To think she doesn't *really* have coeliac disease?

[CookiePookie]

Coeliac disease - I understand from other friends who have been diagnosed with this that it's tricky but OK to deal with being gluten-free forever. My MIL has been diagnosed with this a year or so ago. Out of the blue she just announced she cannot have gluten any longer, and has Coeliac disease.
Just a bit of history - my opinion is that she seeks attention in all situations. My husband and my wedding - she demanded my private list of 'to-do' items including such things as 'wax bikini line', and when I did not give it to her she threatened not to come to the wedding until I apologised. Now, she may have CD and we always get in lots of gluten-free foods when they visit. She always asks in restaurants for the GF options. (and bemoans how poor they are). But most times we see her she will eat something containing gluten, like a regular biscuit or a bit of batter off fish and chips my FIL is eating. Can you just have a minor allergy to gluten? But she does insist it's Coeliac disease.

I’m gluten intolerant which means I avoid it but if I fancy a bit of bread occasionally, I’ll have it. It’s only a problem if I repeat it. If I had CD I’d avoid it completely as even a tiny amount can cause serious problems. I think she’s embellishing what she’s got.

I would be more annoyed about her genral bat shittery ie your bikini line wax, wtaf?
If she wants to claim she's got a disease then has little or no evidence of it, let her crack on eatting what she wants. I wouldn't be wasting time, money and energy pandering to it.
I don't know the woman but I dislike her from what you've said OP

This. She might not have visible symptoms but she can still be causing internal damage.

I’m Coeliac, diagnosed through blood tests and biopsy of stomach lining, and boy do I react in the worst possible ways to an accidental glutening. My sister is also Coeliac and doesn’t react at all. Go figure!

Thank you for this. I guess as others have noted it's not my business anyway, but was just dubious. My DH also wanted to know so I guess he can ask her if he would like to talk about it as she does bring it up an awful lot, so we are better educated about it for her sake.

It sounds very complex and tricky to live with. I'll learn to be more tolerant of her intolerance, and perhaps DH can ask her if she has all the info she needs from her doc to be sure she stays well.

Non-gluten eater here. It’s possible to have gluten intolerance and still be able to handle small quantities, such as a beer or the odd biscuit. If you have been diagnosed with coeliac disease then knowingly eating any form of wheat/gluten seems like a stupid risk to be taking with your health.

The first possibility is that she has been diagnosed with coeliac disease (I think that usually involves intestinal biopsy) and she’s just bad at sticking to the diet. Option two is that she’s either been diagnosed with or thinks she has a gluten sensitivity but she calls it ‘Coeliac disease’ because she doesn’t understand the difference. I feel that’s more likely, regardless of whether there’s an attention seeking element or not.

I agree that it’s annoying but there’s nothing you can do other than eating with her less often!

I sometimes have the opposite problem, when people try to force-feed me some wheat-containing product (usually a bit of cake) saying ‘surely a little bit won’t hurt’ as if them saying it emphatically enough will make it true!

Yeah some people don't get bad reactions to gluten, I never did and only got diagnosed because anaemia and mum having it so thought better check. So if she had only mild symptoms when she got diagnosed, and hasn't fully gone onto a GF diet then she'll 'get away' with eating small amounts, as in she won't get bad symptoms but it will be doing damage.

I feel like perhaps this is true; she's intolerant but doesn't actually have CD. I guess I should mind my own business and continue to purchase GF foods for when they visit. She was kind of put out when I bought GF custard creams last time though! 'they really don't taste very good'

Some people with coeliac disease still eat some gluten. For many people the damage isn't immediate or even apparent. Many people think it always induces GI symptoms but for many people with coeliac disease that isn't the case. Some people experience neurological symptoms and some get none at all. Some people experience infertility and have no idea its the gluten in their diet causing it. Doctors don't care at all, so if she has actually been diagnosed then she's been lucky. The majority of people with the disease are never diagnosed.

I don't think this is about the gluten. You mention other things that have offended you. Therefore she could say she had anything and you would think it's attention seeking.

FWIW my gastro consultant said I probably have celiac. I got worried after googling and finding out it can cause cancer. I was young and anxious. So I would say "no sorry I can't eat that until I have tests". Waited almost 6 months for the gluten tolerance test and it was inconclusive and I stopped feeling as unwell so didn't follow up. I occasionally get doubters asking why I've eaten some bread and I explain that avoiding gluten is so difficult after a lifetime of eating it that I just take the risk. I just can't have too much wheat or I get really horrible cramps. I'll probably never know what it is but it doesn't mean I was lying.

