Celiac Disease

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user 135067

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I was stupid yesterday and I paid the price.

I was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2008. For decades prior I was misdiagnosed which left me in excruciating pain and many visits to the emergency room.

A celiac attack is unmistakably a celiac attack. I understood that almost as quickly as I went to a gluten free diet. I have to avoid wheat, barley and rye. There are other products like malt that contain gluten. Now they are saying possibly oats.

Foods producers have to register and undergo stringent processing tests before they can legally label their products as gluten free. Gluten must not exceede 20 parts per million. It's expensive to put GF on your product. As such it's not unusual that I might pay $7 to $9 for a loaf of bread.

Point of interest: A celiac attack can be triggered on as little a 2 parts per million.

I have to read ingredients on every eatable I buy, including medications. There are a lot of products that don't contain wheat/gluten but do not have the gluten free designation, so they don't cost as much. By law they have to have an allergy warning. The most common are "may contain traces of wheat" or "processed on machinery that also processes wheat".

I usually avoid anything that mentions wheat on the package. But you know... it's just a formality in a lot of cases. The product can still be completely gluten free. Often it isn't much of a risk, as long as there are no gluten elements in the ingredient list.

So, I'm having a difficult time finding a granola cereal. Lots of them are gluten free. They cost quite a lot, but my gripe is they ALWAYS have cinnamon, or maple, or some other stupid flavor that if I wanted it it would be easy enough to add.

I just want grains. Just grains. You know... grainola.

So I find one. Great Value brand. The ingredients were okay. It was like, $3. GREAT! For once I don't have to pay out the ass because of my health issues. At the bottom; may contain traces of wheat.

Pfffff, it's just that rubber stamp legal disclaimer.

So about 3 AM I'm brought awake with that old familiar pain in my guts. I writhed for over an hour. It finally eased up, but my nights sleep was out the window.

That's maybe the third serious attack I've had in the decade plus of my diagnosis. Cealiac disease is an autoimmune disorder where gluten triggers an autoimmune response as if it were an invading infection. But the response doesn't stop and it literally eats your digestive tract. More specifically, the lining of the small intestine. This results in a deficiency to absorb nutrients.

The damage heals in time. But what harm does it cause meanwhile.

I recommend everyone take a month off from gluten at least once. Be strict about it. You will know soon enough if you are one of the world's 50 million people that don't know they have celiac disease.

Public service message: https://celiac.org/

20 Things You Might Not Know About Celiac Disease​

Last Updated: January 13, 2022
  1. Celiac disease is a chronic autoimmune disease, which means that you cannot “grow out” of it.
  2. 1 in 100 people worldwide have celiac disease.
  3. Celiac disease affects an estimated three million Americans.
  4. Approximately 60-70% of Americans with celiac disease are not diagnosed and are needlessly suffering.
  5. People with a first degree relative with celiac disease have a 1 in 10 chance of developing celiac disease themselves.
  6. More children have celiac disease than Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis, and Cystic Fibrosis combined.
  7. Celiac disease can affect every organ in your body.
  8. Lifelong adherence to the gluten-free diet is the only treatment for celiac disease.
  9. Approximately 50% of diagnosed patients still report symptoms while on a gluten-free diet.
  10. There is an average delay of 6-10 years for an accurate celiac disease diagnosis.
  11. Without a timely diagnosis, celiac disease can lead to intestinal cancers, type 1 diabetes, osteoporosis, thyroid disease, multiple sclerosis, anemia, infertility and miscarriage, epilepsy, and more.
  12. There are more than 200 symptoms associated with celiac disease.
  13. Many people with celiac disease are asymptomatic, meaning they don’t experience any external symptoms at all. However, everyone with celiac disease is still at risk for long-term complications.
  14. Celiac disease can develop at any age after people start eating foods or medications that contain gluten.
  15. The later the age of celiac disease diagnosis, the greater the chance of developing another autoimmune disorder.
  16. There are two steps to being diagnosed with celiac disease: the blood test and the endoscopy.
  17. People with celiac disease have an increased incidence of microscopic colitis and inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis).
  18. People with celiac disease may have lactose and/or fructose intolerance, both of which can be diagnosed by a hydrogen breath test.
  19. People recently diagnosed with celiac disease are commonly deficient in fiber, iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, folate, niacin, riboflavin, vitamin B12, and vitamin D.
  20. Any food product that is labeled “gluten-free” cannot contain more than 20 parts per million of gluten, which is the safe threshold of gluten consumption for people with celiac disease.
 
