Just got a hit on my bloods which suggest I might have coeliac disease so booked in for a small bowel biopsy to confirm.

Quite funny as I’ve always thought it was one of those trendy diseases. I have a friend whose “naturopath” has told her she has it (lol)

So no (? pending biopsy) no wheat for me…. and also T1 diabetic with an insulin pump. Yay for getting old and decrepit.

(Makes giving up smoking to be “healthier” seem so much more worth it!)

*waves*

Been diagnosed since I was 6 or so.

Hope you like rice and potatoes 😉
TBH there’s a lot more gluten free products on the market now than there used to be, it’s much easier.

Never heard of coeliac itself being trendy though a gluten free diet in general is often seen that way.

tick – it’s not so bad when you get used to it and it’s the only autoimmune disease with a ‘cure’. Don’t exclude gluten in the 2 weeks before your biopsy or you may get a false negative result.
Some people don’t bother with the biopsy as all it does is confirm the diagnosis and allow you to get GF food on prescription. Many health authorities are cutting back on this to the point that it’s not worth it, and alternatives are available in the supermarket.
Also check out the Coeliac Society for information.

It’s one of those things that, thinking about it, might have been lurking for a while. Still early days understanding symptoms but usually ripping bad farts after a few wheat based beers…. Possibly some squits, followed by a day or two of total blockage. It’s been up and down but never clicked. Doc initially said it “might be IBS” but that was too early to call it without any bloods etc. Everything else came back great, LFT, FBC, Us and Es. Long term glucose (hba1c) bit high but kidney and liver all fine. Was booked in for a colonoscopy but there’s no point doing that now the coeliac bloods are back butt just need the biopsy to confirm.

Won’t get owt on NHS as they don’t post stuff to Australia 😀

More bacon and eggs and less fried bread and hash browns. I can live with that!

*speaking UK here
some hash browns could be ok (?? Sainsburys in UK ?? sorry but check )
beware coated chips(stops them sticking)
GF ranges have REALLY improved over last few years, and gf bread has become nearly bread

fwiw even gluten free beers are drinkable now 😀

my dads a coeliac so anything other than GF beers not availible at my parents 😀

unfortunantly the docs have said i should be tested as its apparently hereditary ….both my dad and my gran have it appear in later life (late 40s) and hes potentially lactose intollerant as well….testing ongoing./

Mrs P – is Type 1 and Coeliac (there is an association between the two). Be aware that some GF foods have very different carbohydrate “absorption rates” from their normal equivalents – hopefully you will find a dietician that really understands this.

I thought they were the bad guys from an early series of Dr Who.

The good lady is coeliac, diagnosed when she was 12 I think.

I’m sure you realise, it’s not just wheat it’s gluten, so even malt vinegar might be out for you.
It’s actually not that tricky to manage. You’ll get used to checking ingredients. Did you say you were in Australia? Don’t know what the food labelling is like there, here it’s a requirement to highlight allergens.
Don’t get dragged into buying everything from the free from isle. It’s really expensive. You’ll soon find out what you can have.

What we struggle with is eating out. Currys are difficult, you’ll not know if the spices they’ve used are bulked out with wheat. Chinese is the same.
Pub food can be easier, steaks, gammon, that sort of thing and lots of places now have good gluten free menus. Our local pub are great at helping out and mixing and matching on the menu.
You tend to find the more expensive the place the more chance of good Gluten free food as it’s made from scratch rather than pre mixed/packet stuff.

mother has been since birth. And it was tough in those days; no one had an idea what it was then. Four years of eating bananas apparently. She helped set up the society.

She fine – misses fresh bread etc, but a dab hand at making her own bread/rolls/pizzas/biscuits. Bread machines are good. A lot of places now do GF menus; GBK etc do GF buns.

There’s nothing you can’t really do – apart from maybe beer. Cider is allowed though.

My wife has just been diagnosed. Whilst I’m sure there are some quacks misdiagnosing and people who have “gluten intolerance” (boo hoo), actually having the condition is not, unfortunately, hippy bollocks.

I sort of might have ignored my wife’s protestations at being “bloated” etc, only really started taking it seriously when she had blood tests done (in a roundabout way) which came back indicating low iron and folate (or is it folic acid? I dunno anyway, begins with fol) levels which are typical of it, the rest of the process was gone through and now, well, she’s given up all the wheat/barley products.

It is an annoyance that, due to hippy bollocks quackery, there’s a certain degree of misunderstanding, but luckily it seems that nowadays a lot of places accomodate it well for eating out/takeaways and stuff. So far 2/3 of our favourite places which we thought wouldn’t be OK are! Woo!

Good luck with yours, and if you are getting the biopsy I don’t think you’re meant to give up the gluten until you’ve had it (apologies if I’ve misread your post and you’re not giving it up yet) so check with your doc.

small bowel biopsy

Ouch

Quite funny as I’ve always thought it was one of those trendy diseases.

