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Hello All,

My sincere thanks to all who took the time to respond to my post
on this subject. A number of interesting things came to light. The
first being that it seems it may be in the nature of DH to flare-up
from time to time, even in those on a strict GF diet, given certain
circumstances. What circumstances?

Well, the commonest seems to be the old nasty - stress. A
number of you reported DH attacks coming during or after periods
of stress. One of you gets itchy knees and elbows on a regular if
infrequent basis at such times. And I have to say, reading your
posts, and doing further research on the net, I have a feeling in my
water that it was the biggest contributor to my own problem - which
is now thankfully, but only slowly, receeding.

DH can persist for a long time after going GF. Many of you
confirmed this, and there is ample evidence for it on the net. The
deposits which it leaves in the skin can be detected for months -
even a year or more, after going on a GF diet.

A factor which took me totally by surprise was the influence that
iodine may have on DH. Three of you mentioned it. There was
some slightly conflicting advice, but it sent me scurrying to the net
once again where the concensus among those medics who one
hopes knows what they're talking about seems to be that things
such as sea-salt, iodised table salt, shellfish, kelp etc. - things
having a large percentage of iodine in them - can exacerbate an
already existing DH condition. So, iodine being essential to us,
keep off them at least until the skin has returned to normal. Iodine
is also present in some household cleaners. So I guess one should
be wary of them too. Along with such things as bromides - again in
some household cleaners. (What is a bromide??) And even be
careful of non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory pain killers of the
Ibuprofen kind.

Those were the main things. Some of you advised care about
shampoos, toothpastes, body-lotions etc. as possible sneaky
sources of gluten. And one warned against wheat starch. The only
wheat starch I've ever knowingly ingested has been that
manufactured according the Codex Alimentarius - which has had
an airing recently on this list - and in all the time I've had no
problem from it.

One warned about the possibility of other allergies in addition to
that of gluten. (I think I'm right in saying that DH is not strictly an
allergy). According to that same person, our immune systems may
be so compromised that other things such as even quinoa can give
problems - as in his own case.

And there were the usual exhortations to be very careful about
dairy, and soy.

I hope this is as much use to others out there as it was to me, and
once again I thank you all very much. And for those who expressed
sympathy with my shingles - which have actually gone now -
another thank you. They too I think were a reaction to stress. And
in fact one of you said that like me, they had had shingles along
with a DH flare-up. So be warned! Fight stress. Otherwise you
might get DH and shingles together! And shingles, I tell you, made
even DH seem almost bearable! :-)


Jeff in London, UK