So the Gluten-free thing appears to be working,....

[ali_celt]

What next?

In case you don't remember, Rory has terrible excema which has plagued him every since he was a tiny wee thing. I actually have a theory that it was aggravated by the continual 8 months worth of 'maintenance dose' antibiotics he was on as a baby (he had renal reflux issues), but that's kinda not the point now!

Although we have deliberately kept him almost dairy free forever (except for little bits of cheese when we forgot), it just hasn't been working. The flare-ups of his excema kept coming regardless, and although a lot of the time it didn't seem to bother him itchiness-wise, it's a very red, obvious rash that will be exposed in short sleeves and shorts. And he's at school now, so we wanted to really try and reduce the incidence of the rash as he is a very sensitive child and comments from other kids really hurt him.

So for the last 8 weeks we've been gluten free. We had one slip-up in the middle of that, when a kindy teacher gave him a cupcake (grrrrrr) but other than that we've been ludicrously strict.

And it appears as tho its working. The majority of the large nasty red patches have disappeared, and although there is still some residual spots inside elbows and armpits they seem to be greatly reduced in inflammation.

While this is excellent, it's also annoying. I was kinda hoping that the GF thing WOULDN"T work - because OMG it's soooo expensive and such a total PITA!!! He hates the fact that there is a list taller than he is of things he just can't eat. He hates how whenever we go out somewhere, his brothers can both have shop-bought icecreams, but he can ONLY have a lemonade icypole. Or plain potato chips. He doesn't like the bread much, he doesn't like the rice pasta much (the corn one is ok tho) and he's already sick to death of the only commercial 'fruit bar' type recess things he can have.

I've got to the point where I'm almost wondering if he'd rather have the excema than the diet!

But yes. Now that it appears it's definetly a wheat-related issue (MIL has coeliacs, so there's a potential genetic link there too) I'm not sure if I can try challenging him on dairy?? I know he loves cheese and I'm wondering if now that the gluten is out of his system is it safe to introduce some cheese? I feel like adding dairy back in will help soooo much with mixing up the foods he is allowed - being wheat and gluten and dairy and nut free is just ridiculous (nut free because Declan gets rather ill if he eats cashews - he vomits a LOT) especially when products that meet THOSE requirements tend to also have artificial sweeteners, colours and more numbers than you can poke a stick at.

This post is turning into an essay.

If you experienced special diet people think that challenging with dairy would be bad at this point, please say so!

And I would LOVE any hints about how to save money on this stuff, I'm going insane here. Keep in mind that I DON"t have a food processor, and I DON'T have an oven (well, I have a tiny tiny one that's smaller than my microwave, can only bake 6 cookies at a time, and always burns the top of his special GF bread) and I DONT have a TMX :duck

Also - I work long days 3 ( and probably soon 4 again :angry:angry) days a week and DH WILL NOT COOK!!!

OH, and Rory is totally a carbohydrate kid.

Thanks girls!!!

[Rinelle]

Sounds really hard. Not having an oven would make it next to impossible I think! My DH has been gluten free for about 6 years now, and intially we really struggled with it! It has improved a lot though, and there are so many gluten free products available now that weren't there when we started.

The dairy as well would make it far harder I think, and I probably would challenge it soon. (I might give it another month?) If he's not dairy free, that would make it so much easier!

With the gluten free bread getting burnt on top, have you tried covering it in alfoil before cooking? I find this helps with the GF english muffins we cook for DH. The muffins are great actually, and I could probably give you the recipe if you like? It has butter in it, but you could probably substitute a non-dairy alternative for that? Oh, and milk powder! Ugh.

When we were making GF bread, we had a lot of success with making 'bread rolls' in a muffin pan instead of actual bread. I made a bacon and cheese variation that even I loved (I'm not GF). If he's not having cheese, you can add all sorts of other things, like dried fruit etc to make it a little more interesting.

I do cook a lot, I don't think I could do it without my oven.

I have a recipe for gluten free, dairy free chocolate fudge on my blog too, if you're needing something extra for a treat.

[emd]

You have my sympathies, I know how hard it is and I'm thankful we don't have to do it at our house. Jools also has nasty red patches in her elbows and behind knees (and sometimes her torso too) but there's no point doing an elimination diet because the extended family don't respect food boundaries or requests not to put random adult's moisturisers on it. But I digress...

If things seem to be going well for now, I would try dairy. Just a little bit, just once, and then wait a few days to see if there's a delayed reaction. If no reaction, I'd reintroduce it quite slowly in case he can tolerate a bit but not a lot. Billy (my third child, also gets a bit rashy) used to have a strong dairy intolerance but can now handle a bit - but still gets nasty nappy rash if we go overboard with it.

