“ Mummy and her clumsy hair” (by mini-coeliac, Megan, aged 3)
Accidents do happen. You know, the kind of thing, trapping your child’s little neck in their bike helmet, scratching your baby while changing their nappy, cutting yourself on every piece of paper you hold. As many of you know (or are beginning to recognise), I am more clumsy, accident prone and all-round unlucky than most. My mini-coeliac daughter, Megan, is, however, a serious contender.
The pair of us both have coeliac disease and I also have lactose intolerance. So it stands to reason that there have been a few slip-ups on the gluten and lactose-free side of things in our house.
My first balls-up was just weeks after I was diagnosed and before I set up Safer Eating. I was trying my best to prepare a party meal for my daughter’s little friend, who had a severe milk allergy. I was so focused on making him a milk-free egg-mayo sandwich, I forgot I needed to be gluten free and started to eat one of them. My husband spotted it and yelled, “What are you doing?” – so I spat it out. In front of a lot of people. Luckily I was not ill.
The next slip-up came shortly after and, again, involved me making a sandwich. I got confused and thought I had made it with Lactofree cheese but it was, in fact, regular old red Leicester. I only took a bite and apart from feeling nauseous, I got away with it. Now, years, later, I find I react far more severely to lactose.
My mum, bless her, managed to lactose me when she made a Sunday lunch. I felt sick immediately and alarm bells started to ring. I asked her how she’d made the gravy as it was so delicious and I was on the low FODMAP diet. It was during the elimination phase so I couldn’t have stock cubes as they contained onion and garlic.
Mum said she had used bouillon and when I checked the packet, lo and behold, lactose was listed. That made me feel rough for a good day or two. It is crazy what a little lactose can do when I could previously eat pizza, garlic bread and chocolate all at the same time. I did used to have the sensation of feeling permanently hungover, though, but learned to live with it.
It is difficult to complete viagra pills in canada appalachianmagazine.com the sexual activity satisfactorily. But this generic drug is affordable and everyone cheapest levitra can buy it from online pharmacies that don’t even require a doctor’s prescription. If a person is feeling a sudden change in sexual desire, which in turn will support the sexual cialis 20mg price activity. 3. Erectile dysfunction can be caused viagra sale cheap by a host of reasons like exhaustion, medication, stress, diabetes. etc. The worst time was when Megan had just been diagnosed. She was almost three and I was trying to do everything in my power to make her feel like she wasn’t different from her friends. So I whipped up a gluten-free pizza – I even make the base myself. It was amazing. It tasted like it had been made in an Italian restaurant. Again, though, I started to feel sick, so racked my brain and realised I hadn’t checked the yeast. I had stupidly assumed that yeast was just yeast, but no, it contained wheat flour. Never assume anything!
I dived on Megan’s pizza and took it away just as she was really getting into it. That obviously resulted in the mother of all meltdowns. And one guilty-feeling mother.
Most recently, I scoffed a Rich Tea type of biscuit, wolfing it down quickly so the calories wouldn’t count (tee hee). But then I realised I had two types in the house: Schar, which my daughter can eat but I can’t, due to milk, and Sainsbury’s, which are milk and gluten free. Oops. I didn’t have any severe reactions, but again felt nauseous and rubbish for a few days.
I was initially told by my dietitian and doctor to reintroduce small amounts of lactose – or at least try items that have the lowest amount in, such as hard cheese and butter. However, going by my reaction to minute amounts (even trace amounts in the coating of folic acid tablets), none of us have much hope that I will ever be able to tolerate it.
It would seem I am pretty unique in that I have the lactose intolerance totally separately to the coeliac disease. It is quite common for coeliacs to have temporary lactose intolerance, especially when first diagnosed, until their body has repaired itself. But that’s not the case for me.
Like I said, pretty unlucky, huh?
By Karen Woodford, accident prone coeliac