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Hello again!
I would just appreciate any advice anyone has on how to deal with my
situation, seen as how most of you can do better with things relating to
celiac than most doctors!
Here's my "story," I guess.  : )
   I'll be 18 in January, I'm a senior in highschool.  I've never really felt
all that bad, I went in to the doctor because of canker sores in the back of
my throat that made it very difficult to swallow.  It happened in April and
then again in August, so I just wanted to make sure everything was ok, and
make sure it didn't happen again, b/c it hurt to even drink a glass of water!
My doctor ended up pretty much freaking out on me.  It was the first time I
had ever gone to her, I hadn't been to any doctor for years.  She had my blood
tested, my hemoglobin was at four, and she had me go to the hospital
overnight.  She was mostly worried about Leukemia.  They ruled that out, then
ended up deciding I just had severe iron deficiency anemia.  Later on I had an
endoscopy and biopsy and an upper barium x-ray done, just to make sure nothing
else was wrong.  My family doctor referred me to a gastroenterologist.  He
said I had Celiac Disease based on the biopsy.
   I don't have any big symptoms really.  Constipation and diarrhea, but not to
the extent that I even noticed anything was wrong.  My biggest symptom is
anemia, and by looking at my color in pictures, and also thinking about how I
felt, I think I've had that since 7th grade.  That's pretty young, and really,
I don't know what it feels like to be "normal."  Normal for me is being a
little tired I guess.
   My doctor has not been good at all about getting things done.  He's really
nice and seems to care and also know a fair amount, but then he makes no
attempt to contact me.  We have to repeatedly call his office and remind them
I need to have an appointment, remind them I'm not getting better (my
hemoglobin is still at 4, which is dangerous, also the reason I need advice, I
have to get better before I get worse!).  He hasn't pursued any ideas other
than celiac, which doesn't give me faith in his diagnosis, especially because
I really don't want it to be right!  : )  I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, if
anyone can recommend a good doctor for celiac around there.
   I really have no idea what to do right now, and since I can't even get ahold
of my doctor, I can't ask him.  So I am turning to all of you, which is
probably a  better idea anyway!
   If anyone knows of any reading material I can get, that'd be great too.  I'm
looking for more medical type books, even if they're hard to understand.  I'll
attempt to wade through them!  I'm starting to see the same stuff over and
over again and would like to find some new information.
   I apologize for the length of both of my posts!
Thank you,
   Julie