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

I've gotten over 30 responses already--thanks so much everybody!  Several
people asked for a summary so here goes...

I think my original question was not very clear.  When I said that my
children showed no signs of a reaction to gluten, I meant after a 5-day
elimination diet.  My doctor (a naturopath and celiac himself) said that
this was the absolute best way to diagnose gluten intolerance (although it
gives no information about how much damage has been done), and he insisted
that 5 days was sufficient.  I personally had a fairly severe reaction
after this short elimination period, so I assumed it should be the same
for my kids.  After giving it more thought, and reading your emails, I
believe this thought was probably in error!  I am well aware that many
people are asymptomatic, and I know that gluten intolerance is not an
allergy, but when I asked my doctor about my kids he said that even if
someone shows no symptoms and has no damage done yet, they will react to
an elimination diet.  Perhaps he's wrong about this.

Every person who responded except one said that they had faith in Dr. Fine
and Enterolab, and that they were not known for making errors.  One person
pointed out that the mainstream medical field has not supported his
findings.  I can't place much confidence in this though, since the
mainstream medical field has misdiagnosed me repeatedly for about 20 years.

One person did suggest testing with another lab for confirmation; seems
reasonable.

A number of people (6 or 8?) stated that they have no reaction after
accidentally ingesting gluten, and in fact have never had a reaction to
it, even though they have confirmed damage to intestines, etc.

Two people suggested that it may require 2 or 3 months of being gluten-
free before a reaction may be noticed.  (5 days does seem a bit short).

Two people pointed out that symptoms may not clear completely upon going
GF if there is another unrecognized allergy or intolerance present.  This
makes tons of sense, especially since food allergies run on my husband's
side of the family.

Since posting my original email, my enterolab results came back, and it
turns out I am also casein-sensitive.  Therefore, I am just going to
assume the same for my kids, and try a GF/CF diet for several months, and
see where that takes us.  I think that much of my distress and confusion
was caused by a sense of exasperation and despair that I was going to have
to convince my kids to follow this diet (my 6-yr-old is a very picky
eater), and although our house is GF with no complaints, we eat out once
or twice a week, and everyone eats gluten except for me.  It's just so
pleasant not to have to cook every once in a while!  Oh, well.

Thanks again,
Beth Churchill

*Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the CELIAC List*