Hi from Harmony

[Harmony]

Hi all

I've been lurking for a couple of weeks and have finally taken a quiet moment to register so I can participate 

I bought my TM in late August about a month before the birth of my 3rd baby girl (love the baby bonus!) and love it so much I just took it on holidays. It certainly made it easy for my sister to brown batches of mince for lasagne while catching up with an old school friend who lived in the area! And the white sauce as well, even with the machine at full capacity it came out smooth and creamy.

We are a family of 5 with 4 gluten free (or GF-to-be) members so I've some stuff to share...when I have 2 hands free...breastfeeding a baby and a toddler makes that a bit rare 

Cheers

[brazen20au]

welcome harmony!!!

looking forward to picking your brain about being GF! (my 2yo just diagnosed with coeliac disease)

[Harmony]

ah, I also have CD, my big girls both have the gene, the eldest in particular has had bad reactions, the younger none at all, I am planning to trial gluten with her shortly

[brazen20au]

none of the rest of us have been tested yet - that's my after christmas project

[Thermomixer]

Welcome and look forward to lots of posts in the GF section.

[Harmony]

Brazen - luckily you being in ONC, you can have the gene test done via mouth swab rather than blood test...although the antibody test can't be done that way...because the only lab that processes the gene tests is there. Can only get them to the lab fresh enough for testing if they're done 'in town'

Good luck with diagnosis, it can be a long and tricky journey  )

[brazen20au]

what's ONC harmony? rora's test was a blood test as far as i know, so not sure which test we will have? i don't actually understand what the different tests do. (dh took her to the hospital when the tests were done not me)

[Harmony]

ONC = Our Nation's Capital 

CD diagnosis is usually blood test for antibodies followed by gastroscopy of small intestine if positive. Only works if full gluten diet is being followed. You can test for the genes via blood test or mouth swab, so if anyone doesn't have either of the genes, you don;t need to worry about CD, any reaction is just intolerance, no extra risk of bowel cancer, osteoporosis etc.

(now I have 2 hands!)

If you have a first degree relative already diagnosed with CD, your GP can give you a referral for the gene test which as mentioned above, can be done by mouth swab in Canberra so less invasive for children and needle-phobes like myself  Then you can decide what to do next.

I carry both genes. My eldest has the more common one (95% of Coeliacs have it) and the middle one has the rare one (only 5% have it). The common one gives you a 20% chance of developing CD, the rare one only 5% chance. So our decision was - of course, I continue as I am. DD1 does a full gluten challenge and proper diagnosis when she's older, perhaps 8 or 10. DD2 has a small then large gluten challenge shortly as I've not noted any reaction to accidental exposure when DD1 and I have. I have just been waiting for DD3 to be born, as my milk has come back in properly (DD2 continued to feed through the pregnancy but I was producing very little) and is now giving her gut some protection, just in case she does react badly. DD3 will have the gene test when we are in Canberra and can arrange it - perhaps she'll have neither 

Without diagnosis via endoscopy, you will not be eligible for the CD vaccine which is currently undergoing it's first human trials, and should be ready on the market in 5 years - I won't be shying away from those needles 

The only important thing is DON'T ALTER ANYONE ELSE'S DIET YET I can't stress that enough, sorry to shout! It's the most common mistake and makes diagnosis soooooo much more difficult.

If you have any more questions ask away - we're a non-xmas family so don't have heaps of things cluttering up our calendar at this time of year

[brazen20au]

yes we definitely won't be taking gluten out of anyone else's diet yet (though we are eating more GF food obviously but not removing other if that makes sense)  my sister has the gene and had the biopsy which came back negative but she was eating GF  don't know why she didn't go back on gluten.

thanks for the explanation

PS: how old are your children?

[Harmony]

they are 5.5, 2 and 11 weeks.

yes biopsy won't work if you're gf, the dr shouldn't have wasted the time and money 

[brazen20au]

just thought i'd take over your thread again to let you know harmony that the other kids and i all tested negative (which surprised me to be quite honest) and that the swab thingie is not available in canberra after all - my gp even looked it up in a book of some sort which listed all the available tests.

[Rach]

Hi Harmony!

Thanks for the heads up on this forum!

I'm about to go and do my intro... 

[trudy]

Welcome Harmony,  Enjoy your time with the forum.  I have learn't so much, met great people and all from home!!!

Trudy

[Ayla]

Hey stranger!

[Harmony]

Hey, gorgeous!