The medication saga continues

I finally heard back from my doctor and he told me to keep taking the drug while he researched a replacement for it. Why not? It's only a little poison. I'd rather go through the withdrawal for a few days. I am not taking it and hopefully I'll hear from him today. One would think a doctor would know this stuff. One would be wrong. It's up to us to educate them at times.

More later...

Meds DO have gluten in them

When I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease my gastro's nurse told me to be sure and check out my medication to make sure that none of them had gluten. I tried to get the pharmacy to help but was told was that gluten was wheat and medications didn't have wheat in them. I sent the pharmacist who told me that (and it was a hospital affiliated pharmacy) a couple of chapters from different books explaining that gluten in medicines could be a problem. This weekend I ate cleanly - absolutely no gluten. I woke up Sunday morning in terrible pain. I got my book out again and read the section on medications and one of mine was listed as not gluten free. So I got the name of the company off my Rx bottle and called the company and sure enough the medication has gluten in it. So now I've got a call in to my other doctor to get him to switch to another medicine. It seems that everything that is manufactured by Pfizer or its subsidiaries is tainted with gluten. Good to know.

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Black Bean Soup

It's still cold here. In fact we had a record low of -15 degrees on Saturday so I decided to make soup. I found a good recipe in the Jan/Feb 2010 issue of Eating Well for Black Bean Soup. It was quick, easy, and tasty. I've been reading Gluten Free Girl - the book and the blog. I like her idea of eating naturally GF foods instead of trying to recreate the goodies I ate before I went GF. This soup fits that idea - no substitutions or figuring out which flours to use. I've been using packaged foods for the last couple of months even though I really enjoy cooking. I got a couple of GF cookbooks for Christmas so I think I'll try to cook something a couple of times a week. I live alone so I end up eating leftovers for a couple of days after I make a meal. Try the soup. It's very good.

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Amy's Kitchen Products

I recieved this statement in an email yesterday from Amy's Kitchen. I noticed that most of their boxes claimed to have no gluten ingredients but they did not say Gluten-Free. I contacted them to find out what they meant by this statement. Were the products contaminated since they used the same equipment to process wheat. Here's their response.

"From Amy's:
Our gluten free products contain only the ingredients listed in the ingredient statement. There are no hidden, unlabeled ingredients. We understand that it is critical that these products be free of gluten and we take this very seriously.

A wide range of activities and cross-checks are completed to ensure that cross-contamination and/or inadvertent use of the wrong ingredient does not occur.

Examples include:

-Full shift manufacture of products with complete clean-up of all food contact surfaces between products. Pieces of equipment that come in contact with the food are cleaned and sanitized prior to the manufacture of the next product.

-Separate item numbers for all ingredients; these are checked by two individuals on receipt of the ingredient and three people on use of the ingredient to confirm the correct item is used.

-Use of colored tags, papers and containers in production as an addition visual check to ensure intermediate components are not interchanged.

-Designated areas for flour use to control airborne gluten and minimize its spread.

-Bar code readers at packaging lines to ensure correct package is used with each product.

-Spot screening of ingredients and finished products at University of Nebraska (FARRP - Food Allergy Research and Resource Program) to confirm there are no unlabeled allergens (utilize tests for gluten, soy, milk and peanuts)."

I'm sure it was written by lawyers but it did make me feel better about using their products.

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Happy 2010

Today is the last day of 2009 and I can't imagine where the time has gone.

I finished the year with one of Amy's Kitchen frozen meals - the Asian Noodle Stir Fry. It was the best thing I've eaten from Amy's and I love their Mexican meals. The noodles were tender without being soggy. The tofu was crisp and the vegetables rounded it out nicely. Bright green broccoli, peppers, and mushrooms. Best of all it was GF! I will be buying it again and again.

I'm driving a 24' moving van to Kansas City tomorrow. My daughter Rachel is moving. We're expecting more snow so I will be driving slowly and carefully.

Happy New Year to everyone.

More next year...

Christmas Eve Blizzard 2009

We were going to work a short day on Christmas Eve. Mid morning the UPS man came in and said it was starting to ice on his windshield. I decided to move my car into the parking garage which is a definite no-no at my place of employment. Only the bigwigs get to park there. I walked to my car on a very slippery sidewalk and when I got there I couldn't open either door or my trunk. I walked back to the library got a big pitcher of hot water then walked back to my car and poured it around the door frame. The door opened at last and I got in and turned on my defroster. After a few minutes the ice on the windshield was scrapable (is that even a word) and I cleaned it off, drove to the building I work in and told my boss I was going home. By mid-afternoon it was snowing heavily and by evening the winds were gusting at 50 mph. So we were in a blizzard warning and ended up with 15 inches of the white stuff by Christmas morning. Unusual for Topeka. The roads were impossible. Everything was closed, if not by Christmas, then by snow and ice. Beautiful but deadly. My daughter and her boyfriend came over. We opened gifts and ate dinner. Then they went home. I spent the afternoon watching season 4 of "Bones". It was a quiet day.

More later....

Today the library staff and the Baker University School of Nursing faculty and staff had our Holiday celebration at the Brickyard Barn Inn. I called ahead and told them I needed to eat GF. I got to talk to the chef and he was quite familiar with GF dining. He looked at the menu for the luncheon and told me what I would be able to eat without fear. They brought me out a flourless chocolate cake kind of thing (he said it had almond flour) and they gave me a chicken breast that didn't have sauce on it. The potatoes and vegetables were safe. I was comfortable with the way they handled it and I was able to enjoy the meal without worry. Our waitress told me she understood and was being extra careful because she had an allergy to latex and had ended up in the ER during a dental procedure where they didn't pay attention to keeping everything latex free.

More later...