You are not alone by far! When I was first diagnosed 5 years ago I had no villi either...I assume they have grown back since I have been on the diet for 5 years with some cheating. Your villa will heal and grow back after time on the diet and you will start feeling better! Good luck!!

I'll add my welcome to Celiacgirl's. Welcome, and it's a bit of a shocker, isn't it? My best advice is to share the news with all your friends and family, because you are going to need their support more than ever, now. It's a big change. I also urge you to buy "Gluten Free for Dummies." Bad title, really good book. You will find out about a ton of gluten sources than you ever imagined, like envelope glue and certain skin lotions. Those are the 2 items currently blowing my mind!

Come back often, I especially visit when I'm feeling low and think I have exhausted all my friends' patience with my whining.

Welcome!

My 8 yr old son has celiac and was diagnosed almost 3 months ago. His villi was also smooth. His Doctor even gave us pictures to bring home!! Hang in there as you will feel overwhelmed for a while. I find that it gets easier to grocery shop and reading labels will get easier once you get the hang of it. I also read a lot of the information people have posted on this site and it is very informative. Good Luck and Welcome to the site!!!!

Thank you so much for the warm welcome. I appreciate all of the kind words!! I never dreamed it would be so hard to make choices as to what I wanted to eat...and have it mean so much! I will definately buy the "Gluten Free for Dummies" book (right now I am feeling like a dummie!!) I think I am still missing some important gluten related words when reading ingredients as I am still dealing with stomach issues (uggh). Oh and Melinsc I am having my 16 year old daughter screened on Wednesday, I can only imagine how intense it must be to have to monitor a childs diet as well. But I can see from your insight...IT CAN BE DONE! Thank you again to everyone!!

I also had a very difficult time with the hidden gluten ingredients in the beginning. Just a few weeks ago, I made my son some GF brownies and used cooking spray that had "grain alcohol" in the ingredients (duh, grain). I found a list that is really helpful to me at www.celiac.com. If you click on the site index, then scroll down to "Safe Gluten-Free Food List/Unsafe Foods and Ingredients. I printed out the lists and I took both lists with me the first 2 months of grocery shopping and spent literally hours reading labels. Now I only take the unsafe ingredient list with me. It still takes me longer to shop than it used to, but it is getting easier. They also have "Additional things to be aware of" and that opened my eyes to some things that I had not thought of. Good Luck and when you have time read through all of the discussion topics here because I learned a lot reading the discussions and advice from the past. I even try to go back and read them a second time as there is so much to learn, it doesn't all stick the first time! Eventually everything will become second nature so just hang in there.

I want to add my welcome! It does get easier to shop once you get the hang of it. It is scary at first. The first time you have a "normal bathroom experience" you just want to celebrate, lol. Just knowing you are not alone helps a lot.

Welcome to our world. The book I consider the biggest help to me was written by the Director of the Celiac Center at the Columbia University Medical Center. His name is Peter H. R. Green, M. D. The title of the book is Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic. It answers questions you haven't even thought of asking yet.

I have read this book several times and always get something new out of it with each reading.

Who is the doctor who found have your celiac? Let others know his/her name. We need to know where those who can diagnose celiac are located.

jean

Hi Kimberly! Wow...no villi at all? that is pretty bad! I hope you are on your way to a full and healthy recovery! It will take a while but boy...the difference will be tremendous!

Please feel free to visit me on my blog for how to get started being gluten free and for recipes and more info!

http://glutenfreemomma.blogspot.com

When did we start calling it Celiac's? I have always heard it referred to as Sprue or Celiac Disease but never Celiac's. If we don't agree, how can we expect the medical profession to agree?