Just been diagnosed with coeliacs

[:0][:0][:0] I just keep thinking WOW. I kept thinking for years that there was something wrong besides what my good friends say[8D][8D][8D].
I kept asking could I be wheat intolerant and everyone including my doc said no it was just the latest fad etc etc. Now I have been proven right. My doc had blood tests done and they can now check for coeliac markers!
I have never had very much energy. I also have asthma and excema. Still have to wait for a endoscopy where they stick a camera down my throat to my gut and check it out. Not looking forward to that. That gives 100% proof apparently. My first relatives also should get checked. have told them and up to them to do so. Intereting that 1 in 100 hve it and the average age for diagnosis is 45!!!
Have to have a 100% totally gluten free diet after the endoscopy. If I have any gluten it will nulllify all the good effects. Imagine no fresh bread anymore. No nice cakes, biscuits, or sweets. No processed or canned goods. I will be reading all the ingredients now and eating healthy YUK YUK YUK. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Lea, you can have fresh bread, just gluten free stuff, or you can make your own, its really nice. honest!!

have a look here from more food info
www.colourcards.com/coeliac/

here for cafes etc in your area
www.colourcards.com/coeliac/

ah! just realised these links come up the same! well go there and use the left hand side column, it's an incredibly helpful website.

Best of luck

xx

So what were your symptoms lea?

My Aunt was diagnosed a few years ago, and it's not that bad food-wise, honestly. I do agree about the fresh bread bit, I'd die without white processed, gluten-packed bread, however she makes her own and it's not too bad

We also got a cookbook full of gluten-free recipes and when she comes for family dinners, we have gluten-free options for her and it's actually quite fun finding nice stuff to make/bake. I wouldn't have had a clue about gluten before she was diagnosed, but now it's sort of a challenge to find yummy stuff for her.

There are stores that specialise in gluten-free foods, they do mail order too, and I've noticed my supermarket now has a gluten-free section with all kinds of foods, plus they make gluten-free bread (still not as good, but ok!).

I'm sorry to hear about your intolerance but I must say the change in my Aunt has been remarkable. She's lost weight, she bounces everywhere, she's never had so much energy, she walks the dog for an hour in the morning and again at night, works full time and is just a totally different person - in a good way!

www.purebread.co.nz/index.html - gluten-free bread baked daily
www.glutenfreegoodies.co.nz - all kinds of baked goods
www.ieproduce.com/default.asp - everything gluten-free, mail order
www.ntolerance.co.nz/Default.aspx - another food store, G-free

Theres a coeliac bakery in Mosgiel that sends around NZ
secure.coeliacbakery.co.nz/index.php?module=content

I have an excellent cookbook for those with Coeliac Disease, Gluten and Wheat allergies, IBS etc etc with really 'normal' recipes made up of mostly 'normal' ingredients that you can have if you like.

It's a little beaten up however (been used lots), but I don't need it anymore. If you don't mind that, PM me your address and I'll post it down to you.

It's even got recipes for pizza and pies!

Welcome to the Gluten-free world! It's not so scary once you get used to it. My whole family has it, and we still eat fairly normally. You will become a compulsive label-reader, and you will learn to thicken gravies, sauces etc with cornflour. You will stop eating most fast food except Hells Pizza and Burger Fuel (Both do GF otptions). The website I always point new coeliacs to is www.mfdb.co.nz - when you join the coeliacs society you will be given a copy of the book, but it's easier to search on the web version. It is a database of manufactured food products compiled by the dieticians at Auckland Hospital. There are separate lists for Gluten free, dairy free, egg free etc.

Reading the list is fascinating - did you know that there is wheat maltodextrin in packets of frozen chicken pieces? In fact, chicken pieces are only 89% chicken!!

As gluten intolerance becomes more common (or is it simply more recognised?) it becomes easier for us to buy stuff. The new labelling laws help (it has to be in bold print on the ingredients list) but also you can now buy GF bread, biscuits, pasta, muesli bars, flour - and as mentioned above, pizza and burgers.

Good luck with the endoscopy, and if you have any questions, fire away!

Hi Lea,
you'll feel so much better without wheat products that you won't look back. Promise!

A very good friend's daughter and husband have it. When her daughter was diagnosed - in 1996 - the incidence was 1 in 1000 or less. The incidence is increasing rapidly - not only because it is diagnosed more often. Her husband had had it since he was 18 and his symptoms were a few slight stomach cramps here and there. The severity of the symptoms has increased with the ever increasing use of gluten added to bread to make it fluffier and to bake a bigger loaf with less flour.

We have a packet of ORGRAN self raising flour in the pantry just in case they come over and I can bake anything with it. The only thing is that the gluten free stuff is much more expensive than the regular products.

We made some cookies that were gluten free (by chance rather than choice) yesterday. Very, very easy.

260g peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1 cup sugar (these are not diet cookies!!!)
1 lightly beaten egg

Stir ingredients in bowl until combined. Roll heaped-teaspoonfuls of the mixture into balls, put on a greased baking tray and flatten with a fork. Bake in a medium oven for 15 minutes - until golden brown. Put on a wire rack to cool - they will be really floppy when you get them out of the oven, but don't be alarmed, they firm up after about 5 minutes of cooling.

welcome to the gang... yes read the labels it really is amazing and being dairy intolerant also makes it harder.. baked beans have flour in them and to boost up the protein content they throw casein into everything... so if you are only wheat gluten you should be OK for looking for free foods.. I used to be a big bread eater and the smell still is tempting as one walks past the bakery.. but the pain now is too bad to even sneak a morsel.
Many illnesses can trigger off the gluten intolerance, one daughter had a bad case of glandular fever, and she now has had to go gluten free, her energy levels have so improved, that her husband actually thinks he has a person living with him instead of an occasionally moving cushion on the couch.. and she doesnt sleep every weekend.
good luck with the diet, you will adjust

I've just looked up what some of the symptoms are! Oh dear is is possible to have most of them and not have celiacs??

Get a blood test beedee if you suspect it.
Thanks guys for all the support and helpful hints. I might make those biscuits asit will be the sweet and snacky things I will miss. Funnily enough I was diagnosed with ME years ago. Tiredness, fatigue, nausea, every flu like symtom you can think of. I have had to live with this daily all these years. This might get rid of most of thee symtoms and maybe help the chronic asthma and excema as well!
Talked to my Mum and apparently it is on my dad's side of the family. Talked to my sis and she doesn't want to know but will pass it on to her teenage daughter. Sis does not want to go totally gluten free. Interesting enough according to my doc it only takes 2 pieces of bread a day to give the gluten intolerance effects.

I have known a few people diagnosed with it also. its getting more common, maybe its from living in a modern world. There is a bread called spelt (or speld) made by vougels I think, its gluetin free and very nice.

Good thing about having your own homekills done is that you can specify to the butcher to make gluten-free sausages. Mine does a very nice basil and tomato sausage that is gluten-free and it costs the same as the normal gluten-included sausages.

lea;176215 wrote: This might get rid of most of thee symtoms and maybe help the chronic asthma and excema as well!

I reckon you might be right. Asthma and excema, and from I understand coeliacs, are the body's reaction to something. My son had terrible excema and reflux as a baby and it turned out to be a reaction to dairy products. So if your asthma and excema are being triggered by gluten, you should feel a whole heap better without it [8D]