Headache Boy

Wade was down with a headache all day yesterday.  This is not typical of him at all.  We're fairly certain it might have to do with a cookie Ty says he ate while they were at the store with their aunt.

This sucks, because it could either be she forgot, or that she doesn't believe he has an allergy.

That might not be the case here, but I read all the time on the gluten websites that grandmas and well meaning folks will be like "one teensie little cookie won't hurt, will it?"  And then when the kid doesn't have a reaction right away it's like "see, he's fine!"

Except that Wade has delayed reactions, and will barf at 3 AM or have a headache all the next day.

I was like that with milk for a little while there, where it would be delayed.  Now straight milk--should I sneak half a cup for absorbing into cookies--will make me vomit.  Immediately.  And though I seem to be handling ice cream and some cheeses, sour cream and fake cheese (like the American singles slices or that which is found in the mac n' cheese) give me headaches.  So I always have to think out whether it was worth it.

I know slip ups happen every now and then.  Santa forgot that Wade cannot eat the big fat gingerbread cookie he brought.  And "natural flavoring" hides in things like juice.

On a lighter note, Sixlets are gluten free!  Yay for Easter candy!

I think we need to buy Wade one of these shirts when we send him with people. 

Chocolate Noms

Two awesome tips for getting delicious, delicious chocolate on the lactose and gluten free front.

Dark Chocolate Almond Milk by Silk. 

No, I do not like Silk.  They're the soy people and I hate soy in general because it's slimy, but somehow they made the almond milk slimy too.  So for plain almond milk I go with Almond Breeze.  But the dark chocolate almond milk?  Holy crap.  You know how when you mix chocolate milk just right you get a ribbon of unmixed chocolate in every sip?  THIS HAS THAT AND IT TASTES LIKE COCOA PEBBLES MILK!  That almondy aftertaste is reminiscent of cereal milk and that's the sweetest part of the damn bowl if you ask me!

And speaking of Cocoa Pebbles, I recently discovered that they're gluten free.  If that's not awesome enough for you, how about Cocoa Pebbles Treats!  They say they're gluten free right on the box, unlike the Rice Krispies Treats that do not say either way and for some reason contain mysterious "natural flavorings."  Of course you can just make the treats yourself and know what's in them, but as for sending snacks to school for field trips, it's nice to be able to grab a box of a sweet snack alternative to the cookies that will most likely be given to the rest of the students.

Wade's teacher has been giving him a nice marshmallow-Skittles mix on birthdays, which is great and he loves it, but he's going to the library twice this week across town where I know for sure they serve cookies.  Pebbles Treats are awesome.

Fruity Pebbles are also gluten free, just in case you care.

Really Cherry Limeaide? Really?

It's hard to remember everything that everyone tells you to "look out for."  Things that wheat can hide in, things that you would think are safe but somehow this secret ingredient slips in that makes these wheat-turd kids flip their lids and puke all night. 

And now that I think about it, I think someone might have warned me that juice was one of those tricky things that wheat can hide in. 

Thing is, I don't normally buy juice. 

Maybe once every 2-3 months I might buy a carton of juice for the kids.  We advocate water around here to quench thirst.  Soda is a special item that happens on the rare occasion that we go somewhere to eat, or we happen to have some root beer in the fridge--and root beer, I'm told, is another one of those things that wheat can hide in. 

Normally when I do buy juice we get something odd and something 100%.  Last one was watermelon juice, because I thought it sounded neat.  This time without really thinking, I grabbed a cherry limeaide. 

And he threw up.  All fucking night. 

He'd also had some of these amazing gluten free pretzels that day, and it could also be possible that he reached over to Ty's plate and ate a non gluten free pretzel.  But he's generally aware of the fact that Ty's food isn't always safe for him, and piggy as he may be he doesn't generally steal from other people's plates.  (He does, however, finish people's foods that are left behind if they give him permission to do so.) 

I looked at the Minute Maid Cherry Limeaide and found that yeppers, it lists "Natural flavoring." 

Mmm, the flavor of wheat? 

Fucking Limeaide. 

So fair warning, you have to check juice now too. 

Good luck. 

Gluten And Fevers?

So Wade's all of the sudden down with a fever after we switched oatmeal brands.  Is it related? 

He came out this morning complaining of a headache, and he was all heartbroken over this.  When Wade is sick or sad, the whole world is sick and sad with him.  In fact, Wade being sick is pretty much the saddest thing in the world. 

The question is whether it is in fact food related or if he's just caught something.  It's hard to tell with Wade, especially since I recall switching oatmeal brands just yesterday. 

At this point we're going with a liquid child's pain reliever (acetaminophen based) and a teddy bear.  I doubt he's dehydrated, the kid drinks gallons of water every day--full on chugs it.  Opens his neck up and just GULPS. 

I tend to think it's the oatmeal.  Then again, googling "gluten and fevers" leads to several different results. 

I think this whole celiac thing is pretty much an inexact science and nobody knows shit about it, is what I think.