How do I know if I've got a problem with gluten?

"There are no specific symptoms of Coeliac Disease." - coeliac.co.nz
Sure, like that's useful! Whatever.
If you're unsure about whether you've got coeliacs, you'll need a real list of symptoms, definitive and obvious, something to show the Doctor, and more importantly, to convince yourself.

Symptoms:
Most Common in Adults:

• Diarrhoea – This may begin at any age and is often present for years prior to diagnosis. It may first appear after other illnesses (e.g. gastroenteritis) or abdominal operations.
• Fatigue, weakness and lethargy [I had these ones! Plus a 'cloudy brain'.]
• Anaemia – iron or folic acid deficiency are the most common. The anaemia will either not respond to treatment or will recur after treatment until the correct diagnosis is made and a gluten free diet is begun.
• Weight loss
• Constipation – some are more likely to experience constipation rather than diarrhoea.
• Flatulence and abdominal distension
• Cramping and bloating.
• Nausea and vomiting
• Depression

Less Common in Adults

• Easy bruising of the skin
• Ulcerations and/or swelling of mouth and tongue
• Miscarriages and infertility
• Low blood calcium levels with muscle spasms
• B12, A, D, E and K vitamin deficiency
• Skin rashes such as Dermatitis Herpetiformis
• Altered mental alertness.
• Bone and joint pains

Common in Children
Symptoms do not occur until gluten is introduced into an infant diet – later onset is also possible.

• Large, bulky, foul stools
• Diarrhoea or constipation
• Poor weight gain
• Weight loss in older children
• Chronic anaemia
• Retarded growth
• Abdominal distension, pain and flatulence
• Nausea and vomiting
• Irritability

[Mostly taken from coeliac.co.nz]

I had a blood test today, I've got hard veins to find, the nurses had to try three times! I've got an autoimmune thyroid condition, which makes me more likely to have coeliacs.

NOTE: Coeliac disease is more common among people with other autoimmune diseases, such as Type 1 diabetes and autoimmune thyroid disease. So if you've got an autoimmune disorder, get tested for coeliacs, it's the only way to be sure.

How is it tested?
First up you have to get some blood tests done. Do this before you start to eat gluten free. You need to be eating lots of gluten before taking any tests, whether it's blood or a small bowel biopsy.
There are four blood tests that your Dr can take:

• tTG antibody (called IgA tissue transglutaminase antibody)
• DGP antibody (called Deamidated Gliaidn Peptide, IgA and IgG)
• IgG-gliadin (also called IgG anti-gliadin antibody)
• IgA-gliadin (also called IgA anti-gliadin antibody)

The main one that your doctor or specialist will look at is the tTG. If it is high it means that you probably have damage in your bowel, [ie you've got coeliac disease] and they will put you straight on the list to get a piece taken out of your gut and tested [small bowel biopsy]. If any of the others are high, and the tTG isn't, you may still have coeliacs or be gluten intolerant. You can then either ask to be put on the biopsy list anyway, or just start a gluten free diet to see what happens and how you feel!



However the only real, personal way for you to know if you're effected is to finally try a gluten free diet for several months. Many people feel better on the G-free diet because of three possible reasons: 1) they're eating better, healthier food. 2) It's psychosomatic, in the mind. 3) They are actually intolerant to gluten.
I only really knew that I had a problem with gluten when I started eating it again. I had been gluten free for five months before I binged on gluten before my small bowel biopsy. I felt terrible! It was only then that I realised what my symptoms were. All of those years when I was eating gluten, my body was used to the symptoms and had been covering them up. I was used to coping with illness. But after being gluten free for five months and then eating gluten again? I felt awful.
Now, when I eat gluten I get a few bowel symptoms, tummy cramps, tired, emotional, my joints start to ache, headaches and I just over-all feel miserable for more than a week.


Have you been tested for coeliac disease? Do you have any of the above symptoms?

coeliac awareness week, spread the word!

It's New Zealand's coeliac awareness week!

Did you know that 1 in 85 people in New Zealand have coeliac disease? Gluten issues are a huge problem in our society. This week I intend to do a series of posts about living a gluten free life in New Zealand, how to be tested, facts, questions and the joy of a healthy gluten free life.

Stay tuned and spread the word! It's coeliac awareness month in the USA at the moment too.

Idea: ask people what they had for lunch to get the discussion started.

Sooo... I ate instant rice and poppadoms, what did you have for lunch?

Bumble

I have discovered that once you name a bug it isn't very scary anymore.
For example, this is Charlemagne, our bumble bee.