I was on a diet that excluded dairy, gluten, yeast, eggs, citrus, and I've forgotten what else for about a decade. Sometimes it sucked that I couldn't eat party food or go to McD's with my friends, but I got used to it and my mum got me other special treats so it wasn't all boring. I loved rice cakes coated in carob, and licorice. Thankfully, I also love oats, spuds in all their various forms, fried mushrooms...

[Rinelle]

Oh, I was also going to say, the San Remo gluten free pasta (often in the pasta aisle, not in the health food section, depending on the store) is WAY better than most of the other gluten free brands. It is almost like normal pasta. Not cheap of course, but sometimes it's worth it. It is also dairy free.

[Harmony]

There are plenty more icecreams and things he can have that are gluten free. You just need to be aware that glucose syrup (wheat) IS gluten free in most instances. I have occasionally had a suspicion of contamination with cheaper/lower quality foods, but until I have a bad experience with a product, I go ahead. I'm a very sensitive coeliac too, and I have wheat derived glucose syrup most days - my last blood test indicated lower levels of antibodies than you'd usually see in a non-coeliac ;) Magnums are good :D Not the peppermint ones, or ones with cookie crumbs, of course, but I have the plain ones and Ego ones (drool drool drool!)

Get thee to a dr who has seen him before, to write a letter stating he requires a gf diet, then you can join the coeliac society and access their not inconsiderable resources. fantastic magazine where all the companies advertise their products as they come out, great articles, pen pals and a kids section :) Or is your MIL already a member?

Um Light and tangy thins are GF, so are cheezles (although the numbers :gasp I cave about twice a year on those), plain corn chips, and woolies has a very nice range of Free From flavoured chips. Rice wheels.

Rice - risotto, then rolled in rice crumbs (with lots of flavour added! they're so bland) the next day and fried as arancini balls - especially if he can tolerate some cheese.

Try the gluten free stores like gluten free direct and such for more ideas. Only oz groceries also has lots of gf stuff, and has free samples of a lot of things each week, plus specials :)

Keep at it, it will soon get a lot easier :kotc

[Phoenix]

My sympathies! It is tough, I should be all the above free and I struggle to even do one properly.

Maybe a bit OT but I thought I would tell you about a cream that I love to use, I have massive problems with my own skin, it is called Moo Goo. HTH

[SeaStar]

I want some more moo goo, I got some from BBH a couple of years ago and it was great for my eczema. I should get some more, where do you get it from phoenix? It smells yummy too!

[Phoenix]

I usually get it from Mrs Flannerys, however I have seen it in Terry White. I am not sure about price difference though.
My fav one is the soothing MSM cream. LOVE LOVE LOVE it and yep it smells good!
I know that you prob have tried everything already but I found the Moo Goo with an organic olive oil soap is great.

[Bron]

Ali, there may be (oh don't you hate memory blanks!) where your gut allows proteins to pass through it when it's not supposed to. Someone help me out here! Starts with S I think.

Anyway, probiotics may help in healing the gut first. Then try dairy. But give it a while to work.

Josie has now had 4 treatments for dairy and Xanthia 3. So far (even though the last treatments were only last Thurs), X hasn't reverted and J has only reverted the night we had a bit of cheese. The naturopath was saying that cheese is different to other dairy foods and J may be super sensitive to it. She's had small amounts of other dairy but I want to treat her with probiotics first before cheese.

We've had many treatments at AAE (now called allergy pathways) and only the dairy hasn't been successful.

Um smack DH over the head! His son's health is his responsibility as well! While my DH isn't the best cook ever (god help my family if I die!) he does try. I may have to give each instruction separately and comprehensively, but if I ask him to cook something, he'll cook it.

We still eat heaps of rice based dishes, with curry and coconut milk. Coconut milk mixed with eggs is a very tasty sauce or custard (depending on how many eggs). My frypan and pressure cookers get used heaps.

[Bron]

oh nearly had it! not squeaky gut.....

[Bron]

leaky gut! (see, squeaky and leaky rhyme, hence the starting with S thing :rofl)

[ali_celt]

Oooh see that sounds interesting in a way Bron - warning all, am going tot alk about poo now.

Keep in mind Rory is 5 (eek already!!!)

Another reason I went GF for him is because of his poos. They are almost ALWAYS runny and very very soft and he has issues sometimes with leakage of fluid ones from there just before he gets to the toilet. I don't think I've EVER seen him do a really formed poo in his life. He doesn't complain of any belly aches at all and he doesn't think it's a problem, he goes once or twice a day, but it's always small and very very runny.

