Emotionally what's the hardest challe... - Gluten Free Guerr...
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I'm fed up with constantly being the odd one out at social events, work lunches, parties, funerals, weddings etc. It becomes very boring to always have to explain myself and run through the usual safety questions before I eat somewhere. You always feel like the alien coeliac until you meet another and feel like dancing for joy.
Yes I heard of a former colleague and then seen her a couple weeks ago and it WAS a dance of joy. We discussed, sadly, what bread she prefers LOL!!
Hi Maple, once we realise that our fears are not only rational but shared it is a great relief. But then there is the next step of discovering what we can eat and safely and what I always recommend that others do is google gluten free and their area to see what comes up and this came up for Canada in case you haven't come across it:
theceliacscene.com/gluten-f...
And if you click on ''stores and restaurants'' you can select your own province, city and district
It is nice to know gf friendly cafe's so that we can meet with friends and not feel like a freak, so I hope this helps and just remember it is one day and one step at a time and soon it will be second nature.
Oh thanx for that Jerry. That will come in very handy when I visit Canada at the end of the month.
Actually you sound like my GI consultant that I seen yesterday. Having him tell me that I was normal to be obsessing so much was a relief. It's really quite an experience to live through, as you know, and I realise the coeliacs before me, had a much tougher time. I thought I was quite knowledgeable regarding nutrition but this requires 24/7 blinkers on and that's tiring, til as the consultant said, I get the hang of it.
I've decided to make a weekly menu, then I can relax knowing it's sorted.
And to enjoy a wee whisky up here where the Romans wouldn't roam. 
My name is Jacqui, and I'm a coeliac 
Hi, Jacqui, me too,I am a Coeliac, and at first I would actually say I felt as though I had just been dropped off on another planet and had to find food that I could eat...
It feels so weird at first..I walked about feeling completely alien, but within a few weeks the traumas are over and it all falls into place, you learn to cook your own foods, what to substitute in emergency food situations,,for example, when I run out of gf bread, I make gf flour & egg pancakes for breakfast, it's a nice change, and fills the days before I get my prescription..
Does anyone have any practical advice for this? This, by far, gets me down the most. I loathe having to explain myself every single time I eat out - not just to waiting staff but guests too. Even worse is when one of your group pipes up with their expertise about "gluten intolerance" and it being a "fad". I want to die when this happens, it makes me so sad and angry - however little I try to show it. I hate talking about it, I hate being quizzed about it. What do you guys do?
Don't forget if you vote do leave a short comment. It's very useful for newbie coeliacs to get feedback from other coeliacs ; )
I found this difficult to answer as I try not to feel particularly hard done by for just having Coeliac Disease and certainly don't want it to stop me doing things. However, I do worry about eating out and getting glutened, plus feeling like a bit of a pain if ever eating at friends/relatives. I will avoid some social situations - for instance instead of going for drinks and food after work, I'd just go for the drinks so in that sense could feel like I was missing out. I haven't really been away since diagnosed and so that is my next worry.
I agree, it's rubbish being coeliac, but more rubbish if you have cancer etc. it's not always easy, esp eating out as I'm also veggie, and going abroad is a big hassle...but two of my three kids are still alive...really, having to eat a heathy diet isnt that big a deal. This is the first time I've not heard someone over dramatise it. Fruit, veg, wine....all good
Hi, Codycat, I was recently in Turkey, on holiday, my elderly stepfather couldn't quite understand what I meant by Gluten Free, so went ahead & booked 'all inclusive food'!, that package was completely at odds with my food needs of course, but I muddled through with lots of salad, & goat cheese, which was nice,,I was practically nil pasta, bread , cake or biscuits for a fortnight, but of course could eat potatoes & rice...it made a nice change, and I did feel well on it, the less cereal products , the better I felt, so I have to say, if I lived in a hot climate, I would probably do without many starchy foods altogether, as even the GF treated grains seemed to slow me down..in the Coeliac sense of the word..
