Speaking of weird food (non) reactions....

[CAMary]

Last Saturday (10/22) Elyse was inivted to a little friend's birthday party at a local park. She mentioned it would be a brunch thing. She asked me what I could eat (she was bringing bagels and juice for the kids - I told her not to worry and I'd eat beforehand - just to worry about providing snack for the kids...) Well she called me the day before to let me know she had made some calls and found some wheat-free muffins, so there would be something for me to eat after all....

Hmmm this put me in an awkward position, since I doubted they were GF, but she had obviously gone to a *lot* of trouble. I figured I'd have to at least taste them to be polite and pray I didn't react too badly...So at the party she offered me one on a plate (they contained oat bran and rye flour - I read the package). It was OK - a little too earthy and health-food store-ish - if you know what I mean I ended up eating about half until I could discreetly pitch it.

I waited for the other shoe to drop. It never did. No reaction. None whatsoever. I had a really busy week with holiday activities for the kids (I tend to volunteer and overcommit myself) extra hours working etc...if ever there was an excuse for Norman to leave town, last week was it!! In fact I've felt better than ever...

What gives I swear this disease sometimes makes me question my own sanity

Mary

[tex]

Maybe you're like me, and it takes a repeated dose within a day or two, to cause a reaction.

Wayne

[Jean]

I'd be excited if I was you! Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!?!

You and Wayne are giving me hope!

Love, Jean

[Lucy]

Yep, Mary, I would imagine that your antibodies were so low due to your previous diligence over time with eliminating gluten, that the lesser amounts of the relevant protein in rye and oats, compared to that in wheat was responsible for your not having a big enough reaction for you to detect.

Nevertheless, you've probably elevated your antibodies to a level in which ingesting any further amount for a while would likely produce a significant reaction. However, I'm sure you weren't planning to try that anytime soon!! Ha!

Hope you at least enjoyed it a little bit.
Yours, Luce

[kate_ce1995]

Mary,

Haven't you had reactions to gluten recently when ingested accidentally? It makes me wonder if oat and rye gluten are not as potent as wheat gluten. Maybe thats why some do okay with oatmeal? Maybe next time you make a nice batch of oatmeal cookies for the kids, try one...when you have time to rest and be home if it doesn't sit so well. Maybe you've found an occasional treat.

Katy

[Lucy]

By the way, yesterday afternoon at the local celiac meeting, a lady with a child with probable celiac disease was talking about having been told that she'd have to feed her child gluten enough to make him sick before they could run the usual small bowel biopsy per usual practice. Problem was the child also had the more severe, immediate type of allergy to wheat, so she was going to have to only feed the child gluten from rye, barley, oats, spelt, etc. Since it takes approximately 4 slices of whole wheat bread to prepare for the test once someone's been gf to the point of being "well," you can just imagine how much of these other grains with much smaller amounts of the relevant protein it would take to equal the amount of gluten in those 4 slices of whole wheat, and this was only a small child. Perhaps the amount can be proportional to body weight, but still, it must be a hard thing to do. Frankly, if it's obvious that the kid is better off of gluten, regardless of what comes back on those tests, why would anyone in their right mind want to continue feeding the kid something that makes em so sick. At the very young age of this kid, and with all the alternative things coming out now that actually help, I don't think it'd be difficult at all to train the child to eat things that wouldn't make him sick. Betcha the woman decides to forego the small bowel biopsy, and just stay the course.

What would you do in a case like that? I sympathize with the parents, especially in about 13 yrs when all social issues arise. Hope these parents don't mind cooking for a house full of teens for a few years! Hahaha!

Yours, Luce