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Hello all,

I would like to know if there are others on the list who have tried
this diet (with success or otherwise) for problems OTHER than
lower-intestine disease problems.  It is a very restrictive diet, and
a big commitment to give it a go.  (And I thought giving up gluten
was hard!)

Though I have been been eating GF for over 2 years now, I seem to be
having certain other problems creeping back into my life.  I am one
of those folks without an official diagnosis, as I quit eating
wheat/gluten as an experiment -- knowing NOTHING about celiac
disease.  For reasons I won't detail here, I have many reasons to
feel confident that CD is certainly at the root of most of my
problems -- and I've had enough gluten accidents that I know I would
be debilitated by a gluten-challenge in order to be tested.  I am
also constantly trying to monitor and ascertain if there is any way
I'm getting gluten regularly back into my diet, and I don't know what
more is humanly possible to do.  It simply leads me to think that I
have problems extending beyond gluten, and perhaps a gut that's never
completely healed.

My symptoms and problems do not, and never have, involved my colon.
They are related to severe (totally debilitating) joint pain,
fibromyalgia, an array of other autoimmune disorders, mild
neurological symptoms, osteoperosis at 55, hypersensitivity to many
drugs, and so on.  For the first year, I thought doing a GF diet was
a miracle and quite the silver bullet for all my ills -- but now
there seems to be more going on again.  And, because the symptoms
come and go, I guess I am led to consider that my problems may still
be food-related, rather than disease-related.

Through a friend, I am aware of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)
-- a diet that is also GF, plus other restrictions.  There are couple
of basic links:

http://www.scdiet.info
http://www.scdiet.com/

And here's the diet in a nutshell:

Do's
* Fresh or frozen beef, lamb, poultry, pork, fish, eggs
* Vegetables-fresh or frozen, raw or cooked (with no added sugar or starch)
* Homemade yogurt fermented at least 24 hours
* Natural cheeses with little or no lactose, such as cheddar, Colby,
havarti, Swiss, uncreamed cottage cheese (dry curd)
* Fruits-fresh or frozen, raw or cooked; (with no added sugar)
* Salad and cooking oils (including those made from grains)
* Honey, nuts and nut flours, spices of all kinds
* Very dry wine, occasional gin, rye, Scotch, bourbon, vodka, etc.

Don'ts
* Grains, including bread, rice, pasta, cereal, and products with corn
* Processed meats-hot dogs, cold cuts, fast food
* Potatoes (or starchy roots)
* Milk, margarine, soy products
* Chocolate, starches, added sugar, including corn syrup, cane sugar, molasses
* Beer, sherry, cordials, liqueurs or brandy

--Thanks for any help or experience that others have had with this.

-Suzanne

* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *