with the price of having to share only suffering with me.

I am so getting in the space for joy and peace and celebration right now.

My concern is that you both put your education first (good thing) but didn't really deal with that.

You parted on ambiguous terms ... and somehow unless you deal with this one way or the other it will continue to cast doubts. It could even wreck your next relationship.

The point is from all you say it sounds like you were both pulling back, you had perosnal issues, your mother etc. and the knowledge he was looking for the post in Indiana. It makes me fell like both of your were deliberatly not trying to make the relationship work because of doubts of the future and how this would impact the future.

I'm not disagreeing with

"Pretty darn well..." Excuse me, but I think you deserve more than pretty darn well! You deserve to have someone adore you, and realize that you are the greatest thing for him since sliced bread!

I think that your present ambiguous relationship could be harmful, especially long term. If you start to think about him as a fallback then that certainly isn't healthy and in contrast to what a few people have said: he deserves better than this.

Of course I don't know the guy but from what you have said, you are the one who under the circumstances you called engineered the present situation. You left it ambiguous ... and he dated somemone else.

From a guy perscpective that is self defense!

You are a beautiful and intellegent women ... you may not have known at the time but her certainly knew you could have your choice of hundreds of guys.... and you were the one to call the time-out.

I think in the coming weeks, after your thesis is completed you need to resolve this one way or another. If you don't it will eat away at you. If you wait 12 weeks instead of 6 and he knows you have passed then don't be too surprised if he takes this as a signal that its over, remember guys have feelings and self esteem issues too, we just share them less! IMHO you need to tie the loose ends... and right now you have a hanging thread waiting to be unravelled.

You can cut it off or sew it back in.... but if you leave it sooner or later it will get caught.

Right now you have other proirities but the ambiguous part is not helping either of you IMHO.

I think you need to at least tie this loose thread off ... you can deal with cutting it or sewing it later but in real terms you should at least have a firm agreement about dating other people both ways. The thing is girls deal with this much better than guys and you are leaving him exposed and in a position where he might do something against his better judgement for defensive reasons.

You also don't mention if he's still seeing this new girl....and perhaps you don't know or even want to know?

Hah -- I must get off this computer. I confess that I did celebrate a bit too much at a wine-tasting party last night and I'm feeling the effects -- haven't been drinking anything lately, so it hits me hard if it's more than one glass.

eleep

Sorry been out all night and not really in a good state to give proper advice but i'll get back tomorrow with a male perspective for you. Promise.

OMG ~ are you saying that Stongbow cider (UK) is not gluten-free? I am about to embark on a gluten-free diet and had thought that I could replace my pints of lager with a nice cold pint of Stongbow instead ohmy.gif !!!

Does this apply to all cider do you know?

First off its based on the fact the caramel color is itself not gluten-free but this is then diluted. Its something I find I can stomach a little of ..but not regularly. I'm the same with vodka... i can risk an odd one every so often but if I drink one measure a day for a week it hits me.

Strongbow also make 5 other ciders .. I forget which exactly.

obviously colored ciders are higher risk so perhaps try diamond white or K but beware they are 7.2 and 8.4% (from memory)

Also "real cider" is obviously gluten-free.... as well so depending where you live you might have options instead of strongbow.

Just to add my scepticism on the companies is partly through sitting through a meeting once on forecourt plastic bags. (waiting for my meeting)

The discussion hinged on providing stronger or weaker bags and a risk assesment of what would be spilled onthe forcourt. Several pro-thinner bag people stated the fact if something falls through the customer is likley to buy another and the other side we arguing that cleaning it up was cost prohibitive and that coke is one thing but inflammables another. (in a gas station)

What struck me is noone actually cared one iota about the customer.

I am doing well. I've been teaching and working on getting myself through my Ph.D. qualifying exams -- there have been some hitches with funding and such that have kind of made me stressed at times, but they are things I can deal with -- although they may mean that I don't finish this degree in the long run, I think I'm in a position where I could make that decision out of my own power and not because I was forced into it.

It has helped a lot to be healed/healing -- I think my head is clearer than it's been in my entire adult life. One thing I've realized is that I'm actually a very good teacher when I'm healthy -- and I get a lot of joy and pleasure out of teaching. This gives me hope because I realize that I don't necessarily need the Ph.D. to teach.

