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Carl
Age 13 years
Sore tummies, vomiting and constipation. Message from Carl Dear Doctor Ford
I felt terrible before I went on to a gluten-free diet. I got so many sore tummies and it always happened after I went to bed - late at night or the early hours of the morning. I use to crawl with pain, and vomit also. The gluten was also causing constipation After many visits to the doctor and some visits to the emergency department I had no success. In July last year it came to a peak, and I was getting so sick that I could not stay at friends places. I had a blood test
Mum and Dad did not know what the problem was. So Mum decided to cut gluten out of my diet as my cousin is a coeliac. Then we went to see Doctor Rodney Ford, who gave me a simple blood test, which showed up that I was gluten-sensitive. He said that if I carried on with a gluten diet, that I could then become a full coeliac. Now at last I am feeling great
I have been on a gluten-free diet for over 6 months and I feel great!! The only changes are that if you go anywhere be prepared to take gluten-free snacks, as a lot of my friends don't have these at their homes. When you go on school camps, you just have to make the teachers aware of your diet, so you are catered for like all other children. I went on a scout Jamboree at Xmas time last year, and I think I had nicer gluten-free meals than all the rest of the scouts. I don't like gluten-free bread
The only thing I don't like on this diet is some of the gluten-free bread. I hardly eat any. Lunches for schools can be quite hard for me - Mum just has to be organised. Like having more protein for me like chicken pieces, boiled eggs, cold gluten-free sausages. There are so many more gluten-free products in the supermarket (I only wished they put all these products all in one place so they were easier to find). This is my favourite recipe -chocolate muffins
I make my own gluten-free chocolate muffins. It's a yummy recipe which is on the back of the Healtheries Gluten-free baking mix. It's the chocolate cake recipe and I just put them in muffin tins. But what I do is put some mixture in the bottom of the muffin tin, then you put 1/2 a teaspoon of raspberry jam and 1/2 tsp of caramel in the middle then full the muffin tin up with the chocolate mixture, then put chocolate chips on top - these are yummy - and is an easy recipe for children to bake. Nanna's caramel square
My Nana makes a great gluten free caramel square. I believe it's just the same recipe as a normal caramel square, and just replace the flour for gluten-free flour. Nana cuts the squares up and puts them in the freezer and when I go to her place - I know where to look when I want a sweet snack. Now it's "no problem!"
Going on a gluten-free diet, seemed so mind boggling at first, but now it's no problem. The Coeliac Society also have a great website to look up to give you information on all gluten-free products I forgot to tell you - I have my own gluten-free cupboard, which has all my snacks and products in it. Gluten-free products are so much more expensive, than normal food. So I can't have my little brother snacking on them! Cheers
Carl |
