I am wondering if any one here has a gluten intolerance (celiac disease)? Lately, I just haven't felt like myself, and remember a while ago hearing someone tell me about how they had a gluten intolerance, and some of their symptoms. So, I googled it, and went to wikipedia.com for a further explanation of what is it, and the symptoms seem to really match the way I've been feeling, and can sometimes be coupled with lactose intolerance, and/or nutrient deficiencies. Does any one know what the process of being diagnosed entails? Or, tell me alittle more about it? Thanks!
Forget being diagnosed. The available tests for celiac aren't very reliable, though there is a new genetic test which is nearly 80% reliable (but you might still be in that 20% for whom it's worthless). The normal food allergy tests almost never show up gluten intolerance, but sometimes they do. They can do a bowel/intestinal biopsy, which sounds really scary to me, and still is less than 50% reliable. If you really want a doctor's blessing, find a nutritionist who has lots of experience helping celiac patients and kids on the autism spectrum. The only real way to know for sure if it's a problem is to stop eating gluten, and see what happens. There's a problem with that, too, as most people intolerant to gluten are addicted to it and have a really bad withdrawal reaction when they cut it from their diet too fast. So they have this withdrawal when they aren't eating any gluten, which is pretty much the same as the reaction they have to eating it, and they think it can't possibly be the problem because they haven't had any gluten in their diet lately. http://www.celiac.com/index.html http://www.gfcfdiet.com/ http://users.bigpond.net.au/allergydietitian/fi/foodintolerance.html http://www.generationrescue.org/what_action.html I get lots of food from http://www.glutenfreemall.com/ as even paying shipping it's still less expensive than the one and only health food store we have here in town. As far as symptoms go, my kids and I mostly exhibit autistic behavioral issues when we eat gluten. Just the tiniest bit from cross-contamination (like if our food was prepared on a surface that had wheat-containing food on it) will cause us major uncontrollable rage. As an adult, I've learned to not lash out, but my kids don't have that ability yet, and will throw the scariest fits imaginable, screaming, breaking things, hurting themselves and other people around them. We also are highly over-sensitive to sounds, smells, textures, bright lights, etc. But our sensory issues are no longer as much of a problem since we no longer eat any sort of gluten (exept inadvertently). We also have aversions to certain foods, and mild food allergies, again it's not as bad anymore since we stopped eating gluten. My oldest child is now able to socialize with other children and talk to adults rather than hiding behind my legs in fear of all strangers. It's totally changed our lives in a huge way, I can't possibly express how much better things are for us now.
Thanks MamaBoogie! I think I will try slowly removing gluten from my diet, and see what kind of changes it makes. I haven't had autistic behavioral issues like you had mentioned. It seems like when I eat really anything with wheat... expecially cereals, I feel physically sick afterwards. I am trying to think if there is something I eat regularly, or if there is a certain ingredient that may be causing this. and, after all i've read up, and talked with people... the problem seems to be gluten. so, i'll do alittle experimenting with my diet, and see what happens. and, even if i did see an allergist, or nutritionist, i'd have to wait a few months, i just started a new job, and have to wait for insurance to re-instate. thanks for your help though! i think maybe even just cutting gluten out would have a positive benefit regardless of being allergic or not.
you might want to PM homeschoolmama. I think she or one of her kids has gone gluten free. She hangs around in Veg, too.
