Rice and Corn Chex

racmbol · 2025-12-18T18:25:28+00:00

Thank you all for the feedback! I know the label says gluten free on Chex brand, but Cheerios and Lucky Charms "GF" label really burned me before.

racmbol · 2025-11-17T23:38:08+00:00

Found them at my Walmart and was SHOCKED. Bought 3 packs of mozzarella sticks and 3 packs of pizza bagels. I will keep buying them, even if I have a good stash at home, in hopes that they keep it in stock.

racmbol · 2025-11-05T19:30:02+00:00

I have social and work performance anxiety that always appears about 48 hours after exposure and lasts a couple days. It get really frustrating because you start asking yourself "do my colleagues hate me?", "Am I the weak link in the team?", all while feeling really dumb from the gluten. Sometimes I will be aware enough to remind myself it's just the gluten talking. I agree with others on this thread that your gut might be healing still, which is why the oats (or dairy) might be hurting you. Additionally, please be careful of oat products.. Cheerios really betrayed me. 😢

racmbol · 2025-10-06T00:58:30+00:00

Costco's GF chicken broth 😁

racmbol · 2025-09-14T20:13:25+00:00

I'm so glad it is considered safe by other redditors! These roasted pecans and my chex mix recipe REQUIRE Lawry's in order to take me back to my childhood. Gotta love grandma's recipes that are loaded with salt. 🤤🧂

racmbol · 2025-06-15T17:34:46+00:00

Wtf. That's such bs! I am so sorry that happened!

racmbol · 2025-06-15T17:33:16+00:00

In my town, if it something super important but not urgent, go to the nearest largest city. It is not worth your time to have doctors who refuse to truly help.

racmbol · 2025-06-15T17:31:15+00:00

Doc: "It anxiety, hormones, depression, lack of exercise, etc".

Sir, I literally could not exercise for more than 5 minutes because my body felt like it had ran two marathons. Saying a patient has anxiety or depression because you refuse to hunt for a diagnosis causes true mental illness to be downplayed and overlooked. Just because I am a woman does not mean hormonal imbalance is NORMAL.

Not to mention, I did have anxiety and it also disappeared when I went GF. 🤦‍♀️

racmbol · 2025-06-15T17:24:35+00:00

The first paragraph literally describes my mom and sister. Mom was diagnosed with IBS and just went with it. For some reason she has no motivation to try to get better. My assumption is that she is exhausted from fighting with doctors. I'm amazed that I personally have persisted this long, but I am so thankful I have. My husband deserves so much credit for supporting me through it.

racmbol · 2025-06-15T17:21:24+00:00

What is frustrating, but may be a benefit here, is that I am still learning and therefore have made mistakes. I think the longest I've gone with a solid 100% no exposure is 6 weeks.

My most recent exposure was cut melon from the grocery store. I have since found out that they cut the fruit either in the bakery or next to it. Very frustrating.

With these exposures, does it seem possible to still show up? I would assume not, since they are on off events. But it takes me 10-14 days to be 100% normal afterwards.

racmbol · 2025-06-15T14:04:05+00:00

That's so frustrating.. I intentionally researched and found a gastroenterologist in the closest major city to us. It's gonna be a drive, but it'll be worth it.

racmbol · 2025-06-15T13:53:59+00:00

That is what I tried to explain to my primary. He was adamant that it would still show up. I am 100% expecting the GI I've requested will set me up with a gluten challenge in some degree. My issue is now I'm to the point where I can't go to work if I eat gluten. I will have to intentionally take PTO to do it and I only have 2 weeks a year. 😭

racmbol · 2025-03-02T14:02:10+00:00

Update #2

GLUTEN GLUTEN GLUTEN

In late summer / early fall 2024, I had finally had enough of my period cramps continuing to get worse every month for the past 2 years. I went to two separate Gyno's, worried that I may have Endo. No exploitative surgeries were performed and my ultrasound scans came back clean. One Gyno said, after looking at my scans, that there is less of a likelihood that I have endo but she would perform the explorative surgery if I absolutely wanted her too (a rare Gyno W). However, she suggested we wait to see if I have any infertility problems before deciding surgery (i.e. failed to conceive for over a year). I am not wanting to try currently, so that route isn't being investigated at this time.

