<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Hi fellow celiacs, I thought a responce to claire's message was a good way to introduce myself. I'm a twenty four year old Phd biology student living in australia. I have had varous gastro (diarria, bloating, cramps) and skin (bleeding dermititis and hives) for all of my life. My symptoms have been worse in the last year due to my attempt to put on wait with lots of healthy foods (bread, pasta, muffins !!##@@). My doctor orginally thout of giardia, the antibiotics did make me feel a bit better for a few days, but my toilet habbits did not change. My mother then told me that she had had similar gastro symtoms here whole life (45 years) and been told she suffered from an over active stomach! My brother (28) has also suffereed from intermittant gastro pain... After reading a few books i came up with celiac disease and after talking to my doctor tried a gluten free diet (i did have anti-glaidin blood test first which came out negaitive - i got the results after trying the diet. I felt better the 2nd day after not eating gluten, i also realised how bad i'd felt my whole life!! I no longer feel sick every morning, I do go to the toilet 3 time a day still (but it is solid, more solid than ever before in my life - sorry for the yucky details:) I don't feel bloated, i feel GREAT... My doctor feels these results are enough for celiac diagnosis, i Know this does not accord with most peoples views, but its enough for me. Sorry to run on so long So long and thanks for all the fish ... ________________________________________________________________________________ Mr Robin Fowler Aquaculture Research Unit, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ________________________________________________________________________________ S-mail RMIT, Department of Applied Biology, GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne, Vic, 3001 E-mail [log in to unmask] WWW http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/~fowler Fax 61 (03) 9662 3421 Ph 61 (03) 9660 2475 ________________________________________________________________________________