You've never lived until

You have never lived until you have stood next to the freeway puking your guts out.

It started off as a day like any other... I was going shopping with my sister, and we decided eating first would be a good thing.  I hate going to Costco on an empty stomach - it leads to far bigger grocery bills.

She had found some new gluten free pancakes, so she made me a bunch of pancake breakfast sandwiches to keep in the freezer for times when I just wanted something different.  No problem.  We had done it before with the Trader Joe's gluten free pancakes, the Jones Dairy Farm gluten free sausage patties, some cheese and an egg, and they were delicious.  And healthier than what I normally choose when I'm not feeling up to making a meal.

So she put them together over the weekend and tucked them safely into the freezer.  I grabbed on on Monday morning, ate the entire thing and headed upstairs to the coupon central area of her home.

We puttered around for about an hour, and finally got on our way.  About 20 miles down the road, I began to feel sick to my stomach.  I put it down to the fact that Costco was going to be crowded, and I'm not a fan of crowds.

Yeah.  About five miles later I pulled off the freeway and found a gas station.  It wasn't pretty, but at least I made it to the bathroom.

I asked her to drive me home as I wasn't really myself.  About two miles down the road, I asked her to pull over.  On the freeway.  I crawled out of the car and made it to the guard rail before vomiting again.

Four more times in the next 22 miles, we pulled over for me to vomit.  Then we got home, and I got really sick.

Note to myself - read all the labels for myself from now on.  Just because a manufacturer has one gluten free product does not mean all their products can be trusted.  And double check on my sister's "finds".

Vacation - All I ever wanted

Hello again.  Time to update, I suppose.

Things are, well, going.  But that's the life of a person with CD, I suppose.  The entire household has nasty colds, and several relatives have come down with Strep, so I know I'm getting off easily on this one.

Another cross-country drive begins on Sunday morning with gluten-free pancake sandwiches.  I'm hoping they will be as tasty as the biscuit sandwiches I took on my last long trip.

Also coming along for the ride, gluten-free blueberry scones, lots of peanut butter, some strawberry preserves, a few gluten-free instant mac and cheese cups and a loaf of Goodbye Gluten bread.

(Mini tootsie rolls might stow away...)

On this particular trip I will be traveling through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California.  Headed to a wedding outside San Francisco, then sticking around for my beloved daughter's college graduation.  (Sigh.  Seems like about three weeks ago she was heading off for her freshman year.)

I remain eternally grateful that I have no difficulties with nuts, legumes, dairy or grains that do not contain gluten.  Soy and I have an unfriendly relationship, but I just try not to indulge too much or too often, and we appear to have reached a trucel

On the way back I'm stopping off in Denver for a few days, and will try out the Udi's Restaurants in that city.  (I have to track the locations in a series of books I'm reading.  Yes, I know I'm a freak.)

I'll wave as I pass through your state.

Happy New Year!

Spent the day with my daughter, her friend and my sister's family.  Yummy roast pork and mashed potatoes... from the pots.

Good thing I always get mine directly off the stove - this year someone who shall remain nameless managed to drop noodles and gravy into the mashed potatoes that were on the table.  Oops!

Hope you all had a very enjoyable end of the year, and that the coming year will have less oops and much more Yum!!

Gout

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water... or at least that I'd found foods that were both tasty and gluten free.

Woke up one morning with a sore knee.  Figured I'd hit it on something, or slept on it wrong, or dislocated the stupid kneecap again (long story).

But it just kept getting worse.  In fact, it got bad enough that I asked quack to look at it.  (And I never go to him when I'm actually sick.)  He did.  One look, one very painful squeeze of the muscles around the knee, and he pronounced the verdict. Gout.

He sat down on his little stool and wrote something in the medical record.  I explained to my lovely (and worried) daughter that gout is the accumulation of uric acid crystals in the joint.  He said "exactly!" (He thinks I'm an idiot.)

