<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Ppl told me there is a gluten intolerance test online at
www.enterolab.com, they check stool samples for various antibodies, for
fat malabsorption, and do genetic testing for the predisposition to
gluten intolerance.  Which can be done even if you've  been gluten free
for a while, since antibodies persist in the small intestine after they're
gone from the blood.  I don't know if it's better or worse than the usual
blood tests at diagnosis.  If the genetic test comes out negative it might
help distinguish a temporary gluten intolerance from a permanent one --
an IgG-only intolerance to gluten might be temporary.

Also awful stories about gluten challenges, one person said they might
cause diabetes (in children?).  I'm inclined to agree -- I have so many
mental symptoms from the gluten and it's scary to think of a gluten
challenge affecting my brain and maybe even causing permanent damage.  I
read a Nov '95 Scientific American article about the microglia, the brain's
immune system, and how immune reactions of the microglia can damage the
brain ... so it seems like a bad idea to have one's immune system going
nuts in a way that affects the brain, some of the inflammatory cytokines
in the immune system can cross the blood-brain barrier and maybe freak out
microglia ... Or maybe opioid  peptides from gluten crossing the blood-brain
barrier could trigger (maybe unhealthy) immune responses in the brain.
The microglia wander around in the brain by the way,which is strange ... i
think of the brain as having a fixed architecture like a computer, don't know
if neurons ever wander.

Just before starting all this food experimentation, I was feeling like my
mind had stopped, or wandered into a very sludgy spot and was having a
hard time picking up its mental feet ... some feeling of mental rigidity
also, that i had also noticed in my sometime somewhat schizophrenic
friend, who also turned out to be gluten intolerant.  It did not seem like
rigidity
coming from anxiety.  It's an ominous sort of thing to have happen, and i
have felt a lot like my mind is getting less rigid, off my problem foods.
I guess what i mean by rigidity is doing things in the stereotyped
accustomed way, not thinking about better or different ways.

I've reacted to milk, all grains apparently, apples and citrus with mental
symptoms, a groggy stupor and later, mood changes and joint pains.  I have
intestinal type reactions to yeast.  So that is the info I have so far.

off the zonk-puter,
and  thanks for all the  emails,
Laura

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