Gluten Allergies anyone?

[donnawells]

Hey there! Tonight I was at a high school football game and a guy I know who's a doctor stopped to say hello. He pointed at some sores on my arm that I thought were chigger bites and said it looked like I had....and then he named some dermatitis-something-or other. Then said that I might have an allergy to gluten and told me to cut out bread for a week to see if the sores heal up.

So tonight I've been reading about it on the internet and boy does it ever sound like it!!! What I read said to go to a doctor first before cutting out those foods so that they can make a diagnosis.

I'm wondering if any of you have an allergy to gluten and if so, do you have any tips?

I'm going to call a doctor on Monday to see if I can get a diagnosis one way or the other.

Donna

[kperrien]

I don't have a allergy to it, but a illness it doesn't agree with... but I'm bad and still eat it.. I found that alot of the oriental noodle bowl are gluten-free.. and trying to cut it totally out of your diet is a pain in the butt... since wheat is in alot of stuff... but you can find alternatives made with rice... hope that helps a little..

[Charla]

I'm hearing more about gluten-free diets lately (going gluten- and casein-free often helps autistic children, so it's getting publicity that way) but I don't know anything about it personally. I've seen a lot of gluten-free products in the natural section of our supermarket. I know Corn Chex is now gluten-free, and you can get pastas and cookies without it there.
Why would they suggest you go to the doctor before trying it yourself? If you're uncomfortable, I'd start trying the diet now and see if it clears up. If it does, you'll know you're allergic, and if it doesn't, you'll know to look for something else! (then again, I'm a "use the doctor as the last resort" kind of person and one who doesn't like to wait if it looks like you might have found the answer to your problem! We found out that DH is sensitive to MSG on our own, which is good since I don't think it gets tested at the doctor's office, so he never would have figured out the cause of DH's constant headaches!)

[donnawells]

Thanks for the info. This morning I was doing some more research and read a press release about the Chex cereals. It said they have six of them and that General Mills is being very careful about no cross-contamination.

The reason to get tested while you still have it in your system is to make the test more conclusive, I suppose. They can do a blood test and if you test positive they might suggest getting a biopsy of the small intestine with a scope that goes down the throat. Ugh. But, they test to see how much damage has been done to the small intestine because this can lead to worse things like lymphoma. Nice huh?

I've done a lot of reading and I'm not a hypochondriac but I really think this sounds like me. It explains a lot of things that I was dismissing. And something else that I'm wondering about, regarding the autism connection...my father has dementia and I just wonder if my mom were to remove all gluten from his diet, would his mind improve some. Just something I'm curious about. He has some of the symptoms, too. And they say this is a genetic thing rather than an allergy. It's an autoimmune disease.

I wish the weekend were over because I really want to get to a doctor just for the blood test. I'm like you Charla, I don't like to go to the doctor, but I was reading information from the Celiac Disease Foundation and they encourage seeing a doctor over self-diagnosis.