I'm also getting a lot of good feedback on my research -- which does make me excited about finishing the degree, but it will take a lot of time and I'm not sure whether the resources are there or not. This is kind of a limbo-time for me because getting through a certain amount of the degree may make some alternative money sources more available to me, so I just kind of have to keep my nose to the grindstone and not look up and worry about things too much.

My ex-boyfriend and I had a very good and loving series of discussions before he left town to take a professorship in Indiana. We are in "no contact" until November and then we're going to talk about where we are and what we want. The last few months while he's been in town have been full of drama and miscommunication -- which was very stressful as we were both reacting to the suddenness and confusion of our break and -- I now realize -- both really very much still caring about each other. He kind of turtled in a big way and wouldn't talk to me -- and I reacted by sending a bunch of email as we couldn't totally avoid each other and I was confused.

I set that "no contact" period myself before we'd talked because I'd been assuming that we were done for good and I knew I needed that time to heal and get over him. I was kind of humbled by the revelation that he's still open to possibilities in the future. What is clear to me now is that I love this guy more than I've ever loved anyone and I think he's loved me pretty darn well too. We have a lot of good things together, but we weren't ready for the kind of long-term commitment-leave town together thing we were trying to force to happen -- among other things, I really needed to get my health issues sorted out. I know that he needs to figure some things out as well -- we both need space, although -- if I finish my qualifying exams, I may contact him with the good news because he's someone who knows how much this means to me -- I may rescind the agreement temporarily after six weeks instead of twelve.

So -- I'm in limbo with that as well. I'm trying to think that I'm not "waiting around" for something that will never happen, but I'm not exactly out there looking for a replacement. Mostly I'm just focused on my schoolwork right now. Although we haven't set parameters on whether to date other people (and it was some confusion about his dating someone right after the breakup that added to the stress, anger and miscommunication), I'm not really dating anyone because I know this guy is still very much in my heart and I want to give us a chance -- moreover, I want myself to be whole and I know that getting involved with someone else right now -- even getting intimate on a casual basis -- might be something that would go to my head too much. I got into something like that after a very serious relationship in my 20's and ended up thinking I was in love, had met "the one" and spent two miserable years with a guy I don't even care to talk to ever again.

It has been nice to be single and talk to men and find out that I'm still very interesting and dateable -- however, I also know that it takes a long time to build into the kind of relationship I was in before, and I'm at a point in my life where I'm pretty sure that's the kind of thing I want. I'm taking the dating thing very lightly.

I am learning a lot about what it means to love in all senses of the word -- with my family, the friends who are truly important (still haven't been able to respond to the friend who emailed me -- she is important to me, but I have had to expend so much effort already trying to do damage control on the close ones who reacted strongly to the celiac that I'm too tired -- there will be time for me to make amends and such if she and I are to be friends in the future, but I'm trying to learn not to lean and I think too much of my relationship with her was based on our mutual leaning on each other -- and she's not very supportive of my other choices in life, I think there's a degree of competitiveness involved that I don't have room for anymore).

So -- that's where I am -- in limbo, but learning that small things in life make me very happy! Someone posted something on this site about a quote that runs something like: work slowly, love fully whenever you can -- that's what I'm trying to keep in mind as I work through this stuff.

Hey, your definately datable and he knows that too.

I know this sounds harsh but you should be telling him this !!!

Obviously your doctrate comes first now but since you are so dateable you wouldn't want him loosing interest at the wrong time for want of you telling him what you feel!

Like I said all relationships involve two people and when they go bad mostly its just they are receptive to things at different times .... one makes and effort and the other rebukes... thinks about it and makes an effort and the other one is still affronted and rebukes ...

After a while we become scared of making the effort for fear of rebuke!

You can say how you feel, ask about setting boundaries for "other "relationships (your hardly missing out here in the run up to your thesis and you don't sound comfortable anyway so ....) and not promise anything except looking over the situation in 6 weeks or 12 if you prefer.

