Unconquered

Are you a "doctor's always right" guy or are you open to naturopathic medicine?

Just asking.

My mother in law is and it seems like you just change your diet, shop differently. Not quite what you think of with a "disease"

Yeah, I understand it's all about diet. I'm just saying, like how hard is it? Do you still get sick?

I'd do about anything not to feel like this, so I'm not depressed about it, just ready to feel better.

Too bad. I'm sure he has a certain level of knowledge about it by now.

It's hard at first to learn what ingredients are gluten free and which aren't. Just means you have to check the labels on everything you buy. After awhile you know which companies have a large gluten free selection without them literally having to have a gluten free "line" of foods. You can also call the numbers on most labels or go to their websites for answers. There are also some celic websites out there with lists of safe/unsafe ingredients and forums where people discuss whether certain products/companies are gluten free (linked below).

My dad was diagnosed within the last year or two. He says he's noticed a change in how he feels. If he stays gluten free for a few days and then eats something containing gluten he usually gets an irritable feeling within an hour or two of the meal. I don't know what your symptoms are but from what I've seen on the one forum linked below, many people usually have fairly immediate responses to gluten (30-60 minutes) if they had been gluten free prior to the reaction. But it also depends on how sensitive you are. Some people can eat food with the allergy warning "produced in a facility that also produces wheat products" and have no reaction while others react to that trace amount. Ditto for dining out or fast food restaurants, they may be hit or miss due to certain seasonings or "cross contaminaton."

Honestly, if you stick to it fairly well, it's not a big issue after awhile. Just becomes second nature. Fwiw, if they do a biopsy, it doesn't always turn up positive even if you actually have it. Ask the doctor about it and see what they say. Usually do a blood test that I've been told is a more accurate way to determine it.

http://www.celiac.com/articles/181/1/Safe-Gluten-Free-Food-List-Safe-Ingredients/Page1.html
http://www.celiac.com/articles/182/1/Unsafe-Gluten-Free-Food-List-Unsafe-Ingredients/Page1.html
http://www.celiac.com/articles/222/1/Gluten-Free-Alcoholic-Beverages/Page1.html
http://gicare.com/Diets/Gluten-Free.aspx
http://www.publix.com/managed_pdfs/Gluten%20Free1640161.pdf
http://forums.glutenfree.com/

Josh:

I am not a celiac, but I have spent prolonged periods of time eating completely gluten free, and it is not the end of the world. There are snacks and replacements for a lot of the stuff you probably enjoy.

There exists a gluten free beer and its called Red Bridge. It's not great, but it's also not bad. You can replace pasta with brown rice pasta; quinoa pastas work as well. The toughest thing is breads, because I haven't found a gluten free bread that really works for me, but they do exist. Like the poster above mentioned there are pizzerias that have gluten-free options (i.e., Naked Pizza). Other than that you can still eat your meats and cheeses.

Hope this helps!