Setback

While I was out of town this weekend, I think I got glutenated. I also think in the process I aggrivated my diverticulosis. I was in the ER again very early this morning. I am now on more antibiotics and pain meds.

This is probably more frustrating to me because I was feeling so much better and now I feel like I haven’t made any progress.

I’m also frustrated because as much as I try to explain it to her, I just don’t think Andrea gets it. I don’t know that she purposely does things but she doesn’t make an effort to help. She’s pretty self-centered and if it doesn’t affect her, it doesn’t matter. Is that how my generation raised our kids? They just think they’re entitled. I sacrificed a lot for her to have everything she wanted and needed. She doesn’t seem to think that she has to do anything for others. Frustrating!

Sick Again :(

I was out of town this weekend. Bill had to work and we tagged along and visited some family and did some sightseeing. I don’t know what it was but something made me sick. I explained to everyone that my food need to be prepped in clean pans with clean utensils. I think though, that despite my best effort, something happened. I am beside myself! I don’t feel well, I’ve been in the bathroom most of the day, I’m emotional, anxious and crabby.

Am I going to have to go the rest of my life not going anywhere?!? I did all I could to not get “glutenated.” I explained my condition and what they needed to do. People don’t understand the condition, nor do they care to learn. I am so upset!

I saw my GI doc today and she said if I don’t start feeling better in a week or so, that she’s going to run some tests. I expect that now that I’m back home, I’ll be ok though. She also ordered a dexa scan (bone density scan) and some bloodwork. Now that we have the diagnosis, the wants to check everything because typically celiac pts have problems with osteoporosis and other vitamin deficiencies.

I also checked to make sure and when I was in the hospital and she did the endoscopy that she did biopsies of my small intestine and she confirmed that she did and at that also showed the celiac. Really , I wasn’t too surprised. I figure that if it showed in the blood test and I started feeling better after I stopped eating gluten, that was good enough for me. For now I’m just waiting to feel better again!

Live and Learn

My daughter Andrea works at McDonald’s. In casual conversation she told me that the fries are the only thing cooked in their fryer. So I think to myself that I can have them. Uhhh…NO! We were on a road trip that took 2 hours and when we got here, I had a dizzy spell. I didn’t sleep well and my tummy is cramping a bit. Lesson learned!

This leads me to a question for you. Do you ever knowingly eat something with gluten in it knowing that you’ll end up feeling like garbage? I’ll tell you, I’ll never knowingly let myself feel like this again! And to think, I used to feel like this all the time!

I also think my oldest son, Bryan, has celiac. For dinner he had penne with marinara and a bread stick. He was in the bathroom for quite a while about 1/2 hour after we ate. I plan to have all my kids tested.

Recipe: Skillet Supper

I thought I’d share a recipe today. It’s from a book that my friend’s mom gave me. It’s called Wheat-free, Gluten-free Cookbook for Kids and Busy Adults. I have actually made this recipe and it was really good. All the recipes in the book (as you can guess from the title) are pretty simple. Kids and young adults could easily pull them off with just a little adult help (and sometimes not even that). I am writing word for word how the recipe reads so it may call for getting help from an adult…use your common sense. If you are already an adult, you don’t need to find another one. 😉 Note that it calls for gluten-free spaghetti sauce but most (if not all) spaghetti sauce is naturally gluten free. I get my sauce at Aldi and I read the ingredients and it even says right on the jar that it’s gf (gluten-free). I didn’t realize when I made it that my jar of sauce was 26 oz so I only used one cup of water. Feel free to tweak the recipe to your liking. I promise I won’t know or be angry about it! 😉 Also watch your shredded cheeses as sometimes manufacturers use flour to keep it from sticking together. And I’ve read that fat free cheese isn’t even cheese so I’d stay away from that one completely!

Skillet Supper:

1 lb ground beef

2 cups water

1 15 oz jar gf spaghetti sauce

1 tsp oregano

2 cups gf elbow macaroni

1/2 cup shredded gf mozzarella cheese

1 cup grated gf fontinella or parmesan cheese

With the help of an adult, brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking up the meat with a fork. Stir in the water, spaghetti sauce, and oregano. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.

Stir in the macaroni. Cover the pan and simmer for 7 minutes until the macaroni is just cooked, stirring frequently. Stir in the cheeses. Cover the pan and let stand for 1 minute until the cheese is completely melted.

Makes 2-4 cup servings.

Hope you enjoy it as much as my family did!

New to Celiac

I have had stomach problems as long as I can remember. My family doc diagnosed me with IBS (which I’m finding out is pretty common for “us” to be dx (diagnosed) with IBS). I continued to have problems with my stomach and he referred me to a GI doc. She did blood work and scheduled me for an endoscopy and colonoscopy for later this month. June 2, I ended up in the ER doubled over in pain and vomiting. It was suspected that I had diverticulitis. I was admitted and that Saturday had an endoscopy. Sunday they tried to start me on the prep for a colonoscopy, which I didn’t tolerate. Monday night they started pill version of colon prep which went much better. Tuesday I had the colonoscopy. Well they attempted it but because of the inflammation from diverticulitis, they couldn’t finish. Back to Monday…I get a call on my cell phone from the GI doc’s office (she had just left me 20 min prior but didn’t put me together with the person they were calling). They told me I tested positive for Celiac Spruce. Huh?? No I didn’t. I don’t have that. Actually looking back, I’ve had this for a long time! OK well at least I know what’s wrong and we can fix it right? Right!

I’m now about 2 weeks into being gluten free and feeling so much better! I never realized how crappy I felt till I started to feel better. I am finding that there are a lot of foods that are naturally GF (gluten free). This makes me very happy! LOL There are also very good alternatives to foods with gluten.

I hope that there are people out there (celiac and otherwise) who find this blog helpful. Please feel free to comment with helpful hints for me and other celiac sufferers and friends and family. I will be posting things that I find out, my journey through learning about the disease and recipes that I come across. I already have a few recipes that I’ve used from a cookbook that my second mom (friend’s mom) gave to me when she found out I was dx.