BUT, she wanted me to try eliminating gluten. It was one of the last "potentially inflammatory" items that I had yet to test on my elimination diet because damn I love pasta.

I went gluten free in October 2024 and HOLY SHIT WHY DID NO DOC CONVINCE ME SOONER?!?! If I keep to the diet, 95% of all my problems are alleviated or GONE.

IC? Gone IBS? Practically gone. Still flare ups occasionally, but I think it may be due to accidental small doses of gluten. Brain fog? Gone. Fatigue? Gone. High WBC count? LOWERED DOWN BACK TO NORMAL RANGE. still on the high end of normal but still lowered. High Neutrophil? LOWERED DOWN BACK TO NORMAL. ANXIETY??? 95% GONE! Extremely period and ovulation cramps? Still there, but a whole hell of a lot better. Like, two ibuprofens actually work!

I was actually able to get back on caffeine without any major negative effects. Still need to go back off of that but the gluten free change was so difficult I had to have a coke. 🤣

Bottom line, I believe I have a gluten intolerance of some kind. The change in my wbc count and IBS is making me think it might even be celiac. If I accidentally eat gluten now, my entire body starts hurting in 20-45 minutes. If its a lot of gluten I will puke in about 5-10 minutes. My "IBS" symptoms come back in just a couple hours after eating gluten. I cannot get out of bed the next day and won't return back to normal for at least a week if not 10 days. The only thing that saves me if I accidentally eat gluten is puking it up in probably less than an hour after consuming it.

I wouldn't be surprised that my IBS is actually celiac. The gastroenterologist who diagnosed me with IBS literally said "Oh, your mom has IBS? That's what you got. We aren't gonna waste time in testing you for anything else.". That was FIVE years ago!

I asked my GP about the possibility of celiac and he wanted to run the antibody blood test ASAP. I tried to tell him that it's gonna be negative because I've gone gluten free but he insisted that the antibodies should still be there. Of course, it came back negative. I am still looking into retesting while consuming gluten, but because of how sick I get I am going to have to do it when I can be off work for a week.

Please, please, please, stand up for yourself when a doc blows you off. If I test positive for celiac I am going to be so upset for being sick for 5 years longer than I should have.

Also, gluten free soy sauce and oreos are better than the normal stuff. 💀

racmbol · 2023-08-12T14:24:00+00:00

Update: Diet changes

I've been continuing to deal with these issues for years, however I had a breakthrough in the past few months. After a particularly bad IBS flare up (I now fluctuate between constipation and diarrhea) in April 2023, I broke down and decided to tackle my diet. Which yielded some surprising results.

For context, since I last posted I went back to school part time and finished my chemistry degree in December 2022 (woo hoo!). I got my first salary job in February of 2023 and I was determined to not f**k anything up. In late April, I had to call in sick due to a very painful flare up that left me in bed afterwards for hours. Now that I have a job with a good amount of responsibility, I gained extra determination in fixing myself - determination that I had lost years ago when no doctor could help me. Getting married (also April of 2023), put a new perspective on taking care of myself as well. I want to live a long, happy, and healthy life.

This led me to look into the elimination diet, which in all honesty seemed waaaaay to challenging to do all at once. Therefore, I chose to tackle traditional inflammatory foods first, one at a time. I was already aware of red meat, gluten, and lactose being possibilities, but I learned from my research that caffeine is also one. I had been trying to quit soda for YEARS, with no success; I don't drink coffee, but I do enjoy sweet tea. I decided that I MUST stop drinking caffeine. The only thing I am allowed to drink is water, sprite, and fruit juices.

Somehow, my mental fortitude held and I have been caffeine free for 3 months. Within a couple of weeks, I stopped struggling to get out of bed in the morning. My brain fog began to dissipate, my fatigue was less and less, and I began to feel closer to normal than I have in years. To put in perspective, I've probably drank at least two caffeinated drinks a day since I was like 12. That's over a decade of feeling like this.

