I'm on a roll. No, not a dinner roll.

May I have a drumroll, please?

...I think I have officially gone an entire week and a half with no glutenings. I hesitate to even write this down, as I'm afraid the evil gluten monster will immediately show up at my door, knock me down, laugh in a sinister fashion, and say "I told you so!"

The skin on my fingers where I usually have DH blisters is starting to heal. There have been a couple of times where it has gotten a bit red and I've been apprehensive, but it isn't painful. It's weird to just have almost-normal skin there!

I was being super careful, but I then got caught up by some nasty flu-bug and couldn't tell which end was up. I stayed at my parents' house for the course of it, which provided myriad opportunities for cross-contamination. I'm pretty sure I was glutened. I was almost too sick to notice.

Being on the upswing, I HAVE to be careful what risks I take. I've been working a lot and have been stressing a bit much in the last few weeks about various subjects, so it's often hard to tell whether I'm tired from lack of sleep or potential gluten. Or both. The weird part is, I've noticed that being glutened is a different kind of tired. Both make it hard to get out of bed in the morning and both make my brain a bit foggy, but it is different. I can't really explain it.

On a random note- I also can't explain why after only two days without coffee last weekend and miraculously no headaches (thank you, green tea!) that my coffee made me CRAZY on Monday. It was almost like I hadn't been absorbing the caffeine in the past, and then WOWSA! Tachycardia! No attention span! Haven't felt like that in quite a while. I had to back it off, which was sad because I am in love with my strong morning coffee.

I'm going out of town tomorrow to take a big test. It is an all day thing, so I'm hoping there won't be too much drama come lunchtime!! (Yes, that's a lunchbox. No, I did not hide equations for reference in my string cheese.) And yes, I am currently procrastinating about my final review of material. Great idea when my estimated time of departure is at about 5:30 AM.

Anyway, just sharing the good news... I hope... Crossing your fingers makes it hard to type.

Warning! Jennie-O Turkey Sausage

Here's my first column under the Warning! heading.

It involves one of my former favorite ingredients, Jennie-O hot Italian turkey sausage. Loved the stuff, made it at least once a week in various forms... I now suspect glutening. Twice.

The first time, I thought it was a fluke. I had made it into sausage patties, serving mine plain and my hubbie's on a bun. (This was when I kept obviously gluten-y things in my kitchen, a thing of the past!) I blamed the bun, even though I was super careful with it, didn't touch it, and washed my hands a billion and a half times.

I don't think it was the bun. The next time we ate the sausage, I used my tried-and-true recipe of sausage, broccoli, and Tinkyada spaghetti in a garlic chili broth. Mmmm... until I got sick. I was stumped until I remembered "the bun incident."

Bun, indeed...

Beware the turkey sausage, GF buddies. I'm terribly sad to lose this as an ingredient, but I think I've learned my lesson. Next up- probably a lesson in making my own sausage.

So long, Jennie-O. You were a good friend until you turned on me, backstabber!

Day 1

Here's the food breakdown for today. (and yes, I do snack all day)

B- smoothie with:

• frozen bananas, strawberries, and blackberries
  
• Stonyfield blueberry yogurt
  
• some natural PB
  
• a splash of Simply Orange with mango.

Weird combo, I know, but I like the PB&J flavor of it. May I also mention that I love Stonyfield yogurt. Too expensive, but not too sweet and not too tangy!

Morning snack- apple with PB and honey

L- leftover chicken and rice noodle stuff (posted prior). I've felt funky the last couple times I've eaten this recipe, so I'm not sure which component is the culprit. I used Dynasty Maifun, Mizkan rice vinegar, and San J wheat-free tamari. Everything else is pretty much whole foods. I've looked to see if anyone else has had issues with these products, and I can't find anything. Maybe it's something else.

Afternoon snacks (more like pre-dinner...)-

• snow peapods
  
• a nectarine
  
• Sargento lite string cheese along with some cut up cherry tomatoes from the farmers market!
  
• I also broke down and had a small bag of Smartfood popcorn.
  

Speaking of Smartfood, a Lays product, I have trusted Lays for awhile. I'm not sure if I do now. Sure, they have a GF list. They also have a huge disclaimer at the bottom (CYA) that says that they use gluten on the same lines as the supposedly GF lines. I've heard of enough people playing roulette with Lays products (50/50 chance of getting sick...) that I vowed to avoid them to figure out what is secretly glutening me. I cracked today.

D- This was a new one for me- Mrs. Leeper's corn/vegetable pasta with a touch of butter, EVOO, and parm. I don't necessarily recommend it. The pasta fell apart at al dente. I wasn't expecting my combo to taste like much, but it was even more bland than I anticipated. It did satisfy my carb craving, however.

