<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Let me recount my story and it may help you and your brother with a decision. I was sick as a toddler (early 60's) and the doctors could not figure out what was wrong with me. They and my mother figured I had developed a milk intolerance and then grew out of it at about 3 years old. New grew or gained weight in from 1 year old until 3 years old. I had two children aged 5 and 2 1/2. The five year old was 8 lbs. 11 oz at birth, never spit up, slept perfectly. He was the dream child on a perfect schedule. He was 30 lbs. at 1 year old and is now 55 lbs. As you see no problem with the growth curve. He is also very tall for a five year old. Then came Cody. He was 9 lbs. 3 oz. at birth, didn't sleep well, always seemed to be hungry, spit up (never really threw up) and at about 1 year old started getting really smelly stools, throwing up every so often, runny nose...etc. I started in with the doctors and Cody continued to get worse. At 1 year old he was 27 lbs. by the time he was 22 mths he was 20 lbs. I went thru family doctor, who couldn't figure his problem and referred me to a pediatrician, who also did all the same tests as well as ultrasounds for tumors in his abdomen and couldn't find anything. Finally I asked around friends and co-workers (I work in a hospital though not as a nurse) and got in to another pediatrician. He took Codys history and said "probably Celiac" so we'll do a biopsy to make sure. It took 3 weeks to get to the biopsy and it was the hardest thing to keep feeding Cody all the food he was not supposed to eat since they wanted a clear diagnosis in case it wasn't Celiac. The day of the test we then started him on a GF diet and could see the improvement even before the results were back 2 weeks later. The pediatrician also recommended that I get tested since, although I have been anemic on and off during my adult life he thought there was a connection with my childhood illness. I had the biopsy, even though I had no signs of being Celiac and it was positive. I just had a follow-up test (8 mths later) and the doctor says that I have much improved Villi but they are not normal yet and to keep up the good work. When I questioned him as to why I could not show any symptoms yet still be Celiac, his reply was "It doesn't matter how much of the intestine is affected, the "cure" is the same...NO GLUTEN". He said I may have only 6 inches affected or patches and my son may have more intestine affected thus he reacts more severely, but that no matter what the only way to "CURE" Celiac is stick to a strict GF diet. Sorry for being so long-winded but I think the history goes well with the doctors comments about Celiac and it's "cure". Karen at [log in to unmask] >I was diagnosed with celiac disease 4 months ago. My brother had been >suffering similar symptoms for 10 years....Any general advice? He lost >another 4 pounds just this week! >... >Debra L. Boutin >[log in to unmask]