Monday, March 30, 2009

Gluten Free Wheat Free Casein Free -- Taste Free?

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I never knew how many things contained gluten, wheat or casein.

Even vanilla extract has gluten (in the alcohol)... who knew? 

Now that my boy has been put on this special diet due to some severe allergies (which we also didn't know about until recently) we are sure learning a lot of these.

What I've found is that nothing is what it seems, that even Rice Krispies Cereal can contain gluten or casein (which is any dairy product) unless you get a specific brand.  

Whole Foods is our new grocery store of choice as well as Applegate Farms. Which sucks, since I have to cross the border into the USA once a week, to buy all this stuff. That's right, apparantly us canadians don't have these products readily available. Sigh.

By the way, if anyone has any experience with gluten/wheat/caseine free recipes, please let me know... I'd love to learn some.

As if this wasn't enough, tomorrow morning my daughter has to go to Children's hospital to get a procedure done, where she will be put completely under, and they'll go into her esophagus with a camera all the way to her stomach. She's been having a 'choking feeling' now for 10 days and lost 4 pounds already from not eating.

Intervention is clearly needed, they'll go see if there is something there. IF there isn't they'll take a biopsy and see if there is anything wrong with the esophagus.

If you pray, keep us in mind, if you don't ~ think positive thoughts okay? 


11 comments:

tweetey30 said...

I am sorry to hear your problems. Your are much bigger than mine. At least my mouth will heal but this sounds like one big mess for you guys. I learned alot by reading what you just posted really.

Sayre said...

Oh my. I wish I could help with the gluten-free, wheat-free, casein-free diet stuff, but I know nothing about it.

I CAN say some prayers for your daughter though. It's really scary to be the mommy when something is wrong and you don't know what it is - so I'll say some for you too.

JR said...

Sorry about your kids' health issues. I hope everything works out well for your daughter. As for your son, I WAS SO FREAKED OUT! I went to the allergist FINALLY and had all the prick tests run to see what I am allergic to. I'm allergic to wheat (not gluten) so I can have oats. I am allergic to potatoes, and casein. Try finding any processed foods that don't have either wheat, potatoes or casein in them. I'm still trying to figure out what the hell I can eat. The first response from the doctor, because I have so many food allergies was to become a vegetarian. Um, doc, I'm also allergic to beans, so that won't work. So it's not the end of the world, it just makes living in it more complicated. Meals at home are no problem, meats, veggies and select fruits. For breakfast I can have oatmeal or Cheerios with Soy milk. It's the lunches that seem to be so hard. I can't have sandwiches until I can drive 5 hours round trip to go to a "real" health food store in Annapolis where oat bread is really oat bread, made with oat flour, rather than made with wheat flour, sprinkle a few oats on top and call it oat bread. So, I'm figuring my way through the lunch hours. It means I have to plan ahead and prepare my meals myself. I'm not doing terribly great with this, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually. So, that explains the wheezing, the water retention, the aches and pains, etc. Feel free to share your ordeals and solutions with these allergies and I'll share mine. "VV"

Eileen said...

Oye, now I understand your comment on my blog.
D will be fine. H often gets 'weird' stuff going on in her body. It's part of growing. I know it's worrysome, but you will get through it. From experience, just be there when the nurse or doctor comes out to let you know that D is awake and be there for her as soon as you can. They get very scared when they wake up, most likely her throat will hurt as well. Make sure you have someone to watch B for several hours so you can be with D. You will all get through it.

Gluten-free...Heather has a friend who is gluten free. It's an expensive allergy. Fresh fruit/veggies. There are several brands that make gluten free. I don't know aobut casein at all,so can't comment. I do know that Pizza Pizza (not sure if it's there) make a gluten-free pizza. I always have rice pasta in the house for her, special cereal, and a box of her mac and cheese. Emily is a good friend of Heather's, so I keep food for her.
It's tough to adjust, but once you do, it's fine. What sucks is that the food is 3x the price as 'normal' food.
I also know there is a lot of info on the net, and different support groups.

Jazz said...

Wow. So sorry to hear about this. Wish I could help with the wheat/gluten/casein thing. I'm sure they have websites that include recipes on the net...

That girl said...

Hey guys, we are back from the hospital, Dacia (my daughter) is doing well, but it was THE worst day for me watching her go through this surgery.

I will post more details later, but thank you for your kind comments.

It helps to know some of you are going through the same things out there...

Just telling it like it is said...

I am sure sure that at a children's hospital they are experience with putting children under...Not that takes away your fears, and let me tell you I am nerotic when it comes to my child just because I am a nurse. I myself have had to put many children under sedation with a good out come. I hope she gets better? I hope this might give you some kind of support. I wonder if she has some stenosis in her esophagus. Sometimes they have to dilate it. I am sure the Doctors will go over everything with you...
take care

tweetey30 said...

You are most welcome and I hope she recovers quickly my friend.

Eileen said...

So, update us.

Tamara said...

OMG....I hope everything is gona be alright sweety! I never heard of some of these things like gluten-free...so I'm doing further research useing my favorite tool ...google of course.
My thoughts and prayers are w/ you guys.
huggggggs

Tamara said...

I know how it feels to see your children be sick and that helpless feeling,wanting them to get better.It's a real drag...my prayers are with you guys.
Just poppin back in to see if you have an update for us,hun,
hugggggggggggs