This did confuse me for a long time because he's always been the one who loves carbs in our family. I always only ever had wholemeal bread in the house 9before the gf thing I mean) but it's almost like he didn't ever get enough bulk or something.

Unfortunately the GF hasn't solved that issue at all - it's still a bit weird.

I took him off all clear juices too because I read somewhere that the clear apple juices can effect that kind of thing. And I read somewhere else that there's a reasonably common condition in smaller children that can cause this effect and there's nothing you can really do about it because it's to do with the length of the colon or something - and as they grew bigger it sorts itself out. (Much like the renal reflux thing but at the back, I spose)

Harmony, I didnt' know that most glucose from wheat was GF!! That's great to know, I've been rejecting EVERYTHING that had wheat glucose syrup in it.

Phoenix - I have heard of Moo Goo but i've never wanted to try it because of his dairy issues - I figure that it's essentially the same thing, having it put on your skin as ingesting it. But once we've trialled dairy if it works out OK I'll give it a go!

Rinelle = I shall raid your blog shortly, dairy free GF choc fudge sounds too damn good to ignore!

Thanks everyone!

[Harmony]

I've heard some people still avoid it, they believe they have a reaction, so use with caution ;)

Re bowel, gut healing/probiotics etc can help with that too, google GaPS diet (gut and psychology syndrome).

[Phoenix]

Oh of course, yes it does have milk solids in it. Sorry.

[mamma]

we're dairy and gluten free here too, and have been for years - its really not so bad!!

i can give ou a list of alternative products too if you wanted to say whivh things you were looking for in particular?

also, would you consider you all changing to the same diet? i found it easier and cheaper too! and beneficial health wise as well :)

[ali_celt]

I can't change us all over, as much as I would like to. DH is a diabetic and has a routine of which foods work for maintaining his sugar levels - GF foods aren't them. He goes through a couple of kilos of weetbix a week (with cow's milk on them LOL) and eats loads of other wheat - based carbs to adjust his levels properly. GF stuff has a different GI value and it would take a LOOONG time for him to figure out what works and what doesn't - and he's not prepared to do that.

Also, he loves his cheese too much LOL

I think it has become more clear to me that when you have one person on a special diet (or more than one!) organising food is almost a full time job. FINDING food is almost a full time job around here - expecially given our only local supermarket has just pulled their entire range of GF stuff out of the frozen food section. Now I have to drive across to the evil Woolies that's 25 mins away *sigh*

Ahhh well

[emd]

I know it's hard, but you CAN do it. My mum did it, and the nearest supermarket was 100km away, on dirt roads for a good part of it, which flooded in winter and required a 4WD to get through. And when she got to the supermarket, it was not like the supermarkets we have today in the city... it was still a country town version of Woolies.

Get good with risottos on the stovetop. You can put all sorts of yummy things in a risotto. Refrigerator slices are good - mum used to make the bases with crumbled rice cookies from the supermarket, and top them with all sorts of sweet things based on dried or stewed/tinned fruit. Sometimes I send Sophia to school with fresh rice paper rolls instead of sandwiches. Or baked beans in a little container with a spoon - she loves them cold.

If you've got fave hard-to-get expensive GF treats, try buying in bulk online and have them delivered to your door. Mum used to shop at Campbell's Cash & Carry once every month or two for bulk boxes of the daily staples.

[Harmony]

www.glutenfreedirect.com.au has to close, everything 20% off (except shipping) enter 'GFD' code to get the discount, she said stuff is selling out fast :( something to do with council regs changing and not being able to move the business...

[Bron]

if anyone is consuming wheat based products, you need to be very careful with cross contamination. things such as washing up items separately, not cooking a wheat cake and a gf one in the same tin, that sort of thing.

[ali_celt]

Hey thanks for that Harmony, I've just ordered a heap of stuff (the discount has gone up to 30% apparently!) hopefully it's still in stock. Good time to stock up the pantry for him.

Yeah Bron it's tricky - the separate washing up thing, how important is that? Like, if his plates are just stacked up with everyone elses when we do the dishes, does that mean we've done it wrong?

Using the bread tin just for his stuff is easy because I've not baked a loaf of bread for the rest of the family in forever (since DH accidentally threw away the stirring thingy in the bread machine, anyhow) and so his gets the bread tin all for itself.

Remind me to buy another thingy for the bread machine, someone. *grin*

[Rinelle]

I don't wash things up seperately. They all go in together. We only cook with GF flour, but DD and I eat bread etc most days. We haven't noticed any contaminations, but I guess it depends on how sensitive you are.

[Bron]

Yep, depends on how sensitive you are :)