I think you might be thinking of gluten intolerant:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oht9AEq1798[/video]

MrsMomo is coeliac, over the past 2 years the availability of GF products in supermarkets has improved no end. An aussie mate of mine always complians about how poor our selection is when he’s here though and states that there’s so much more variety back home so hopefully that bodes well for you.

We get around it mainly by preparing food from scratch so that we know what goes into everything, not a bad thing anyway really.

Argh so the doc said not to change me eating habits until I’ve had the biopsy. So yesterday and today my stomach feels AWFUL. Bloated, gassy, can’t poo…. Hospital has my referral and I’m waiting for an appt. Been fine for a couple of weeks but just seemed to flare up again. Annoyingly, I had fish and chips on Monday night and I’m wondering if it was the fish batter that’s knocked me?

I’ve not looked into GF products yet and I’m dreading the can’t eat xyz and being the person that asks “what’s GF” on the menus when we go out. What an utterly crap “disease” to have.

I can’t have gluten and Susie can’t have dairy which makes deserts a challenge, i started making some of my own from recipes from here Recipes, you may have to substitute some ingredients for a wheat/Gluten free alternative, some of the things i’ve made are pretty nice.

What an utterly crap “disease” to have.

it does take a bit of getting used to, but, once on the diet your symptoms will disappear and you will be completely healthy.
There are plenty of conditions where the diagnosis means lifelong medication, and some where the prognosis is slow decline and death.
so yes it’s crap e.g. when you turn up at a buffet and there’s nothing you can eat, but that’s about as bad as it gets.

+1 here. It’s not so bad, 20 years ago it sucked (*) but there’s good products and awareness now. Chinese food is still tricky, and deserts. (I miss proper chicken and char siu fried rice most, and pork pies)

Pro tips:
Genius seeded bread. It’s a bit dry but it’s basically bread
Dove’s Farm pasta- again it’s basically pasta. You need to get the timings right and it’s a really good idea to rinse it with boiling water before you serve as it’s pretty slimy otherwise. But it passes the “can you eat this” test, where you serve it and people don’t know it’s GF.
Glutafin select multipurpose flour mix- doesn’t quite handle like normal flour but you can do most things with it. Makes really decent bread, it goes stale fast but it’s good for a day.
Tesco Finest cakes and biscuits. They’ve just discontinued the best shop GF cake ever made 🙁 But the rest are still good
Just naturally GF stuff, of course. I’m a bad cook but the things a good cook can do with a potato are amazing. I remember Russ at A Quick Release bike holidays making my a lasagne with thinly sliced potato wafers instead of pasta, it was absolutely gorgeous, better than the real thing…

Oh and beer. Brewdog Vagabond is GF. Supposedly Coors Light is too, I’ve drunk it but I’m too unsymptomatic for that to really tell you anything. Hanbleton’s GFL is a great tasty lager, Daura is a decent BBQ lager. Greens do a load and so far they’ve all been good. Gorge Best is a good bitter, need to try some more Cheddar stuff. Mikkeller has some good options. Basically, what you have here is an excuse to buy cases and cases of mixed beers off the internet. Glutenfreebeerstore.

(*) when I was first diagnosed, the hospital was running a GF foods show, all the companies brought their best and you had the reps going “Here’s our breakthrough new bread, 5 years in the making, you’ll be amazed”, and it was like eating cardboard. )

aphex_2k – Member

What an utterly crap “disease” to have.

As autoimmune diseases go, there’s worse! (it totally is a disease btw, don’t buy this “syndrome” or “condition” or “allergy” stuff).

I started on Gluten free bread a while ago in an attempt to stop farting so much. The bread is fairly reasonable (I also fart less).

Wold top brewery do a couple of really nice GF brews now too.

I’m already T1 diabetic with an insulin pump. Comparatively much worse but still, 2 issues I’d rather not have given the choice!

Wold Top beers are really good (3 varietys), Hambletons are now doing 3 as well, if your down south (Kent) well worth a visit to Westerham Brewery everything they do in bottles is GF (an excellent range) and in some of the pubs they have stuff on draught. Their Bohemian Rhapsody pilsner is fantastic.
On Monday afternoon I sat in my local drink Hadrian & Border Grainger ale on draught! This is also available in some Wetherspoon branches in the North East, Wetherspoons also do Estrella Galacia which is a pretty tasty lager, some still have Estrella Daura in as well but be sure to get the right one as label on the non GF is very similar.

There’s a brewery in the Lakes as well, Stringers(?) they do a couple including a nice porter.

Some of the Brew Dog pubs have their GF beer on draught, Newcastle’s does.

Westerham, Wold Top and Hambletons all deliver from the websites as well IIRC.

Food, yeah that’s available as well.