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I NEVER thought I'd write a message like this.  I've been gluten-free for
16 years, but refused a biopsy because I refused to go back on a gluten
containing diet - which would cause not only diarrhea but also
schizophrenic symptoms and irrational anger at everyone and everything
around me.  I had been self diagnosed, put myself on a gluten-free diet,
and was cured in three days.  After three months I told the doctor of my
success and he wanted me to immediately return to eating gluten so I could
have a biopsy.  I refused - I was teaching and could not take that chance.
I become a real bear on gluten, as well as being quite sick.

However, in recent months a friend who was extremely sensitive to gluten
and many, many other things, has completely stopped all her negative
reactions to gluten containing foods, mlik products, corn, nighshades, etc.
etc.  with an acupuncture treatment series called NAET.  It was written
about on this list before Christmas.  She went from a pale, non-energetic
person to someone full of vim, with color in her cheeks and bounce in her
walk. She said it was weeks after her treatment was completed before she
dared attempt to eat any of the formerly forbidden foods, because they had
made her so sick in the past.  It is now four months later and she is still
eating everything and feeling fine.

NAET stands for Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Treatment.  Nambu...is the
name of an acupuncturist who is a Doctor of Chiropractic, Osteopathic
Medical Doctor, and has a PhD in ....I know not what.  The evaluation of
allergies is based on applied kinesiology, which in itself is strange, from
the point of view of Western medicine, but I've seen that work before, so
I'm accepting of that much of the process. If you want to know more, check
the web sites:  www.NAET.COM   or WWW.ALLERGY2000.COM

All the literature on this list says that if one is ALLERGIC to gluten,
then it can be cured or might spontaneously go away, but if one has CELIAC
DISEASE, then nothing will cure the problems and it is for life. One
doctor, however, has said that he had a few children who had biopsy
diagnosed celiac disease who were cured.  I don't have the reference at
hand, but it is in my files.

Having refused the biopsy on what I thought was valid grounds, I now wish I
knew whether my problem had been celiac disease or allergy.  I'm not
convinced that a biopsy would have been that accurate a diagnosis, either.
The only clue that would lead to this more serious diagnosis is that I had
a brief (three week) problem with DH after getting excited about gaining
back my health by taking wheat germ oil. That was before I went
gluten-free.  Dr. Murray  says that if you have DH you are a celiac.  End
of discussion.  However, I have never heard him say that if you have DH
there is no need for a biopsy.  Does he say that, does anyone know?

So, here I am, nearing the end of what has been a bit strange, but not
painful and not invasive set of allergy treatments (no danger of
anaphlactic shock reaction that one might get from taking allergy shots,
for instance),  and soon will come the moment of truth.  Will I be able to
add any of the allergy substances back into my diet? (I have trouble with
milk, soy, potatoes, caffeine, calcium, phenols, and a few other basic
allergens.)

 If I had had a biopsy, I'm told I would KNOW whether I had years of
diarrhea which eventually developed into steatorrhea because of an allergy
to gluten, or whether it was truly caused by celiac disease.  Perhaps some
sort of genetic diagnosis would achieve the same end.  I have always
treated my problems as though I was a celiac, and have been a fanatic about
a gluten-free diet. A couple of accidental ingestions led to  misery, but
only for 24 hours. Misery for my family, as well, due to personality
changes.

I'm still not sure what the gut would look like in a biopsy if one had
symptoms of steatorrhea with only an allergy to gluten. In fact, I don't
know if steatorrhea is a symptom of that food allerby. I would assume the
villi would be flattened, just as it would be in celiac disease.  I also
have assumed, perhaps wrongly, that the brain problems would be an opioid
reaction due to a leaky gut, and that that gut leak would have to be caused
by flat villi.  There have been statements on this list that celiacs would
react to long term inclusion of gluten in the diet, but not to a
once-in-a-while ingestion of gluten.  The latter would say that I was
allergic, as my reactions were within 12 hours and lasted another 12 to 18
hours. They were not the result of long term ingestion of gluten.

It has been interesting to find that almost all of my airborn allergy
problems have vanished while eating gluten free and eating no dairy
products except butter.  I can smell or inhale but not react to mold
spores, and harvest-season pollens (like ragweed).  I still have trouble
with out-gassing from carpet and oil-based paint, but not as bad as before.

So, good friends on the celiac list - what do you think? Reply to me, don't
bother the whole list.

If any of you have any suggestions, I'm open to them.  If not, I'll just
let you know what happens when this treatment series is over and I am set
free to       eat the things the acupuncturist says I will be able to eat.
My fingers are crossed.  Even if I can't get back to gluten-containing
items, it would be nice to be able to add back some soy, some calcium,
potatoes, maybe even chocolate...and a few other foods that have caused
problems.

Am I grasping at straws?  Perhaps, but there are many children in this
little city of Ithaca who have been cured of their allergies to food and
air-born allergens,   by having NAET treatments, so something is working.
It seems worth a try.

Stay tuned for further developments...Gayle Kennedy