I still find I feel alienated and feel like I'm missing out when it comes to social events and when someone fetches cake in to work.
If you can cook or ask a friend to do it, provide gf flour and bring along your own big lovely cake, for friends to have a share and taste what gf free is all about, the cakes I bake, are simple, just weigh eggs , match flour, butter, sugar, & some raising agent,,& they are actually a lot nicer than regular flour!
People will then go ahead and use GF flour for everyone, the next time..it's democracy in the kitchen..
I could have voted for all apart from guilt or binging. it is time consuming, harassing and socially exclusive but travel and eating out are the most overt bugbears. glad I haven't got a nut allergy, must be impossible
It a shame we can't click on more than one but a good idea non the less.
True Vince - but we wanted to see what the overall biggest emotional issue was. This is a topic that isn't discussed much so we hope that there will be some good open comments so those who feel low or have trouble with the GF diet can feel supported.
Has anyone tried Colostrum therapy for rebuilding the gut and eradicating Candida Albicans?
I now a few places to eat like Nandos are gluten free and Whetherspoons do gluten free meals too XX
I think the constant exhaustion and all the other associated autoimmune disease symptoms just constantly bring you down.
Agree. Diet doesn't bother me at all, I actually think it's a positive in many ways. But the impact of being even slightly glutened and the subsequent fatigue and exhaustion is so disproportionate and debilitating - I most defiantly find it harder than anything else associated with being coeliac.
Having coeliac is still very new to me and getting used to it so far has been ok apart from eating out. I feel like the fussy customer needing the allergy chart to see which products contain gluten or wheat etc.. I tend to turn down eating out generally now because i'd hate to be turned away when everyone else wants to eat there and i'd feel like i was burdening them..
For me the worst part of being coeliac is being left out of every blessed thing because of the stupid diet. For example today a colleague at work brought in some home made cakes and started handing them round - she knows I'm coeliac but came trotting up with them in her hand, looked at the cakes and suddenly said, 'oh, these contain self raising flour, that's all right isn't it' then looked puzzled when I declined as nicely as I could. I then had to sit and watch them eat the cakes without a care. For me that covers every thing I hate about being coeliac since it includes so many of the other issues mentioned
That's probably because we're all so polite to each other. I'll bet she probably just felt rude not offering you a cake. I used to eat all those cakes at work out of politeness too, and then spend ten minutes in the loo vomiting like the exorcist.... I knew they would make me ill (had no idea why) but was still too polite to refuse!
I think it's the same thing in reverse (if that makes sense), and I'm actually pleased now that I can say no thank you politely with good reason and people don't think I'm beingfussy or ungrateful. Now they understand, and they give me boxes of cakes to take home for hubbie....just in case he's missing out!
You are probably right but I am really very fed up of feeling like the poor relation. There are so many things I'm excluded from as a result of the rotten diet. I have tried bringing in my own stuff and offering round but certain members of the team treat the food like it's laced with arsenic. It is a very isolating situation
Taking my own lunch everywhere always takes some explanation and then you get the usual 20 questions. I get fed up of talking about it and if I hear the words "can you have that" again I'll flip!
I know what you mean. I have an elderly relative in the early stages of dementia. She seems to forget everything except the long list of really nice foods I'm not allowed. When she gets to the end of the list she asks about the weather and then starts all over again going through the list with me to see if I can have them. I get through the list at least three times every visit! We laugh about it afterwards (she has no idea what day it is but she can still tease me) but in all honesty I'd much rather have my problem than hers.
I also hate the "What can you eat" drives me nuts , I once explained to somebody what I can eat and after a detailed explanation she said " Can you eat salt" and then she gave me a recipe for something and asked if I could eat it with the words "I imagine so its vegetarian". I wanted to cry
I hate being that girl, sometimes I try so hard not to be the fussy eater I end up drinking rather than eating
I am very knew to this and felt that I could tick more than one. I find the whole thing very depressing and scary.