I hope it all works out for you....

i dont get how im not fully healed yet, its been like 5 months gluten free now, and i dont think i had that much damage to begine with. as for the cysts, i showed the doctor the one i have on my back about 3 months ago, he said its a benin cyst and just to put a warm compress on it and it will drain, aparently cysts are not bad unless they are under the muscle/ bone/ whatever but if they are above the skin like mine they should be fine (or atleast i hope)

wish i could ask family for money but my dad is a dick and even if he had money he would not give it to me (seeing as he stole over 1k from me while i was living there) and my mom lives in another state i dont even know what state so i cant ask her. i dout the meds will even help anyways probably just a waist of money

Lister, I get these as well after glutening. I think its the body getting rid of the toxins.... i got a huge one i drained myself but had to see my GP a day or so later.. course she went ballistic at self surgury (it was right in the middle of my back so it required mirrors LOL), she always does even though she admits my stitching is better than hers. (I even got complimented by a vascualr surgeon friend)

Anyway she was not ready to say they were not gluten related and even said "sounds plausible"

Lots of other toxins are expelled this way (as you may know if you ever had to take a drug test) so my feeling is your body is actually purging the stored up gluten.

I agree with others, get a handle on the gluten/milk thing first, worry about soy when you're up for it.

Mia

Well the other way is cut out everything right at the beginning and then slowly introduce?

I think summer is perhaps the easiest time to do this if you decide.

One reason is that the casein allergy and lactose intolerance can both be exasperated by the gluten and damaged villi and many people find they can add limited amounts back after a while.

I'm not rabidly anti-soy but I definately watch it... Far too many people with one auto immune response seem to trigger others. My mother has almost identical glutening symptoms as myself (not surprising really) but she reacts really badly to soy. She spent (or more accurately wasted) a year of her life in misery after starting eating soy in any quantity (before this she was a vcery occiasional soy sauce person but not TSP or other soy products...

It took her a year to be REALLY gluten-free as well so its hard to tell but she now tolerates the small amount of soy in some of her meds.

There are quite a number of food manufacturers whose labels you CAN trust to reveal any gluten sources. Most companies do not lie, despite what a few people claim.

The companies that lie directly and knowingly are probably very few but there are quite a few whom deliberately prevent themselves from finding out and rely on plausible deniability.

Other's tend to rely on vague definitions of gluten free etc.

I don't think most of them are a problem as one-offs ... in some cases CC can be a specific batch and in others a very small part of a coloring or additive.

I think one thing to be aware of is if these become "safety foods" because then you are repeating the poisioning and obviously the batch thing can be a problem if you buy 20 from the same batch.

An example of both types might be tortilla chips... they might have flavored chips then run along the same lines etc. so one batch might be after say the cheese flavor which they label as containing wheat and another the end run.

If you tend to fall back on a specific brand of tortilla chips (something I did for a while) then these can be really confusing. I think most of us have fluctuating sensitivities anyway depending on other factors, not least what else we ate that day but also just general health ... and having two identical looking bags one which makes you ill and the other not can be really confusing.

This in itself can lead to cutting out other things from a diet because you have decided product X is safe.

The only way you spot it is a really detailed food diary ....

Equally a lot of manufacturers just play pass-the-blame. They don't ask and don't want to be told but if they get caught out have the fallback of saying it was a problem with the supplier of a certain additive.

The new food labelling laws however seem to be helping in that the company can only pull the stunt once.

Caramel color and maltodextrose are safe.

This seems to be true in the US but its mainly by chance. In Europe a lot of both caramel color and maltodextrine its precursor and dextrine it's precursor are made from wheat.

Europe has a huge surplus of wheat by products, indeed there is an EU award given to the most innovative use of wheat byproducts each year! (Its not given by the EU but by a lobby group led by the growers) and so its not impossible that this could find its way into say Mexican products.

Then its down to the definition of gluten free. Strongbow cider is "glutenfree" in the UK but not in Australia for this reason. The caramel color itself is not gluten free by either definition. You can opnly find this out by asking directly if the products used to make the (in this case cider) are gluten free.

From a personal standpoint (no doctor stuff here), I have found that when I have glutened, either intentially or unintentially, especially over a period of time - say a week on vacation with eating out every meal - when I am in the recovery period, I sometimes get reactions to foods I had not reacted to before. For example, about 6 years ago I thought I had developed a lactose intollerance, but I can associate it to a time when I was also consuming gluten. After several months of lactaid, and gluten free, I was then able to consume all dairy with the exception of a glass of milk - that still does me in. Weird as I can add real cream or 1/2&1/2 to coffee without issue.

I am aware that there is (was) a suggestion about a genetic link to lactose intollerance and sprue.

I can go a but further (and we discussed these things before at length ) but all my intolerances dissapear or are much less pronounced gluten-free.