I may just have to break down and have a half glass of wine. My current favorite is Sutter Home's Chenin Blanc. Sometimes, even small amounts of wine make me flush. Darn sulfites! I do need to continue researching wine/gluten safety. I don't know enough about the process to know where the problems arise...

Day 1 is done!

What to post, what to post...

I have so many Celiac-related topics that endlessly swirl around in my foggy little head that I find it ironic when I'd like to write a useful, thought out post and all I can come up with is uhh....

I need a theme.

I've thought about "What I ate today" for a few reasons- it would help me keep track of what I eat, maybe give out some ideas of real-life Celiac eating, and mostly help me determine what keeps glutening me (unless it is from my kitchen, which I'm starting to suspect sometimes...)

I've also thought about writing some medically applicable articles for lay Celiacs, like decoding Celiac-related journal articles, especially about upcoming ideas for drug treatment. That sounds like a lot of work-related work. No time right now.

I've also thought about recipes, but lots of people do that, and I'm not a cook. I throw stuff in a pan and hope it turns out edible!

I'm realizing more and more how much the GF diet (mostly lack thereof) affects every aspect of my life. I think it would help me to blog about that. Maybe you can relate.

So- in conclusion, this blog is going to be a random buffet of posts just like it has been.

Still Failing

It's been awhile. I'm still failing at staying un-glutened for more than a week. I start to feel good, then it's back down the spiral we go.

I have learned that just because it says gluten free, it is not always to be trusted. (I should have known that before.) I was starting to feel decent last week until I had a craving for baked spaghetti. Ok, I thought, why not? I have some Tinkyada pasta, I'll buy some sauce and cheese and make some! Pretty simple, right? 3 ingredients.

Beware Classico sweet basil sauce, oh gluten-free friend. Only after I immediately became ill when eating it did I think to look it up online. According to quite a few people on the celiac.com boards, I am NOT the only one who has had a problem. Beware the sauce. (Yes, it says GF right on the label.)

On another note- how is it possible to be instantly nauseous when ingesting gluten unknowingly? It wasn't until the next day that I suspected a gluten reaction. I've had this happen multiple times. I think I'm sick or I waited too long to eat or I'm stressed out or something, only to find out that it was gluten. There isn't even time for it to reach my duodenum! Go figure.

I'm not sure what to do anymore. I felt it again tonight, only not as severe. I now have some DH to prove it. I've got to figure out what else I'm reacting to. Yikes.

I'm hoping that someday, this site will serve as more than just my gripe fest. I want it to be hopeful and cheerful and full of life and inspiration! I guess we'll all just have to wait impatiently in negativity until I somehow get my act together.

Sorry.

I just don't get it.

Here comes another gluten-related lament. I can't seem to go for longer than a week without getting glutened. I'm about ready to stop eating altogether for awhile. (OK, maybe not, but the thought has crossed my foggy, tired mind!)

I start to wonder- how often does this happen to other Celiacs? Is everyone as sensitive as I am? I have been restricting myself more and more, and it doesn't seem to make a bit of difference.

Here's my current list of things that could have glutened me:

• The "GF" potluck at work for my last day (big contender)
• The frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts I bought with "glucose solids" on the label. Poor quality, wish I would have read the label before I bought them. Not sure if I trust whatever they inject!
  
• The 4th of July meal at a friend's house, where I helped make everything, looked up every ingredient online (like the Hormel chili with beans), and doubled-washed the pans and utensils
• Breyer's natural vanilla ice cream from the milkshakes we made yesterday. I actually just ate some 5 minutes ago. What was I thinking?! I thought I already learned my lesson about vinegar and alcohol...
  
• My latte last Friday from the only coffee shop I trust

It is so hard to tell once I get in the vicious glutening cycle. Since I have almost constant symptoms and they take at least two weeks to go away, I can't figure out when exactly I get glutened.

I guess I'm back to only food from my own home that is made from scratch. No ice cream if it has vanilla extract. Nothing with unidentifiable vinegar. Packing my lunch with no further prep at other people's houses. No processed foods.

I feel like I'm crazy for having to be so careful.

I also feel crazy for posting this online. The only way this post would be helpful to anyone is if they needed to relate!

News!

Newsflashes for the month:

We're moving. If I wasn't bad enough about posting before, it will probably be even worse now for awhile. Or maybe it will be better since I have a couple weeks off while we move? Who knows.

The awesome people at my old job got me a bread machine! I'm eagerly anticipating the first loaf, which should be ready in 2:48. I know it will take some tweaking to accommodate the GF-ness, but I'm so excited to try it! I also learned that there are a ton of GF bread machine recipes out there and that I don't think I had the exact ingredient list needed for any of them. Here's hoping my educated guessing works out!

I'll post my findings about my newfangled invention once I eat the results. Can't wait!