<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I am not diagnosed as having CD, but rather allergies to wheat and gluten.
I
had a lot of trouble with migraines and sleep along with chronic pain,
fatigue and atypical digestive and skin symptoms.  Since my symptoms were
atypical it took my allergist a long time to come around to ordering an
ELISA
blood test and he still didn't believe the results until I started getting
such good results from the diet.  Once I figured it out, got good at the
diet
and felt so much better I wasn't interested in doing the gluten challenge so
I could have a biopsy.  What I've done has worked and I don't feel the need
to make myself sick in order to have someone else tell me wheat and gluten,
along with lactose, make me sick.  I've read several opinions that allergy
to
wheat and gluten and CD may be the same thing anyway.

One other advantage to being "just allergic" is that I just applied for
health insurance in Washington State (not through an employer) and CD was
one
of the questions.  There was a post to the list recently from a woman who
works for the Washington insurance department and she said they use a point
system to determine eligibility.  CD is worth 220 points and if you score
over 330 you don't qualify for insurance here.  I was glad to be able to
answer that question NO.

Back to the subject, after a couple of years of getting good at the diet and
following it for about four about the only migraines I get wouldn't have
anything to do with your brother as I'm a woman and they have to do with
hormonal fluctuations.  As long as I'm really attentive to what I eat and
how
I take care of myself I feel better than I ever remember feeling.  Forty
years is a long time to feel crummy!

I have a sister who is currently having difficulties that are not quite the
same as I experienced, but very similar and she, like your brother, is more
than very resistant to exploring the possibility of CD or allergies similar
to mine.  She works in the medical profession and keeps going from
specialist
to specialist thinking they'll find something that can be fixed with an
operation or a pill.  I sort of understand because what it takes to live the
GF life is a pain (except for feeling better) but I know she's seen the
improvement it's made in my life and really can't understand why she won't
at
least explore the possibility.

Having followed this list for some time I've read a number of stories of
people who have fiddled with the diet, done the gluten challenge and then
gotten negative biopsy results.  I guess the visible healing to the villi in
the small intestine happens very quickly, so if he does decide to explore it
I'd caution him to see a gastrointerologist before making any dietary
changes.

* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *