I don't drink beer, so can't help you there.

There seems to be a pretty wide variation in reactions to gluten. I've never really suffered from stomach aches or headaches as some people have described, and symptoms won't usually show up for a day or two. I'm not terribly sensitive to cross contamination, most of the time when I think I've gotten hold of some gluten, I don't really know when or where I got it. I think I'm lucky that I don't have the severe reactions some do, but I try hard to avoid it... I won't eat anything if I can't be pretty sure it's safe.

In Hasselbeck's book, she says it took her 12 years to convince a doctor that she had celiac disease. They kept telling her it was very rare, and probably wasn't what she had. Since then, they have realized it's not actually that rare. I told my GI I really appreciated that it didn't take him 12 years to figure it out. He shrugged and said, "I thought it was pretty obvious."

You'll learn your way around it, and it won't take long.

Here is the most common question you'll get, which is funny now but I understand if you are not familiar with gluten why it's confusing.
Them: So where do you get gluten?
Me: From wheat, rye, or barley.
Them: So... can you eat potatoes? Do potatoes have gluten in them?
Me: Not unless you put wheat, rye, or barley in them.

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Aries
~Sign of the Rams