Of all things I have a allergy to lavendar (kinda ironic) and geraniums. A drop of perfume with lavendar oil will bring me out in a huge rash when glutened and pre gluten-free ... but when gluten-free i can actually just get a very mild irritation from pure lavendar oil (I can't help myself, I'm a scientist before you ask why would I put pure lavendar oil on me)

Hay fever is exactly the same.... and exactly as you describe, a single glutening however big doesn't trigger it but seperate smaller but sustained episodes do...

Regarding imodium - I will never touch the stuff! I've had some abdominal surgery (again as a kid - such a fun childhood!) and several bowel obstructions requiring adhesiolysis. Last time I tried imodium I felt like I did when I was obstructed. I usually take Kaopectate to try to slow things down - but the caplets I had were expired and I didn't feel like being far from the toilet yesterday. Pepto leaves my tongue black and doesn't seem to help at all.

Isn't bismuth subsalicylate the active ingredient in both?

On immodium.... yep it can be a bit too much but for me I find the physchological and neurological effects much worse than the actual D.

I mean yep D is embarassing, cramps can be painful etc. but I find what we call "brain fog" is the worst aspect for me. I can't think of anything else that binds so effectively to the endorphin receptors (but Im not an MD so perhaps you can) but its pretty much engineered to do that, all round a better go at engineering opiates than heroine turned out to be! Talking of that kaolin and morphine is very effective still if you can get it!

The banana daquiris helped last night - I'm actually contemplating eating today...

That's good. Other light things that can help are peppermint tea... and a lot of people swear by cabbage ... I'm not a huge fan myself but add it to my chicken soups. Any or all of these might just be placebo but there are much worse ones than banana daquiri and who really cares if you feel better anyway?

Put in some white wine, a little water, lemon juice and/or fresh lemons.... thyme, sage, rosemary are good seasonings.

mmmmm

I like a bit of tarragon as well.

Another way I season which is kinda lazy is put the herbs (garlic of you wish) in a cup with some butter and micro till its just soft enough (or leave butter out) and then cut the skin and stuff the seasoning inside. If you use butter or oil for this it tends to self baste (hence lazyness) and usually since we are only 2 the part we want is nicely done for us... the bottom part usually ends up in the stock pot anyway

Call it IBS, additional food intolerance or a touchy digestive sysyem--I continue to have problems over a year after beginning the gluten-free diet.

I almost never eat out (2 times since), bring my own homecooked food on trips, don't eat processed food at all anymore and cook or prepare everything I put in my mouth.

I wouldn't think of touching malt or grain alcohol--and I believe that for me, zero ppm (as close as I can realisticly get) is the only acceptable level.

Not everyone with "IBS" as well as Celiac is less than dilligent with their diets--can't always tell a book by it's cover

Sorry you're right, I was really countering that against the IMHO silly statement that patients with IBS show no reposnse higher than placebo on gluten-free diets. I hope you recover fully, my mother took a lot longer than me, I think that the longer you eat gluten the longer the repair process and in the really unlucky ... (well lets hope that's not you)... sorry, I bunched you together with others, its always a danger in statistical statements ....

Russ, I just wanted to extend the welcome here:

I have to say your story sounds exceptional in that you are an MD ready to accept.

(i deliberatly left that open as in page left intentionally blank)

We have had a few MD's and a few have left ... largely down to (IMHO) making statements like "Do you seriously beleive 1 crumb can hurt you" and then getting a whole load of people who have experienced this and then telling them basically their opinion is worth nothing if they didn't spend 10yrs in med school (and I have a set of nasty pm's from the last one when I contradicted him... as have others!)

You sound very open and willing to accept that not all experience by non trained physicians is rubbish

Few of us here were as "lucky" as you with diagosis, as one ex-active member wrote as a MD specialising in GI issues "I have seen thousands of patients but non had celiac disease" .. as someone pointed out even with the general population this just means he misdiagnosed hundreds

My information about the vinegars comes from older materials from a dietician who I respected. I would agree that the malt aspect affect some but not others. I have “heard” various information regarding apple cider, malt, and balsamic vinegars, but do not have any conclusive information about any of them.

Is the type of statement I like to read

However just as a pointer you already half answered this in your first post and accepting that perhaps the duodenum becomes more sensitive.

A lot of “enlightened” physicians are beginning to recognize that some people diagnosed with IBS actually have food allergies, and most of those are CS.