We named him Charlemagne because he looked very majestic. He was a very big bumble bee and he sat happily up on our window sill, basking in the sun. My sisters were a bit freaked out, so I suggested we name him. Soon after that we were pegging the blinds up out of the way, so that the wind wouldn't blow them into him.
We were Charlemagne's protectors now.
And he danced for us:

Cute ay! After a few hours he flew out of the window.

Do you ever name random animals like that? or is

Challenge!

 After our parents left for their holiday, my little sisters and I decided it would be fun to have a "masterchef meal". We decided to jointly cook a three course meal, the likes of which my family has never seen before.
Dreamy sister made the entree, it turned out to be felafels with sour cream and sweet chili sauce.
I had been dying to do a stuffed pork roast, so I cooked the main course. However, I was slightly over enthusiastic and made: pork belly with a chorizo stuffing, roast potatoes and vegetables, baby silverbeet salad, cheesy polenta and gravy. Wow, what a mouthful [in every sense of the word].
Little tall sister wanted to make the dessert. She came up with a brilliant idea, chocolate self saucing pudding in individual coffee cups, topped with cream and latte art to make it look like coffee. She realised though, that if she put the whipped cream on top of the hot pudding, the cream would melt. So she made chocolate disks to put between the pudding and the cream, what genius! She's smart, that girl.

Here are some pictures, finally:

This parsnip looks like legs. I couldn't resist taking a photo!

Yeah, this is me concentrating hard on tying up the pork. Check out my RAM earring! I told you I'm a nerd, right?

Dreamy sister's felafels kept disintegrating so we had to add some flour. She was nice and added gluten free flour!

Little tall sister had the easiest job, and it looked the best!

The finished felafels. Wow, they were good!

This is the pork. I'd never roasted pork before and was a bit over enthusiastic with my dish. It had way too many parts to it! As I ate it I decided that I wouldn't give myself many points [it was a real competition, the siblings were our judges] so I prepared myself to loose. *sigh* I lost. Believe it.

This is dessert! It was delicious and oh so striking in the little cups. Little tall sister won! I was told that if I made pizza or macaroni cheese I would have won. Um, my siblings have simple tastes - or perhaps they just know what I can make best. haha!

I still can't believe that I lost! It'll be a while before I challenge those sisters again!

What would you make if you had to challenge my sisters to a cooking challenge?

Busy, busy times.

Hi, you may have noticed that I haven't been posting on here for the past week. I intended to, but I just had too much else to do. Let me just give you a quick run down of my life at the moment:

Mum and Dad have gone overseas for several weeks. I'm not sure how happy they would be about me putting that up on the interwebs, however I've got to say it so that you understand what's going on. I'm being "Mum" at the moment.
"What's so hard about that" you say? Here are some bullet points:

• My Mum is kind of like "supermum", taking on her job isn't easy.
• I have two early teen sisters who aren't used to dealing with hormones and are often at each others [and my] throat.
• My Grandma lives with us, she is 96. Ninety-six! Oh, and she's bound by routine, so I've got to keep to that. [Not an easy feat for a full time student]
• Um, I'm a full time student, apparently, although I haven't been able to study much these past few days. I've got two big assignments due in the next two weeks, none of which I've started. Assignment extension here I come!
• Schedule. Mum has a schedule that involves: educating my sisters, taking people places, doing things, cooking things [yay!] and looking after Grandma. Ok, that fills her time up, but I've got to take on most, if not all of those things as well as doing all the stuff that I normally have to do. It's like "Boom!" and all of that stuff is on my shoulders. Now I've got to fit in with a schedule made for someone else and I can tell you, so far it isn't fitting me very well. Such is life.

Ok, all of the above was happening and life was a little stressful but it was alright. Then two things have recently come up, as if life is trying to give me a knock out blow.
Bullet points ftw!

• I accidentally ate gluten on Saturday. I got the cramps four hours later and have felt sick, tired and grumpy ever since. When it happened I knew that it would seriously set me back in many ways: mentally, emotionally and physically [not to mention my immune system, sigh].
• My awesomely ancient Grandma hasn't really been sick for the past five years. So now that my ex-nurse Mum has left the country, what do you think happened? Yeah, Grandma is sick. It's awful. At present I'm almost forcing medicine down her reluctant throat [it hurts to swallow], trying to figure out what her symptoms are [it's like drawing blood from a stone!] and wondering whether taking her to the Dr would be beneficial. We might go tomorrow.

So, if I don't post in the next while you'll know why!

Question: what do you do when crazy things happen and it all seems like it might be too much for you to handle?
Personally, I pray. God is all powerful, He's in control of whatever happens and He loves me. I find that really comforting.