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Hello, Judith and Emma and whoever else is lurking.  My name is Mark
and I'm 24-years old.  Upon receiving your messages, I was astounded
by the remarkable similarities in our situations.  At some points when
I was reading I almost felt as if I were looking at something I had
posted to the list that got accidentally bounced back to me (esp. the
difficulty in trying to communicate to others that what is wrong with
me might be an allergic reaction to wheat - I simplify it usually, the
acid-indigestion, etc.)
 
I too have had little luck with doctors and have been put through the
medical ringer you might say.  I'm not seriously faulting anyone for
not finding out what is going on with me or condemning the whole
practice of medicine, but I do have some problems with a diagnosis of
something (IBS) for which one of my symptoms (steatorrhea) - and an
important one at that - does not match up.  I have had a small bowel
biopsy which was ordered after two stool tests showed a significant
increase of fat in the stool.  However, the biopsy came back negative.
I have had numerous other tests also (sigmoidoscopy, CT scan, numerous
GI x-rays, etc.)  And like both of you, the only thing that has made
me feel any better is going on a gluten-free diet (which I'm not on at
present - still having tests done) and, I don't remember Emma saying
anything about this, taking a fair amount of supplements.
 
One thing I might mention that seems to be different in my situation
is that I have really itchy bumps on my back and scalp.  I don't know
if it's DH, but I should know in about a week and a half or so.  From
what I've read about it, it seems like there's a good chance that it
is and the dermatogist I'm seeing seems to think so also, as far as I
can tell.  I should have probably seen him earlier, but nobody that
I've seen so far really seemed to think it was crucial.
 
In addition to the skin problems, I have noticed a significant decline
in my intellect.  What used to be pretty simple for me, reading for
instance, has become quite difficult.  At the moment it's not so bad,
but there are times when I can hardly make it through a page of text.
Sometimes it's hard to form a sentence when speaking or when typing
something because I keep losing my train of thought.  This has been
utterly annoying and often times embarassing as my quick-wittedness
(geez, is that a word?) has always been one of my strongpoints.
Despite all of this, at least I can say that I'm not terribly
concerned that what is going on is permanent or progressive because
when I'm not in the _fog_ my mind functions pretty much as it did
back in the good-old pre-illness (or pre-recognized illness) days.
Have you noticed anything similar?
 
Well, don't have too much more to say right now other than it would be
great to keep in touch with both of you.  You can trust that both of
your messages are safely (I hope) tucked away on my hard drive and I'm
hoping that we can share our info and learn from each other.
Hopefully we can help each other as much as I have been helped by this
wonderful list.  Take care and feel free to e-mail me personally if
you wish.
 
Mark