Thank you. I feel like you would be a great, no-nonsense person to give advice to deal (or not bother) with her craziness. I guess I have become inured to it over the years. I could write a book of her antics but perhaps have been hasty to judge this GF one based on past experience!

Thanks for the info. I appreciate it. I think I should probably just not bother being concerned about it as I am either being nosy or feeding the attention-seeking perhaps!

Who actually cares? I can’t imaging frothing over someone this much. It’s bit bitch eating crackers.
Look at her over there eating her gluten!!!

Mm..

She may have CD - it might be she's been told what diet to stick to but has not done so because it is difficult and GF stuff often tastes like crap.

So shes continued to eat small amounts of gluten, which as many people here have pointed out, may produce low grade symptoms she can mostly put up with... its only when people cut out ALL the gluten for a while that they then find they get the huge and not ignorable reactions.

Of course it needs to be done as the gluten is doing damage even if she can tolerate the symptoms... but thats easy to say and hard to do.

She may also simply be intolerant and have jumped on this and gone the whole hog in over-egging it a bit.

Just give her GF stuff or tell her if stuff may contain gluten and leave her to it, you can't manage it for her, thats up to her.

@CookiePookie yeah, try and ignore whatever she does, not worth your headspace. The aspect of her behaviour that WOULD annoy me is asking for the gf option in a restaurant then picking off other people’s plates, or doing what my sis does and getting to pudding and ‘having the normal cheesecake anyway’ - which undermines people who really DO need completely gf and I fear will make the kitchen slapdash!

You're likely correct. I am suspicious due to the many instances over the years so here I am wondering again. I'll ignore it and just carry on with us buying GF foods for her, probably for the best.

My mum was diagnosed with coeliac disease at 83. No symptoms and not sure why Dr took blood test but came back positive as did endoscopy. She was not great at sticking to her diet as she had no symptoms and no evidence of other related deficiencies.

My brother and I had our antibodies checked but fortunately normal.

As far as I know coeliac disease is never mild- you either have it or you don’t. My sister has eaten food contaminated with gluten before and the results have been horrible for her.

My mum occasionally goes gluten free because she is “allergic” to gluten. She does the same with cows milk. And I mean occasionally. I’m sure I’ve heard somewhere it isn’t good to cut gluten out of your diet and then randomly start eating it again Because it can cause problems and I told her that but she informed me that I don’t understand her “allergy”. I do understand all
to well. I just think it’s bollocks. Hers specifically not allergies in general.

Yeah I will from now on. Thank you!

She’s getting confused. She is probably gluten intolerant.

i am gluten intolerant. If I ate one biscuit and nothing else with gluten, I may very well just about get away with it. But if I ate gluten, non-stop for a weekend, it would take me up to six weeks to recover. It’s the build up that’s the problem and can make me very sick.

A blood test said I had celiac disease, a stomach biopsy said I didn’t…,so I’m caught in between what is actually wrong with me!

has she had either to determine diagnosis?

The last time my MIL was glutened, we ended up in an ambulance. No one who actually has CD would be chomping on biscuits.

I wish people wouldn’t do this. In my opinion it undermines the severity of the disease. I have it and no, I couldn’t eat a biscuit without being ill for days.

As a coeliac she either is bluffing or doing damage internally (if you are coeliac it causes an autoimmune reaction) - her choice! 🤨🤷🏼‍♀️ You can be gluten intolerant not coeliac but if she is insisting she is then she really should not be having gluten even crumbs (cross contamination is a serious thing!)

Thanks. I agree it's likely an intolerance and not CD, but she shouldn't be asking restaurants to ensure equipment is cleaned for her and not touched gluten if that's true. I guess it's not great I am so wary of it and allow the concern to take up a small part of my life, so I'll just ignore and buy GF food for her and not worry further.

I would never ‘just have a biscuit’ because I remember just how bad the symptoms a pain were before I got my diet under control. I seem to be able to eat oats and a little rye and would on occasions have a beer that was not gluten-free (some brands are lower gluten than others). If your MIL has a less severe reaction, then it may be more difficult to stick to the diet (I’ve been wheat-free for nearly 20 years so it’s fairly ‘early-days’ for her).

I would suggest providing food that is naturally gluten free rather than buying too many of the GF products which seem to have gone up in price a lot recently as well as tasting pretty bad. ‘Meat and two veg’ meals are easy to make. Or a rice or potato salad. Peanuts or crisps (ready salted are safest) instead of biscuits. Or just cook for her less!