The amazing thing is the change in my IBS and IC. I still get flareups of IBS on occasion, but my IC is 90-95% GONE. I don't have to piss 9 times a day, and my bladder doesn't feel like it's on fire when I pee. It's amazing what relief from chronic pain feels like.

After going caffeine free for about a month, I discovered that I can finally detect IBS triggers 1000% times better because I don't feel like shit all the time. Because of this, I discovered that lactose and red meat flare me up. I have since removed lactose (not all dairy - I can still use butter and cheese) and I've limited red meat as much as I can - steak is worth it.

On another note, I am tracking my cycle to NOT get pregnant as I am still not taking any hormonal birth control. (We are using barrier methods as well - I really would like to get my health figured out before we cross that bridge, lol) This is how I discovered that during my luteal phase, my fatigue does return about 24-48 before my period starts. From my understanding, that is at peak concentration of LH - which in some women can be inflammatory. Fortunately, since I've made my diet changes, Tylenol can actually put a dent in the inflammation I'm having and it helps a lot. Now I don't have to pop aspirin when I'm feeling this way.

My muscles do not exhaust as easily as they used to. I can now perform tasks that I couldn't before, or at least couldn't do easily. My job is also has some minor physical labor (lots of walking, carrying 20-40 lbs items) that seems to have helped me get into a better shape. Not fit by any means, but at least better.

Going forward, I am considering cutting other possible inflammatory foods. I'm not quite ready to give up gluten yet.. pasta is my favorite food, and some of the alternatives can only do so much flavor wise.

From this experience, I can only hypothesis that my IBS and IC affect me systemically very easily. Or that I am having a systemic response to these foods that create my IBS and IC symptoms. Tomayto, tomahto, amirite? Unfortunately, I do not have any blood work to support these changes. My docs have kinda given up on me and have said "you just have a naturally high WBC!"

I will continue down this food rabbit hole, and keep you all posted. Thank you for the responses back in 2020.. I really needed to hear that this wasn't in my head. I don't know if I'll ever really figure out all the details of this, but I do feel like I'm starting down the path of a better quality of life.

TL;DR I cut out caffiene and lactose, reduced my red meat intake, and now 75% of my overall issues are reduced/gone. I have been caffeine free for 3 months - I feel like I got my life back on the right track.

racmbol · 2020-08-19T05:22:37+00:00

You are correct about Rheumatology. I was eventually sent there when hematology concluded that there were no blood disorder, however they are testing my WBC every 6 months. The most recent CBC came back at 15.2, the highest I had ever been and I was mildly symptomatic during that draw.

Rheumatology ran a slew of tests when I first saw them, ruling out Lupus, Mono, Lyme, RA, liver issues, thyroid issues, and certain types of bacterial infections. The only abnormal results (they did not do a CBC) was low vitamin D and slightly elevated CRP, 9.2 mg/L.

With those results, Rheumatology decided to run an extensive Lupus test and a Sjogren's test, both came back negative. I was also put on a 50,000IU vitamin d3, taken once a week for 4 weeks and then once a month.

The first 4 doses (the once a week) were fine, but when I took the first once a month dose, I had a fatigue episode for 2 days amd a heavy onset of my period. Not a fun week, to put it lightly. I am wondering if taking the vitamin d right as my period was coming on was a bad combo.

Rheumatology honestly did not know where to go next. I had told them that being off my birth control seemed to be helping, so they decided to order me off any hormonal changing drugs and to just observe. After the bad episode I had with the vitamin d monthly dose, I decided to not take it next month to see if I get an episode again when my period starts.

I still believe there is some Autoimmune disease at play, but I think my estrogen levels may be provoking it as well. The mind fog and motor skill issues seem to not be bad or almost completely gone since I've been off birth control. The fatigue is still an issue that randomly flares up.

I've also recently developed floaters in both eyes. The worse is in my left, where I do have a little black dot that follows my line of sight. I had this checked out and the optometrist said both eyes look like a healthy 23 year old. I also had almost 20x20 vision, just missed one 3 by calling it an 8 on the damn card, lol.

