My brother and his wife and distributers of Reliv - a supplement that is to better your life. I'm kind of toying with the idea of trying the Reliv Now and an energy booster. Has any one with celiac had experience with the product? I was at the sales pitch last night - there are different products by this company. The Reliv classic had oat bran - so I said that product was out for me. Another product had pearl barley - again, that's out for me. So my db and sil are telling me that there are celiacs who are involved with Reliv who have been "cured" and that after I've been on the Now product I'll be able to tolerate the other products that I won't touch at this point in time. Once you have celiac, you have celiac. Period. I know that. But to be told by people I thought who cared that I'll be able to ingest things that my body currently reacts to very negatively kinda got to me.
A young man was there who's been healed of allergies and called celiac an allergy. I corrected him and said "autoimmune disease". Got sort of a whatever from him. But he agreed w/my db and sil that the pearl barley wouldn't bother me!!! I don't doubt that the stuff helps people - but I'm not going to ingest anything that I'm not sure of. When in doubt, do without.

You are right and there are very wrong. That kind of stuff is annoying!

OK, I'm trying to put this tactfully, but remember they are distributors, which means they make money off selling it. Please be careful there. You can't have barley, you know that, and you also know it's autoimmune so it's not going to go away.

I'm sorry, that must be awkward.

Take care

Stephanie

I don't know all the ins & outs, but my parents also bought into Reliv. There are some amazing testimonials with that company. I know that my father (who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 02) definitely feels better when he uses it. Not that it will ever cure him, but I think it definitely makes him feel better. I would ask your brother for a list of ingredients & ask your doc.

I doubt that they would knowingly lie to you just to sell their product - they probably believe what they are saying both because of testimonials about the product and little knowledge about celiac as an autoimmune disease and not an allergy. It may very well make people feel better, but I would check and see what studies may have been done on it by skeptics to get the full spectrum. People could be getting a good mix of vitamins and minerals that works and makes them feel better, but they could be having the placebo affect and simply need to believe that it works because they have already spent their money.

You are right, there is a big difference between empirical evidence and anecdotal stories. We had dinner out Fri with the families and I sat next to my brother. As I handed my dining card to the waiter my brother is saying under his breath 'if you were on reliv, you wouldn't need the cards'. I didn't respond to that. And at this restaurant the serve fresh baked bread sticks while you wait for the entrees to come out. So he's waving the basket of bread at me chanting 'wheat....wheat....wheat'. I found that juvenile, but I ignored that also; but it did hurt - my own brother . I get that from a coworker but he's a pain all the time so him I can tune out. So I've decided that next time db brings up reliv and celiac I will ask for empirical evidence and also tell him that I don't want to hear reliv and celiac again in the same sentence. End of subject.
And thanks to everyone for your responses and caring. This is the greatest group of people anyone could ever wish for - disease or no disease!

OK, I've been WAITING for this one... Two and 1/2 years ago when I was first dx, I had a client that was selling Reliv and she sold me on it... I tried it and boy oh boy did it not only NOT HELP but it was expensive.

and it made my symptoms much worse because it IS NOT gluten free. All that about it curing Celiac is just a bunch of crap made up by the inventor/investor in this product line. Claims that it can cure are just bogus.

Tell your BIL that there is not enough scientific evidence about Reliv, BY REPUTABLE SOURCES that confirms their claims and that you PERSONALLY know a celiac that tried it (me) and it DID NOT help.

Stuff like that makes me really angry when they say "under their breath" that if you were doing such and such you wouldn't need blah blah blah...

THANKS nini!!!! I really appreciate your response. What I hate is that for nearly a decade my brother and his wife had been very understanding and very careful whenever there was a family get together at their house. Now they've changed and make me feel that since I still have celiac it's MY fault. Autoimmune is forever! Sheesh! Thank goodness my other in-laws aren't so judgmental. (well, all but one and her special diet is very important - post bariatric surgery. She doesn't mind inconveniencing everyone else for her needs, but reverse the role and....) I figured that the next time Reliv is brought up I'll ask for the published article in JAMA (I know there isn't one )

Yeah! You go ask for that published article in JAMA! Sheesh... I'm sorry they are being so pushy about this product...

I'm sure it's helped a lot of people, but it is extremely dangerous for them to make a claim that a GLUTEN CONTAINING product can CURE CELIAC???!!!!! WTF?????!!!!!

Good luck with that.

Have you tried telling him "Reliv will not change my genetic code. Hence, it will not sure celiac disease." Saying it's autoimmune may not be enough for him to make the connection on his own. Other than that, I think your approach of ignoring it is exactly the right way to go at this point.