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Hello Everyone:

I want to share something interesting. Last night, at the recommendation of
my doctor who diagnosed my Celiac, my husband and I attended our first MNPPA
meeting (Minnesota Physician-Patient Alliance) meeting. This meeting was
compromised of doctors who are tired of the HMO's taking charge of the way
they practice medicine. The alliance consists of 200 physicians and 50-100
patients. There were 12 or so of us at the meeting. I wish I could tell you
all about the meeting, but after a while it would become more than an e-mail
post.

In the beginning of the meeting, my husband was sharing with some of the
doctors present the horrors that I had to go through with my multiple health
problems and especially the diagnosis of Celiac Disease. They were appalled
and saddened by the fact. At the end, I was talking to a pain management Dr
about my story. He shook his head and said, do you realize that years ago
when Dr's were training in med school, the top question was "do your stools
float and other questions pertaining to diagnosis Celiac Disease?" He said
that Celiac Disease is one of the oldest diseases out there and it was
standard protocol for Dr's to be more in touch with the disease a number of
years ago. Today, Dr's have lost art of questioning about symptoms around
Celiac and have almost treated it as a non existent disease in spite of the
fact that it is more prevalent now than ever.  He also said that many doctors
are diagnosing Irritable Bowel Syndrome when in fact they should be looking
at Celiac Disease. I told him how incredibly sick I was and how the last Dr
before Dr Thorsen said that I was not classic for Celiac even though I was
anemic and stools were 100% classic and I could hardly walk around as I was
so weak. He still thought it was psychiatric and was going to send me to a
psychiatrist. This doctor again shook his head and rolled his eyes stating
something like unbelievable.

It was so liberating to tell other doctors that could empathize what a horror
and hell that both of us had to endure to get the help I needed.


Lisa