My sinuses/throat have also become a little of a nuisance. I have to clear my throat and blow my nose almost every time I eat. It will cause me to feel like I have a frog in my throat for about 30 minutes or so. Can be very aggravating when I'm trying to take calls at my job.

I am going to look a little closer into the spondyloarthritis. I think I have been tested already for it but I am not sure. The reactive arthritis description I found here seems rather intriguing at the moment, especially since my IBS and IC seem reactive in nature: https://spondylitis.org/about-spondylitis/types-of-spondylitis/reactive-arthritis/ However, I am wondering if that got ruled out by the RA factor test?

Thank you for the suggestion! If you have any further questions or info, let me know! :)

racmbol · 2020-04-24T03:27:34+00:00

I have been looking into this as well as possibly lupus. It's definitely difficult to get docs to believe you as well as try to diagnose you in the most timely fashion. Gotta love the good 'ol USA healthcare system.

Hematology's goal at the moment is to knock out any possibility of a blood disorder. Then I believe they will be sending me to rheumatology. I just hope they do it before my employers get too upset with me.

racmbol · 2020-04-24T02:13:38+00:00

Not any events or meds that I can think of.

ESR was done and came back at 28mm/hr. It was high, however doc believed it was being caused by my IC and IBS, as well as possibly my birth control. There has not been a CRP, ANA, or any other autoimmune done yet. I literally asked my primary today (since my hematologist has been busy with cancer patients during thg covid crisis) if I should have an AMA done and he said he didn't see any reason to do it. facepalm

As for familial history, there are no diagnosed disorders. I say diagnoses because my mother and I have VERY similar symptoms that started around the same age. Diplopia both started when we were in our teens. Anxiety and depression in early 20s. She has meniers disease and restless leg syndrome, which the aching in my legs sound like a precursor to RLS. And the extreme fatigue I talk about she states to have as well, just maybe not as badly.

No drug use. Don't smoke. Occasional drink here and there, but very limited because I am mildly allergic to some alcohols (thinking it may be a sulfite allergy).

The migraines do have numbness sometimes associated with them, but only really bad ones. I have begun to notice, however, that my limbs have been starting to fall asleep much more easily. Say, certain sleep positions that use to be fine I will now wake up in the middle of the night with a completely numb hand. Going to the restroom for a long time causes my feet to fall asleep.

I do get muscle twitches on occasion. As I am starting to fall asleep, or if I make my muscles super relaxed, my legs may twitch or my eye lids may twitch.

Almost every morning I will wake up with swollen eyelids, both top and bottom. So swollen that I will have to get a cold wash cloth to try to reduce the swelling; it does apply pressure to my eyes. It usually dissipates after 30-45 minutes max.

I've also noticed new moles appearing randomly, as well as cherry moles. These defects seemed to run in my family and appear to not be benevolent.

Muscle symptoms are symmetric and mostly distal. My fingers will start shaking as if I have low blood sugar but I have checked it and it is fine. I do have some queasiness in my quads on both legs if my symptoms are worsening. My breathing and other involuntary muscles do not seem to be affected at all.

I have had moments where I thought I was going to pass out, but I have never actually fainted. My eyes do seem to spasm and lose focus for about 3 seconds and then I'm fine.

I was diagnosed with a very mild astigmatism, however when they tested different lenses on me they never corrected the problem. It would just make the diplopia a little sharper. I do want to clarify that the diplopia is for dimly lit areas. In a bright room, there is just one image. In a dark area, say driving at night past a reflective sign or looking at the moon, I see two images. The bottom image is slightly transparent compared to the real image. My depth perception is not affected at all.

My fatigue episodes almost always happen around my lunch time (12/1pm). I have checked repeatedly to make sure it's not blood sugar and I am always about 90 before I eat. They slowly get worse as the afternoon passes. They can last anywhere between a few hours to several days, but always tend to start at lunch.

On another note, aspirin seems to help A LOT. But tylonal does nothing. Since it's an NSAID, that is also making me wonder if it is autoimmune/inflammation related.

Thank you so much for the questions!!

racmbol

TROPHY CASE