r/Celiac

I've been gluten free since February of last year, didnt have insurance or a job at the time and didnt know until I had gone gluten free that its best to get tested for celiac before going gluten free. At this point I'm not super willing to put my body through all that to get tested, so I just operate under the assumption that I have celiac.

When washing dishes last night, my husband had had breaded fish. I was going to wash the plate when I realized that I probably shouldn't use the sponge cause itll be contaminated. But thats never occurred to me before, so its probably already contaminated. And so is all of our plates and cookware as they've been washed with the gluten sponge.

So my question is, how intense are you with trying to make a partial gluten free kitchen? I already have a dedicated toaster. But do you have your own set of plates, pots and pans, and utensils that are dedicated gluten free and a sponge that only is used for gluten free washing? Am I being too overly critical and anxious of gluten in my kitchen? These things just havent occurred to me over the past year and a half and I'm feeling suddenly overwhelmed with realizing that I may not be doing enough.

Hi all, wanted to share my experience taking a carnival cruise recently because we found posts like these really helpful when we were planning our travel. We did a four night cruise in the Bahamas. I am a symptomatic celiac. I'm pretty careful about avoiding gluten, cook most stuff at home and try to only eat at restaurants with gf protocols.

We chose carnival because we read that they are recommended for those with food allergies. When we booked the cruise, there was a space to put allergies, so we indicated celiac there. Then my partner also emailed their guest services to let them know as well. They confirmed and also said to visit guest services on the ship once we arrived to confirm it one more time. Once we got on the ship, there was a letter in our room acknowledging that they were aware of the allergy. It basically said they would take all precautions necessary but couldn't fully guarantee no cross contamination since it was a shared kitchen. It also said I should always make staff aware rather than assuming they knew. We visited guest services on the ship and they confirmed it was noted on my profile.

On our ship there were buffets, a few fast-casual style restaurants, and a main dining room with made to order food that had a daily menu you could choose from. We completely avoided the buffets (I think I would have done that even without celiac haha) and I didn't see anything from the fast-casual places that seemed easily gluten free so I skipped those as well. We ate all our meals in the restaurant, which was open for breakfast and dinner each day. There was a separate gluten free menu published for every meal - generally, it matched the main menu really well, no limited options! Eating at the restaurant was included in the cruise price, except for a few fancier dishes that had extra cost.

The first dinner, I told my servers about being celiac, gluten allergy, need for cross-contact precautions etc, and they seemed familiar with everything. I don't know why, maybe vacation brain, but I never really asked about shared friers, etc, so I can't report on that except below where I discuss symptoms. They bring the food out with a different color cover so you know the kitchen was aware of the allergy.

That first night the food was pretty slow to come out and they said it was because the kitchen was having to make it from scratch for me. After that first night, I was able to "preorder" my meals the day before, so the kitchen would have a heads up for what to have ready and it moved a lot faster that way. I tried to order things that would be naturally gluten free / easier to make gf, just to reduce the risk of exposure. We also tried to come earlier for meals so precautions wouldn't get lost in the dinnertime rush. Every meal I made sure to let the server know about the allergy and they would re-inform the kitchen.

The restaurant wasn't open for lunch and our trip had two days of off-ship excursions where they provided buffet lunch food for guests. I didn't try to eat either of those lunches, but I brought snacks from home (had them anyway in case the food didn't end up being safe) and honestly it didn't bother me too much. I think with the heat and being in the sun I wasn't as hungry.

In terms of symptoms, I had mild stomach aches the first two nights, but no other signs I usually get when glutened. I didn't drink on the cruise as that is something that can also upset my stomach. As time went on, I felt increasingly comfortable with the food. It was pretty tasty and you could order as much as you want without having to worry about the bill at the end which was really nice. My partner and I both agreed that eating together was our favorite part of the cruise.

I'm writing this post just to share my experience. I'm not endorsing carnival cruise in general or saying it is a perfectly safe option. I did find them to be thorough and well-informed of allergen precautions, but experiences can change from person to person and cruise to cruise. Someday I would love to go on the celiac specific cruise line, but for now carnival was a very budget friendly option and I was pretty satisfied with the experience all things considered.

I know everyone has different levels of comfort and this won't work for all people, please be nice in the comments!

I am not a celiac, however my partner is. We have been living together since last September. I still eat gluten outside of the house, but the house is a designated gluten-free zone and I respect that rule. I’ve never knowingly brought any glutened food in the house. When I do eat outside of the house, I will brush, floss, use a water flosser, rinse with alcohol mouthwash, and wash my face/arms, and change clothes if I ate something crumbly. We don’t really kiss or anything so this is a good arrangement so far and we have been fortunate to not have any incidents.

This was a few weeks back, when they accidentally ate after me and I forgot to warn them because I didn’t know they were going to take a bite. I had just gotten home, so I hadn’t had time to brush my teeth and everything.

flash forward. I went to 4th of july with my family yesterday where I had spaghetti. I came home and washed my mouth out, showered, etc but skipped the water flosser since it has been a bit since I’ve cleaned it. While we were hanging out last night, I accidentally spit while I was talking, and a bit of it flew in their mouth. They disclosed to me this morning that it really upset them; that I will not do every step in the cleaning process or not do it immediately after I get home.

