I just stay persistant, and hold my ground. Yes, I have come up against this in my family. For years, before I knew what was going on with me, I would have aches and pains, my mom would say, "You are too young to complain so much!" Then later, she would say, "You come by this naturally in this family, it happens, because it can!"

When my sister was diagnosed with celiac disease, I had no insurance, no money, so she talked me into going gluten free too.I had my life back again, and I lost 60#. Then, within 3 years, I was sick again, a soy intolerance. Over the next few years, many intolerance's reared their ugly heads...corn, nightshades, cruciferous veggies, rice, and most recently, a problem with dairy. I have been gluten free now for 8 years. I was in Michigan on vacation, my mom was making potato salad. I had told her I can't eat potatoes anymore and I thought she understood. Yet while she is cutting up the potatoes for potato salad, she shows me a dish with plain potatoes in it for me. I told her to go ahead and cut them up for her salad, cause I can't eat them. She had a fit, "There is nothing wrong with potatoes, you have got to get this out of your head and return to eating them, THEY ARE NOT GLUTEN!" To hold my temper, I walked outside, and needless to say, I did not eat the potatoes. Later, she was telling my brother about the potato discussion, I walked in and he says, "I have a present for you in the truck, it's a 50# bag of potatoes." I was so hurt, but, sometimes, you have to realize, ignorance is everywhere, and ignorance breeds ignorance sometimes.

That was 2 years ago. Last summer when I vacationed in Michigan, I took my own pan with me. I am so intolerant to so many things. Even little things like meat cooked with seasoned salt will effect me if I use the same pan in a few days, so I take my own, just to be safe. If this offends my family, then I understand, it's their problem, not mine. If I do not take care of me, who will?

We do not invent these problems, yet we do have to live with them. I refuse to eat something that will make me sick, just so another doesn't get hurt feelings. A tiny bite of one of my intolerance's will make me ill for at least 3 weeks, I do not need to deal with it.

I have a gluten intolerance/with so many other intolerance's, sensory neuropathy, sleep apnea, insomnia, arthritis, chronic fatigue, and deal with headaches every single day of my life. I want to a "normal" person too. I would much prefer to not have any of these issues.

You need to worry about you, not the cousin. If you want to talk to her, talk about other things, don't even mention your problems. It's not worth upsetting yourself over.