I too would have liked to vote for more than one but can understand why not. I was "glutened" on Thursday night and am still suffering this morning with diarrhoea and cramps. Living on warm water - any suggestions for a quick recovery would be appreciated.
You poor thing, I feel for you. It's probably the completely wrong thing to suggest medically, but I find giving my stomach something fibrous and normal to digest (like an apple) helps me if I've accidentally had gluten.
Thank you. I've got an apple handy, so will try and see what happens. Am sitting here feeling very sorry for myself. Hot wheat bag on my stomach to help with the pain. Its debilitating, just wish I could give myself a kick and get going!
I don't feel like an outsider, I jut get on with it, but I do find that I was over indulging in things I could eat that were g.f. cakes and biscuits ect for example I would buy and pkt of rice cakes and the whol lot would be gone in one sitting. this made me unhappy, so I now no longer buy anything gf like cakes and biscuits and eat only natural, I feel great, but the one thing I will not do is stop drinking I love my glass of wine with dinner. I have to add I have great friends and two great daughters in law, who make me feel special, and not a pain. so Iam lucky. eating out there is always something I can eat, its just having to go with it an not fight it, its taken me over 12 years Iam also Lactose intolarant, and soya, so hey not much choice! I had to go on a great and healthy diet.Lots of fish, chicken. loads of veg and salads, eggs meat and fruit, Just to feel well and slim is all the motivation I need, but give up the wine......... No way.
I ticked obsession with food, but to be honest that obsession has turned from negative to positive over the years of being gluten free. Nowadays I just love food, in a healthy way!
For everyone struggling with eating out, this may sound like broad advice, but truly I have found the more you do it the easier it gets. When you do it often, you get into your own rhythm of stating your needs and asking your questions. You also sharpen your senses for which places could cater for your needs the best. I was a recluse when first diagnosed, too shy to 'make a fuss' at a restaurant. Nowadays we eat out 2-3 times a week with success and no glutening incidents.
Its tiring constantly having to plan everything. There is very little spontaneity. Both my daughter and I are coeliac so I feel that I'm always planning - our lunches at work/school, cooking bread for breakfast (she can't do yeast either). She is going away next week and I am going to have to prepare all her meals and freeze them. Even going on holiday is a headache because I have to make sure I take enough gluten-free foods (pasta etc) so I don't spend the whole holiday running round trying to find some. Add to that the difficulty of going to restaurants - which I refuse to do on holiday just in case I get glutened and have to spend the next three days near the toilet!
So I would have chosen three
- obsessed with food and all the time and energy it takes
- isolation because I also have to take my food etc to family or work dos and deal with the comments
- fear of eating out because lets face it, most of them don't completely get it and there is often contamination at its best or ignorance at its worst
However negative that sounds, we still stay positive because we feel so much better since we were diagnosed and actually live again. And it could have been so much worse. And perhaps one day this will just be a bad memory when they finally find a cure....
I could also have ticked more than one choice, I feel the isolation of the work place and the ignorance of people who say "that if you eat gluten it won't harm you!" or that it is just a fad, another colleague has been diagnosed with CD and since then there does seem to be a GF option when cakes are offered. One of my colleagues got married recently and he had GF cup cakes which he brought into the office - sheer joy that there was something nice I could eat for a change rather than being the odd one out!
I'm a vegan and coeliac so I tend to be alienated quite a lot because even if there are gluten free options , they are pretty much never vegan. However I am pleased to see that a lot of shops now are stocking more gluten free food now than ever and I hope that it's only a matter of time before there are gluten free vegan options just as readily accessible
Indian food is normally ok ( they tend to use corn flour as a thickening agent in curry ) and as long as you avoid naan etc you should be ok. I go to India for 10 weeks at christmas and am normally fine. I also have the dermititus herpiformitus form of gluten allergy so am extra sensitive. Weatherspoons are great - they do a fantastic gf crumble.
