<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

So I have (had) a scrubby sponge, I use it to scrub out the pans after
anybody makes gluten cheesy stuffed pasta in a saucepan (very sticky stuff),
before putting the pan in the dishwasher.

I assumed that nobody used sponges to clean hand-wash dishes anymore, since
they're so unsanitary, but that was my big fat glutiny mistake.  Turns out
somebody else, who occasionally helps in the kitchen, was primarily using
that same sponge to hand wash the cast iron frying pans.  After I threw it
away, she asked where it was, and then what she could scrub the pans
with...I directed her to a steel wool type scrubber (which I have now also
thrown away).  It took a minute to sink in, then I realized that I had been
glutened a few times in a row, as I used the pan every morning to fry eggs.
I wondered why I wasn't getting it out of my system as fast as usual.

No more sponges in my kitchen, and I'm not going to use the cast iron pans
anymore.  They're too porous to take chances.  I'll get my own teflon
dishwasher-safe pan, and my own saucepan, and I'll be the only one who can
so much as look at these pans!

As an aside, my 1 year old, who I backed off gluten (and casein) soon after
introducing it, due to his lack of weight gain, also got sick with gas,
fussiness, head-banging, and weird diapers.  My 4 year old celiac is
allergic to eggs, so he fortunately was spared it.  My baby never will be
diagnosed as a celiac, because i won't let him eat it and damage his villi.
I can't put him through all that just yet.  When he's bigger and older, if
he wants to try it, that will be fine as long as he has it monitored and
gets tested then, but I'll let him get a head start on size and health
first.  We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

I've learned to be much more careful.  Making the whole kitchen gluten free
isn't really an option, though we haven't had any actual flour in the
kitchen for years because of how it floats in the air.  I've also bought a
new potholder mitt, that is silicone coated, so I can always make sure it's
clean, as I started to worry about the thumb getting in different foods and
contaminating.  I also have the type of can opener that doesn't pierce down
into the food, and separate toasters, so I am pretty careful, I just hadn't
thought enough about how dishes are actually cleaned, not just what is
cooked in them.

-Melissa

*Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the CELIAC List*
Archives are at: Http://Listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?LIST=CELIAC