Since moving in I have only caused an accidental exposure twice, which I felt like was a good track record all things considered, but they told me that they’ve been having problems since last fall when I wanted to get a piece of cake at the store cafe. You eat it in the store so I thought it would be fine, but they begged me not to and when I expressed confusion/asked them to explain since we weren‘t at home they began to cry and I felt awful. I didn‘t know what to say or do. I’ve eaten in front of them before while we weren’t at home or while we were at a state park; they disclosed that it was because we had taken their car which made sense to me would be like an extension of the house, so I promised I wouldn’t eat gluten if we went somewhere in their car.

I really just want to know if there’s anything else I should do or say to convey that I do care about them. I feel really bad and have said as much, but I feel terrible for not being able to empathize with them and they have expressed that it damages their mental health because they feel like they are a burden and say things like “oh well I guess they don’t care, that’s it, kms” which is distressing to hear and I don’t know how to express that this isn’t how I feel about them (they have OCD if that helps; they are medicated and go to therapy).

I miss feeling like someone reliable to them. I want to be reliable to them. I thought I was doing that since we’ve only had one incident in almost a year with the eating-after thing, but apparently I have been causing problems. I think they think that I like gluten more than I care about them. I am moving my tooth brushing stuff to the downstairs bathroom to make it easier to do as soon as I walk in. Maybe it was my mistake thinking it was enough to do most of the cleansing steps and not all, I know it’s like radiation, but I guess that‘s why I’m asking. i didn’t break the rules about keeping gluten out of the house and washing up, but should I be doing more? I feel terrible that they didn’t feel like they could tell me for so long. Included screenshot of what I told them after they left for work this morning

I just don’t want to lose them. I don’t want to have to move out and I feel like theyre secretly fed up with me especially when I don’t hear about something upsetting them until months after the fact. I’m not even sure how I’ll bring up having posted this since they take things so hard when they feel like they’ve been too vulnerable or said too much. I just want them to trust me and I don’t know what to do because I’m already practically on the same diet as them save for if I go out with family or eat when I have a long shift. I can tell my car makes them uncomfortable as well since I don’t wipe it with alcohol wipes like they’ve told me to in the past; I used to have a pack of alcohol wipes but I lost them and keep forgetting to get more. I can tell this also makes them upset since they don’t understand how I can forget if I care. To be honest, I don’t have an answer for that one either. I am worried about being selfish in this way.

They have BPD ontop of the celiacs, ocd, etc and I just want to know if there are any bpd/ocd celiacs here who can weigh in on what they think my partner needs from me. I feel like I’m going to push them away. I just want to fix whatever I’m doing wrong. They told me that at some point if you get exposed enough you will get bowel cancer, and they sounded very hurt that I forget that at times. I feel bad too. I don;t know what to do to be the most effective apology because I didn’t know I was messing up. Sorry for the long post I was tryng to cover every angle of what happened to try and cover any blind spots i might have.

Also, please no relationship advice. I am not looking to end this relationship or anything before anyone comments something of the nature. I am only asking for advice as to what I could say or how they might be feeling and what I can do to make them feel heard and loved.

https://preview.redd.it/0gzdferfshbh1.png?width=1339&format=png&auto=webp&s=2d79bce9741e9f6cb5a9ba0390ef78abcdf29e53

Something I'm struggling with right now is finding other people who are Celiacs, specifically in my communities. What are your suggestions for doing so?

I'm born and raised in O‘ahu but I live in Seattle 9 months out of the year for university. I wish more people wanted to go to GF places instead of like ramen places where I can only eat a small rice bowl (as an example).

I have an instagram as a food journal, beth.badatgluten, if anyone wants to check it out. I've been trying to use the account to outreach/find new people as well, but nobody ever reciprocates interest there... so idk. I follow large creators, but that doesn't feel like a community that I'm actively a PART of.

Back pain. Celiac

To keep a long story short, I’m getting married in a few months and would love to include a late night snack. None of the typical options are gluten free but my fiancé and I LOVE the idea of a loaded French fry station. The thing is- they typically fry glutenous items in their fryers… *but* the chef has offered to schedule their fryer cleaning on the day of the wedding, replace the oil, and ensure nothing else gets fried day of.

I’m going back and forth on if I trust this process to be sufficient enough. I would expect they do a thorough job when cleaning the fryers but I also know how hard it can be to get in every nook and cranny. I would love some input from the community.

I’m looking to book a family friendly, celiac safe/accommodating all-inclusive resort in Mexico. Please help!

Hi! Sorry if this kind of post isn’t allowed or is dumb, I’m just genuinely curious and don’t know where else to go to get advice.

I recently was diagnosed with Marsh 1 celiac disease after being originally diagnosed with vitamin deficient anemia. I’m trying to learn what I can from online groups/forums, and have been trying to be extra cautious about cross contamination, and double checking labels to make sure stuff is gluten free.

