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Dear Friends....and you ARE all friends. I am just overwhelmed at the
generosity of the members of this list. Cyberhugs to each of you!!

When I got home from work yesterday, we told Ben that he doesn't have to
eat gluten anymore. His reaction was a big grin and one word, "YES!!!!!"
He is VERY happy to not eat it!

I got *dozens* of replies to my post yesterday. I want to say that the GI
never said anything one way or the other about our eating GF. Eating GF,
or not, was my idea, in an attempt to learn whether Ben has a problem with
gluten (especially after the blood test was negative). I have proven to
myself (and my husband!) that Ben should not eat wheat (at the least) and
probably no gluten at all. The results of the past weekend were too
dramatic to not notice! It amazes me how many people have similar symptoms
when they eat wheat.

I had never heard of celiac disease until I started investigating food
allergy in Ben, in an attempt to figure out why he was having daily pain
and diarrhea.. I learned about the other symptoms (as *being* symptoms) by
following this list (I knew about the list, but didn't really know what CD
was) and reading the fantastic web pages to which many of you have
contributed. Then I got books. Then I learned how to cook! A friend sent
me an article that appeared in the Washington Post recently, about CD,
written by a doctor. I found it very superficial, misleading, and not
entirely accurate, just based on what I have learned here! I think if we
get good publicity about the way gluten acts as a toxin to so many, it has
to not start out by saying this is a very RARE condition! Perhaps we don't
need an article about the president, but perhaps some of you who are
journalists can find a way to get ACCURATE and CURRENT information out
there in the popular press!

Thanks again to you all for your generosity of spirit. Ben thanks you,
too!

Anne Washburn
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Co-owner, APH - Association of Personal Historians List