I 'Voted' on behalf of my daughter I simply asked her what she found the hardest re:Coelaic Disease, she replied " Not allowed as many choices of food, being the only one". Amelie was diagnosed when she was 2 1/2 yrs old, she is now 6 and although I have tried to make life as 'normal' as possible at school for her i.e. I have done GF cookery recipes and lessons with her class, I make sure there are treats in her box at school, make sure there are GF cakes when it is her classes cake sale, you cannot cover everything!
I now refer to myself as being 'Special' rather than the odd one out. Having eaten normally for 27 years then being diagnosed coeliac (now 51) and not being able to eat all those delightful gluten filled items was rather hard. I have to say though, I do think it is a healthy diet and when everyone else is looking rather "muffin topped" at this age, I am still slim and feel fit and healthy. I was diagnosed with bi-polar 5 years ago and the struggle and run up to that was far harder than any gluten free diet. It's all too easy to moan and groan, but hey ho I'd rather look at the glass that's half full. x
I voted for fear of eating out, because I feel like 1 in 3 times I'll get ill from cross contamination.
One other thing that occassionally upsets me is the lack of being able to be spontaneous when it comes to food. This is especially true when on holiday - eating out takes a lot of planning and you can't just wander around and go to the place that takes your fancy.
On the plus side though, I've become sooo much better at cooking and make everything from scratch now, I've also discovered a passion for Indian curries.
I was diagnosed many years ago with celiac disease and back then there wasn't the glutten/wheat free foods that they have today!! So I stayed on the diet for quite some time, but eventually I went back to eating "regular" food and thought I was doing ok up until a year ago, then I ended up in the hospital!!! Oh boy was I sick!!! They did an endoscopy and told me that it was indeed the celiac disease that was causing my problems!!! I am now totally glutten/wheat free and plan to stay that way!! They have so much more of a variety now and I don't really find it that difficult, but the only problem I DO have is when going to a social function where it seems EVERYTHING being served is full of wheat and glutten!! But staying well is the most important thing!!!
I would have ticked several of these options if I could, because I feel the effects of most of them.
If I could list them in order of importance it would be:
1)Alienation. Mainly at work. Nobody cares if anything contains gluten because it suits 99% of the workforce. If I were muslim or Jewish my dietary requirements would be pandered to. Religion is a life choice. Coeliac Disease is not. I no longer talk to my work colleagues because of Coeliac Disease. I feel they are just not worth it. Eventually this will lose me my job because 'teamwork' is everything.
2)Fear of eating out. Especially when needing a hot meal away from home on business or on holiday. I have come to hate airports, airlines, and fast food outlets, where eating should be a pleasant experience not a nightmare. A piece of dried up squashed GF bread in your pocket, a packet of crisps, or some cold home made squashed pizza are no substitute for a hot, filling meal on a plate.
3)Depression. I feel sorry for myself sometimes and maybe drink more than I should to feel 'happy'. I used to enjoy food shopping. Now I hate it. Good gluten free food to me is fresh fish and meat, and fresh fruit and veg,which cost more than breadcrumbed, battered, convenience foods. The unfairness of this depresses me.
4)Obsession. I bring the subject of gluten up in nearly every conversation, when I don't intend to. I know others are sick and tired of hearing about it. I get very conscious of it.
5)Isolation. The only coeliac in the village syndrome. I don't know any other coeliacs yet 1 in 100 of us are supposed to have CD. I don't believe that any more. I think it is a lie created from some random blood testing carried out years ago. Where are the true facts and figures? Is someone frightened of disclosing them?
Hey philaustin. It sounds like you need to find some other coeliacs near you. I've been to a coeliac UK coffee morning in my area and it was great. Free cakes and lots ofv people to talk to who understand.
I've also found a few different groups on Facebook by searching for coeliac, gluten free and the name of my city.
Twitter can also be really helpful. Search #coeliac #celiac #glutenfree and see who's tweeting and have conversations with them.
If you can't find a group locally you could always set one up using social media to contact people using all the above. There's always a way to find support even if you have to create it yourself.