I think we are including you in the enlighted group

Strangely enough the MD who sent me the nasty pm's said (and I quote)

I can guarantee you that if a GI sees many patients with irritable bowel syndrome improve with the gluten free diet he/she would be the first to publish that as first case studies in a journal of gastroenterology, and than research would follow. The problem is people with IBS don't improve on a gluten free diet more than would be expected due to a placebo response.

Sorry, back to your luck at being diagnosed early....(I am not blaming you in anyway here, I just want to prepare you for a few responses BEFORE you get them to those who didn't take the time to read your post....)

Many of us were not... many spent years being told it was in our heads, we were hypochondriac and a few like my mother referred for physchiatric help. Some of us have an occiasional need to vent... and their are still far less enlightened physicians regarding celiac disease than enlightened ones. Please realise that non of this is personal and if you explain as you did here you will be highly valued as a member and if a few people complain from time to time they are having a bad day or more likely just had a bad visit to a MD

-Are bananas still considered one of the best ways to help “cure” a bad reaction? I can understand the K+ replacement aspect (I’m having muscle weakness and some neuropathies today), but is there anything else to the magic banana? Any other “remedies” other than time?

-Taco Bell is bad? The ground beef contains fillers? Are the chicken or beef strips marinated in something evil?

-Any other fast-food surprises? Other than the obvious (KFC, Popeyes, etc).

-I thought all grain based alcohols were a big no-no, especially the bourbons, whisky, and Scotch categories. Chopin Vodka is the only potato-based vodka readily available in the USA, but I really like Abosult and Grey Goose.

-I know about balsamic vinegar, and white pepper – but other surprise gluten containing compounds?

Personally I find chicken soup very watery with cabbage and soft vegetables (or more accurately fruits) like zuccini ... as good a recovery as anything ....

The best control is possibly IMHO immodium and I believe (no evidence) this is because of the bonding to the endorphin receptors, my theory is the more are bonded to immodium the less are available to gluten and hence particualrly for neurological effects early immodium can offset the effects as well as its other more widely used purpose! However liquid immoium apparently contains gluten (Really perhaps I am paranoid) ... and I use sublingual in a first suspicion incidence to beat the breakdown of the protein and binding to the endorphin receptors.

Fast food surprises: nice way to put it.. how about battered onion rings in fries?

Grain based alcohol.... probably one of the bigger sources of disagreement here....

My opinion as someone who has spent a long time doing predictive modelling of multiphase eutectics is it will take a better man than me to say definately NO.

My general rule on gluten is "if in any doubt, leave it out!" I don't believe in waiting for someone to conclusively prove one way or another.

Many celaics continue with IBS.... you can make up your own mind who they are and read their posts. My own qualitative experience is that those who have IBS as well as celiac disease are the ones who think 200ppm is OK, malt is safe and grain alcohol is fine.

I think like fiddle-faddle that if both your ex and your friend are saying the same things then its likely got some substance.

I don't really see it as bad she waited 2 years... perhaps she thought this was the soonest you could take it.

Perhaps you had a need for someone who would listen and say "aha" ... and she thought that was what you needed not criticism.

If its a long letter (email whatever) she obviously put some thought into it and I doiubt she would do that if she didn't care!

If he ends up being that great guy and it was all because you were sick, then both of you may see it ... if it happens that way, don't let it go. I have a feeling it's not going to happen that way from what you've said, but if it does ... definately see him before he leaves ... you need to know.

True and men are like buses, another will be along.

More seriously ... relationship problems are rarely single sided. Bad relationship problems need both parties to be antagonistic but that doesn't mean you cannot learn from the experience.

I think my ex would kick herself in many ways from what I learned AFTER the breakup of the relationship (in this case marriage) ... but I think also it was the only way I would actually learn it.

Pliny said time spent not learning is time wasted... I don't agree, he obviously missed self analysis because he spent an inordinate amount of time eating and he obviously enjoyed that but in many ways its true.

This is the way humans learn... we don't get things right the first time or even second, we need a defining moment in many cases to self-analyse ... and this process can be painful.

And me, it´s really weird because when I feel ill I don´t normally want to even think about food but when it´s a gluten problem I feel absolutely starving. I don´t even want to take time to cook - any old thing will do and I crave glutenous food more than anything.

Its not weird its perfectly normal.

Its called withdrawal and its no different from someone quiting smoking and craving these foods.