Then he walked out the door.

And walked back in with the biggest needle I've ever seen.  Sucker was huge!  And full of cortisone.  It hurt going in.  And it hurt a hell of a lot more coming out.  He took a sample of the fluid in my knee after he injected the medication.  Felt as bad as getting a bone marrow sample taken.

But... I could bend my knee.  Right away.  And it didn't hurt.  Well, it didn't hurt anywhere near as much.  What hurt was his next sentence.  Two servings of chicken per week.  Period.

Stupid me, I asked him what I could eat.  "Salads and vegetables," was his quick reply.  (Ugh was my immediate thought.)

So the diet just became much more restricted.  At least I'm losing a bit of weight.  

I'm tired.

I'm tired of having Celiac Disease, pernicious anemia, ichthyosis vulgaris, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, hypercoagulability disorder and the strokes associated with it, osteoporosis, allergic asthma, bipolar disorder and non-alcoholic fatty liver.

I'm tired of always needing to know just exactly how far I am from the nearest bathroom... just in case.  I'm tired of people telling me they "couldn't do it" when they discuss being gluten free.  I'm tired of trying to pretend it doesn't matter to me that I can never have my favorite candy again.  I'm tired of  people who claim to be gluten sensitive or gluten "allergic" and then eat gluten filled items in public. 

I'm tired of companies that make gluten free products assuming that I am also dairy free, nut free and vegan.  I'm tired of people looking at me as though I have two heads when I ask for a gluten free menu or ask for the eggs without the toast.

I'm tired (really, really tired) of calling to inquire about a product that should be naturally gluten free... only to be told that it contains gluten.  Really?  Your peach ice cream contains gluten?  Why the hell would you put gluten in peach ice cream?  I can understand that it is in some chocolate ice creams, in the form of malt.  And in cookie dough ice cream.  I expect it to be there, and don't even glance at the packages.  But peach?  Give me a break.

And most of all, I'm tired of how bitchy I have become.  One of my imaginary internet friends was talking tonight about how wrong it was to claim to be a vegetarian when you sometimes eat meat or use meat in recipes (even if they are for someone else's consumption).  I very nearly responded that it must be damned nice to have the choice about what sort of restricted diet you adopted, and that whining about other people who also have the choice calling what they are eating semi-vegetarian is really petty.

I didn't, of course.  I came here to rant instead.  But I wanted to say it so badly... and I still do.

I don't like myself very much right now.

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Another one bites the dust

After a less than satisfactory response from the Chipotle headquarters, I'm afraid I am going to have to rethink my "go-to" restaurant when traveling.  I requested that certain employees be retrained in their gluten free procedures... they told me they aren't a gluten free restaurant, and that if I want gluten free, I have to describe my needs every step of the way... up to and including new cheese and lettuce containers so my food isn't cross contaminated.

Ok, I can deal with that.  Even though at my usual location, they told me it is corporate policy for them to open new containers for a gluten free diner.

But when I say I need a gluten free bowl and the response is "Do you want a burrito?"  Someone hasn't been trained.  Or they need to be retrained.

I will continue to visit the location in North Canton, Ohio... but I think I'll avoid the others.  Pity.  I had counted on being able to get a safe meal at all their locations.

Anybody got suggestions on another go-to spot?

Five Guys

Just got back from my first visit to Five Guys Burgers and Fries.  OMG, what a great burger!  Juicy, tasty, wrapped in its own little piece of foil so it doesn't touch anything else in the bag... my sister's bacon cheeseburger, for example.

And the fries... wow.  Just wow.  Tasted like homemade - the old fashioned way.  Crispy outside, soft and tender inside.

They have plastic silverware available, and are gluten-free friendly.  But you have to tell them you have a "gluten allergy" or they assume you are low carb rather than gluten free and don't change their gloves.  (Got this tip from a manager.)

Pricy, but well worth it for the occasional really big lunch.