gluten intolerance

Have you tried talking to a naturopath, they'll be able to offer alternative foods to add to your diet as well as what foods you should be avoiding.

Janine if you want to get tested for gluten intolerance, you will need to keep up your usual gluten levels so you can have a blood test to reveal antibodies. They say a minimum of two slices of bread each day.

Basically you go to your gp and ask him for a referral for antibodies of gluten intolerance. I think there is a gene they test for as well as the antibodies. On top of that he may add some nutritional type things. If you are food intolerant, you will may be deficient in some areas such as iron and B12. For me, my iron was fine but B12 was quite low and I had injections for 6 weeks to get them boosted.

The same test can be done for Ayja but since the antibodies for an intolerance build up over time, she may turn out a negative result. I have not had my kids tested yet, I can't actually see anything that would strongly suggest that they have the same as me so I'll wait until they're older and let them decide when they want to get tested. I will be encouraging them to do it sometime though as it is the highest genetic thing in NZ. This also means a lot of your sisters will likely have it, if you do.

There is gluten intolerance (being intolerant to gluten but no damage done to bowels) and there is coeliac disease (when you are gluten intolerant and the bowels have been affected). An endoscopy is done at the hospital to confirm whether you have coeliacs, following a positive blood test. It's not a given though and requires a letter from your gp. Anyway, my gp told me that it doesn't matter if you are GI or coeliac, they both mean the same diet. But if you want to get GF flour and pasta on prescription, you'll need to do through the endoscopy ordeal. In my case, I can't be bothered with the prescription stuff and my gp suggested I not bother with the endoscopy. So I don't actually know what I have but since I was having bowel issues in the past, I'm sure that I have coeliacs.

By the way, because of the high genetic thing with gluten intolerance in families of our "stock", the fact that your brother has it indicates that you have a very high chance of also having it. You could just "decide" that yep you have it, but IMO it's best to at least have a blood test so that when the going gets tough and you don't feel like turning down another tasty gluten treat, you have the test to go back to. In my case however I was already eating so little gluten (remember I thought I had endo... well I was told that reducing my gluten intake would help the endo symptoms), that my gp just put me straight onto a 4-6 week gluten free diet with a gluten challenge after that. Three days of gluten wasn't enough to give me a positive blood test but the gp and I are both convinced that I am GI.

PM me if you like!

hmmmm i'm forever getting bloated after eating.......

is there anything you can take to actually get rid of bloating once it's happened? because i haven't yet sorted out what's causing it