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

For starters, I'd like to comment to the persons who are suspicious about
possible celiac disease in themselves or their loved ones:  There is NO
harm in responsibly going on a gluten-free diet until you have a firm
diagnosis or compelling evidence that gluten is contributing to health
problems.  Please notice that I said "responsibly".  Anytime that you make
a major change to the diet you should go out of your way to make sure that
the new diet supplies ALL of the needed nutrients for the body to function
healthily.  I strongly recomend extended research and obtaining the advise
of a qualified health professional before making any major changes to the
diet.  You have to make sure that you are not going to do additional harm.

Now a comment to the person that stated they have an autistic child whom
may be experiencing a negative response to gluten.  For the past week my
girlfriend and I have been reading the logs of this groups discussions and
I know that an extended conversation took place about the role gluten may
play in some autistic children.  There seems to be plenty of evidence to
indicate a relationship in SOME cases.  As with the majority of subjects
in medicine, there is a need for more research.  However, again, I will
point out that a responsible gluten-free diet in and of itself does no
harm.  I am not foolish enough to say that putting an autistic child on
a gluten-free diet is an easy task.  "Allergy addiction" is a term that I
have seen used by some members of this group.  Finally, I say that any
physician whom dismisses a patients (or guardians) concerns as excessive
when there are legitimate health problems should be replaced.  If your
doctor is not interested in learning about celiac disease and its
possible relationship to autism then I think it's time you found a new
doctor.

I'd like to thank all of the respondents to our questions about the costs
and issues about getting a "formal" diagnosis of celiac sprue for my
girlfriend, Tania.  For the time-being, we have no intentions of persuing
this in the near future.  The least-intrusive test has already proven
successful and we do not presently have the means to pay for any non-
emergency medical tests.  Tania's reactions to mild gluten-contamination
has become sever enough that she is literally scared of deliberately
going off of the gluten-free diet.  The data and suggestions provided by
this group are making it easier all of the time to remain gluten-free.

Finally, since my comments in this message are so blunt, I'd better point
out that I am not a physician or any other form of health care professional.
Unless otherwise stated, any time that I write anything the opinions
expressed are mine alone and often subject to change.  Having more than
once feared that my girlfriend was on her death bed and seeing that all
change by eliminating gluten from her diet I cannot help but have strong
feelings on this subject.

I very much look forward to the future completion of FAQs and other
methods of organizing the data gathered by this group.

                                        -LPP

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