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More on teeth . . . My daughter had several cavities and fillings by the
time she was two years old. (She was diagnosed with CD at age
three-and-a-half.) Her dentist said she had dental enamel hypoplasia,
which he said was due to a calcium absorption problem, but he didn't have
any idea about what would cause the calcium problem.
 
Once we did some of our own
research after her diagnosis, we found articles linking the enamel
problem with CD. We told our dentist immediately, hoping that perhaps if
he ran across another similar problem in his practice he could suggest
testing for CD to the patient. This could be another way of intervening
in cases of CD with few overt symptoms (or at least symptoms that aren't
dramatic).
 
Based on this info, I insisted that my mother be tested for CD. She had
dreadful teeth--full dentures in her early 20's--as well as general health
complaints all her life. She just had blood tests and a biopsy, and while
the results are not yet all in, it seems virtually certain that she has
CD as well. (And everyone has just considered her a hypochondriac all her
life!)
 
So now she's looking at other members of our family--my aunts and uncles
with various related health problems, cousins, and so on. The family is
huge (I have more than 70 first cousins) but we're slowly getting the
word out.
 
It's amazing to me to think how different my mother's life could have
been if she had been diagnosed by any of the doctors she's seen over the
last several decades. How different my life would have been if she had
been healthy. How different my daughter's life would have been if we had
never discovered the GF diet. (My mother said that there's always been at
least one "problem" child in every family among my relatives, and they
just called that kid the nasty one. It was my mother in her family, my
daughter in mine. Really, the poor things just didn't feel well.)
 
I find that I can't stop thinking about all of this, and I want to help
get the word out to more doctors, dentists, teachers, the media, anyone
who could interevene and make a difference for folks out there with
undiagnosed CD. Anyone on the coalition is welcome to contact me to let
me know what I can do to help, particularly in the area of public
relations and communications (that's my profession).
 
Let's make a difference in 1996! I'm certainly ready. --Trisha (still in
Michigan--please address e-mail to me personally in the subject line)
 
p.s. I had posted earlier this week, thanking everyone who replied to my
holiday stress message for all the support and advice. I'm not sure that
message went through properly, so once again, thank you all for being
there. Things are looking up, and I have my usual optimism back. Happy
New Year!