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Hi all.
 
First, I want to thank everyone on the list for the help they've provided
during the last year or so that I've been on the list. I joined so that I
would know more about my fiance's diet, originally. A few months later my
sister was diagnosed with DH, and the resources here were invaluable for
her. However, I will be leaving the list now.
 
My fiance has, for 13 years, eaten gluten-free. This past month she was
diagnosed. Unfortunately, she was not diagnosed with any gluten
intolerance, rather with extreme lactose intolerance which triggered IBS.
The gluten-free diet, in which fibre is extremely hard to come by,
and in which green vegetables are more prominent, irritating the IBS and
masking the lactose intolerance, was the worst possible diet for her. Even
more distressing is the question of what those 13 years of low-fibre
eating may mean to her later in life, since she has a family history of
colon cancer.
 
For reasons like this, I STRONGLY URGE ALL SELF-DIAGNOSED INDIVIDUALS TO
GO TO A DOCTOR, AND BE PROFESSIONALLY DIAGNOSED. The road to diagnosis is
a long and frustrating one, but the possible negative effects of the
gluten-free diet are far too disturbing to justify not getting a good,
biopsy based diagnosis.
 
All those negative bits aside, my thanks again, and I'm happy to report
that now back on gluten and lots of fibre and strictly off dairy, my
fiance is now feeling the best she has felt since she started getting sick
when she was nine years old.
 
Thanks again, signing off,
Jonathan Stade
 
PS. I'd be much obliged if someone could mail me privately and give me the
address for a list on following a lactose-free diet.