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Removing Gluten from your diet really sucks! While I don't have Celiac Disease I'm definitely Gluten sensative. I was having a real problem with arthrist in my joints and lots of itching all over my body. I still have permanent damage from the arthrist flare up. I was really irritable. I was like always at a 8 or 9 ready to go off on someone. The doctors were no help as usual. So, I just tried all kinds of different things and eliminating stuff to see if anything made a difference. I thought the entire Gluten free movement was just the latest BS. But, I gave it a try. OMG, about two weeks after I was 100% gluten free I realized how calm I was. My joints felt much better. I no longer had a hair trigger temper.

I have since noticed I can tolerate some gluten, thank goodness for that. However, I mostly eat gluten free. You definitely have to change your perception of food. Gluten free flour is NOT the same as regular flour. But, I buy gluten free chick pea flower in bulk. I make pancakes using 25% chick pea flour, 70% oats, and 5% half a banana and add some cinnamon. I mix the dry stuff first then add water. I do NOT use butter or put anything on them. I like them. But, they are definitely NOT like regular pancakes.

I feel your pain on trying to find gluten free products. But, they are becoming more common now. It seems like most pizza places have gluten free pizzas now. They are usually about the same price. But, they are WAY smaller.
 
I use Pamela's GF pancake mix. A good many other GF flours are marketed by Bob's Red Mill.

In 2008 GF was horrid. Pizza tasted like cardboard. Breads were dry and crumbly. It's a lot better these days. Still not the same. Canyon Bake House is likely my favorite loaf bread. Schar Caibatta are the best rolls. Most like real bread that I've found. I'll use them instead of sandwich rolls/buns.

It's still a pain in the ass trying to keep to the diet. I'm trying to cut back on carbs, so I don't buy as much GF any more. If I could give up carbs completely GF wouldn't be an issue.

But I still want to find a granola that is just the grains.
 
OMG, about two weeks after I was 100% gluten free I realized how calm I was. My joints felt much better. I no longer had a hair trigger temper.
This occurred to me today. Thanks.

My son is explosive. I mean he can be out of control pissed at the least little thing. Of course convincing him he should try gluten fee for any length of time... well, he'd get angry and start punching holes in the walls again.
 
Interesting. I have two cousins who have celiac disease and they struggle staying gluten free, too.

Are Rice Krispies acceptable? Are rice Chex acceptable?
 
This occurred to me today. Thanks.

My son is explosive. I mean he can be out of control pissed at the least little thing. Of course convincing him he should try gluten fee for any length of time... well, he'd get angry and start punching holes in the walls again.
After I noticed the really obvious improvement on my irritability I started wondering how many people that have impulse control issues actually have gluten issues. I know I was quick to get into road rage situations. If someone cut me off I had to even the score without even thinking. After gluten free, I was like look at that ahole. He cut right in front of me. He's driving a real POS too. And then before you knew it he was already way ahead of me and I realized I wasn't even angry about it. Instead I just kind of laughed and was happy it didn't really bother me.
 
Interesting. I have two cousins who have celiac disease and they struggle staying gluten free, too.

Are Rice Krispies acceptable? Are rice Chex acceptable?
It depends. Naturally rice has no gluten in it. But, additives can add gluten to it. Also it matters if items containing gluten used the same tools/containers/whatever to create the products. Gluten is in almost everything. It works great as a glue to hold ingredients together. You really have to get back to the basic foods if you really want to be gluten free.
 
What happens to me is that I allow myself to enjoy something with gluten in it like flower tortillas (cheese crisps). I tell myself not to have anything else like that for a few days. But, before long I'm back to eating more and more gluten, then I get itchy and cranky and realize I need to stop eating gluten again. Ha! ha!

What's really tough is when you want to go gluten free, meat free, fruit free, sugar free, cholesteral free, and fat free and still eat healthy. There's not much left. You just stick to vegetables. However, if you eat too many of certain vegetables it will cause other problems.

I really wish something like healthy People Chow came in a 40 pounds bag and could be eating all the time like dog food. I would totally do that. Ha! Ha!
 
Interesting. I have two cousins who have celiac disease and they struggle staying gluten free, too.

Are Rice Krispies acceptable? Are rice Chex acceptable?
Rice Checks and Corn Checks say gluten free right on the box. Not sure about Rice Crispies but I think so.

Cheerios are gluten free.

If you are into candy, all Tootsie products are gluten free.
 
"Kellogg’s Rice Krispies are made with malt, which comes from barley and may contain gluten; therefore, they are not labeled gluten free. "
Yeah, I was really pissed when I found I couldn't have Oveltine. Malt. Who doesn't like a chocolate malt? Bummer.
 

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