Would anyone be up for a coeliac chat thread?

[Squirrel125]

Umm...that's it, really! I was thinking a thread for people with coeliac or a coeliac sufferer in the household where we could share recipe ideas and any other questions might be helpful. I did briefly follow something like this on FB but found it a bit intense, as FB groups tend to be!

My DD (12) has coeliac, diagnosed last year. Still getting to grips with some food alternatives but we have quickly found specific favourites (all in different supermarkets, of course!)

So my first question is...any ideas to make GF couscous a bit more flavoursome?!?

Marmite is more or less the yeast left over from brewing beer which or course uses barley, wheat and rye.

Anyone suffer with random left sided pain? Even when not knowingly glutened? I get a kind of stitch just under my ribs but sometimes lower. No explanation has been found.

@Cannotbeasked it's possible of course that it isn't a reaction to food, just a bug that's going around. If no other children are poorly, and/or it happens again, then you can start to work out what's caused it. Being a health detective, especially on behalf of a child, is really hard. We just want to know how to help them feel better.

Does anyone have trouble with either cocoa powder, dark chocolate or vanilla essence ? I am reacting mildly to homemade brownies but eat all the other ingredients regularly.

Which brands? Cross contamination could be an issue during manufacturing

So the dark chocolate and cocoa are Tesco own and the vanilla is Nielsen massey.

If the dark chocolate is tesco finest it says may contain gluten.

the normal tesco dark chocolate looks ok
The cocoa powder looks fine
i use the same vanilla essence and never had a problem

It’s the normal chocolate and I had checked ingredients, this is why I’m so puzzled 😩

Any chance of cross contamination from the butter you’re using?

Or even a wooden mixing spoon?

Well the butter is always from a fresh block in the fridge and we don’t have much gluten in the house and wooden spoons go in the dishwasher…

I think not sharing wooden spoons is wise. Even if they do go in dishwasher.

Thank you, yes it’s a good point. I’m struggling to think of anything gluten which gets stirred though as I do all cooking and the only gluten items in the house are bread and pasta.

Do you stir the pasta when it’s cooking!

With a metal fork!

Re cooking and utensils- we use silicone spoons for stirring and never stir pasta water with the same spoon as gf pasta, ie if making both we have 2 separate spoons for stirring.

OK, important question of the day...sadly I suspect I already know the answer having done a brief Google. Do gluten free licorice allsorts exist??

I've never seen gluten free licorice all sorts, you can get gluten free licorice.

I remember eating a load the Christmas just after being diagnosed, it didn't even occur to me that they had wheat in!

Never seen GF allsorts sadly but can get all kinds of gluten free liquorice, might just have to order them in the UK.

We have separate utensils when cooking pasta on separate sides of the cooker for good measure. I assume if bread crumbs end up in the dishwasher there is no risk of contamination?

Hello!

Not yet been diagnised as Coeliac but with any underactive thyroid I have been advised to avoid.

Recent blood tests show slightly elevate IgA, low ferratin and vitamin d deficiency. Have had bowel issues for the last couple of years.
My hair and skin is awful, dark circles under eyes and brain fog after eating glutanous foods. Joint pain and frequent pins and needles in hands and feet.

Does this point to atleast gluten/wheat intolerance? I stoppes consuming all gluten over this weekend and feel infinitely better, more energy, no water retention my tummy feels much better. Skin is clearer too.

Shall I just keep this up?

You could keep it up but you need to know once you stop eating gluten you can’t get officially diagnosed as it won’t show up. So depends how important an official diagnosis is.

you could ask your GP for an initial blood test and see if that’s raised. If it is they’d normally recommend an endoscopy but you still need to be eating gluten for this. You could be waiting some time for an endoscopy though I differs around the country.

imho there isn’t really any benefit to an official diagnosis. Dd could get bread on prescription but most areas don’t do this and the bread is horrible so we don’t bother. Some places might offer you a dexa bone scan but Dd has never been offered one. Guess she got her Covid jab early because of her diagnosis and she could get a free flu jab.

Thank you. I think at this point I couldn't face having to reintroduce gluten for 6 weeks to have an endoscopy. A few years ago my calprotectin was high but it was never followed up and I have a history of UC and Crohns in my family too. I just wondered whether the low ferratin and vit d deficiency pointed at coeliac/gluten intolerance looking at the relief I am now feeling. My B12 is also on the low end of normal, and around 6 months ago it was severely deficient.

I will miss bread as a convenient meal and I know it's only been a couple of days so far but I am not missing it at all.

Yes and sadly if you have a break when you reintroduce Gluten for tests the symptoms are often a lot worse than previously.

yes low iron and vit d can be caused by coeliac disease as the gluten flattens the villi leading to malabsorption. After going gf your villi will heal and levels should rise.

Also that calprotectin level needs to be followed up to rule out Crohn’s, etc.