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Dear Friends,
Thanks to everyone for all the responses from  my listing of June 29.  I
waited a while until responses stopped coming to summarize.

I would like to thank everybody who helped me out with information.
Because I'm over here in Poland I'm pretty much cut off from any local
sources of information.  I met with a gastrologist this week who knows
celiac well.  I had a hell of a time finding the guy as in Poland celiac is
understood as a disease which children, not adults, suffer from.  Below is
the summary.

I received approx. 30 replies.  Of these the most common comment (10
replies) concerned the link between stress and a general worsening of
symptoms.  One person wrote that stress can trigger the onset of celiac, so
it's natural that it can worsen the situation.  Another wrote that stress
was the major cause of celiac symtoms appearing.  Yet another person wrote
that while under a lot of stress foods that normally didn't bother her made
her sick.

2 people wrote that perhaps the corn flakes I was eating were not GF.  I
checked with a  listmember I found who also lives in Poland and it turns
out that they aren't GF, or not confirmed GF at any rate.  Manufacturer
uses same machines for other grain products and isn't interested in a GF
label.  Unfortunately, this is the only producer of corn flakes in the
whole country.  Major bummer.

1 person wrote that gluten is sometimes added to dishwashing liquid and
that Palmolive in the US has gluten added.

I changed my liquid, the itching associated with the old liquid stopped for
a few days, then came back.  Something in our kitchen is making both my
girlfriend (not a celiac) and I itch like mad and we are trying to isolate
it.

Plenty of people wrote that they have had similar symptoms to me, ie.
itching/burning sensations and swelling of face/neck, etc.  Also mental
fogginess and general influence on mental state.

8 people warned against cross contamination from other foods such as
prepared sauces, etc.

7 people said they also have trouble with grains besides the forbidden ones
with gluten, eg. corn, soy.

4 people said that other allergies might be causing additional reactions.
1 wrote that shortly after going GF other allergies seemed to appear.

1 person wrote that olive oil could cause a reaction.  "OLIVE OIL is deadly
for me." Another wrote this: "Did you check the olive oil?  I found that
the olive oils that are not extra virgin, cold pressed, are sometimes
extracted with wheat."

1 person said that maybe I have Crohn's disease.  Whatever that is, I hope
I don't have it.  Am responding directly to this person.

1 person suggested keeping an antihistamine around in case I have a bad
reaction.

1 person suggested keeping a food diary.

2 people suggested eating more fruits & vegetables and cutting down on
carbohydrates.

2 people suggested going on a Paleolithic/cavement diet with stress on
meat, eggs, fresh & dried fruit, veggies, nuts.
No grains (including rice), beans, peanuts, dairy.

1 person said to watch out for iodine in salt.

1 person said a rotation diet helped- not eating the same thing any closer
than 4 days apart.
1 other person said that anything they ate too frequently has a tendency to
start causing a reaction.
1 person disagreed that eating foods too often causes allergy.

1 person said that mono or diglicerides in margarine cause reactions for
them.

1 person suggested limiting fat intake.

1 person wrote that rice is sometimes mixed with starch to prevent
sticking, so watch out.

1 person wrote that they had a reaction from taking an antibiotic,
tetracycline.

In my posting I forgot to mention that when I had the severe reaction I had
just started taking an antibiotic, of a  particular type  which  my new
doctor says probably messed up my stomach.  I often get tummy problems from
antibiotics anyway.

After taking a good look at my diet it appears that gluten was getting in
from sources I thought were safe. The tostadas I was eating for lunch, corn
chips that might be contaminated with other grains, ice cream which may
have a sugar syrup based on one of the forbidden grains (It's impossible to
tell from the label and in any case I'd never checked it.  Mistake.)  I was
also eating out reasonably frequently and probably had contaminated food in
that way.

Thanks again,

Daniel Winters