Saturday, January 3, 2009

My Mom: A Gluten-Free Experiment

Right now I am in Utah taking care of my mom and grandma after my mom's recent surgery. My mom is caretaker for my grandma, so it is important that someone be here to take care of them. My mom has quite a number of health problems, and I really worry about her eating habits. After my Celiac diagnosis, my mom was tested as well, on my recommendation, with negative results. It confuses me that she has the same symptoms that I had, but was not diagnosed with it. I especially worry because her symptoms are what caused her to need this very invasive surgery in the first place. hmmm.....

After reading a lot of your stories of negative diagnosis, but positive results with the gluten-free diet, I am excited to see what happens after 10 days of feeding my mom (and grandma) gluten free. My grandma still eats her bread, but my mom pretty much eats only what I give her. And since I am the one cooking, she gets what I make :) (My how the tables have turned!) I hope this will help her, and that she will be able to learn how to eat healthier, and to make healthier lifestyle choices.

I'll keep my blog posted for myself and for those of you who might have an interest :)

Wish me luck! (Oh, and my mom is doing pretty well after her surgury!)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am happy to know your mom is doing well.
My daughter was recently diagnosed with CD.
Through genetic testing, we found out that my son and I have the gene for CD. My wife's test is not back yet.

My daughter is 20 and away at college so it is especially challenging to remain gluten free, but she is rising to the challenge and thriving quite well.

Thanks for your story.

Samaber said...

My mom and I have had similar symptoms for years, and we both tested negative. I decided to try going gluten free anyway, and it changed everything. My mom is stubborn, though, and she refuses to try it. I'm very interested to find out how this turns out!

Olivia said...

That is great that you are trying something to see if it helps her. I think even though GF diet may be tough at first, it really helps take care of a lot of problems for many people. I know quite a few people that are not diagnosed with CD, but have chosen to go GF anyway just because it helps them feel SO much better. Hopefully it will be easy for your mom to transition and stick to it if it helps. Keep us posted :)

Simply...Gluten-free said...

Sometimes people have what is called sub-clinical celiac or gluten intolerance. It does not show up on blood test but can show up with saliva testing possibly. Best thing is that is you feel better with no gluten it is kind of a no-brainer!

I wish you all the best of luck and Happy New Year!

Anonymous said...

I have read that some people have negative blood tests, but endoscopy still shows celiac. Also, if you do the gene test and she doesn't have the gene, then you can rule it out for sure. If she has the genes, it doesn't tell you too much b/c many people with the genes never develop it. While some people show quick improvements on a gluten free diet, for others it takes months. Also enterolab offers stool testing which apparently can detect for celiac before antibodies show up in the blood.

Anonymous said...

Hey Tiffany,

Good luck with your little lab rats (I say with all due respect, honestly). I took care of my elderly diabetic mom after she was hospitalized and she was only able to eat the food that I prepared. I made very diabetic friendly food and because I am GF, so was she for that time period. (I begin thinking of her as my little isolated culinary health experiment.) Wow, she really thrived when she wasn't able to "cheat" and she had to stick to the foods I prepared. Chana dal (very good for diabetics), healthy soups and stews, organic salads and fruit, no refined foods, etc. She said it was the first time she could remember that she didn't have sugar cravings. :-) Her blood sugar normalized and she did really well.

As for the celiac testing, that's a murky field with room for error. What tests did she have? Antibody testing? Intestinal biopsy? And did they check her for IgA deficiency? Blah, blah, blah. Sorry, but this is my field. I'm interested in hearing how things go. Good for you! What a nice daughter (and grand daughter) you are.

Here's to a healthy and happy 2009!
Take care of yourself, too. Sometimes we forget that.
Melissa

Emilia said...

I know so many people who have celiac symptoms, but are tested as not having celiac disease.
I sincerely hope that your mother gets better!

My boyfriends family has a lot of celiac disease on his mothers side and back when little was known about celiac disease many of his relatives had parts of their bowels removed with surgery, they also had many other health problems which are now known to be related to celiac disease.
It can be such a serious condition if nothing is done to get rid of gluten - unfortunately.

Vittoria said...

My boyfriend complained of IBS and stomach 'issues' but since he started eating more of my cooking he's feeling better and better. He only eats 2 or so slices of bread a day and everything else gluten free, I won't even touch his bread :) He knows when I'm running the kitchen, no gluten will be allowed at all.

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