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New member Julie Thomas had several questions about ADHD and CD.

Julie, I suspect that a number of us on the list would like to know more
about the article on ADHD and gluten that you mentioned. Can you post
information so we can locate it? Thanks.

There is some European literature on teenagers' compliance with a
gluten-free diet. It isn't great, and it's better for girls than for boys.
In one study, compliance was better for young people whose parents were
knowledgeable about the long-term adverse consequences of eating gluten. If
your son found that he felt better and learned better on a GF diet,
he might be sufficiently motivated to stick to it. Part of the problem with
teenagers' compliance is that obvious GI symptoms tend to diminish at this
age.

Many people have expressed concern about the expense and discomfort of a
biopsy. For those who have been living gluten-free, going back on the bad
stuff for long enough to get a biopsy that will confirm reaction to gluten
can indeed be very unpleasant, but the biopsy itself need not be a big deal.
Two colleagues and I have all had biopsies done at the University of Iowa
Hospitals and Clinics, and none of us found the experience itself at all
traumatic. One colleague was back at work later in the day. I took it easy
until the next day, but didn't feel particularly bad. We all were
given a drug (something valium-like, I think) that erased memory of any
unpleasantness during the procedure, and my own most negative memory is of
the unpleasant-tasting spray used to numb my throat at the beginning.
Other, more aversive, procedures may be used in other places, but I would
not hesitate to have my child biopsied if there were sound reasons to do so.
I would, however, check on exactly what equipment and procedures would be
used and on the extent of the physician's experience with them.

Nancy Jackson <[log in to unmask]> after May 11, 1995