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

Thanks to all of you who responded. I¹ll try to summarize.
1. I¹ve been reminded to listen to my body.
2. I¹ve learned that it is possible to have a negative blood test & still
have CD. In that case it¹s best to request a biopsy.
3. It was suggested that to go ahead and eat gluten free and assume I have
CD
4. I¹ve learned that autoimmune disorders are related. It¹s very common to
develop another if you have one.
5. The blood tests for CD are often times inaccurate and inadequate.
Traditional blood work gives a
false negative a lot of the time. The blood test for CD will very likely
test negative if you are already on a gluten-free diet.
There¹s a lab that does testing for CD, http://www.enterolab.com and they
are much more accurate and detailed than
traditional blood work to test for CD.   Traditional blood work gives a
false negative more than 50% of the time, and that a negative test in not
conclusive.
6. The so called "gold standard" for diagnosing celiac disease is a biopsy
of the small intestine through an endoscopy.  This allows the pathologist to
see if there is actual damage to the villi in the small intestine.  There¹s
also have the camera endoscopy, where you swallow a small camera pill and it
takes pictures all the way through the digestive tract.
7. I was advised to follow the GF diet to do everything possible to keep my
immune system ³less on alert.²
8. At the Columbia University Celiac Disease center, they recommend 3 or 4
blood tests be done to get a correct diagnosis
9. Scleroderma is listed in the autoimmune diseases associated with CD. tTG
Iga screening corresponds well with total villous atrophy, but will miss
those with mild villous atrophy. Antigliadin IgG antibody is probably the
most sensitive for picking up gluten sensitivity, but it does not correspond
with villous atrophy. Celiac disease is about 1% of the population.
Non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) is thought to affect at least 10% of
the population. NCGS is not well studied or understood, but there are many
of us who improve on a GF diet in spite of negative blood and biopsy.
10. Some literature from the scleroderma foundation indicated celiac was
part of the picture of end stage scleroderma
11. There may be a connection between celiac and scleroderma.  Scleroderma
(limited or C.R.E.S.T) affects the esophagus & small intestine & celiac is
in the small intestine.
Check out this chart at http://www.aafp.org/afp/20021215/2259.html that
shows the various steps of gluten damage. CD can start as start in the GI
tract & become a systemic immune system response (elevate serum antibodies)
OR as altered immune systemic response & progress to GI damage.  When it
starts in the gut, the biopsy is the gold standard for dx.

Some good Web sites to use for reference:
www.dangerousgrains.com
www.smartenup.info 
www.theglutenfile.com
http://ezinearticles.com/?Diagnosing-Celiac-Disease-and-Gluten-Sensitivity&i
d=239028
www.ironedge.info
http://www.sclero.org/medical/symptoms/associated/celiac-disease/a-to-z.html
www.celiac.com 
http://www.gluten.net/downloads/print/Associatedautoimmuneflat.pdf
 





 
 


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