<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Since several of you on the list seem to have food allergies and intolerances, rather than CD, I thought I'd mention a book that came highly recommended to me: The Complete Guide to Food Allergy and Intolerance, by Dr. Jonathan Brostoff, New York: Crown Publishers, 1989. ISBN 0-517-57756-9. Brostoff is the head of the most respected allergy clinic in England. Since someone on an earlier post had mentioned that some doctor had promised that celiacs could be cured by abstaining from the offending foods plus carbohydrates (and others thought that had occurred before a solid diagnosis of celiac could be made), I thought I'd mention what Brostoff has to say. He does not think CD can be cured by such abstinence; it is for life. On the other hand, he does say that food intolerances may be overcome in 7 months to a year by total abstinence, even though the early effect is to exaggerate (and change) reactions to the offending food after two or more weeks of abstinence, then reintroducing (challenge). He also makes this distinction between allergies and intolerances. Allergies tend to be for life, and they may react strongly to very small amounts of the offending material; a drop of milk, for instance, may set off severe reactions. Also any swelling of eyes, nose, face, or rashes tends to indicate an allergy rather than intolerance. Intolerances, on the other hand, may sometimes be overcome, and usually take a "normal sized portion" of the material to effect a strong reaction (though some may react to just a few mouthfuls of the food). And it is not unusual to react to a material at one time and not at another. Intolerances may stem from an event such a course of antibiotics such as those given before some operations, from overexposure to a single food. Symptoms may fluctuate or change from day to day and tend to be migraines, diarrhea, headaches, indigestion, aches and pains, rashes, and a host of other problems. This is not to be taken as an explanation of CD. This is just a brief summary of part of three pages that I though might be somewhat pertinent to the earlier post about curing CD by abstinence. Is this book known by some of you? and what do you think of it? After all, it is 7 years old. Also, does anyone know what "wheat dumping into the intestine" means? My doctor mentioned that a possibility. He wants to do two more elaborate tests for the grain intolerance and the lactose intolerance. I haven't decided yet if that is necessary. Seems that the treatment would be the same in either case. One test involves breathing into something every thrity minutes and takes four hours; the other test involves drinking barium and xrays and takes three hours. Both sound crappy. I'd like to know they were necessary before consenting to them. vance