At a 4th of July party yesterday, there was a situation where I was concerned about cross contamination but a friend who has a higher level of celiac, advised I didn’t have to worry about it especially since I’m only Marsh 1. Is this an actual thing, like I don’t have to be concerned with cross contamination/just make sure to eat gluten free or should I still be cautious about cross contamination as well?

Like I understand Marsh 1 is the lowest level and not as severe, but getting diagnosed with it feels like there should be at least some caution.

Thank you for any/all advice!

Edit: I’m sorry, I did mean Marsh 1 not Mark 1 😂 IDK why I kept typing that, but I did fix it (except for the title, idk how to fix that)

When I got sick, I gained a lot of weight (like 20kg) in a very short amount of time. I was worried by it but doctors saw it as the cause of me being sick, not a symptom.

For years I shamed myself for my cravings, pushed myself to diet, exercise and my health only got worse.

Last year I discover I am severely gluten intolerant. The pains, the fatigue? Malabsorption. The cravings, the hunger? That too. My body could not absorb anything useful, I was just storing fat and running on sugar.

Before going GF I managed to somehow lose a small portion of the extra weight, but it was easy to gain again and it wasnt without a lot of effort and sometimes extreme measures.

I have been GF for almost a year now. I am down 10kg from my initial maximum weight. 7kg lost in the past year.

I am not saying it is healthy to lose weight or it is bad to have fat etc. In my case my weight was unhealthy and a symptom of a big problem.

My doctors only pushed me to lose the weight without asking why my body was acting like that. No one cared. I also hated myself and my body, I blamed myself and tried so many things.

Now I can see it. My body was asking for help and I blamed myself instead. Now that I am taking care of my body, now that i know how to do it, it is working.

I am not even going to the gym anymore and honestly been lax with treats recently, especially before getting my period. And yet, without extreme exercise or policing myself, it is slowly going down. It is not fast, it is slow and steady. So I take it as a good sign. I dont wanna rush it.

It is a bittersweet moment where I see myself healing a bit, satisfied that I was right and found the answer, but sad no one believed me and at times i didnt believe myself.

People dont realize how celiac or even gluten intolerance can fuck your relationship with food.

I’m celiac, and this week we were traveling. Of course a bunch of stuff goes wrong, and at one point my husband was heard to say: I think if I wanted to torture but not immediately kill someone, I would give them celiac. I felt seen 😭

Recently went to the doctor for a checkup and bloodwork. Prior to filling out my requisition we had discussed all the various things we want to check via the blood work. My entire life I had been told everything was just IBS or I was lactose intolerant/ sensitive. I’ve navigated life to this point (36) managing potential “flair ups” or foods that I knew would cause discomfort. Outside of a few bathroom emergencies, I’m pretty much symptom free.

Well my blood work came back, healthy as a whistle, except one number that triggered an alarm for my doctor. My tTG IgA came in at 250 KIU/L . The normal range I’m being told is 15 KIU/L. Another requisition has been sent to a gastroenterologist to do I’m assuming a endoscopy and or colonoscopy.

To be honest I’m in utter shock as my beverage of choice has always been beer, large quantities, and have had no issues aside from the pending hangover. I’m a carb consuming machine when it comes to diet. Just trying to wrap my head around what is going on/the future possibly looks like. How much damage am I doing/done to my body. I’m kind of beside my self trying to digest (no pun intended) this info. If anyone has some tips or really anything that got them through the beginning stages of this life shift that would be greatly appreciated. Until I see the specialist I’ll keep drilling beers and have a fair well party with my favourite gluten friends…. Carbs.

If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read this. I greatly appreciate it

Hey yall,

So i'm trying to get a gift for a friend who has celiac and i'm trying to find like a gluten free beer variety pack with a bunch of different brews from different places in it. But I feel like I cant find them anywhere. If I do find anything at all it's like one or maybe two options max at the store.

Am I missing something haha? I haven't done many things business wise but after this hunt I'm thinking about starting one myself as a project. Like a ready to go pre rolled mix pack with only safe GF beers or like mystery packs is mainly what I'm thinking.
Where you can just buy it and try a bunch of different varieties of brews without having to individually pick out all the cans all over the place lol.

I'm just curious if other people would buy it I guess? I'm not selling anything at the moment at all just sort of doing this kind of as a random idea right now to see if people want it. I know doing it in alcohol is a nightmare with shipping laws and all that will all have to be figured out, but yeah. Just some decent thoughts I had for it.

Would yall actually use something like this to try new stuff/ gift?

So disappointing to see gluten free brands shift markets into gluten filled products. I’m looking at you, banza, veggies made great, and real good foods. It really makes me lose trust in safe companies and not want to spend money with them. Okay rant over.

Edit : yall obviously don’t understand the difficulty of not being able to find products even in a major city. Companies are choosing to stop stocking gluten free products in exchange for these gluten filled from companies.

Sorry for the TMI but does anyone else get the WORST SMELLING FARTS?!💨 like can clear a house bad???!!! Also, SO BLOATED?!

Or it is just me…… 😳