I'm actually in the midst of setting up my own business and so that I wouldn't be alone I created a Facebook group for other people starting up in business. There's over 60 of us now and we meet up every couple of weeks and I've made good friends too. And to top it off. 3 other people are gluten free! Random or what?!
Hi maidforit, we do have a 'local' group but it is based an hours drive away down in Hertfordshire. We communicate via the group sending me a newsletter every few months.
We don't go on the trips they organise because of a) the distance to join coach parties and b) the cost. They also organise food tasting, but guess what, it is on workdays when I am working. Don't coeliacs have to work, like I do?
Besides, my wife prefers to eat where she feels like eating, not where she has to eat because it is gluten free. I've been communicating with other coeliacs through the Internet for three years, but it still feels like we must be much less than 1% of the population.
I would much prefer a world where we were able to just blend in with non-coeliacs unnoticeably without ever having to mention gluten.
Hi Phil - we hear your pain. Our coeliac group meets each Tuesday morning in a supermarket and so we wonder if coeliacs have to work or not too. Although it can seem that natural GF foods cost more than processed that's not always true. Any good greengrocers or market will allow you to snap up some great fruit and veg. And even higher end supermarkets like Waitrose now do 'essential' fruit and veg. It's the lack of spontaneity and forward planning that is our bug bear.
Are there no places you can discover that are GF and take your wife too? Even our friends have now become accustomed to eating out at the same places as us - they don't mind as they've seen us bloat like a whale and droan on when we've eaten somewhere and been glutened. Cote Brasserie is an expanding chain in the South and really does have some nice meal options for two courses (£9.95) that are beyond what a normal chain would make. Nice risottos, salads, steak, mussels etc.
There are 1% (probably more) who have CD. However, as we've noticed - many coeliacs get fed up and moan on like - understandably but do not email supermarkets/ restaurants - eat out on mass so it often feels like there's less of us.
Would anyone be interested in a Guerrilla meet up now and again to eat out en masse in a group now and again? Maybe this would help those of us that are worried about eating out?
Hi Fiona,
Its not that we don't eat out. We do, occasionally, and we have found some superb places close to us in Bedford, and in places such as Budapest, and Guernsey where they serve real gluten free food and will modify their recipes to make them gluten free if asked. I always still worry about cross-contamination but I have to trust people. I always make a point of trying to register the places on sites such as Gluten Free on the Go, and always write a report for Expedia, mentioning the words Coeliac and Gluten.
The problem is, all of these places are okay if you plan ahead and find them before you travel. We can't afford to eat in restaurants every time though, and there are times when we are travelling and need to eat. I take home made GF pizza with me, but it just isn't the same as a piping hot meal on a plate, or a burger or hot-dog.
Airports, railway stations, ferries, motorway service areas etc are all the same, packed with gluten loaded fast food. There are a few exceptions such as Wetherspoons, which are found occasionlly in airports.
Regarding complaints, I just completed a customer satisfaction form after travelling on a Condor ferry to Guernsey. 50% of the questions must have been about eating and drinking on the ferry. There was not a single question about allergies. The reason - they have signs around the brasserie on the ferry saying that they are unable to cater for food alergies.
The multiple choice questions they asked got me more and more angry - could I put a list of fast food outlets in order of prference - that when I got to the end of the form I gave them an earbashing. No I don't eat at those £%^&ing places and no I can't eat on your *&^%$&g ferry because you can't be bothered to control what's in your meals.
I travelled on British Airways a few weeks ago, but because our tickets were booked by the company's travel arranger ( who I told I was coeliac, but forgot) BA weren't told I had special dietary requirements. So my travelling colleague got a nice hot breakfast and I didn't.
( I had set out from home for Heathrow at 3.00 a.m.) I arrived at the partner companies site in Prague at 10.00 am, starving, and they were astonished to see me take a slab of cold pizza out of my bag and start eating it before our meeting. I think I gave the impression I liked pizza because they ordered a pile of the things for our lunch. And they managed to get gluten free ones for me!
