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

I'm writing to this list for the first time after reading it for the last year. I am a 34 year old male. I was diagnosed with Celiac disease last November of '05 after about 11 years of struggling to determine what was wrong with me (since about college). I was diagnosed via a blood test and also a positive endoscopy that revealed that my celia were somewhat flat.

For years I struggled with symptoms that were generially diagnosed as acid reflux disease. The problem was, I didn't have the classic symptoms (wasn't worse when I lied down, I didn't have pain in my chest, it didn't seem to matter what/when I ate, etc). My primary symptom was a LOT of belching, and a lot of feelign 'pressure' building up at the top of my throat.  Unfortunately I can't desribe it better than that. . I also had at times extreme pain in the back that was relieved (temporarily) by belching. This perplexed many phyicians over the years.  Unfortunately, over the years that has produced a lot of wear and tear on my throat, to the extent that I have have a sore or tickle in my throat continuously for what will be five years this coming April. Obviously this is very troubling as I go into my fifth year of this. My last endosopy in August of '05 revealed some damage to my esophogas. My theory is that all of the belching is bringing up acid which is causing the
 damage.

My physician is troubled that my symptoms were still showing after supposedly still following the diet and is seeking other reasons (other allergies, etc). At my initial test my levels registered 160 (apparently way off the chart), where a normal range was 0-20. In a test in April I registered 60 on the same test (sorry, I don't remember which test, the IgA test I believe). So obviously in April I was still getting some gluten but had reduced my intake. I have not had a test recently, though I have an appointment scheduled in late January and will get re-tested.

Despitet he obvious dietary restrictions and other issues, I was actually quite relieved when I was diagnosed with Celiac Sprue because at least after all those years I thought I had some sort of a resolution to my problem. Depressingly, as I go into a year of religously following the diet, I find myself only fractionally better off than I was. I have not knowingly ingested gluten since December of 05.

I guess I'm looking for any advice I can get as to what I can do to do get better and get gluten out of my system. I'm also looking for other's experiences with gluten and how they reacted to it.  Part of this is to get clarification - my GI doctor and nutritionist seem to be confused that it would take me so long to get relief, but that's contrary to what I read online from other sufferers.  From what I've read, the lenght of time to get gluten out of one's system, along with the severity, varies greatly. Unfortunately for me, my symptoms are relatively mild and constant, so it's not easy at all for me to identify when I've had gluten. I have found that in the last few months I can go a week or two with much less severe symptoms (I'd never say I'm completely ok), but they inevitably return and I never am able to determine why. Pepto Bismol seems to be the only medication that brings temporary relief. I've been on every acid blocker known to man and they might as well be
 tic tacs, they do nothing.  I'm currently taking Nexium in hopes that it will at least help with the damage to my esophogas to a minimum.

I have done what I can to stay on a strict gluten-free diet. I prepare my own food separately in the kitchen. Up until this November I was sharing teflon pots/pans with my family but I have my own now (along with a separate spong). I have twin 3 1/2 year old twins, and it's difficult for me to assist my wife without touching some of their food sometimes, although I'm religious about washing my hands. I use a separate toaster. Is there something I'm missing? I do eat a lot of prepared foods (a lot of Amy's gluten-free frozen dinners so I can eat at work), and probably not food as fresh at it should be, but I've checked everything against the Clan Thompson database before I have it. In general I try to keep my diet pretty consistent so that I can identify any way it's slipping  in, but I've been unable to.

I'm getting to the point where a year on this diet hasn't yielded any results, and my throat continues to get worse.  It's a constant reminder that there's something terribly wrong and I'm looking for any advice and hope which might help my overcome this.

I'm still getting to understand the protocols of the list, but I will summarize as I am able. 

Thanks for listening

-Scott in Boston

*Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the Celiac List*
*******
To unsubscribe, email: mailto:[log in to unmask]
*******