There is no law that says a company has to know that a person is a coeliac and it needs to be considered when making travel arrangements, but when meals are booked for visitors from countries where certain foods are not eaten the company bends over backwards to make sure they are catered for.
l find the hardest thing is the social implications and just not being included. Until I started the GF diet I had no idea how wheat products were in so many things especially in cheaper items. These days everyone wants to do cheap so for me going with friends to cheap places to eat is out of the question I just don't get asked anymore. Also my husband and I used to go out for meals with friends and their families however we don't go as cheap american style meals aren't suitable for me. The irony is that these days no-one seems to care about healthy eating so I look at the flip side of the coin and think how lucky I am to have potentially been rescued from poor health.
We now go out less often to healthier more expensive places.
I find I am constantly thinking about what to eat. Even though I am Coeliac and have less items that I can eat, I have found that what I can eat I am eating a lot of and I have put the weight back on that I lost when I was ill. Food is always on my mind as I am constantly thinking about what I am going to have for my next meal. I have found quite a few places which do cater for gf diet and if the worst comes to the worst there is always jacket spud or omelette. I suffered from depression for years before diagnosis due to other events in my life so that doesnt affect me now because I am feeling so much better in myself.
True we feel the same. And often feel hungry all the time as well. It's a pain but all we can say is that we feel we must need to exercise more. So we're working on doing our 10,000 steps a day soon as a slow start back into exercise after a bad back incident to see if that will help.
I would also like to have been able to choose 2 options but the one thing that I don't like about being a coeliac is the fear of being made ill when eating out.
I also avoid social events that revolve around food and drink because I don't drink and I find that other people are far more interested in that than me being a coeliac and it gets on my nerves explaining myself, so I tend to be quite aloof and that makes some people go the extra mile to be friends with me, which proves life is full of ironies.
I am lucky that I am a very positive person and I don't do depression and I appreciate not feeling ill after years of being undiagnosed.
No one other than a coeliac understands about the eating. I often think that our worst enemies are other coeliacs who are overly guarded in telling people the truth about what they really can and cannot eat.
You can often meet people when you're out and about who 'know' a coeliac or 'have' a coeliac friend and so ................. we must be wrong as their 'friend' or the person that they 'know' can eat this and eat that - it causes them no problem so how can it cause a problem for us?!! I have had conversations where people say they simply 'pick up a few items from the gluten free aisle - no problem and it's all sorted - and their friend is also lactose intolerant but filtered milk doesn't affect them ... and so on and so forth.
I have also had this said to me 'I thought it meant that you couldn't eat bread more than once a week!'
I usually therefore take my own little snack and a few extra nuts and fruit - just so that I don't get hungry. I find that if I allow myself to get hungry then inevitably I will get acid and once I get an acidic stomach it takes a long time to get rid of. I have even found that just drinking water can bring on acid. So food is important to me to keep feeling well.
In a sense, eating out is like playing Russian roulette .. it is open to so many occasions when gluten can get in. Sometimes gluten gets in from less obvious things - there is the cross-contamination in preparation and handling of food and drink, using the same aprons, t-towels, chopping boards, work surfaces, rings .. there is cold meat on 'gluten free' bread - the meat could be packet meat and coated in wheat. There is wheat starch added innocently to cheese - gluten free bakes with false cheese or cheese pre-grated - there is malt here there and everywhere - there is gluten in pepper pots and spice jars .. stock cubes, yoghurts, creams ..
It is however our life and so somehow we have to learn to live with what we have - take precautions and learn from our mistakes - and try to make those mistakes only once ..
What I do find a little vexing is so much more care is taken for people with nut allergies - yes they can be fatal but the damage that gluten can do to coeliacs should really be regarded the same for it may lead to so many dreadful diseases that none of us ever want to experience!
the feeling of being a burden to the rest of my family and my children, depresses me, obsessing about food, eating out or at relatives, people not understanding how eating gluten will affect me, and just being classed as a "fussy" eater or wanting attention!! all very depressing!!
I am afraid of eating out and of cross contamination I have recently been diagnosed and I am only starting to get back to normal I am afraid of having a set back. I have been cross contaminated and i am afraid of eating new foods. Hopefully i will become more confident as time goes on.
It's not all the breads, cakes, pastries etc that worry me when I eat out ... I can see them. It's all the hidden wheat in sauces etc that catch me out. And somehow, Christmas dinner is never the same without the gravy ...
hi. it is a big pain if you think about going out. soon as someone says about going out my heart sinks
I ticked the 'other' box but didn't notice anywhere to put a comment - so here it is for what its worth.
You see I don't feel at all emotionally bothered at all about being coeliac - I go out to eat, I go on foreign holidays, weddings, funerals just like any one else. Eating places are very clued up these days, as long as you explain nicely about cross contamination, and even if you have to skip a meal you won't die.
The only thing I'm at all upset about are the opportunities I missed when I was younger because of not being able to move far from a loo - but life these days is great!
I'm still fairly new at eliminating so find it draining thinkin what to eat all the time. I eat my breakfast whilst thinking what I'm going to have for my dinner. I find it hard to forward plan as I never really know what I want to eat the next day let alone a week in front
Oh gosh, just like the rest of the population...we are all so different, aren't we?
I've only been diagnosed a few weeks, and am just starting to get used to new the skills in baking/cooking and cross-contamination, outside of home. Thankfully, I am a very positive person. My glass is always half-full. I suppose my other food intolerances have primed me for checking when eating out...and my feelings of disappointment and isolation have been replaced with a more pragmatic approach, which (for me) is one of counting my blessings and staying positive, regardless of what food is not available. I don't expect others to feel the same as me, this has been my journey, and we all deal with things based on our experiences in life.
I expect to have to bring foods with me...I cannot eat hen's eggs, so can't eat most GF cakes and goodies or even GF breads, as a lot of them have egg in them. I cook using duck eggs, and take stuff with me.
My daughter also has a long list of intolerances, so you just get used to it, and get on with it; of course, gluten is more difficult, because it can be so well hidden 
Just for pig-iron:
Chicken...causes disgusting wind and diarrhoea, like for sufferers who've been glutened
Eggs...cause eczema and bring on vertigo
Peppers...gut pain
Mushrooms...fungal infections of the skin
Bread...bloating and pain (gluten)
Cauliflower...disgusting wind (yikes-stay away)
And there are more...in truth, who could deal effectively with all of this, except ME?Therefore, I must be responsible for, and to, myself. I am my own chef...even outside of home. I check for chicken stock in soups, egg in scones, and now...gluten and cross contam'.
My life? Is just great and I am so blessed! Food is all around me, and I have choices. If I get glutened, I am upset, but not lost. "Get up, Michelle, and get on with living your life, there are so many who would love to do just that!"
No judgement is being made here to those who cannot face this the way I do...as I said at the beginning, we are all different...vive la différence!
I try very hard to be positive about being coeliac. Being diagnosed in my sixties I am aware that to many of my contemporaries, having a condition which is not terminal and can be managed without medication and medical intervention must seem like a real bonus. However, two things are a real challenge - eating on the go and eating at friends' houses. Taking a packed lunch to go for a day's shopping is not what I want to do and I really hate the fact that if I eat with friends, everyone has to eat GF - or I have to have something 'special'. I hate making a fuss about all the little details that are so important to coeliacs - bread crumbs in the butter etc etc.
Wow how timely. Fantastic to know that I'm right up there in good company. Obsessed with food absolutely! Although my close running second was alienation & loss. It was a difficult choice.
Again really great to have it there for everyone to see, who really need to see.
it can be hard, but in work i bring my own stuff anyway, but there is always a joke or six about being 'weird' or fussy or something of that nature...i can take it from friends, but i wish it were treated with more respect if i am honest....
Would "being scared to leave the house because you're not sure how your belly-ache's going to turn out" be a valid option?
